Organizing and planning the entire wedding ceremony is an exhausting task for any bride. Arranging everything right from getting the trousseau ready and hunting for affordable wedding gowns, shoes, and matching accessories to booking the venue and finalizing the menu is enough to leave anyone quite out of breath. Besides, all these things cost a lot of money and if you are not careful about your expenditures, they can go haywire and even land you in debt.
But it is not at all necessary that you have to spend a bomb to make your wedding beautiful and elegant. After all, a wedding is union of two souls and it is all about emotions and very little about money. If you keep within a budget and spend prudently, you can still have a wonderful wedding without your expenses going through the roof.
Here are tips on how you can make your wedding an unforgettable affair on a small budget:
Set your budget
First of all, plan your budget and stay within it. Little changes in the budget are acceptable but don’t make too many dramatic changes. Start planning your expenses with ample time in hand so you can choose your purchases carefully to keep within the budget.
Start early
Start shopping early to take advantage of various deals, clearance sales, bargains and discounts generally available in the off season. But make sure that you buy affordable but good quality items for your trousseau such as your wedding gown, matching shoes, accessories, etc and not end up buying cheap items.
No need to hire wedding planners
You don’t need to hire any wedding planner or coordinator. Instead involve your family and friends in your wedding arrangements. They would be more than delighted to help you in the preparations. You would be amazed to see how your young cousins come up with creative ideas to make your wedding wonderful.
Create your own invitation cards
Spending a bomb on an invitation card is futile as nobody cares to keep or preserve it at the end of the day. Therefore make your own invitations rather getting it done from some professionals. Check out on the net some elegant designs, take their print out and bravo you are ready with your invitation card.
Prefer balloons over flowers
Flower bouquets come expensive especially during the wedding season. Instead use balloon bouquets which are less expensive and make the venue as decorative and attractive as flowers. Decorate the venue with colorful balloons and see how the whole atmosphere becomes festive.
Use candles as centerpieces
Instead of putting elaborate flower bouquets on table centerpieces, place candles especially if you are having the wedding ceremony in the evening. Not only do candles light up the whole place in a beautiful soft glow but they also make the place seem cozy. You can choose from long candles or floating candles.
Get disposable cameras
Instead of hiring a professional photographer, buy some disposable cameras and put them on the tables. Get some responsible friend or relative to take snaps of your wedding. Let the little ones do some clicking too. Kids too can come up with great looking pictures.
Choose buffet style
A five course sit-down dinner is expensive. So choose to have a buffet. It doesn’t matter much whether the waiter is serving food to the guests or the guests are serving themselves. At the end of the day what matters is that the food should be delicious. Food served in buffet is appetizing and costs less too. Keep the cocktails simple as well.
Order the cake from local bakery
Order the wedding cake from a local bakery. There is no need to approach some highly expensive baker to create an attractive cake for you. Local bakery shops can do a wonderful job of making gorgeous cakes and they charge reasonable prices.
Shop online for wedding gowns
To find a wedding dress of your dreams, check the online stores. Online stores stock an amazing collection of bridal dresses at affordable prices ranging from tea length, empire style, prices style gown and many more. There is no dearth of variety on the internet. All you have to do is spend some time in researching the net and checking out affordable and yet elegant wedding dresses online.
Shop online for accessories
Just like wedding dress, it is best to shop for accessories like unity candle, ring bearer pillows, toasting glasses, and flower girl basket online. The benefit of buying from online is that you can compare different items at different website by sitting comfortably at home.
Create veils and headpiece yourself
Use your creativity to make veils and your own headpiece. Veils and headpieces are very easy to make. Just pick up some bridal craft book and put your creativity to good use. This way you can save quite a bit.
Give favors a miss
Bride and groom generally give favors to all the guests for gracing the occasion with their presence. But if you want to save expenses, then there is no harm in skipping the favors. Your guests won’t mind not getting the favors. After all, family and friends are there to just enjoy the occasion.