One of the first questions you’ll ask at the beginning of planning your wedding will definitely be: How much does a wedding cost? Great question, complicated answer – as much as you’re willing to pay for it.
The first step is to realize what type of wedding suits you best. Do you live your life in a minimalist way and love simple flowers and decorations? Or are you a lover of luxury and can't imagine a wedding without refined food and signature drinks? All these factors will affect the final price of your wedding.
I think it's very important to stay down-to-earth. If you receive a suspiciously low price offer from a wedding supplier, from my experience, it's better to find someone else. We all know that high-quality and reliable companies know their price. So how do you reduce the financial burden of your wedding? Try to think about some of these tips:
Number of guests.
When choosing the location, always ask for the maximum capacity of guests and the average cost per head. If you want to reduce the budget, cutting back on guests will be one of the easiest ways to do it. Usually, the price for food and drinks is 40-50% of the total budget.
Wedding date.
Believe it or not, the date matters. If you want to save some money, get married out of season, on the weekday or in the evening. For example, if you wanted to rent Chateau Mcely this year, you'd pay more than twice as much for the weekend in the summer than on the off-season weekday.
Food.
Since food can be a very pricey part of the wedding, a 'help-yourself" buffet might be the way to go. You can also think about the price of certain ingredients - instead of steak, order chicken, or use local and seasonal vegetables as a side dish.
Alcohol.
Booze plays a huge part in weddings, and it does come expensive. If the wedding venue allows you to bring your alcohol for a reasonable corkage fee, think about getting some low-price bottles of wine and liquors. In the evening, ask your planner to review how much has been spent on drinks or even consider placing an ‘honesty box’ on the bar. Some guests will for sure make contributions for drinks they get.
And which vendor is not worth saving on? If I can advise one - the photographer. All you'll have left from the wedding will be the rings and photos. The photographer has a very important and responsible role, yet extremely stressful. They're paid to capture one of the most important days in your life, the first kiss, the congratulations of your moved parents. And it's simply better to entrust this responsibility to a pro.
Even if your wedding budget has limitations, like most of them do, don't forget that your wedding should be all you dreamed of. If you want a wedding at the City Hall with two witnesses, that's completely fine. Don't do the wedding for the people around you, do it for yourself.