How can I have an inexpensive wedding? Honeymoon ideas?
By
Mommy
My fiancee and I are getting married in a little over 8 months but have hit a problem with him recently being laid off when he had a much bigger income than I do. We do not want to postpone the wedding; we are ready to be married and start a family! I already bought my wedding gown and veil, but that is all we have paid for so far. I do know that going buffet style with the reception helps, but what else can we do? I know that all of my bridesmaids (there are 5 of them) want to have their hair professionally done for the wedding; do I have to pay for that or is that for them to pay for? I also know that hair dressers I’ve spoken to do not like doing more than the bride’s and one or two more person’s hair because it’s too much. I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place here!
Also, we wanted to do a cruise to the Caribbean for our honeymoon but I’m thinking that we’d have to book now and that’s a few thousand dollars with the cost per person and the suite, unless someone knows of any deals for it to be cheaper and we still have to get passports and whatnot. Is there another honeymoon idea that is cheaper but still romantic and enjoyable? Is going to Hawaii cheaper?
13 Comments
November 21st, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Just try to spend less find the best deals!
Answer mine pretty please with a cherry on top
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081001014649AAIRA8F&r=w
November 21st, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Make as much as you can from scratch!
For my wedding I’m making the cake! My eventually husbands making an ice sculpture. The centerpieces and favors will be made too!!
You see, I don’t want a perfect wedding. When you don’t try for a perfect wedding it most likely will be! Laugh off anything silly that happens!
That said, tell your bridesmaids that you would like them to do their hair very simple (like crimpy, etc) and that if they want it professionally done they will have to pay for it themselves.
November 21st, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Since financial circumstances have changed, so do other things need to change. Inform the bridesmaids, change that attire to something cheaper. Have them all wear their hair long with ribbons, all in one color dress (they pick their own clothes) they can match by wearing a piece that ties them all together like a corsage. Go somewhere outdoors like a large backyard. Do not invite 100 people, invite 20 or so. Do not take a trip on your honeymoon, wait until you have that kind of money. If you spend money you dont have right off the bat, you’re going to put yourself in financial trouble right off the bat. Financial ruin is no place to bring a child into. If you really want to go cheap, go to the courthouse and marry as planned. However have a second ceremony when you’re more financially stable. You can stay on birth control until the second ceremony to ensure you keep your figure for the big day, the day where everyone see’s how beautiful you are
November 21st, 2009 at 9:42 pm
One of the most expensive parts of a wedding is the Food, I suggest you cut down as much as you can on your wedding guest list.. I am in the same boat as you, I have been with my fiance for 6 years and have always postponed the idea of getting married because of the cost. However we don’t want to wait any longer and so we set our budget to $5,000…$8,000 the most. I decided that i’m going to make my own centerpieces, buy the flowers separate and make my bouquets, boutonniere, and decorations myself with the help of family members. And for the Honeymoon we decided to do Puerto Vallarta, which we’ve heard is GORGEOUS.. i was looking into flights and hotel fees and it’s no more than $300 for 3-4 nights in a 5 star hotel.. About the bridesmaids, they should pay for their own hair especially if they’re being so picky about where to have it done. Well if you have anymore questions, feel free to message me.. Good Luck!!
November 21st, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Since you have already bought the dress, that is one expense you can’t get out of. I commonly recommend getting a very nice white dress you can actually use again – formal, not ballroom style.
If your bridesmaids are really your friends, they will stand up for you without doing their hair commercially and buying them matching dresses. If you were going to fly them in and keep them overnight, then abandon that or house them “sleepover” style.
If you are still hanging on to “a few thousand dollars” honeymoon then you need to back way off – a shorter cruise with tickets bought at the right time (which may not be way in advance) should get the cost down well under $1000.
The last church wedding I went to, with the nice Catholic church and fancy dress was decorated by the family of the bride and the reception was held in a VFW hall with the food brought in by family and friends, pot luck style, with a nice but not huge wedding cake.
November 21st, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Design your own bouquet and flowers for the girls. And no you do not pay for their hair being fixed, as with their dresses that is their responsibility unless your asking for a specific style. I would just ask them to either all wear their hair up or have them all wear it down.
For food buffet would be best and crazy as it sounds there is always a few family members who feel left out of the wedding, put them to good use have them each cook and bring a great dish! Sort of Potluck style. And remember the cake doesn’t have to be special ordered. I had a beautiful cake and honestly I made it myself. I bought the 3 different sized cake pans for a total of $40 dollars at a craft store and used Betty Crocker cake mix and icing, plain white. Then I bought real roses in the color of my wedding which was purple. I cut the stem really short on the roses and wrapped the stem in syran wrap. I then inserted them periodically in my cake for a decorative touch with a bit of babies breath. It was lovely.
