Planning Your Dream Wedding On A Budget

When a lot of people hear the word “Budget” they relate it to cheap and inexpensive and we have found out that the word “cheap” can mean different budget sizes (a wedding dress of 100 thousand can be cheap or expensive to different people with different budget sizes).

Hadassah Bridals loves helping couples save money on a wedding. We believe that you don’t have to spend a fortune to have a fabulous wedding and to look good on a budget. “Expensive” and “stressful” might be two things that come to mind when you think of a wedding, but they don’t have to be. Below, find ideas on how to get married on a budget.

1. Decide the kind of wedding you would like to have

When you think of your wedding, what would you like it to be like? A swanky reception at a prestigious hotel? A church wedding with no reception? A classic hotel ballroom wedding/reception? Same venue for traditional and Church wedding?

If you need a little more inspiration on the pros and cons of wedding in church or outside the church, think about all the weddings you’ve been to, seen on TV, or scrolled through online. What did you like—or not like—about them?

Don’t get hung up on the little details just yet. Instead, think about the overall feel you want your wedding to have. When it comes to planning a wedding on a budget, knowing your priorities matters.

2. Have the wedding budget talk (and stick to the budget)

Everyone paying for the event (bride, groom and parents) needs to sit down and look at the total wedding budget. This might be your first experience budgeting with your future spouse as a team and it might also be your parents first time or you can glean from their experience of the ones that they have planned previously. What a priceless experience! Learning to talk openly and honestly about how much you can spend—and how much you’re willing to spend—on your wedding is going to lay the groundwork for wonderful budget date nights once you’re married!

As uncomfortable as this budget talk might be, just remember—it’s a whole lot easier to plan than to accumulate debts and face a mountain of bills after the wedding.

When I say budget here, I’m not just talking about how much money you can spend total—I’m talking about how much you should spend in each specific area.

We suggest breaking the total wedding budget into categories and figuring out what percentage to devote to each:

Reception: 55%

Ceremony: 12%

Photography: 10%

Wedding Planner: 10%

Wedding Dress and Tux: 8%

Miscellaneous: 5%

These aren’t set numbers; that’s just a sample ratio. You should set your ratios based on what’s important to you. Maybe you’re willing to spend on photos, but flowers don’t really matter to you. If you care more about one area than another, change up the percentages.

3. Make a decision on which area you will like to splurge and save on

Based on your percentages, take a moment with your fiancé to decide on your top three must-haves for your big day. They can be practical or totally frivolous: an outdoor reception, an extravagant reception at a 6-star hotel, loads of flowers, a live jazz band or inviting a known musician—whatever is most important to you.

You can come up with your wish lists separately or together, but make sure you sit down and determine what you both really want. Let that vision dictate your budget.

The Wedding Budget Breakdown

Know that unexpected expenses will arise, so know that your budget will change throughout the planning process. Take those surprises into consideration by putting in a little bit of Miscellaneous expense. That way you have the flexibility to handle any surprise expense.

Wedding Planning

If you give yourself at least a year to book things like your venue, wedding dress and photographer, you have that much more time to shop around for the best price.

1. Wedding Venue

The only two things that are usually decided on before the wedding venue are whether or not to get married inside the church or outside the church and the date. The wedding venue can be costly, but you can save a lot of money by getting married on a day other than Saturday and by finding a place outside the city limits.

https://hadassahbridals.com.ng/wedding-church-outside-pros-cons/

2. Reception Food and Drink Menu

The best way to save on food, drink, and desserts for your wedding is to provide your own. Enlist your friends and family to help, and make sure that you don’t overtax yourself with complicated dishes. If you don’t want to make your own, consider serving heavy appetizers instead of a sit-down meal, and find a venue that allows you to bring your own liquor, beer, and wine. The bar is generally the most expensive part of the refreshments.

3. Wedding Photographer and Videographer

When your wedding is all said and done, you want to make sure that you have a keepsake that will remind you of every moment and every emotion of that day, which unfortunately can be very expensive. Consider ways to save, like hiring someone that’s just getting started in their career or someone who shoots weddings as a side gig.

4. Wedding Ceremony and Reception Music

It can be expensive to hire a professional musician but luckily there are many ways to save in this category. You can hire a live band or get an inexpensive DJ.

Wedding Decor

It’s easy to go overboard and let the budget get out of control when decorating your venue, but luckily there are many ways to save.

5. Wedding Flowers

Wedding flowers can cost a lot of money, but if you are frugal you can easily cut your flower bill down and still have beautiful arrangements. Be smart about what types of flowers you choose, and think about how you can repurpose them throughout the wedding.

6. Ceremony Decorations

Sometimes less is more, and this will help you keep the price of decorating your wedding ceremony venue reasonable. Keep in mind that depending on your venue, the setting itself may be all you need.

