Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: How to Save Money on Your Wedding

For many couples, next to buying a house, a wedding can and very well may be the most expensive purchase of their lives. When all is said and done, from the venue to the catering to the flowers, the dress and every last penny that goes into planning the affair, a wedding will cost tens of if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. But there are many ways for a couple to cut the cost on their extravagant day — before and after the wedding.
​
Let's start with the wedding dress, which can cost thousands of dollars. There are countless places online as well as in cities to purchase secondhand wedding dresses for a significant discount from that of a new one. Furthermore, for those brides who are OK with not holding onto a gown that they're never going to wear again for the rest of their lives, those same secondhand stores offer the option to get some type of return on the wedding dress which is nothing more than a sentimental garment once the wedding is over.

The cost of invitations can add up quickly if you're expecting a high number of guests. Choose to design the invitations yourself rather than using a designer. Choose less-expensive flat printing for insert carts to save money. Go simple before going all out. After all, you may want to have the most beautiful invitations possible, but at the end of the day, no one is going to skip your wedding because they didn't get a professionally made 'save the date' or wedding invitation in the mail. In fact, you can save even more money with a website. Send everyone to a direct link to RSVP to your wedding rather than spending extra money on return cards, envelopes and stamps.

Minimize the menus. Listen, everyone loves a great meal at a wedding, but people aren't going to your affair for some top chef, three-course, decadent meal. Serve what everyone likes. Keep the options simple, popular, delicious and fun.

Go green! Repurpose those flowers. Use ceremony décor. Use budget-friendly buds. You don't need your wedding to look like a major city's flower show, and for a fraction of the cost, your affair will still look gorgeous with the right flower arrangements. You just don't need to break the bank in doing so.

Something borrowed…Yes, most brides would probably tell you that jewelry — not just the gown — is an important aspect of their wedding day look. Borrow your ice! Rent your jewelry from a high-end retailer or website that allows you to wear a diamond necklace that you would never otherwise be able to afford in this lifetime and do so for a small price. Sure, you'll have to send it back, but you're still bringing the groom (and all of your gifts) home, so all is not lost!

There are countless ways to save money on a wedding, but you get the gist. You can choose off-peak times of the year to get married. You can turn an older, inexpensive warehouse into a beautiful wedding hall. You can go less formal and more casual. The possibilities are endless! One thing is for sure — the second the wedding is over, you are starting the next chapter of your life with the most important person in your life, and it's going to be a lot easier to do so if you didn't break the bank in the process.