Chose a small location with natural beauty that you can enhance with as little fuss as possible. Gardens, old antebellum houses, large wrap around porches all of these can be great back drops and require so little sprucing up. Places like Party City or any equivalent usually have sales on wedding items this time of year since it is sort of off season for weddings. Also for tule or other decorative items go to your local craft stores with coupons clipped form the paper each week to get 20 to 40% off items to decorate with.
As for your Honey moon. Most travel agents offer payment plans where you put down a small deposit and then pay off the rest in increments. But if a change of Venue is needed then yes there are many beautiful alternatives. There is a beautiful old Castle in California with gorgeous Bed and Breakfast inns with room service. Or you could just go to a snug cozy cabin with a fire place and jacuzzi in any state or city away from home. Honestly any place where you can be alone in a beautiful environment with the one you love is plenty romantic you will see!
Hope this helps! I have tons of ideas to help you if you want to email me =)
November 21st, 2009 at 11:03 pm
My husband and I made plans to get married and what started out as a simple wedding of about 20 people blossomed into closer to 300. I kinda freaked out so instead, because I grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida, we had a barefoot on the sand beach wedding with just immediate family and friends. It was quiet and simple.
As for a reception, I did not want one. We instead bought a book we both thought hilarious (Lady Cottingtons Squashed Fairy Book) and had guests sign it. Our wedding cake was small petit-four cakes.
We have been married 2 and a half years and still have not had a ‘real’ honeymoon as of yet. Instead, the money we have saved moved my daughter and me from Florida to England, UK, where my husband is from. We take weekend trips to Stonehenge and castles and places that blow my mind. We are planning a trip to Europe soon.
SO going cheap cheap…I think we take the cake! All told I think our wedding with everything has been under 2 grand…but that does include passport/visa’s and wedding license and everything else.
Just remember..this is YOUR day…do what YOU want.
Cheers and good luck!
November 21st, 2009 at 11:17 pm
With our wedding, the bridesmaids took care of their own hair and makeup. I got a deal with a hairdresser to come to us and a couple of the bridesmaids chipped in for it. We also had some friends of ours get married recently who said not to get them any presents but instead pay for your own meal, this worked out really well.. The trick is to be creative, don’t be scared of bending tradition to suit yourselves.
I also used heaps of coupons and discounts for the things that I did have to buy. Try places like this, every bit helps…
http://thebargainsites.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=12&Itemid=1
November 21st, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Look at honeymoons that are off season… I know it sounds a bit dull but it’ll be less busy so you can enjoy your own space without hordes of tourists. Just make sure you don’t hit a rainy season. We went to Thailand for ours last month and it was apparently rainy season but it was fine most of the time (the travel agent failed to tell us it was rainy season, despite putting us off going to Cuba for the same reason!). But if your wedding is in July be very careful because July and September can be really wet months, like 70% chance of rain it said. Consider what you want out of the honeymoon, you may find after the stresses of a wedding that you just want to relax, chill, beach it, drink lots and sleep in the sun all day – we did!!
I understand that July can be quite rough weather in the Caribbean too but check that for yourself, this is why we were limited to our choices for August.
As for the whole reception, ours came to around £7000 (not including honeymoon) which is around $13,000 or thereabouts but we could’ve done it for a fraction of that easily if we’d just put the word out of the date and venue and hired a cheap (some places in England are free actually) function room above a pub. That’s what my workmate did and he had some of his family prepare a huge finger buffet of sausage rolls, corned beef pie, crisps (potato chips lol) etc. etc. and he spent less than £1000. From my point of view the £6000 difference could’ve been spent on a house or my car lol but my dear wife wanted it to be special and -hopefully- it will only be done once so I agreed to go all out. But I advise that you don’t spend more than you can reasonably afford – not good starting married life in debt!
If you’re expected to pay for the five bridesmaids hair: assert yourself and tell them you’ll pay X amount at a certain hairdressers and if they want extra then they’ll have to pay for it themselves. If they’re worthy of being your bridesmaids they should understand or perhaps even pay for it themselves. I know that my wife actually had to pay for the bridesmaid dress herself when she was bridesmaid a couple years ago which she willingly did so its not unheard of.
As for your fiance, when it comes to getting a suit I recommend hiring as opposed to buying as that will save some money. I have been best man six times and paid for my own suit hire every time so he ought to expect that from his best man too.
Really try and budget – if you can save a reasonable proportion of your wages each month then get it straight into a savings account and don’t touch it for anything other than the wedding – be disciplined with it!! And encourage your fiance to find more work, any work so long as you achieve your target amount that’s what matters.
