Tips for Planning Your Wedding & Reception
Given the cost of a reception and a wedding, many brides are interested in saving money on wedding arrangements, yet they still want to have a lovely special day. Since I design wedding jewelry, I’m often asked for ideas on planning a wedding and reception. My advice – think outside the box when considering your options and compare services and prices for everything.
– Rent a gown or wear a pre-owned dress. There are a number of websites that offer good values – both on rentals and on pre-owned gowns and accessories.
– Consider a wedding planner. A good planner might actually save you some money.
Facilities that offer wedding coordinators and other services can save you a lot of money over hiring these services separately – shop around.
– Have your event in the off-season. This can save big bucks on both the cost of the venue and associated costs such as hotel accommodations.
– Forget the expensive limo.
– Get inventive about your refreshments – use tiers of tiny pastries or cupcakes instead of an elaborate cake. Have a small cake just for yourselves. Don’t offer a complete open bar – try just champagne or a punch bowl.
– Choose your own spot for the reception. Try a restaurant which already has all the facilities – not a rented hall. You might not need a separate caterer. If you choose a garden setting for your wedding or reception have a fallback location in case of rain.
– Limit the number of guests and attendants
– Prioritize your to-dos and recruit your friends to help you. Make a checklist for everything that needs doing – vendors, guests, venue, etc. Check things off as the details are completed. The checklist will help you to stay on track with your planning and can keep you from overlooking things that need to be done.
– Do as many things yourself as you can, including handmade decorations.
– Forget engraved invitations in favor of less formal notes. choose a limited color scheme for your invitations to save a lot on printing. There are on-line invitation sources that might work well, too. You can also your computer to design your own invitations, etc., then have them printed at an on-line printer.
– Create your own wedding dot.com – they really make sense. You can post all the details, photos, and more and e-mail the information to your friends and family.