Eight Tips to a Great Wedding on a budget

Wedding costs these days can easily run into the tens of thousands, but what if you don’t want to saddle yourself with a huge debt at the start of married life?

I decided to keep our wedding budget to a minimum and spend the money on an amazing honeymoon instead. Not only was our honeymoon unforgettable, but our wedding (on a budget) was amazing too.

Maybe I can help you with a few tips…

Tip 1 – Keep it Simple

Your family and guests are there to see you and your partner enjoy a happy day, maybe also catch up with some old friends and relatives, they are really not concerned with the cost of the petit fours.

Tip 2 – Call in the favours

Who in your circle of family and friends has any specific talents that could help you out; can anyone make your cake, help with flowers?

For my wedding, my Mum made me a lovely simple white two-tiered square fruitcake, which we decorated with rose buds and ivy from the front garden of my family home. It looked great, tasted great, cost virtually nothing and felt special with meaningful touches of flowers and ivy from the garden.

Image from Sugar Plum Bakes

Another university friend who was a photographer took all our photographs for the price of a hotel room for him and his girlfriend for the night of the wedding – a lot cheaper than a professional wedding photographer and the photographs are professional quality.

One of the best weddings I can remember attending was one set in a rural community, where everyone mucked in to prepare the food, decorate the venue and the evening do was a barn dance, in a proper cleared out farm barn, a fun and unforgettable day.

Image from Rock My Wedding

Make the most of the ‘natural decoration’ of the venue, a manor house with wood panelling, stags heads and oil paintings doesn’t need the addition of mountains of costly flowers. A rural barn can be beautifully attired with some tasteful bunting, tea lights in jars, posies of flowers or coloured bottles filled with twinkling fairy lights. There are many crafting websites which can give great ideas for simple, non-costly decorations.

Tip 3 – Keep it all in one place

Try to find a venue where you can ‘have it all’ – service, reception and evening event, this will cut transport costs and cut down on the stressful logistics of moving yourselves and your guests around. Not only will this cut costs, but from our experience people had a better time!

Tip 4 – Rent holiday accommodation

Accommodation in wedding venues and hotels can cost a fortune, whereas sites such as AirBnB and Holiday Lettings give you an amazing place to stay at a fraction of the price.

Tip 5 – Print your own

For invitation cards, menu cards and place cards – simply print your own, there are many packages online that you can use to print them yourself, easily and cheaply.

Tip 6 – Buy a cancelled wedding

Buy a cancelled wedding from someone like cancelledweddings.co.uk – yes, that’s right, you can save a fortune by buying a wedding package that’s been cancelled!

Tip 7 – Buy a dress that is not a “wedding dress”

The word wedding immediately adds £££ to the price of a dress, but you do not need to. Some of the large High Street retailers, like Next stock a range of beautiful, elegant, stylish dresses, which start at less than £100.00 and no more than £600.00, considerably less than a bespoke designer dress, remember it’s only going to be worn once.

Tip 8 – Don’t get sucked into the wedding ‘thing’

Don’t get sucked in… There is a myriad of ways to spend a fortune on everything from bespoke acceptance cards to dresses, try to keep in mind what the day is about, and that it is only one day.

The best weddings I’ve been too were where people happy and relaxed, invariably the weddings that cost less!
So make it fun – challenge yourself to get value for money and see how far your budget can go….., and why not have an amazing honeymoon instead – I’ll never forget our three week trip to New Zealand paid for by the savings from our wedding.

This post was contributed by Abigail Monk, a recommended supplier for rustic accommodation. We loved Abi’s budget, rustic wedding tips and are delighted she offered to share with NRW’s readers. We know you’ll also adore Abi’s accommodation, Alber Barn in Ashwell, Hertfordshire – there are beams galore! It’s the perfect place to relax after any local wedding celebrations or just to get away with your family and friends for a week.