- Cake: Keeping up with this tradition can be a major expense but there are ways to cut back on costs. First, select a smaller cake for "the display" and use pre-cut sheet cake to serve to guests. Second, choose buttercream instead of fondant frosting. Not only is it cheaper, it tastes much better! Another option would be to just do a dessert bar, skipping the cake all-together. I’ve heard of people using cupcakes or even miniature pies along with desserts made by family and friends. This adds a personal touch to the event and a down-home feel while keeping some cash in your pockets.
- Invitations: For all you craft-bugs, there are endless options for making your own invitations, RSVPs, Save the Dates, etc. (I'll talk more about this in a future entry since my sister and I plan to take on this task for her wedding). Another way to save costs on your invitations is to use postcards for reply cards ilo a card with an envelope. Not only do you save the cost of the extra envelope, but you avoid paying extra postage (postcard stamps are cheaper!). Also, avoid square invites or mail them in rectangular envelopes since squares envelopes require additional postage.
- Photographer: One of my rules is to never skimp on photography. However, there are many talented photographers out there who may not be well known...yet. Before making your final photographer selection, check out local photography/art schools and assistant photographers to larger named professionals. You may find a perfect photograher at a great price since some of these individuals are working to put a professional portfolio together and are willing to work for less to pull it together. I would have them take a few shots of you and your fiance as well as show you photos they have taken at other events and of people to give you an idea of the quality of their work and style before hiring them however.
- When - Day of the Week or Time of the Year: Who says you have to stick with tradition? Many venues will offer deals if you hold your event on a Friday night -or- Sunday Brunch. Also, selecting off-months (i.e. October thru April) and avoiding holidays and major flower holidays (Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, etc) should result in lower rental fees.
- More Fillers, Fewer Flowers: Besides not picking to have your wedding during major flower holidays, utilize the use of pretty fillers instead of flower-rich arrangements. I have seen some beautiful arrangements done with branches or leafy greens. It also helps to select locally grown flowers that are in season.
- Multi-Purpose: Think about making your decorations work double-shifts. For example, bouquets carried by your bridesmaids become part of centerpieces, favors and place cards become one in the same, etc.
- Bar Saver: First of all, if you're able to find a place that allows you to supply your own alcohol, you're going to save a ton of money (venue mark-ups are huge!). Second, stick to beer and wine and add a "signature" drink instead of having a fully stocked bar.
Showing posts with label Budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Budget. Show all posts
Monday, March 16, 2009
Budget Saving Tips
We all know weddings can be expensive! But if you get creative, there are many ways you can shrink your spending without compromising the experience both you and your guests have at your once-in-a-lifetime affair. Here are some ideas:
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
We're getting Married!!! OMG - Where do I even begin?
ESTABLISHING A BUDGET
The most important thing to do before even starting to plan your wedding is to set your budget. Why? Establishing a budget helps keep you grounded as to what you can actually afford -and- it also gives you a good idea of how much something may cost...so you have a baseline price to reference when selecting vendors, etc.
There are what seem like millions of wedding websites out there. So many in fact, most newly engaged gals must feel totally overwhelmed by the information overload. And although many of these sites offer tools for the bride, the focus of this post is to determine which wedding site is the best for budget planning. First, I searched the web to see which planning sites were mentioned the most ofen and then I created my own account on each of those sites. The sites I tested included: The Knot, The Wedding Channel, Get Married, Wedding Wire, Martha Stewart Weddings, EZ Wedding Planner, One Wed, and Brides.com.
The WINNER(s): Wedding Wire - This site is the big winner when it comes to budgeting. The nice thing is Martha Stewart Weddings actually uses Wedding Wire's tool so you can choose from either site to get the benefits. Using the tool is easy. Once you put in your overall target, it will calculate estimations for line item costs. And the it allows you to change these estimations - in case you're a DIY bride and want to do some things youself to save cost or want to splurge on some other item. Besides these features, this tool lets you to add line items, and insert and track the actual cost, amount paid, and date due for each expense. You can also insert and track responsible payer, amount still due, payment date, and type of payment. The only thing it seems to be missing is for you to track your number of guests/attendants to determine per/head costs which can be handy when selecting a caterer.
The Knot - The Knot's big plus is their payment tracking system where you can track deposit, second, and final payments for items including amount, due date, payment date, and form of payment. It also allows you to add payments due to a checklist, and e-mail yourself a reminder within a certain timeframe of the due date (ex/ 1 week before the payment is due). Like Wedding Wire/Martha Stewart Weddings, you can add items. However, the big negative I found is that although it gives you an estimate of how much things should cost there's no way to modify the estimated number. This can be a problem when you want to truly customize how much you want to spend on each item.
Brides - Brides.com's budget planner is in Beta format so it probably doesn't have all of the features the site plans to incorporate into the final version. The tool is a good start, but not worth the hassle. First, you have to add each line item youself (which requires using another site to come up with the basic items) and due to this fact, it doesn't give you an automatic estimate of what the items will cost based. Overall Brides Beta is not very useful to use as a planning tool - just a tracking tool. It does have a per head estimate and invited vs actually attending price which is something I think all of the sites should add.
Get Married - This site's budgeting tool does have the nice enhancements of tips for each expense item and a video for some of them. However, like Brides.com, it does not give you a baseline estimated price (you put it in yourself) and all you can track are estimated cost, actual cost, delta to budget, amount paid and amount due.
