Wedding Planning: Priorities & Ways to Cut Cost

From The Wedding Book by Mindy Weiss and Real Simple Weddings

Priorities:

Before making many decisions, you need to identify your top two or three priorities.  If you find yourself stalled over specific items in the budget, keep in mind that it’s likely you’re arguing about priorities rather than money.  Stick to your guns about them and make concessions elsewhere.  You’ll most likely get what’s most important to you while giving your family a meaningful voice in the proceedings.

After your priorities are established you can really start planning! Here are some important beginning questions to ask yourself:

1. How many people do you want to attend, and how mobile are they?  Who are the people you want to share in your big day?
2. Do you want a religious ceremony?
3. How much work are you willing- or do you want- to take on?
4. How will you spread the word?
5. Who will participate in your wedding party?

*Start to think about your budget sooner or later*

Budget- Percentage Guideline:

Favors 1%

Transportation 2%

Wedding Cake 2%

Church 2%

Ceremony Music 2%

Invitations & Announcements 2%

Hair & Make-up for bride, bridal party 2%

Groom’s formalwear 3%

Reception Music 4%

Videography 5%

Dress 5%

Rehearsal Dinner 6%

Flowers 6%

Photography 8%

Wedding rings 8%

Reception (site, food, drink) 42%

Ways to Cut Cost:

• Trim the guest list.  Your cost per head is your biggest expense.
• Choose a gorgeous setting, whether it’s a conservatory or a Tudor ballroom.  You’ll save a bundle on decorations.
• Skip the off-site location and go with a reception site (hotel, club, or restaurant) that comes with tables, chairs, flatware, and staff.  Tents and other rentals add up to a substantial expense.
• Book a location four to six months away from the date.  The venue may negotiate with you to get some business, rather than have no business at all.  Also their prices may already be disconnected at this point  *Only do this if you can handle the stress of planning due to this shorter time frame!
• Choose a rectangular invitation instead of a square one.  Postage will be at least 17 cents more per invitation if you use a unique shaped invitation, such as square.
• Start the wedding earlier in the day.  Breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, or heavy hors d’oeuvres cost less than dinner, and earlier in the day, people drink less, lowering your liquor costs.
• Limit the alcohol offerings to wine, beer, and signature cocktail.  Also consider sangria or punch as a festive but cost-effective alternative to mixed drinks.
• Buy the alcohol yourself if you can. 
• Eliminate the champagne toast.  Most of the bubbly will be thrown out anyway.  Have guests toast with whatever they’re drinking at the time. 
• Opt for an inexpensive printing method on your invitations.  Use design cleverly and you can get a great effect with offset printing, for a fraction of the price of letterpress or engraving.
• Skip favors.
• Skip sending “Save the Dates.”
• Skip using a videographer.  Buy a video camera yourself, since they are not too expensive anymore, and see if you can get a close friend or relative to use it and capture the main events.  You can even send the footage to a company such as Philadelphia- based Well Spun Wedding Films (www.wellspunweddings.com) that will create a custom wedding film from it for about $500. 
• Use seasonal flowers.
• Avoid planning your wedding near the floral-heavy holidays of Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
• Borrow a veil from your mother, friend, or relative.  This can save you hundreds of $ as well as give you “something borrowed.”
• Cakes are not cheap so if you’re having 150 or more guests, order a cake for 25 fewer people than you expected.  Use fresh flowers to decorate instead of expensive sugar-paste imitations and choose butter cream icing instead of fondant (taste so much better too).  Also remember simple cakes are always cheaper! The cake is going to get eaten anyway!
• If you do not care for cake, use cupcakes, a finger food dessert, or a chocolate bar so you will not have to pay a cake-cutting fee (this might be a great idea for the groom’s cake).
• For the Rehearsal Dinner, limit the guest list to the wedding party and immediate family.  After the dinner, invite everyone else to join you at a local bar and buy the first round of drinks!
• For the Rehearsal Dinner, don’t make it a mini wedding.  Let the dinner have it’s own distinct event by making it more of a casual evening.