10 Tips For Planning A Beautiful Wedding On A Budget

Whatever your wedding style, you want your big day to be beautiful. I’m here to tell you that you don’t need a celebrity-sized wedding budget to achieve the look you want. Weddings on a budget can absolutely be fabulous and romantic and memorable if you’re clever and careful with your cash. So, if you’re wondering how to plan a wedding on a small budget, here are my ten top tips…

Images: Top Row Left via Brit & Co | Top Row Right via Want That Wedding | Second Row Left via Plan Our Perfect Wedding | Second Row Right via Rock My Wedding | Third Row Left via Colin Cowie Weddings | Third Row Right via Woman Getting Married | Bottom Row Left via Love My Dress | Bottom Row Right via Brit & Co (as before)

1. Be as flexible as possible with the day of the week and the time of year that you get married. Lots of venues still offer sizeable discounts for midweek and ‘low season’ weddings so look into this before you set the date. A substantial saving for a Wednesday in October can make that look much more attractive than a Saturday in July and, when you’ve got your eye on your wedding budget, it can make a massive difference.
2. Trimming your guest list is another surefire way to cut your costs. Just cutting out a table of ten from your wedding breakfast can save you hundreds of pounds. Intimate weddings have a beauty all of their own and smaller guest lists definitely equal lower costs.
3. Food is always another big cost so again, this is a great area in which to make savings. Serve canapés during your drinks reception and then go straight into the main course during dinner or consider starting your wedding later in the day so there’s no need for an evening buffet and just serve coffee and wedding cake instead. By shaking up the ‘traditional’ order of things, you can always find ways to save money.
4. Decorations will absolutely eat into your wedding budget so make sure that whatever you spend your money on is going to work hard for you. Ceremony decorations can be moved to your dinner for example or a table backdrop for dinner can become a photo booth backdrop later in the evening. If you can double up, you’ll save time and money.
5. Don’t ignore the high street! So many high street stores now include collections of stunning bridal gowns, bridesmaid dresses and more plus the guys will always find places to hire suits etc. on the high street too.
6. Plan ahead because this will help you save money. Once you’ve decided what you’re going to buy, sign up for newsletters or emails and keep an eye open for discount offers and sales. Then you can be sure that you’re spending your cash on things that you really need AND you’re getting them at a great price.
7. Wedding entertainment can be expensive but you definitely want your guests to have a good time. Garden games will always be cheaper to set up than hiring a magician for example and DJs are usually most cost effective than live bands.
8. DIY what you can but only if it’s cost-effective. It’s easy to think that making everything yourself will save you money but that’s not always the case if you need lots of equipment or materials. Spend some time browsing tutorials online and be sure to cost everything fully before plunging in. That said, DIY can save you lots of cash – a quick search for ‘Ikea Wedding Hacks’ for example will show you just what you can achieve with a few every day products.
9. Cut down on flowers and all the ‘extras’. Flowers are a huge cost so look at alternative table centres for example and use your budget on your bouquet or a statement decoration that can move from ceremony to reception. Beware of all the little extras too – it’s really easy to totally blow your budget if you let yourself keep shopping.
10. Lastly, after a beautiful wedding comes a beautiful honeymoon but if you’re on a budget, why not delay your honeymoon for a few months and set up a honeymoon gift fund instead of asking for traditional presents? Then you can enjoy your break without worrying about the bill.

Images: Top Row Left via Boho Weddings | Top Row Right via Fabmood | Second Row Left via Buzzfeed | Second Row Right via Bridal Guide | Bottom Row Left via Etsy | Bottom Row Right via Junebug Weddings

And there we have it – ten steps to the wedding you always dreamed of without blowing your wedding budget!