I think that’s all, try http://www.hitched.co.uk for further assistance (plus great help on other areas, like the speech or a typical itinerary/reminders… it reminded me to get flowers for the brides mother, life saver!!!!)
Hope this helps, whatever the case may be, it’s YOUR day and nobody else’s so you do what you think is best and don’t be competing with what someone else had at their wedding. Besides, as everybody was telling me, it really goes by so quickly, I couldn’t believe it!! All the best for your future together,
Jay Jay
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:19 am
Cost cutting ideas . .
Get married in the morning and then follow your morning ceremony with a breakfast or brunch. Breakfast is ALWAYS the least expensive meal to serve your guests PLUS you will not have to serve alcoholic beverages except for a champagne toast to the Bride and Groom.
Cut your guest list by 25% . . 50% . . or 75%. Eliminate all the people that you have not seen or talked to in the last two years. Eliminate all the children under 12 years old. Only invite the co-workers that you socialize with “after working hours.” Everytime you add a name to your guest list “the cash register rings” and YOU pay!
Only have ONE FLOWER bouquets or centerpieces. All roses . . all daisies . . or all carnations. When you order a bouquet or centerpiece the florist will put other flowers with them, and then you have a mixed bouquet. And every additional flower will increase the cost of your centerpiece or bouquet.
Eliminate “wedding day accessories” like printed napkins . . Unity candle sets . . flower girl baskets . . ring bearer pillows . . guest books . . and table favors.
Only have a dessert reception or a wedding cake and punch reception.
Do not serve alcoholic beverages. Wedding guests love FREE liquor and they will drink and drink and drink at your expensive. So either eliminate all alcoholic drinks OR just serve beer or red/white wine.
Buffets ARE NOT the least expensive way to treat your guests. Buffets are based on QUANTITY and sit-down dinners are based on QUALITY. A $39.95 per person sit-down dinner is a better quality meal than a $39.95 per person buffet.
Have your reception in your back yard or someone else’s backyard or at a picnic pavilion in a park. You can’t beat barbequed chicken with potato salad and macaroni salad with lemonade/iced tea. Keep your menu simple.
In response to your attendants getting their hair done . . if YOU, the Bride, would to treat them that’s fine BUT it is not your responsibility to pay for their hair or nails to be done. Have your attendants go to a BIG salon where a large group of people can be handled very easily. I’ve seen 15-20 members of a wedding party walk into a beauty salon together on a Saturday morning with no problem. And if you don’t have a BIG salon in your community then go to two or three different small salons.
There are always DEALS on the internet for cruises and honeymoons (for three days or five days or for seven days). And if you do not want to go through the expense and time of getting a passport then pick someone else that has a tropical or beach setting in your own country. Or go someplace during the “off season” when the rates of much lower.
Answered by: A Certified wedding specilist / A Professional bridal consultant / A Wedding ceremony officiant
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:51 am
You are not obligated to pay for anything for the bridesmaids attire or grooming. You should pay for a small attendant gift, but that’s all.
With regard to the other costs, here are some suggestions I have for making your reception nice, but keeping the costs down.
I would go the DIY invitations route with sets from Target, Michaels, etc. You can get really elegant looking ones for super cheap. Then you can print them yourself on your home computer and they look great. You can dress them up by buying an old wax set and do seals. Or you could but some sort of stamp or cut out and really get creative.
For flowers, I would think about getting a really simple glass bowl from Michaels, Wal Mart, Target, Ikea and then buy flowers yourself in bulk. Sam’s Club allows you to buy flowers in bulk and have them delivered. Or you can go the morning of the wedding to Costco, Wal Mart, etc. and buy tons of roses in different colors. Fill the bowls with water and cut off the rose buds and fill the water with floating rose buds.
I’d buy cheap organza overlays for each reception table. You can get em on ebay for $8/each and they really dress up a table/room.
I would buy CHEAPO ribbon from Michaels or JoAnne’s and then tie it around each napkin at your reception. It adds a ton of color and is a great personal touch without being too expensive.
I would use an IPOD instead of hiring a DJ. I would look around at local design schools or art schools and see if you can find an inexpensive photographer. If you can’t afford the buffet, try doing “heavy appetizers.” That could save tons of moola!
That’s all I have for now – hope that helps!
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:04 am
For inexpensive wedding jewelry and accesories, you may want to check out http://www.glamforless.com.
December 21st, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Hi,
I would check with my parents or his for help, first make a draft budget so you know what you need than see if you can reach that goal.
But anyways it`s not that what`s important, the getting married part is… I would get married in Vegas with no one there, just that my wife was…
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