6 stress-less planning tips for planning a wedding on a budget

6 wedding tips for your budget

Things that can make or break your budget

With wedding season officially declared open, chances are you or someone you know is about to tie the knot. The average cost of a wedding in 2020's is going to be $30,000. That's nearly the price of a four-year college education. And that's just the average. More than half of all American weddings’ costs more than $30K. Many of them cost much more, running up to and over the six-figure mark.

Find out your budget

One of the first and most important things to do is create a budget for your wedding. As a Professional Wedding planner, I have seen many budget minded people fall in to the trap of “I don’t have a budget, just as cheap as possible”. This can be very dangerous thinking in terms of planning and staying on budget. You may very well (and honestly most of the time) go way over budget.

I tell my couples to schedule a time with their parents or the people who want to contribute to their wedding fund, to sit down and figure out what they are willing to help with. Many times, the contributors only want to pay a certain amount and sometimes they are only willing to pay for certain vendors. This is important when trying to plan your wedding. Nothing would be worse to budget 5k for flowers and your dad says that was more than he wanted to contribute or he wasn’t going to pay for flowers at all and now you have to figure out how you’re going to come up with the money.

If you feel like your financial contributors to your wedding had a lot of constrictions. Just remember, you don’t have to take their money. If they want it to be a certain way you don’t agree with, you can tell them no. There are other options out their that are super budget friendly and an experience of a lifetime that you can afford. This is your Big day, you should get to spend it how you want to, with who you want to with out going into debt.

2. Create guest list

The next thing on your budget wedding thought should be the guest list. The average guest cost around $150 - $300. So, the guest count plays a huge roll in your budget. Write down the people you would like to be invited. Ask your contrubutors to look over the list and have them add to it, if they want. If the number of people is as many as you, you may have to be prepared to ask them for more money.

3. Now … cut your guest list down

To save money or fastest way to cut a price to fit in your budget, is to cut the guest list. Do you really want to have your high school friends at your wedding, that you don’t even talk to anymore? Or that cousin you played with once a year growing up that now lives in a different country and haven’t spoken too in over 10 years? Try to focus on the people around you, that are present in both of your lives now. The faces you want to see on your wedding day smiling back at you...excited for you and would drop anything to be at your wedding. Think...would I be plan B if their plans fell through or would they choose something else over our wedding day. Look at it this way, would you take this person to a fancy restaurant and pay for them?

4. Consider using things you own to decorate

If the style of your wedding is already your natural style. Try looking around the house for things to use. Could it be that big mirror in your bedroom or your little plants all around the house? Could it be Books if you’re a reader or a cute shelf? Even bottles you have collected in a year would work with a few simple flowers or for a more elegant look stick greenery in the bottle with a taper candle. Ask your parents or family members if you could barrow something for the wedding. Most of the time they are honored to help in that way, it’s more than most likely they will let you.

5. Get creative with your venue

Looking for a venue on budget can sometimes be difficult. It can be as easy as choosing your backyard, family members farm/barn. Honestly there are a ton of really cute wedding venues under 5k in Cincinnati if you have a smaller wedding. Parks, churches and banquet Halls seem to be the most budget friendly places.

6. Consider hiring a wedding planner

I promise I’m not being biased here! But one of the best things to invest in is a wedding planner. Even if its for the day of the wedding. During the planning process, your wedding planner can help put a budget together and break it down to each category you’ll need/want for the big day. That right there is helpful, because you know how much you have for each vendor. Wedding planners also will and should recommend vendors who are in your price range and style. We do all the research and share our finding with you. All you have to do is pick, how Stress-free is that!

Even if you pick day of services from a wedding planner, they take the wedding load of stress off of you! We take it all on, so you don’t have to. We connect with the vendors you hired. We get detailed info from you from our month out meeting, create timelines and take care of anything that happens to pop up.

Conclusion

We all want the perfect wedding, but often times the perfect wedding comes with a hefty price tag. In order to get married without breaking your budget, try some of our tips. Now that you know how expensive these parties can be, maybe you will think twice about your guest list or choice of venue. These tips are not a definitive list; they are merely suggestions that you can use to help reduce your costs while making the most of your big day.