7. Reception Decorations

The best way to save money on wedding reception decorations is to have a little fun with it. Get creative and pick a good, solid theme. Once you do that, everything else will fall into place or you can consider doing an all in one ceremony by using the same venue for both the wedding and the reception.

8. Reception Table Centerpieces

Similar to the other reception decorations, this is another area where you can have a lot of fun but not have to spend much money, especially if you make all the centerpieces yourself by inculcating the DIY.

Wedding Attire

9. Wedding Dress

It’s easy to get out of control when it comes to spending money on what is usually the bride’s favorite element of the wedding – her wedding dress. Fortunately, it is also easy to save money on the dress if the bride sticks to her budget and shops wisely. There places where you can get affordable wedding gowns or you can rent that really nice dress at an affordable dress or you consider Hadassah Bridal’s Open house to learn more.

If you want to save on bridesmaid dresses, try to avoid ordering custom dresses altogether. Instead, head to a few stores with dresses on sale and see if you can all find something “off the rack.”

This works best if your colors are chosen ahead of time and if the store, you’re shopping at carries plenty of sizes. To minimize spats within your wedding party, you can also shop ahead of time and only have them try on dresses you already approve of.

Another cheap wedding idea: Instead of buying new dresses, have every bridesmaid wear a particular color dress they already own.

Visit Hadassah Bridals for affordable wedding gowns: hadassahbridals.com.ng

10. Menswear

Even though most people will be looking at the bride, it’s also important that the groom looks good. And luckily, menswear is not nearly as costly as the bride’s dress. Unless you have a specific reason for owning a tuxedo (and few people do), you should rent one. It’s often useful to rent the tuxedos as a group through the same business, as you’ll often get a group rate.

If you don’t want to go the tuxedo route, you can also have all of your groomsmen wear a black suit from home or other matching formalwear.

Men need to be flexible when choosing what they will wear on the big day and should consider alternatives to tuxedos.

11. Bride’s Hair

Having a stylist come to you on your big day may be convenient, but the big bill may cause unwanted stress. Doing your own hair or enlisting a friend that is good with hair are two great ways to avoid spending a fortune on your hairdo. You can also spend less on by getting affordable hair accessories at https://hadassahbridals.com.ng/hair-accessories/


12. Bride’s Makeup

The same holds true for the bride’s makeup. If you have a professional do your makeup, it can be expensive. Alternatively, you can buy your own makeup and do it yourself or have a friend that is make up savvy do it for you.

13. Wedding Jewelry

Not only will there be an exchanging of rings during the wedding ceremony, but the bride will most likely want to wear a few pieces of jewelry to complement her wedding gown. The best way to avoid spending above your jewelry budget is to stay out of high-end stores, and borrow from friends and family or get at affordable rates at https://hadassahbridals.com.ng/bridal-earrings/

Other Wedding Costs

14. Wedding Invitations

The wedding invitations are another category where you can save a ton of money by doing part of it or all of it yourself. Consider providing your own cardstock to the printer or go electronic by sending out email, SMS or Whatsapp invitations.

15. Wedding Gifts/ Souvenirs

It is traditional to give wedding gifts/souvenirs to your guests as an appreciation for their loving support of your marriage. When you have a large wedding, the cost of the souvenirs can be fairly expensive, so consider making them yourself, by doing something as simple as seeking favors from friends and family to help in doing that.

16. Avoid the Temptation to have a large number of guests

Although you might be tempted to throw everyone you know on your guest list, that isn’t always a great idea. With each addition you make, you’re adding additional costs while also making your wedding less intimate.

To save as much as you can, try inviting fewer people and making the event more intimate. Start by reducing your guest list down by 20%, then another 20%. Then see if you’re happy with it.

17. Ask for wedding help instead of wedding gifts.

Asking family and friends to offer help or services that align with their talents in lieu of a gift is a great way to keep your wedding on a budget.

18. If you’re getting married in your own church, ask the ladies’ auxiliary for help.

Most churches have a women’s organization that is very happy to help with wedding preparation in exchange for a small donation. Get them involved – they can take a lot of worry off your shoulders for a relatively low price.

Don’t stress.

Something will probably go wrong at the last minute – a little detail of some sort won’t work out.

Don’t worry about it. Just assume something little is going to go wrong and avoid the urge to throw money at the problem. Most likely, no one will even notice the little issue, and quite often someone in your wedding party (or someone helping out) will come up with a pretty good solution to fix things.

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Are you still confused about the wedding gown that will fit your body shape? Click here to read more.

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Click here to chat with us directly on Whatsapp. Visit our Bridal Showroom in Lagos at: 8, Ajayi Aina street, By Deeper Life Church, Ifako, Gbagada, Lagos