How to cut your weding budget in half, and still be stylish!
Wedding budget’s over the last few years have gone through the roof, with some weddings in London and New York having a price tag of a staggering $1m – $1.5m. With the onset of the recession and credit crunch, many brides and grooms have had to trim even modest budgets, if they want their plotted wedding to go ahead. If you pick up many of the chief bridal magazines, every possible extravagance can be added into the day, with Doves, Harpists, and horse and carriages count to the Hollywood wedding experience, and with Hello & OK magazines showing the incredible weddings of the rich and legendary giving us all even privileged aspirations form the fairytale day of our dreams. What most people don’t know is that many items supplied to these weddings are free, or borrowed, or are paid for by the publication. This enables those brides to waste in a really unrealistic way.
So what’s the answer? Well it’s simple, with some effort and the help of professional’s, help is at hand to make sure you don’t go over budget. As an experienced wedding planner, with bridal magazine and wedding TV credits with my co-host and co-writer Anthony Miller to our names, we have been helping brides keep there aspirations real and to sort the must have elements from the easily compromised items and therefore allowing brides to have fantastic wedding days without stress and the worry of going over budget.
You may reckon this is not simple, so many must have items cost so much money, well you can be aptly. There are many ways though to really result in that budget down, and if you use only a few of our suggestions, you will any save money or unlock precious budget to waste on those must have items. You will easily see that it all makes sense and is really simple. Well your aptly it is all really simple, but many brides cant see the wood for the plants and get really overwhelmed by the wedding industry all telling them that they wont have a fantastic day without their special product. Now don’t mis-know me, all the wedding professionals we have worked with or come across, are fantastic and offer fantastic products at fantastic prices. But even they might be prepared to shift there prices a small with a bit of clever negotiation and sometimes some clever timing when booking them.
If you want to read on, I will clarify how you can take a wedding budget of nearly $30,000 and reduce it to just under $12,000. The thoughts are simple, but take it from one of the UK’s chief authorities on wedding plotting and etiquette you can have a gorgeous and stylish day and not break the bank. You might not want to use all the savings tips, but even if you use the first saving tip you can reduce your expenditure by at least $11,000. You can any save that cost, perhaps not need to question your parents for help, or it might mean you can keep the car, and not downsize your home.
Ok the number one way to save on your budget is to reduce your guest numbers. See I said it was simple, you don’t have to compromise one bit on all your wedding features like the dress, the car, the manolo blahnik wedding shoes you always wanted. Feeding 50 guests is so much cheaper than feeding 200. With a reduced guest list you can save so much money. The average price for feeding 200 people in a standard hotel in the UK is in the region of $75.00 a head and this can sometimes include 3 courses, and half a bottle of wine per person, if you start count in champagne receptions and champagne toasts this price can increase. So at $75.00 a head your guests are going to cost you $15,000 just to feed, so cut those numbers and save huge. If you have 50 guests you can make a warm and intimate event using one long banquet table, a very stunning thought. Saving here can be as much as $11,000.
To save even more money reckon in this area your dress. A gown made with non crease fabrics which are designed to look like silk, can shave $1000’s off the cost but your dress will look and feel like a stunning designer gown. Question your dressmaker for more affordable fabrics, but make sure you keep the style you will look stunning and will still have the dress design you want but at a fraction of the price. A gown made to the same design from a less expensive fabric can save you $4,000 from a $5,000 gown.
I am going to give you a choice of cost savings which will shave even more off your expenditure and at the end I will tell you two key elements never to try and cut the budget on, as you will regret it. but first more saving hints.
The Car, Cake & Champagne. These are easily saved on, and are often never even noticed when you have washed-out large sums of money on them. The car, is only ever seen by you and your father, especially if you are having a wedding at the venue you are also having your reception at. You pull up in the car, get out and all your guests and groom are inside waiting for you. This is one area that can be easily cut if no one is even going to see it. Why not question around and borrow a fancy car from a friend for the day, they will be thrilled you even questioned them. The cake is always left by many people, it is never stored properly that first night, and if people do eat the cake do you reckon they care or notice that you had the $1,500 cake from the best patisserie in London? No its gone in a flash, save money here by buying an inexpensive Supermarket Cake and garnishing it with the most incredible fresh flowers, I promise you they wont notice the difference. Champagne, I like it, but I also like excellent cava or proseco, cut this cost as again no one really notices. If your giving them super chilled cava, and I mean SUPER chilled, they will like it as if it was one of the finest French vintages. You can save up to $5,000 here alone.
The two things you must never cut the budget on; The bridal bouquet, and your photographer. Along with your gown your bridal bouquet will be in your photographs for ever, cut the flower budget on the tables if you have to, but keep it for the bouquet. Your photographer is your best friend, they will capture your day and give you your cherished photograph’s you will keep for your children and grandchildren. Look to pay $1,500 upwards here, cut elsewhere but never choose to ditch the photographer and use friends or lots of those disposable cameras, use them as well but never cancel out the real deal.
Remember the day is more in this area your like and having fun, the most remembered days are the ones where the bride and groom had fun, and shared that fun with there cherished loved ones. If you want more help and advice really for free, check out www.antanddick.com the home of the best free wedding plotting advice anwhere. Â
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Richard Jones is one half of the highly succesful UK based, Wedding Plotting Duo, Ant and Dick, they have featured in their own TV show on Wedding TV, with guest appearances on Ireland Am, Richard & Judy, UTV Life, BBC Radio, BBC News, Sky Sunrise as well as many others. They write or have written for several of the chief Bridal Titles in the UK Including White Wedding Pages NI, Wedding Thoughts Magazine, Scottish Wedding Directory and also run their own successful wedding plotting website www.antanddick.com where they continue to give free advice on plotting your day. They have apeared live on the boards at many of the chief Bridal Shows From Dublin to London. They are soon to appear in a major new TV show for a MAJOR uk TV Station.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/marriage-articles/how-to-cut-your-weding-budget-in-half-and-still-be-stylish-938420.html
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