10 Ways to Cut Wedding Costs and Save Money
August 11, 2010
Save money on wedding costs
Weddings are a costly business, but with some careful planning and organisation, there are ways of cutting your costs and sticking to a budget. Here are 10 ways that you could cut your wedding costs and save money.
1. Print your own wedding stationery
Wedding invitations, orders of service, menus, place names and thank you cards can all be made yourself and printed out at home. It’s cheaper to buy the card and ink yourself and do the work than paying a hefty price to get someone else to do it.
2. Hire a wedding suit or dress
Cut the huge expense of buying a wedding dress by hiring one instead. This goes for the groom, ushers and bridesmaids too, who can also hire suits or dresses.
3. Scour wedding forums for wedding sales
Lots of people who’ve recently got married sell their unwanted items through wedding forums. You could find table decorations, veils, shoes, candles, favour bags or tiaras at reduced prices.
4. Get married on a weekday or a Sunday
Saturday’s are the most popular day of the week to get married, but by bucking the trend, you can save money. The cost of receptions, such as hiring a venue, is considerably cheap on a weekday or Sunday.
5. Buy reduced priced items in sales
Keep an eye out for sales and buy items you need for your wedding at reduced price, even if you have to buy them in advance.
6. Look for a wedding dress in sample sales
Sample sales can be a good way of saving money on the cost of a wedding dress, especially if you’re a small size.
Hire a wedding suit
7. Buy a wedding cake from a supermarket
Most of the major supermarkets sell plain iced fruit cakes or sponge cakes in different sizes. Buy three different size cakes, stack them up and you can create a cheap and easy wedding cake. Decorate with ribbon and fresh flowers.
8. Keep the flowers simple and buy your own
Keep your wedding floral decorations simple and elegant and, where possible, buy your own flowers and do your own decorations.
9. Get friends to do the photography
Find friends that are good with photography and get them to do your wedding photos. Digital cameras produce great results these days.
10. Save postage on wedding invitations
Hand deliver as many wedding invitations as possible, or email them instead.
Alternative Wedding Cake Ideas
May 12, 2010
Chocolate wedding cake
If the traditional, white iced, tiered wedding cake isn’t your cup of tea, then why not choose something more unique to you?
Your wedding cake should be something that you feel happy with and if you really don’t fancy a white iced rich fruit cake, then don’t choose it. There are a plenty of wedding cake alternatives available to suit all tastes and styles and you can be as creative as you like.
Wedding Cupcakes
Stunning wedding cupcakes
Cupcakes have been really popular for a few years and are a good way of having various different types of cake on offer for guests, instead of only the one pption. You could have different flavours of cupcakes, or simply alternate the icing colour used on them, such as pink and white, and the cupcakes can be as lavish and indulgent, or simple as you wish.
Cupcake cake holders, which display an array of cupcakes, can be really stunning and create a good visual impact at your wedding reception. The individual nature of cupcakes also takes away the hassle of having to cut up a wedding cake, as they’re already produced in individual portions.
Cheese Wedding Cakes
Unusual cheese wedding cake
It may sound a bit strange to some, but cheese ‘cakes’ are another modern alternative to the traditional white wedding cake. By cheese, we don’t mean sweet cheesecakes, but instead large round pieces of cheese that are stacked up in incremental sizes to produce the effect of a tiered wedding cake.
Cheese cakes are a good alternative for those who aren’t keen on sweet cake and would prefer to end their wedding breakfast with a cheese course.
Chocolate Wedding Cakes
White chocolate wedding cake
Wedding cakes don’t have to be fruit cakes with icing – if you’re a chocoholic at heart, then why not choose a chocolate wedding cake? It can be as chocolatey as you wish, with chocolate fillings, chocolate icing or chocolate decorations. If you’d still like it look a bit like a traditional wedding cake, then you could always have the outside of the cake decorated in white chocolate.
Although chocolate wedding cakes can be a bit rich and sickly, so too can the traditional rich fruit cakes. And, to anyone that thinks chocolate is too much, just remember that you only really need to serve small slices, so there’s no need for a major chocolate overload!
Choosing a Wedding Cake
May 3, 2010
Beautiful wedding cake
Your wedding cake is an important part of the wedding reception and ceremony and, whether you want a traditional wedding cake, or a modern alternative, it’s something you need to think about and plan for. Here are some tips on choosing your perfect wedding cake.
Collect Wedding Cake Ideas
It can be a bit daunting knowing exactly how you’d like your wedding cake to be – how many tiers, what sort of decorations you’d like and what shape of wedding cake you’d prefer. So it’s a good idea to collect as many ideas and inspirations for wedding cake ideas as you plan your wedding.
Wedding websites, wedding magazines and wedding blogs are all really good sources for wedding cake ideas, as are the websites of wedding cake makers and decorators. Cut-out photos of cakes you like the look of, or save web URLs, and build up your own wedding cake file full of ideas. A good wedding cake maker should be able to use a photo to re-create your ideas and get a better idea of how you’d like your wedding cake to be.
Wedding Cake Colour Theme
Many people link their wedding colour theme to their wedding cake theme and this can be a good starting point to think about for anyone choosing a wedding cake. For example, if your colour theme is lilac, then you could aim to have your wedding cake decorated with dainty purple flowers or purple ribbon, of if your colour theme is burgundy, then you could have burgundy sugar roses on your cake.
Taste Wedding Cakes Before You Buy
If you’re having a wedding cake made for you by someone else, especially if it’s a specialist wedding cake company that you’ve not heard of before, then always ask to taste a sample of one of their wedding cakes before you commit to buy.
Companies exhibiting cakes at wedding fairs usually have plenty of samples available for you to taste, but if you find your cake maker privately, don’t be afraid to ask to taste their cooking ability. If they’re not too keen to oblige, then think carefully about booking a cake from them – even if their decoration skills look wonderful – as the taste of the cake is just as important as how it looks.