EZ Wedding Planner - EZ Wedding Planner is straight forward. However, it lacks any sort of eye candy, can be a pretty cluttered site, and doesn't have enhanced tools like the other bridal sites. Also, I couldn't figure out how to change the budget - it automatically gave me a budget of $17400? Out of all of the tools, I scored this one the lowest.
One Wed - Does not appear to have any sort of budget tracking tool. I'll check it out again when it comes to creating a wedding website for your friends/family to get all of your wedding details.
The main issue most of these budget planning sites had was none of them listed who traditionally pays for what items or was a line-item added for designating who is paying (it may have been in another area on the site, just not mentioned on the budget planning sheet). Granted, trends are changing and some brides and grooms are paying for their own weddings. However, if you want to see who typically pays for various pieces of the wedding, Wed Alert.com posted an article written by Kristin Oiam. Here is a condensed exerpt from her article describing who traditionally is responsible for what expenses:
The most important thing to do before even starting to plan your wedding is to set your budget. Why? Establishing a budget helps keep you grounded as to what you can actually afford -and- it also gives you a good idea of how much something may cost...so you have a baseline price to reference when selecting vendors, etc.
There are what seem like millions of wedding websites out there. So many in fact, most newly engaged gals must feel totally overwhelmed by the information overload. And although many of these sites offer tools for the bride, the focus of this post is to determine which wedding site is the best for budget planning. First, I searched the web to see which planning sites were mentioned the most ofen and then I created my own account on each of those sites. The sites I tested included: The Knot, The Wedding Channel, Get Married, Wedding Wire, Martha Stewart Weddings, EZ Wedding Planner, One Wed, and Brides.com.
The WINNER(s): Wedding Wire - This site is the big winner when it comes to budgeting. The nice thing is Martha Stewart Weddings actually uses Wedding Wire's tool so you can choose from either site to get the benefits. Using the tool is easy. Once you put in your overall target, it will calculate estimations for line item costs. And the it allows you to change these estimations - in case you're a DIY bride and want to do some things youself to save cost or want to splurge on some other item. Besides these features, this tool lets you to add line items, and insert and track the actual cost, amount paid, and date due for each expense. You can also insert and track responsible payer, amount still due, payment date, and type of payment. The only thing it seems to be missing is for you to track your number of guests/attendants to determine per/head costs which can be handy when selecting a caterer.
The Knot - The Knot's big plus is their payment tracking system where you can track deposit, second, and final payments for items including amount, due date, payment date, and form of payment. It also allows you to add payments due to a checklist, and e-mail yourself a reminder within a certain timeframe of the due date (ex/ 1 week before the payment is due). Like Wedding Wire/Martha Stewart Weddings, you can add items. However, the big negative I found is that although it gives you an estimate of how much things should cost there's no way to modify the estimated number. This can be a problem when you want to truly customize how much you want to spend on each item.
Brides - Brides.com's budget planner is in Beta format so it probably doesn't have all of the features the site plans to incorporate into the final version. The tool is a good start, but not worth the hassle. First, you have to add each line item youself (which requires using another site to come up with the basic items) and due to this fact, it doesn't give you an automatic estimate of what the items will cost based. Overall Brides Beta is not very useful to use as a planning tool - just a tracking tool. It does have a per head estimate and invited vs actually attending price which is something I think all of the sites should add.
Get Married - This site's budgeting tool does have the nice enhancements of tips for each expense item and a video for some of them. However, like Brides.com, it does not give you a baseline estimated price (you put it in yourself) and all you can track are estimated cost, actual cost, delta to budget, amount paid and amount due.
EZ Wedding Planner - EZ Wedding Planner is straight forward. However, it lacks any sort of eye candy, can be a pretty cluttered site, and doesn't have enhanced tools like the other bridal sites. Also, I couldn't figure out how to change the budget - it automatically gave me a budget of $17400? Out of all of the tools, I scored this one the lowest.
One Wed - Does not appear to have any sort of budget tracking tool. I'll check it out again when it comes to creating a wedding website for your friends/family to get all of your wedding details.
The Wedding Channel - This website appears to have a budgeting tool but after I logged in and then clicked on budget, it asked me to log in again and wouldn't let me in. After multiple attempts and then re-visiting the e-mail that confirmed I was entering the correct name/password, I got frustrated with it and gave up. If anyone has used it for budgeting, feel free to add your experience in the comments section.
WHO PAYS FOR WHAT?The main issue most of these budget planning sites had was none of them listed who traditionally pays for what items or was a line-item added for designating who is paying (it may have been in another area on the site, just not mentioned on the budget planning sheet). Granted, trends are changing and some brides and grooms are paying for their own weddings. However, if you want to see who typically pays for various pieces of the wedding, Wed Alert.com posted an article written by Kristin Oiam. Here is a condensed exerpt from her article describing who traditionally is responsible for what expenses:
- THE BRIDE - Wedding ring+ wedding gift for the groom, Party or luncheon + gifts for attendants, lodging for out-of-town attendants
- THE GROOM - Engagement + wedding rings + wedding gift for the bride, legal documents/marriage license, honeymoon, transportation, lodging for out-of-town attendants
- THE BRIDESMAIDS and MAID OF HONOR - Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Party, Wedding Attire/Accessories
- THE GROOMSMEN and BEST MAN - Bachelor Party, Wedding Attire
- PARENTS OF THE GROOM - Rehearsal Dinner, Post-Wedding Brunch
- PARENTS OF THE BRIDE - Reception (music, flowers, food, bar, gratuities), Bride's Gown, all other expenses
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