Top Tips For Keeping The Costs Of Your Wedding Down

The Wedding Date

• Choose An Out Of Season Wedding Date

The Wedding Season in the UK normally runs between April and September with the months of June, July and August being the high peak season.

By choosing a date in a lower season you are guaranteed to find cheaper venue who are likely to have an out of season rate.

There are many advantages to holding an out of season wedding, this would avoid the problem of guests not being able to attend due to summer holidays being booked for example and you could have a themed wedding in line with the time of year such as a Spring, Winter or Christmas Wedding.

• Choose a midweek booking

Another way to ensure you can keep the venue costs down is by choosing a weekday instead of the weekend, venues have mid-week rates which are lower than those at weekends.

Having a mid-week wedding is becoming more of a trend for weddings and the savings may also extend to any suppliers that you employ as well.

Wedding Venue

• Host the wedding reception at home

If you have the space in your garden for a marquee or have a large house with indoor space then hosting your wedding at home can be a super cheap decision, there is lots to organise but with a bit of effort and planning you could get that sorted in no time.

You will be able to have whatever you want on your special day with no venue owner to tell you no and it would make your day extra personal and special.

• Use A Local Pub, Church Or Village Hall To Hold Your Reception And Evening Do

You might have that massive country house in mind as your ideal venue but there are so many alternatives to where you can hold your reception and evening do.

Places to think about should include local Pubs, Restaurants, Village Halls, Local Schools and Social Clubs.

Whist these might not be the normal places to hold a reception and might not have all the facilities and services available that you want on your special day they are guaranteed to be a way lot cheaper than bigger venues, the upside of course is that there probably won’t be any limitations on what suppliers you bring on site where you might be restricted with this at typical wedding venues.

• Keep The Wedding Venue Local

Choosing a more local venue will obviously help keep your transport costs down but this will also extend to accommodation for yourself and your guests, as discussed above there will be savings to be made by choosing more local smaller venues too.

• Hold The Ceremony In The Same Place As The Reception 

Holding your wedding ceremony and reception in the same place is bound to save costs with the venue but you will also see savings on other areas such as transportation as you will not need to move between the venues.

Wedding decorations would not need to be covered in more than one venue and wedding suppliers will not charge any transportation costs between sites either.

• Find A House That You Can Rent For A Weekend To Get Married

Here is a real thinking out the box idea that you might not have through of!

Rather than hire a standard wedding venue see if you can hire a house for a weekend and hold your wedding there.

There may be some restrictions to doing this and it might be difficult to find someone happy to let you hold your wedding there, but you could find yourself somewhere quite different and spectacular. 

Food & Drinks

• Provide Your Own Alcohol Or Buy When On Special Offer

Rather than put on a free bar why not buy your own drinks to provide to your guests?

You could go to a wholesaler where you could buy everything in bulk, you could approach a specialist supplier to see if they would give you a deal or you might want to keep an eye out for any special offers, Supermarkets of course are a pretty good example for this.

• Do Your Own Catering

The food at a wedding is undoubtedly a huge part of the budget and you could save yourself literally thousands by doing the catering yourself or asking friends and family to help out!

There are deals to be found at supermarkets and wholesalers from which you can make your own buffet, or you could buy platters instead so the buffet is already done.

• Ask Guests To Bring Their Own Drink

This would be a great idea if you were having your wedding at a local venue without a bar or at home.

Your guests might be happy to bring their own drinks, it would work out cheaper for them rather than having to pay at a cash bar and at least they will be able to drink what they want on the night!

Wedding Transport

• Ask A Friend With A Posh Car To Drive You To The Venue

Why pay out for the hire of expensive cars to take you to the Wedding venue when you are probably only going to be paying for a short period of time?

Surely you have a friend or family member with a posh car that you can encourage to give you a lift instead?

Wedding Guests

• Have A Small Intimate Wedding For Less People

A great way of keeping the overall costs is simply to keep the number of guests to a minimum, opt for a simple low-key wedding and you’ll see your wedding costs reduce dramatically!

• Cut Down On The Number In The Wedding Party

I know this one might be a little controversial but traditionally having bridesmaids, groomsmen and ushers just pushes your costs up, not only are there expectations to pay or contribute to their attire there is also the gifts that should be buying them.

• Give Guests Homemade Favours Or None At All

You might want to choose to scrap the idea of wedding favours completely or you could make these yourself.

There are a range of ideas to be found on places like Etsy and Pinterest to give you ideas of what you could make to keep the costs down.

Wedding Attire

• Make Your Own Wedding Dress Or Borrow One From Someone Else

You might be lucky enough to be able to make clothes yourself or you know someone else that can.

Making your own wedding dress would save you money as would altering a family heirloom instead of buying new.

You could also look at making the outfits for the rest of the wedding party to really keep the costs down.

• Buy A Second-hand Wedding Dress

Second hand, preloved or used goods are a smart choice all round so why not for your Wedding Dress?

Alright this might take a bit of research, you might have to go to a few charity shops and spend some time looking at what’s on offer on Ebay but there are specialist shops that sell second-hand wedding dresses including charity shops that Oxfam.

• Hire The Wedding Outfits

It goes without saying that hiring outfits rather than buying is a cheaper option, this way you would be able to wear something more expensive than you could otherwise afford.

There is a trend with more sustainable trends now and there are number of businesses and designers that are happy to hire out their creations.

• Keep The Cost Of The Rings Down By Purchasing On The High Street

Another clever way to keep the costs down on the Wedding attire is to look at buying your wedding rings from a high street retailer rather than a specialist shop.

Jewellery retailers such as Pandora, Argos and HM Samuel will be much cheaper than an independent jewellery specialist.