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Creative Ways to Save On These Top 5 Wedding Costs

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Discover savvy tips to trim wedding expenses. Learn how to save on top 5 wedding costs without sacrificing style!

Kacey Mya

Getting married is one of the most exciting times in a person’s life. You’re running around personalizing your ceremony and having friends and family cheer you and the love of your life on. It’s uplifting, invigorating and super expensive. Weddings have become a big business in society, charging high prices for everything from rental furniture to the utensils you’ll need to eat off of for your reception.

Some parts of your wedding you won’t be able to get a discount for. Venue pricing and reception charges are often not possible to negotiate, so you should take stock of what you know you’re going to need and see what’s in your power to change. Check out these five tips on how to save money on a few of the most expensive parts of your wedding so you have an easier time planning and a happy day without any financial worries when it’s time to start the ceremony.

Be Flexible With Your Guest List

If you think about what you’re paying for food, drinks and seating, it’s already a big chunk of change. The more guests you invite to the ceremony and the reception, the higher that price is going to go. Thankfully, there are a few ways you can go about your guest list to help you save cash.

Some brides invite everyone to the ceremony and only immediate family and friends to the reception. This would save you money on the food and drink costs that more reception guests would cause you to spend. You can also set strict rules from the beginning about your guests: no plus ones and no distant relatives. It all depends on what part of your day is more important for your loved ones to see, and who you truly value as one of those loved ones.

Skip the Postage

One of the biggest wedding activities is mailing. You’re going to be going to the post office to mail invitations, save the date reminders and thank you cards just to name a few. Stamps may seem inexpensive now, but if you’re going to have a big wedding, they add up quickly. Instead, use evites to invite everyone or let your guests reserve online. This has become more popular with time, so no one will think twice if they get the invite in their inbox and not in their mailbox.

Make Your Own Invites

Maybe evites aren’t your style but you’re still cringing at the thought of what personalized invitations are going to cost you. Skip going to the bridal shop and getting the done by someone else—you have a whole team of bridesmaids and family members ready to help! Get everyone together and make your own cards to match the theme of your wedding. Rustic and shabby chic themes are the easiest to personalize and easy to do on your own if you give it a little thought. Opt for flat printed invites and you can easily print them at home!

Get Friends to Take Pictures

You’ll want your wedding immortalized with great pictures, which is something all brides have in common, but are you willing to pay what it costs? A wedding photographer costs an average of $2800, and that price can change depending on what your ceremony is like and how much you want photographed. Instead, ask friends to take pictures for you. If they don’t have a fancy camera, they’ll have a smartphone, and they can send you everything they’ve captured after your big day.

Make the Cake at Home

The idea of the wedding cake has become something of a legend. It’s something that pops up in every romantic movie, and the bakers themselves have gotten numerous television shows about just how intense the wedding cake business is. Save yourself the time and money by making your own cake the way you like it for affordable grocery store prices. You can also try to make your own deluxe cake by experimenting in the kitchen for some afternoon, stress relieving fun, or by taking a look at wedding cake alternatives!

Saving on your wedding is something every bride should try to do. As unromantic as it is, weddings are a business for the people offering their help, so they’re going to try to get every dollar out of you that they can. Beat the businesses by doing what you can on your own, and don’t forget all the people willing to help out! Everyone working together as a team is what’s going to make your wedding one for the books.


Kacey Mya

is a lifestyle blogger for The Drifter Collective, an eclectic lifestyle blog that expresses various forms of style through the influence of culture and the world around us. Kacey graduated with a degree in Communications while working for a lifestyle magazine.