Great tips for saving on your wedding day

You wouldn’t believe the cost of the typical British wedding. At LEAST £18,000 apparently, and the figure is growing. What a scary concept!

You’ve just started your wedding journey and whilst it will be as fun as it is stressful, that sort of cost CAN be cut down if you know the way. The tricks of the trade are at your disposal:

Get yourself a planner

I know what you’re thinking; “but that will cost more!”

Not necessarily.

With the internet, wedding planners don’t just come in human form. In fact, they can be online and not cost you a penny.

With so many factors going into a wedding, a simple list often just doesn’t cut it. You need everything in front of you in a tidy super organisational fashion. Online, you can get tools such as Budget Tracking, Seating Planner and Guest Lists ready and waiting for you to take advantage of. With that scary £18,000 still running through your mind, the budget tracking in particular is ideal so why not try http://www.weddingsite.co.uk/tour/wedding-budget-planner. You can add your overall budget and get a breakdown of costs, customised categories prioritising those factors you find most important including surrounding events such as the hen do and honeymoon to help you plan to the minutest detail.

Call in your friends and family

Your friends and family are with you through thick and thin so call them in when you need an extra pair of hands! Everyone has that one or many talents that they can bring to the table; those cute little details you can include to make your wedding day complete. Whether your best friend is a talented illustrator handy at arts and crafts or your mum gives Jamie Oliver a serious run for his money, you will be surprised how much they can help and how much you can save from this. Here are a couple of categories you can enlist help or do it yourself:

• Invitations could have that personal edge saving you approximately £100.
• Buffet vs Three Course Meal; rather than opting for the three course meal where you know a fair bit will be going to waste, you could opt for a buffet that suits everyone. Three course meals can cost anything from £25 to nearly £100 per head. A buffet is a fraction of the price.
• With the flowers, if you’re a keen gardener or have a member of the family with green fingers, pick them yourself! This will mean you have a truly original arrangement as well.
• Transport; yes, it would be nice to roll up in a Rolls Royce but in hindsight, you could save a packet here by choosing for a lift with your old man instead of one trip where the guest can appreciate said transport for about ten minutes.

Prioritise!

There are so many varying factors to a wedding day. Is there anything you can put on the backburner? We would all love our dream wedding (no strings attached and limitless budget) but in reality, you will need to take a hard look and see exactly what you what you can afford and whether you can cut or remove certain features.

A really simple, if traditional, way to sort through what feels like an uphill battle is to write down all the categories you wish to include (from the rings to registry to food to transport) on separate cards and rate from most important. This will make it so much easier to assign appropriate budget that you will stick to as well.

Haggle!

Haggling isn’t just reserved for Only Fools And Horses. Us Brits hate to haggle. The very thought of it makes us feel nervous and clammy.

Whether it’s the venue, dress or something considerably smaller like the invitations, see if you can get even the minutest of discounts (everything makes a difference!) and if they absolutely can’t offer a discount? See what else you can get into the price. For example, with your party hall/room, are there any decorations the venue can add? This could be chair covers, a small buffet or even a free bar (for a limited time of course).