Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding

The dress, the wedding venue, the flowers, the food … wedding expenses add up quickly but there are ways to save money on your wedding while still having the wedding of your dreams. 

1. Choose an offseason or weekday evening.  Peak wedding season is May - October so opting for an off-peak season date could mean discounts at the vendors. Choosing a non-Saturday date is also a good idea. A Thursday or Friday evening wedding or Sunday afternoon celebration isn’t out of the question and could save you hundreds of dollars. 

2. Opt for a non-traditional venue. A restaurant, a large vacation house, or even a park make great options for a non-traditional wedding venue and at a great cost too! Just make sure that you check with local ordinances if you opt to go the park route! 

3. Save a tree and go paperless. Almost everything is online nowadays and that includes wedding Save The Date reminders and wedding invitations. If you aren’t comfortable going digital, save money by printing your own invitations, and handling the mailing yourself. You can purchase templates fairly inexpensively online (look at Etsy!).  

4. Say yes to the dress at the right price. Bridal stores aren’t the only place to look for the perfect wedding dress anymore. Check out department stores and online as well. While purchasing a wedding dress online may sound scary, it could save you a ton of money. Just make sure that wherever you are ordering from has a solid return policy so if something isn’t right, you can request a refund. 

5. Cut the guest list. The more guests at your wedding, the higher the cost is likely to be. A good way to cut the guest list without hurting anyone’s feelings is to eliminate the traditional Plus One. 

The bottom line is to choose what is most important to you and your partner and focus your budget there. If a Friday evening wedding doesn’t matter to you but the venue does, opt to save a few hundred on the day to spend on the place.