How to Plan Your Wedding on a Budget
Your wedding is an important day. Everyone is aware of how much money people often spend to get the wedding of their dreams, but not everything is necessary to create a beautiful wedding. If you find your budget lower than desired, there are a few things you can cut back on to keep your costs down.
Forget the Program
A beautiful printed program can be a great keepsake for you and your guests alike, but it isn’t truly necessary. Most weddings follow a fairly standard procedure and require little, if any, audience participation. Therefore, these programs aren’t really necessary and will keep your costs down by not only eliminating buying the blank programs, but also in their printing costs.
Ask a Friend to Play Photographer
People own more professional cameras than ever before. If you have a friend who has a flare for photography, consider asking him or her to serve as your photographer for the day. You can pay a friend a much smaller fee than a traditional photographer and pay only what you need to order the prints you want. Many photo printing sites offer amazing deals that will lower your photo costs.
Don’t Customize Everything
It may be tempting to order the personalized napkins, match books and everything else you see at big, fancy weddings, but it’s not really necessary. In general, people are going to remember your wedding as a whole. Therefore, you don’t have to personalize absolutely everything to make your wedding truly you. Personalize your favors and leave the rest to your general color theme.
Be Your Own DJ
If you own a decent sound system or your venue provides one, you don’t need to spend money on hiring a professional DJ or live band. They can offer a lot of fun extras, but an outgoing friend in your group can often do the same things. Before your wedding, put together a playlist of all your favorites. Even if you still have to purchase some of the music or pay for a subscription to a music streaming service, it will cost significantly less than working with a DJ or live band.
