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.
6 Wedding Reception Table Name Ideas
June 18, 2010
Table name ideas
If you’re having a seated wedding reception with a number of tables, then it’s a nice idea to come up with names for each of the tables, rather than just numbering them. Not only does it help people find where they’re sitting more easily and make your table plan better to follow, but it ’s a lot more fun and can also be cleverly tied into your wedding theme.
If you’re stuck as to how to name your wedding reception tables, then here are some ideas to get you thinking!
1. Your favourite places
Choose table names that reflect your favourite places, be it cities around the world, beaches, local beauty spots or places you’ve lived.
2. Favourite chocolates
A favourite with chocoholics, you could create table names based on your favourite chocolates. For example, tables could be named chocolate truffle, strawberry crème, caramel whirl or chocolate marzipan. If you’re leaving favours on the table for your guests, then naming your tables after chocolates gives you the ideal opportunity of matching the table names with the favours. So the favours on the chocolate truffle table could, of course, feature gorgeous truffles.
3. Favourite dates
If you don’t mind a spot of speculation about what you were up to on each one, then another idea for your wedding reception table names could be based on favourite dates you’ve shared as a couple.
4. Family surnames
A nice way of reflecting the different names that run through both your families is to use them as a basis for your table names. For example, include the bride’s maiden surname, your grandparents surnames and maiden names and any other names that you know run through both your families. This would be particularly apt for anyone involved in tracing their family history, as they’re likely to have unearthed plenty of interesting names along the way.
5. Colours
Name the tables at your reception after different colours. For an interesting theme for the reception, each of the tables could be decorated in a matching different colour.
6. Cakes
Another edible favourite is to name each table after a different type of cake, such as Victoria sponge, chocolate cake, carrot cake or cream bun. You could include a centrepiece on the table with each of these different cakes displayed – edible or fake – or give everyone on each table a mini cake to take home with them.