The most exciting time of a woman’s life is saying “I do” to the love of their life. I love to attend weddings to see loved-up couples and enjoy the food too. What are the best frugal wedding ideas on a budget? How do I locate low-budget wedding venues near me to cut costs yet have a beautiful wedding?
Your wedding is the best day of your life. So, you want to make that day special. You need not go broke to make your day memorable for you, family and friends. A lot goes into planning a wedding as well as honey moon.
According to an article on Forbes, a wedding of 150 guests will cost you about $27000 to plan. That’s a lot, right? How do you plan the best wedding on a budget? This is super easy to achieve if you follow these tips to cut costs and make your big day memorable. Here is how to plan the best frugal or cheap wedding for your day.
Have a wedding budget
Do you have a picture of your dream wedding? Great, the next step is how much will the wedding cost to plan? You need to have the wedding budget talk with your partner. You may not realize how much your desired wedding may take from your bank balance. Moreover, a budget breakdown will help you know how much it will cost you to plan your wedding.
Also, it will help you cut down on unnecessary spending. For example you can choose to invite your friends via mail or word of mouth and ditch the printing Invite cards. You can also skip the use of the menu or program of the day too. So, to have a frugal wedding, have a budget and keep to it.
You cannot execute your frugal wedding ideas without knowing what your budget is. A budget is a must-do before planning a cheap yet classy wedding idea on a budget.
Ask for help from your friends with planning
Whether you’re planning a cheap wedding or a destination wedding, the whole process can be overwhelming. However, instead of using a wedding planner, ask for help from your friends and family.
You can ask your friends to handle the decorations, the planning, shopping, and other details that go into wedding plans. In this way, you get to save on hiring a wedding planner. Another thing you can get your friends to do is to take pictures of you during your wedding.
If you can get a free lance photographer to capture some special moments. However, your friends may capture great moments on your special day that a photographer may miss. Thankfully, we all have mobile phones, so anyone can take pictures of you.
You can have your friends share these pictures with you after the wedding. One way to do that is by using a wedding photo-sharing app. This app makes it easy to collect all these pictures. All you have to do is to send an invite to your guest to share photos of you along with the wedding Invite. You can choose to print them or just make a photo album of these pictures.
Shop during big sales
Another way how to plan the best frugal wedding is to opt to shop for your dress during huge sales. You can get the best deals from stores during their sales or black Friday sales. I love to shop during huge sales because I get to save on my hauls.
So, to get cheap wedding décor, opt to shop it during sales. Also, you can shop for wedding dresses that don’t scream wedding. Shop for dresses that you can wear after your wedding day. Most of us have wedding dresses that we wore just once.
These dresses are probably stored up at the bottom of our closet after our special day. So, to save on your wedding dress, opt for dresses that you can wear after that day.
Also, you can choose to rent your dress instead of buying. I love this option. It is obviously cheaper to rent a wedding dress than buying one. So, to cut the costs of your wedding dress, rent instead of buying a new dress. This is one of the best frugal wedding ideas to know. Rent your dress and have a cheap wedding on a budget.
If you can do it yourself
You can have the best wedding on a budget by doing things yourself. There are so many things you can choose to do yourself instead of outsourcing it. For example, you can choose to do your make-up yourself.
Many of us on a normal day have full kit of makeup we use. Instead of paying for a make-up artist, do your own makeup.
Another thing you do is to make your hair yourself. For inspiration on hairstyles to do, check out these prom hair styles. This will also save you money and time from booking a session with your hairstylist. So if you need the best frugal wedding ideas, ditch a stylist and do your own hair & makeup. Or better still, get a sibling who can do a good job for you on a low budget.
Opt for unconventional wedding venues
Another of the best frugal wedding ideas is to opt for cheap destination weddings. You can choose to ditch renting a hall and have your wedding at the park. I love parks a lot. Moreover, some parks have facilities you can use to host your guest. This will cost you cheaper than renting a wedding hall.
Also, you choose to have your wedding at a beach front. I know most private beaches may cost you a lot. However, you can have your wedding on a regular beach. You can book to use your regular beaches for your wedding.
Another great option of the best frugal wedding ideas is to host your guest at home if you have a big home or your home yard. I had my wedding engagement party in my home with my family and friends. So, I didn’t have to pay to rent a hall for it.
Honeymoon at an Airbnb
Opting to have your honeymoon at an Airbnb. This is a great option for the best frugal wedding ideas to do. Most couples prefer to have lavish honey money in a resort or luxury hotel. This can be super expensive.
So, if you’re looking for cheap places to get married and honeymoon, opt for an Airbnb. You can get an affordable entire apartment for your wedding. This you can use to host your guest and honeymoon after dispersing them.
The perks of Airbnb are that you get to have a feel of home and cook your meals. Also, you can order meals while you are at the Airbnb throughout your honeymoon. However, I will recommend cooking your meals if you can to cut down on the wedding cost. For things to do for your honey moon, you can read my post on 12 best staycation ideas for when you can’t travel.
Other tips for planning a wedding on a budget
The above will help you have the best wedding on a budget. However, these tips will come in handy too.
- Limit your guest list: Invite only people you want to be with you on your special day. Not everyone needs to attend your wedding. You can limit your guest to about 100 people. Also, you can choose to insist on an invite-only to limit the amount of plus one invites.
- Opt for buffet: Have a buffet for your guest. This is quite cheap as you have several options and they get to choose their meals. This is unlike having a specific dish and serving people. One it saves you money on getting servers and reduces food wastage.
- Use fake flowers for you and your little bride. Fresh flowers have a short life span and can be expensive too. So, opt to use fake flowers as they are cheaper.
- Start planning early
- Opt to have your wedding off-peak season.