The average cost spent on a wedding in the U.S. in recent years is absolutely astounding. If you are wanting or needing to keep your wedding to a budget, don’t be discouraged! There are many ways that you can save money on your wedding while still having a beautiful day that you will cherish forever. In this post, I will share some tips and budget-friendly wedding decor that helped us to achieve a more affordable, yet beautiful wedding day.
Ways to save money on your Wedding
1. Smaller Size, Smaller Cost
It’s not hard to figure out that entertaining more people is going to generally cost more. Consider having a more intimate, smaller guest list. We opted to have a 50 person guest list (including ourselves) and we were very happy with that decision. Our smaller guest list allowed us time to speak with everyone personally without feeling rushed or like we had to do any distant relative or friend introductions at the wedding. Everyone that was there were those that we were already close to and that made the day even more special.
2. Choose Your Venue Wisely
One of the biggest costs of a wedding is the venue. Choosing a venue outside of the typical wedding and event-specific options can lower your cost immensely. We chose to have our wedding on the grounds of a local church camp, but other budget-friendly options include state parks, church reception halls, local park pavilions, or even an Airbnb if the host allows it. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box for your venue. If you choose an area of natural beauty, it can help to lower your decor cost as well. Do bear in mind if the venue has tables and chairs already available for you to use as rentals can get pricey quickly. Also, remember to always have a rain plan if you are planning to do an outdoor ceremony or reception.
3. Create Virtual Invitations and DIY Other Print Materials
Invitations may initially seem like they are minuscule in cost, but they can add up quickly. The free alternative is to send virtual invitations via email or however else you prefer digitally. I created our invitations on Canva. The great thing about this is that you have full customization over the entire design with no limitations. I also created our seating chart, table numbers, and place cards. To create a rough edge on the table numbers, I used these craft rulers. The only items that we got professionally printed were our yard signs that directed guests to parking and to the ceremony.
4. Create Your Own Bouquet and Go Minimal on Other Florals
Florals are another typically very expensive part of a wedding. The good new is that faux florals have come a long way with great options available at reasonable prices. I chose to make my bouquet using faux flowers from places like Hobby Lobby and Michael’s. If you are looking to do the same, don’t buy any faux stems at full price as they are usually on sale about every other week at these stores. I highly recommend first finding an inspiration image on Pinterest or elsewhere and then use that to direct you towards what stems to buy to achieve the look you are going for. This was my inspiration photo and I feel like I was able to get very close with my re-creation.
Beyond my bouquet, we opted to not have any other florals besides some greenery. We went with this table greenery from Amazon for our reception tables and used a couple live ferns from my in-laws’ house around our ceremony spot.
5. Save on Cake
There are many options you can do to save money on dessert for your guests. Instead of going to a bakery to get your typical “wedding” cake, we chose to get a lovely, small Chantilly Cake from Publix. This was the cake that we used to take our “cutting the cake” photo and was what we ate. For the rest of our guests, we had a table with multiple varieties of cupcakes and several different types of cookies to choose from. Not only was this a hit with our guests, it also saved us a good bit of money. You don’t even have to do cake at all if you don’t want to. Perhaps you would prefer pie, tarts, dessert cups, cake .. the options are endless and it’s your day so choose whatever suits you!
6. Consider Buying vs Renting
There are certain items that are cheaper to rent while others are actually more affordable to purchase. For example, chairs and glasses were much cheaper to rent. If you are located in the Nashville, Tennessee area, we went through Premier Event Rentals out of Lebanon and had a great experience. On the other hand, linens were actually cheaper to purchase outright. We got our tablecloths and cloth napkins from CV Linens and thought they worked out really well. Another benefit to purchasing those items is that we were then able to sell them on Facebook Marketplace after the wedding, making them even more affordable to use.
Another area that is common to either buy or rent for a wedding are men’s suits. We purchased Riley’s suit from Suit Shop. Their prices are great and are actually pretty on par with how much it costs just to rent a suit elsewhere. Since we opted to buy instead, he has been able to wear the suit for multiple occasions since then. Their ordering process was very streamlined and they actually allow you to get sample sizes first for free so that you can dial in the fit perfectly. We would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a suit for a wedding or any other event.
Budget Friendly Wedding Decor Favorites
We were really happy with how all of these items from Amazon performed and came together for our wedding. I would highly recommend all of them if you are searching for any similar items. All of the above pictures are linked to their Amazon pages.
Another budget friendly wedding favorite was my veil. I specifically wanted a chapel length veil with a pencil edge. I was shocked to discover the difference in price for a veil at a bridal shop versus somewhere like Amazon. I compared both in person and there was truly no difference between the two. Don’t waste your money on one from a bridal shop unless you are wanting something super unique that you can’t find anywhere else. I promise the affordable one will look just as beautiful! I compared many different brands and would highly recommend this one from Amazon. If you are wondering what the specifics are of mine, I got the 1 Tier Chapel Length 90″ version in the ivory color. The brand offers many different lengths and a pure white color as well.
