Weddings can be soooooooooo expensive. I remember while planning my own wedding, I felt like it was impossible to have the wedding I wanted without going bankrupt. I looked at the price of linens and almost had a heart attack! After planning my own and photographing so many others, I have learned that there are some easy ways to save and still have your dream wedding. Here are five easy ways you can save money on your big day!

1. Pick THREE things that are the most important to you and spend less on things that do not make the top three. So if you are like “I NEED to have this certain venue, but I could care less what the invitations look like,” then splurge more on the venue and do some budget friendly invitations. For me, my top three were venue, photography, and food. Everything else, I could feel okay if I didn’t get the of the best, and still have the amazing wedding I envisioned. This is me telling you that you do not have to have everything be top notch at your wedding. Pick what’s important to you, spend a little more on that and not other things that aren’t as important.

2. Reuse your flowers! So I love florals, but dang it they are expensive!! Reuse them so you don’t have to spend as much money on them. Bridesmaids won’t need their bouquets after pictures so have someone use those flowers on the table settings for the recpetion. Or even on the cake if you’re thinking of using flowers on the cake! (another idea I have seen recently is pre-made bouquets on etsy so that’s an option too)

3. Limit your guest list. This is a BIGGIE, but also very tough. My mom wanted to invite all kinds of people that I didn’t know to my wedding and it’s hard to say no (especially if other people are helping pay for certain things), but at $40+ per person coming, it makes a HUGE difference on your final bill. If you haven’t talked to that person in the last year, do they really need to come to your wedding?? Honestly, after going to many many weddings I have realized my favorites ones are the smaller more intimate weddings. Elopement is always an option too 🙂

4. Get married on a Friday or Sunday. When I was planning my wedding, getting married on a Saturday was ONE THOUSAND dollars more than the other days. WHAT?! People won’t care if your wedding is on a Saturday or not. They are just excited to come and celebrate you. Another option, if you have to get married on a Saturday is to possibly get married on the “off season.” Here in NC, everyone wants to get married in April and October, but months like January and July are not as popular and most venues cut you a deal on off months.

5. Find a venue that needs minimal decorations. Some of the best venues are ones that are already so beautiful on their own and don’t need many decorations. If your venue does need some spicing up, you can do some DIY decorations as well to save some money!

Hope these tips help you while planning the wedding of your dreams without trying to break the bank. At the end of the day, you’ll be married and nobody will remember what your linens looked like 😉