How to Budget and Save for a Wedding

Did you know that the average wedding in Australia could set you back between $25k-$40k? Whether you're up for spending that sort of money or looking for ways to create your dream wedding on a budget, then we’d encourage you to continue reading. We're discussing how to save money practically and sensibly while maintaining your social life and creating the wedding you want and deserve.

Set a realistic budget

Ensure you and your partner are on the same page and clear on what you want to spend on wedding services such as the venue, engagement rings and entertainment from the off. A wedding planner will be able to help you budget these costs, but of course, wedding planners come with a price tag. If you're organised and give the planning process the time it needs, you are totally capable of doing it yourself and very successfully too! Just make sure to keep referring back to your budget to ensure you stay on track and check in with yourselves to make sure you've set a realistic goal.

Start a savings plan

Once you've established a wedding budget, you should have a good idea of how much your wedding will cost – and what you'll need to budget for. You should now be in a position to get your wedding savings plan in order. A good idea would be to open a dedicated wedding savings account – perhaps a wedding account that could benefit you with good savings habits by paying bonus interest when you make a minimum monthly deposit and make no withdrawals during that month.

Make some sacrifices

Depending on the timescale you have to save for your wedding, you might need to make some sacrifices to your lifestyle to save according to the plan. A less extravagant holiday for a year to two will enable you to put the difference towards the wedding. Simple savings such as fewer meals, drinks, and coffee out and fewer takeaways will also add up. But push it too hard; you still need to enjoy the process and not deprive yourself of too much in the run-up to the wedding. What you don’t want to do is look back on the period you spent planning your wedding and feel like you had no fun at all. There’s a balance in there somewhere, and you should work together as a couple to try and find it.

Give yourselves time and do your research

Wedding planning takes time, especially if you're working to a tight budget. There are lots of ways to save money and many cheaper alternatives out there if you have the time to do your research. First things first, don't let yourself get caught up mindlessly scrolling online when you're doing your research! Get out and about and speak to people that have planned a wedding before and who can share useful tips and tricks on how you can create your special day without blowing the budget. Getting recommendations is also a great way to ensure you're bagging a great wedding vendor and minimises the risks of disappointment down the line.

Avoid popular wedding seasons and days

Who said you must get married on a Saturday in late spring or early fall anyway? Avoiding popular days of the week, such as Saturdays in busy seasons, can save you a surprising amount of money. Many wedding venues now offer really competitive midweek packages for couples looking to book in low season and midweek. You could even consider a Friday or a Sunday wedding; guaranteed there will be better venue availability, and the costs are often dramatically cut.

If you're considering a destination wedding, it's far more straightforward to choose any day of the week to celebrate with enough notice, as your guests can arrange their travel around your chosen day.

Cut transportation costs

If you're having a church wedding, try to book a reception venue that's close by. The nearer the church is located to where you're getting ready, and the nearer your venue is to the church means if you're hiring wedding cars, then the shorter the travel time will be. Don't be afraid to ask around; it may be that a close one of your family members or friends has a fancy car you could borrow to rock up to the wedding in. Simply pop some ribbons on, and that's your wedding transport sorted! If a Rolls Royce is slightly out of budget, consider unique options like a vintage cab for city weddings, a golf cart for country club events, a boat for seaside celebrations, or a moped for destination weddings.

Reduce your guest list

One of the easiest ways to save money is to cut your guest list. You'll cut costs on not only the obvious things such as food and drink, but fewer people attending means less furniture to hire, fewer tables to decorate, fewer servers etc.

As you create your guest list, we recommend grouping people into three categories: immediate family and best friends, good friends and extended family, and co-workers or casual acquaintances, in the Say I do, you are able to group guests and then filter by group, making it easier to make cuts if necessary. From there, you can work on getting a per-person figure on which to base your budget. It is important throughout the planning process to include a detailed list of every cost you anticipate paying for.

Catering

Be very careful when it comes to trying to save money on your wedding food; not enough or not great quality food will leave a bad taste in your guests' mouths (excuse the pun)! One of the worst mistakes you can make at a wedding is leaving your guests hungry or dissatisfied, so please don't scrimp on your catering. You could speak to your caterers from the off about ways they can help you reduce costs by using off-cuts from your main meal as canapés and doubling up on ingredients, and/or you could also ask if your venue would serve your wedding cake as your dessert to cut costs on the third course.

The dress, hair and makeup

There are lots of ways to save money on your wedding dress, from considering hiring one, buying a pre-loved dress or speaking to bridal-wear boutiques to see if they are having sample sales so you can bag a bargain. One of the easiest ways to save money on your wedding hair and makeup is to go DIY or ask one of your bridal party to help out. Practice makes perfect, so if you do your own, ensure you've researched and practised the look you want to achieve so it will last all day. If you're set on getting a professional in to help, try to source locally so you don't need to fork out for sky-high travel costs. A smaller wedding budget usually won't allow you to pay for your wider wedding party to get glammed up as well - though if any of them want to, they could always pay your hair and makeup stylist themselves and have their looks done after you on the big day.

Skip on the unnecessary florals and keep your decorations simple and elegant

There are a few things that need to be considered when thinking about your wedding flowers because costs will inevitably rise by the amount you're ordering and the season you're getting married in. If your budget is tight, sit down with your wedding florist and prioritise what you want in terms of floral displays and consider what are the most important floral elements for you to have. Your florist will also be able to tell you what's in season (and therefore cheaper); costs will rocket if you're importing flowers that aren't in season and are, therefore, harder to get hold of.

Re-use and repurpose where you can when it comes to wedding decor. Could you use your bridesmaids flowers to add to the venue decor once the formal part of the day is over? Why not choose a venue that doesn't need too much decorating? Think outside the box. Can you make your own centrepieces and decorations? Do you have any crafty friends to help you DIY a few elements?

Call on your loved ones

Consider this: your wedding entertainment may actually be staring you in the face! One of your friends may play in a band or be amazing on guitar etc., so ask them if they'd be willing to play on your wedding day. Do any of your family members or friends have expert cake-making skills and be happy to make your wedding cake for you? These generous contributions could be their wedding gift to you which will mean so much more coming from them and help you keep wedding costs down.

Go digital with your wedding stationery

Wedding stationery can add up fast, so why not save money, time and the planet by going digital with your wedding stationery? With Say I do, you can design and send digital save-the-date cards, create a wedding website, send digital invitations, thank you cards and a whole lot more. There's a fab range of templates to choose from to keep everything looking professional and aligned to your wedding style, AND you can get started for free.

In summary

Whatever your budget, don't get too carried away when planning your big day. Wedding expenses soon add up, so give yourselves enough time to budget sensibly and stick to the plan! Don't be afraid to speak to your wedding vendors either; tell them what you can afford, and hopefully, they will work with you to ensure you keep to it. They are the professionals, so we’re sure they will have worked to a tighter budget before!

You'll both feel such a sense of satisfaction when the time comes, and you realise you have created an awesome wedding all by yourselves and, who knows, you may have learnt a thing or two about budgeting in the process.