<p>1. Biggest money saver: Venue and Menu: Choose a venue and a menu that gets the job done, offers food you are comfortable with and does not use up all your dollars. Let's be honest for many, a wedding is a showing of status. If you have to drive the best car and live in the best neighborhood, you are probably not reading this article, but if you are reading but still want the best of the best as far as status is concerned, then this item is probably not your savings area. Remember, many respectable restaurants have a private room for bigger events and they will let you use it for free or very inexpensively if you have a large enough group eating. Don't forget Club halls like the VFW, Kiwanis, Rotary, Elks Lodge, etc Many of them offer great discounts to members and great prices to the general public to offset costs. I am in the Phoenix Market and many beautiful resorts have square sterile rooms to hold your event in You are paying to bein that great resort! Typically these
places run menus from $50 to $90 a plate and that covers food, room, linens, and some decorating. Say you have 150 guests at $60 a plate.. That is $9000. Say you find a very nice restaurant with a very nice room. They offer a buffet at $17 per person and you can use the room for free. That is $2550 and you just saved $6550. Remember, most of the resorts have fairly pricey minimums to use the facility.. I can name a pile of venues where the minimum is over $7000 for an event I can name you over 10 venues where you are paying over $6000 just for the facility and your reception is on a concrete slab in a tent. If you go outside the tent for a moment you can actually see the beautiful mansion, garden, golf course, etc. There are many facilities that are absolutely beautiful all the way around and they will cost a premium. If that is what you want that is what you should have. But even if you are spending there, do not forget to look at the menu options, for more savings2. Menu
and Appetizers: - OK, you examined your priorities and picked the venue that fit Is that the end of possible savings.. NO, it is not! Switch from Filet Mignon at $80 a plate to the Chicken Marsala and Pasta at $60 a plate. 150 guests You just saved $3000. It's still a good meal. Even if you picked the restaurant choice Say they have the same options and the difference is $5 per person (Filet Mignon or Prime Rib at $22 or Chicken Marsala at $17) Saved $750 in that case. Now, appetizers. You need to have drinks available to your guests during the cocktail hour while you are getting pictures done They will offer you appetizers. Decide if you need them at all. If you do want some sort of appetizer,choose wisely. Assume they offer a vegetable platter choice at $9 per person or a deli meats and cheese platter choice at $12. Shrimp Cocktails might be $15 per person. But they have a chips and Salsa bar that is $3 per person? Drop the appetizers from $9 to $3 and you just saved $900
during cocktail hour($6 per person X 150 persons)! If you eliminate the appetizers and just offer the bar then you are looking at a savings of $1350. Once again is it a necessity and how much does it translate to the overall success of your event.3. Chair covers: - I will admit that covering chairs in wedding colors is very attractive. Typical cost of chair covers $5 to $7 per chair. Do you really need it? Probably not! 150 guests X $6 per chair = $900 in savings. It's your day.. Prioritize!4. Wedding Planners: - Ever since Jennifer Lopez showed us how cool it could be, wedding planners have become more common to use. From day of assistants, Full service Wedding Planners that cover it all, and planners that just consult to help you find vendors, prices range from $500 on the low end to $10,000on the super high end.. Average is probably $1500 - $2000. Let me give you some ideas.. Most vendors have a professional organization. DJ's - NAME, Photographers - PPA, Videographers -
WEVA. Use these organizations to help you select vendors. Once you've selected a pro, ask them for help I personally have done over 1500 weddings and I know many great vendors and will help in the drop of a hat. Now, if you chose a truly professional DJ.. they are going to do somewhere from 50% to 90% of what a wedding planner will do, if you involve them, ask them, and allow them to! They will help you immensely. Ask what online planning tools they offer that are available 24 -7. Ask if they have other resources that can help you.. You will be amazed. For about the average price of the Wedding Planner you can get a DJ that runs your event and offers all the same services, as well as guiding you through your special day. Assign one of your close friends or relatives to be your "go-to" person day of the wedding, so the DJ can work with them and not bother you and make sure everything happens. Talk to your photographer. They do not offer all the same services but they can offe
r great insights as well.5. Flowers: Flowers can be expensive and typically by the next day they are mostly getting thrown away. Here are some floral tips. To save on flowers, use lush greenery in your centerpieces. Buy in-season flowers wholesale and then pay a florist to do simple arrangements (or if you're crafty, then you could DIY!). Think about using some silk flowers Visit a dollar store.. they normally have quite a few fake flowers in vases at $1 per vase. Many of the restaurants we recommended already have decorated their meeting rooms, so no flowers needed there. If you are having an outdoor ceremony you may not need to decorate anything but your wedding arch which would be very inexpensive. If you are getting married near a major holiday and getting married in your church, you may be able to use decorations already supplied for the holiday service. Acting wisely on these issues could leave you only taking care of flowers for your wedding party and your bouquet!6.
Champagne Toast: Not everyone wants or likes champagne, and it is expensive. Consider doing toasts with whatever drinks guests have in hand instead of champagne. Usually a facility will charge $3 to $8 per person for a toast. This will save you from $450 to $1200 for 150 guests.7. Bartending - Many facilities will require you to use their bar services. At a resort it is not unheard of to charge $500 to $800 for a keg of beer. Try to avoid that if you can. If your choices are limited consider hosting beer and wine and letting guests buy any mixed drinks they choose. If you are in a facility that allows, you can use a bartending service and literally get the bar and bartender brought in for under $200. You buy all the mixers, alcohol and drinks and they work for tips for the evening. Services even rent out frozen drink machines as well. Having a bar is often a key part of making the event fun and people will not like it if the bar is over-charging on drinks! Consider your opti
ons carefully here as this will affect your event's success.8. Trim Your Wedding Guest List - Sometimes people don't want to hear this, but it is the easiest and most effective way to trim the budget. If you cut your guest list from 150 to 100 and have a more intimate affair it opens up more option on halls, it allows a DJ to bring a smaller set of gear (saving you money). Fewer guests, less photos, save on photographer But let's talk food. Budget wedding at $17 per person.. 50 guests save you $850. Resort wedding at $60 per guest 50 guests saves you $3000. It's common sense.Small intimate kickin' party versus larger party with less frills or just less money left afterwards.9. Shop Demo or Sample Sales (or use the internet) for Cheap Wedding Dresses: -If you wear a common sized dress (6, 8, or 10) check out sample or display sales, which happen generally once a year. This is a great opportunity to get a designer dress at rock bottom prices. Try discount clearance stores. The
re is a large one at Arizona Mills here in the Phoenix area. You can also look at websites like EBay, Craigslist and many others for internet deals on used wedding dresses. Remember, cleaning delicate fabrics on a wedding dress may cost several hundred dollars, so avoid the cheap dress that needs cleaned.. Many towns have shops where you can rent a wedding dress. This could also save you hundreds of dollars.10. Wedding Invitations: Don't go for engraved invites - regular printed invitations work just as well. Buy your invitations through a mail order catalog instead of going to a stationery store. The prices in these catalogs are extremely competitive and there are many of these catalogs to choose from. For a casual wedding, consider printing your own invites on your computer. Stationery stores sell printed paper meant to use in home printers for inexpensive wedding invitations. Forgo the inner envelope and blotter paper; these are leftover relics from the time when ink need
ed time to dry, and people desired a beautiful envelope. Rather than having a reply card, ask guests to reply online or by the telephone. Provide a map on the bottom of the invitation, instead of on a separate card. With all these small changes, you not only save on sending postage, you save on return postage!Remember, it is your day! Spend money on the things that you need to make you happy and on the things that directly contribute to a great event.
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