Hey guys. I have so many friends and family in the thick of wedding planning. My husband and I have been asked a few times about costs, where to cut costs, where to splurge, etc.
Average cost of weddings in the United States is about $33,000.00 per wedding. 74% of couples end up taking on some form of debt from the wedding. We did not use any loans or credit cards to pay for our wedding.
I should start with we had a lot of support from our family. We had many family members do a service or provide something for us as our wedding gifts. That for us really cut our costs. Without that I could not say for certain that we could have done it debt free. I am going to tell you how we saved up, cut costs, and where we splurged. This is going to be a case-by-case basis. We made choices based on what we wanted, you may do it your own way.
I was on pinterest like crazy. I pinned like my life depended on it. I used this as an inspiration board. I pinned everything, but had a secondary privaye board for anything that was actually wedding-worthy.
We got engaged in 2013 but didn't get married until 2016. In that time I had figured out what we wanted. We started saving up $50.00 out of each of our paychecks. We put them in an account that we didn't use regularly so it didn't get spent. Granted, sometimes we couldn't each put away $50 but more often than not we did.
My best friend Liz told me for her wedding she bought little things with every paycheck. Sometimes instead of putting away $50 we would buy something for the wedding. It's financially easier to spend $50 a week on a wedding essentials than dropping $2600.00 all at once.
Research. I did a lot of shopping online. I found what I wanted but I was not willing to buy anything if it was more than I wanted to pay. This may have resulted in me changing a few things a bit but I stayed true to my vision.
Planning. Once we figured out what we wanted, I figured out when everything would be on sale.
I knew I wanted lots of Christmas lights. When are Christmas lights on sale? After Christmas.
I had three years to buy up Clearance Christmas lights, and that is what I did.
My mother-in-law found mason jar glasses, vases, and drink dispensers with spouts at a garage sale for super cheap which was magnificent.
Once figured out what colors and kind of theme we wanted for the wedding. (Black and white with turquoise with a rustic feel) I figured out what I wanted for flowers. I figured out my flowers were a summer color, so we got them at the end of summer 75% off at Hobby Lobby. My bridemaids and flower girl bouquet were predone with twine and they were like $7 each at Hobby Lobby. Predone! No work! WIN!!
Hobby Lobby had burlap flowers, which was actually a total whim purchase but that was my centerpieces and worked beautifully.
My mother-in-law had to help me definitively decide what I wanted for flowers. I mean, truly my colors were all over the place and she had me dial it down and I am really thankful for that.
The guestbook was a canvas I painted at a sip and dip, lushes with brushes session. Total cost for that was $25 plus the cost of green ink for thumb print leaves and a black marker pen to sign the names.
My cake and cupcakes were done by my friend super cheaply and she did a beautiful job.
I wish she would start her own business because she would be amazing. The cake topers were not cake toppers, but a floral decoration I got for $.50 in the Clearance section at Michaels. The lace for the cake table cloth was actually from Joann Fabrics. They had a scrap section of fabrics with all this lace in it. I bought it and used the fabric scraps and ribbon for the backdrop/arch for the ceremony and for the guestbook and cake table tablecloths.
My husband built our wedding arch. We attached the fabric, floral wedding swag and artifical vines.
My dress I found on Clearance for $40 on Modcloth, which it is exactly what I wanted so I was so thrilled with it.
My shoes I ordered online for like $30 USD on ebay from a seller in Europe.
Kyle's step dad let us use one of his classic cars for our means of transportation, so that cut cost.
Kyle's Aunt Sue did the photography for us as a wedding gift which was an enormous savings. We had friends responsible for the music at the ceremony. We leased a BoomCube from Aaron's while they had a $20 monthly special to play music as our ceremony space had no sound system.
Our venue was outdoors and was initially going to be free. Mother nature decided it needed to downpour, luckily it had been in the forecast long enough to plan ahead. We reserved a building just in case for $100 and ended up needing it.
