I can't quite believe that next month it would have been five years since I married my Husband Adam. I remember the day so well, it was one of the best days of my life, one that I think about over and over again. We were so incredibly lucky with the weather too, which was a good job really since our ceremony took place outside.
To pay for our big day we saved up over a period of time and I don't regret a single penny that we spent, which isn't to say that we spent a huge amount because we didn't. We in fact, made an effort to save money where we could because despite how amazing getting married is, it certainly isn't cheap! Below I have shared five ways that mean you can save money when planning your wedding day without having to totally compromise on what you have you and your partner may have your heart set on.
1. Look for a wedding dress in a sample sale
See the dress I'm wearing below on my wedding day? It was once a bit battered, slightly dirty, extremely oversized (as in it wouldn't stay up on me whatsoever!) ex try on dress in a bridal shop with beads missing and a different neckline!
I didn't start out to buy a sample dress, but when I saw it in a sample sale - a Benjamin Roberts, usually very expensive bridal gown, for so much less than it's usual price, I decided to give it a chance. I tried it on in the shop and it was clamped on me so that I could get an idea of what it would look like if it was my size and I ended up loving it and really seeing it's potential. Yes, some of the gowns beads were missing, it needed a lot of taking in and a really good wash, but the ladies assured me that these things were very easily fixed and very inexpensive to do.
I decided to get it - I had it cleaned, had it taken in to fit me perfectly, had some of the original beads sewn back on to it and I even changed the neckline to a sweetheart neckline and once that was finished, it was perfect - I loved it. It was just as good as if I had bought it new and I'd saved so much money!
So my first tip is never to be put off by sample sale wedding dresses, the dresses can be completely cleaned and fitted to you and you can save yourself so much by buying them instead of a full priced dress. (Another idea is to look on eBay for dresses and do the same.).
2. Send out Wedding RSVP's online
Rather than send out paper form wedding RSVP's and paying out for things like postage, consider sending them out online. By using online RSVP forms, you can find customisable wedding templates to simplify things and allow your guests to respond very easily online via their mobile or on a desktop. Take a look at this online wedding RSVP form to see what I mean.
3. Call in photo/video etc favours from friends/family
Though I personally think they're worth the money, wedding photographers can be pretty expensive, as can videographers. If you have someone in your family that's good with a camera maybe think about asking them to take a few photos on your big day instead of getting you a wedding present. On our wedding day, our photographer filmed bits of our day swell for us, but I also asked if my brother would mind capturing some video for us and he was really happy to do that for us. Asides from photo/video I was also really lucky in that my cousin is a talented florist, so she did our beautiful flowers for us. So if you know someone with a skill that you might require on the lead up to or on your big day, it can really be worth asking for a bit of help.
4. Dress up a friend/relatives smart-ish car as your wedding car
For us, nobody really ended up seeing our wedding car as everyone was seated by the time I arrived. I personally had never wanted to pay out to hire anything fancy as our wedding car, but I still wanted to have something special to travel to the ceremony in. My Step-Dad offered to drive me and him in his Vauxhall Insignia, so I bought a wedding car ribbon off of the Internet for not very much at all and once he'd given it a good clean and a wax and we'd added the ribbon on, it was perfect!
5. Consider doing your own makeup
As with all of these tips, these are all personal decisions, but personally, I didn't feel the need to hire somewhere to do my make up. I wanted to look like me on my wedding day and so for me, that meant I liked the idea of doing my own makeup and I'm so glad I chose to. I did pay someone to do my hair (my Auntie managed to haggle someone down to a really good price) because I'm not very good with hair and I wanted a few waves in it. But if you're on a budget and you feel you could do your own makeup and that you would be happy with it, I'd definitely advise saving some pennies there.
Hopefully you've found some of these ideas and some of my own experiences with saving money on the lead up to my wedding day useful. If you're already married: - How did you save money when planning your wedding?
- What do you wish you had done differently and saved money on?
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Thank you for reading. Alex xo
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