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Unconventional Ways to Buy Everything You Need for Your Big Day

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If you’re strugglng with how to afford a wedding, check out these unconventional ways to buy everything you need for your big day!

Unconventional Ways to Buy Everything You Need for Your Big Day
Kacey Mya

Weddings don’t have to cost the amount of buying an organ off the black market. Keep your money in your pocket and put it toward what really counts by getting a little unconventional with your planning and purchases.

The average wedding costs $35,329 — which is the modest income many had. For a wedding, the sticker prices are steep. Understandably, more couples opt for the simple and unconventional when securing everything they need for their Big Day. Here are a few pro tips to get electric and put money toward the dream details of your wedding with a little out-of-the-box thinking.

1. Avoid a Saturday Wedding

Saturday is the most popular day to have a wedding, but you can save a few thousand by picking a different day. Do a Friday or a Sunday. Start by asking what percentage less the other days of the week run for and dare to be more nontraditional — especially if you want a simple wedding. Consider this if your budget is stretched and you still want a shot at your dream venue.

A Wednesday may prove difficult for folks to get off, but if they don’t have to travel far, the savings and fun may add up to an incredible memory with less fuss.

2. Get Hitched at the Courthouse

If the venue doesn’t matter, take your wedding to the courthouse. The paperwork is right there, and you dot your I’s and cross your T’s without risk of any pesky mistakes. Take the pressure off creating a fairy tale, get hitched at the courthouse, and focus your budget on the reception and honeymoon.

A courthouse can also have a fancy feel. Look for historic courthouses with brilliant architecture in your area or state.

3. Find a Designer Gown at Trunk Shows

Trunk shows abound for local brands and designers to showcase their best, but designer gowns also travel by way of trunk shows to different towns. Locate a trunk show nearby to see what the designer offers in person. By doing such, you may be able to find a gown in a more comfortable price range, since many shows offer discounts on designer labels, special offers, and limited-edition designs if you get your dress there.

4. Get Eclectic with Food for Less

Your menu options hold more than fish and chicken. Get really country and roast a hog or make your own pulled pork with folks bringing their own sides. BBQ is a cinch to do, and people with all kinds of diets love it — it’s all in the sauces, anyway. Make a delicious and unique cider BBQ sauce by tossing your favorite cider in a pan with other traditional ingredients and letting it simmer. It’s great on a veggie burger or chicken, too. Build a bonfire for the atmosphere as well as roast s’mores!

You can always order BBQ from a local joint and feed a large number of people for a few hundred. Still want chicken? Pick up some fried chicken and make your own sides.

Stop peeling back your savings and go grab a few bags of potatoes instead. Create a light meal with a loaded baked potato bar and all kinds of toppings available. Say buh-bye to the catering bill to focus on your dream cake or pick up a simple one you like at the store with a few embellishments.

5. Replace Cake with Mini Desserts

Invoke childhood nostalgia and whimsy by creating a cookies-and-milk bar at your wedding. Order a few varieties of cookies from your grocery store bakery with chocolate and white milk on hand. Get two cute cupcakes or a small cake for yourselves and call it an epic and affordable wedding day.

Seal the day with something sweet and nice for your guests — that doesn’t have to mean expensive cake. Replace cake with stylish mini desserts for major budget and taste wins. Hello, mini pies! Those would fit in perfectly with a cute country theme.

Stop coloring inside the lines of what you think a traditional wedding should feel and look like — this is your wedding! That means you can get as eclectic, weird and unconventional as you want to buy everything you need for your wedding for less without skipping the dream details on your preferred wants in many cases.

Get hitched in your style. After all, it’s the memories that count — make the most of your day with the help of a little ingenuity and loved ones.


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.