My mother-in-law and step-father-in-law came in to save the day because it poured. They found some tents to set up outside so my guests didn't get soaked. Our groomsmen were amazing for getting people's vehicles and pulling them up for them so they could stay under the canopies.
We did pay full price for our Dj because for me they make or break the reception. I wanted a professional to keep the flow and know what they were doing. You could pay a friend for this if you wanted.
We paid full price for our chair rentals and actually tipped them quite a bit. We picked up the chairs and set them up but they came and packed them up for us which was a tremendous help.
We initially opted for a cash bar because we definitely could not afford to have an open bar. My wonderful dad actually covered the bar cost so we had an open bar as a wedding gift.
Were I saved: dress, shoes, flowers, vases, glasses, photography, venue, cake, guestbook, tablerunners, tablecloths, car between venues, groomsmen/groom ties, centerpieces, corsages, and boutonnieres.
Are you wedding planning? Are you saving or splurging? Was any of this helpful? Let me know!
Xoxo, T
Average cost of weddings in the United States is about $33,000.00 per wedding. 74% of couples end up taking on some form of debt from the wedding. We did not use any loans or credit cards to pay for our wedding.
I was on pinterest like crazy. I pinned like my life depended on it. I used this as an inspiration board. I pinned everything, but had a secondary privaye board for anything that was actually wedding-worthy.
We got engaged in 2013 but didn't get married until 2016. In that time I had figured out what we wanted. We started saving up $50.00 out of each of our paychecks. We put them in an account that we didn't use regularly so it didn't get spent. Granted, sometimes we couldn't each put away $50 but more often than not we did.
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Research. I did a lot of shopping online. I found what I wanted but I was not willing to buy anything if it was more than I wanted to pay. This may have resulted in me changing a few things a bit but I stayed true to my vision.
Planning. Once we figured out what we wanted, I figured out when everything would be on sale.
I had three years to buy up Clearance Christmas lights, and that is what I did.
My mother-in-law found mason jar glasses, vases, and drink dispensers with spouts at a garage sale for super cheap which was magnificent.
My mother-in-law had to help me definitively decide what I wanted for flowers. I mean, truly my colors were all over the place and she had me dial it down and I am really thankful for that.
The guestbook was a canvas I painted at a sip and dip, lushes with brushes session. Total cost for that was $25 plus the cost of green ink for thumb print leaves and a black marker pen to sign the names.
My cake and cupcakes were done by my friend super cheaply and she did a beautiful job.
My husband built our wedding arch. We attached the fabric, floral wedding swag and artifical vines.
My shoes I ordered online for like $30 USD on ebay from a seller in Europe.
Kyle's step dad let us use one of his classic cars for our means of transportation, so that cut cost.
Kyle's Aunt Sue did the photography for us as a wedding gift which was an enormous savings. We had friends responsible for the music at the ceremony. We leased a BoomCube from Aaron's while they had a $20 monthly special to play music as our ceremony space had no sound system.
Our venue was outdoors and was initially going to be free. Mother nature decided it needed to downpour, luckily it had been in the forecast long enough to plan ahead. We reserved a building just in case for $100 and ended up needing it.
My mother-in-law and step-father-in-law came in to save the day because it poured. They found some tents to set up outside so my guests didn't get soaked. Our groomsmen were amazing for getting people's vehicles and pulling them up for them so they could stay under the canopies.
We did pay full price for our Dj because for me they make or break the reception. I wanted a professional to keep the flow and know what they were doing. You could pay a friend for this if you wanted.
We initially opted for a cash bar because we definitely could not afford to have an open bar. My wonderful dad actually covered the bar cost so we had an open bar as a wedding gift.
Were I saved: dress, shoes, flowers, vases, glasses, photography, venue, cake, guestbook, tablerunners, tablecloths, car between venues, groomsmen/groom ties, centerpieces, corsages, and boutonnieres.
Are you wedding planning? Are you saving or splurging? Was any of this helpful? Let me know!
Xoxo, T
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