ohhhh trust me – i get it… planning a wedding can be EXPENSIVE… i personally saved up and spent about 25k on my wedding and that’s not included what chase put towards it either — my dala (grandma) helped us pay for the food and my mumma gifted me with a wedding dress… so you can imagine we were certainly well over 30k for our wedding!!!

as we settle in to a new year – 2020 HOLY MOLY – you may be finding yourself wondering how in the holy wedding you’re going to be able to afford it… so i wanted to share some of my thoughts on how you can plan a beautiful and meaningful wedding while on a budget…. it IS important to note that the word ‘budget’ is so subjective and no matter what price point you’re at – having a budget will be so important in ensuring you don’t find yourself in the hole of wedding debt!

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5 ways to plan your wedding on a budget

1) choose a meaningful and private location — while this will help you drastically cut wedding venue costs, you WILL then need to consider tent rentals and other necessities to ensure your family/friends (and vendors) are comfortable but also protected by weather. while this is a budget friendly tip – just to be fair – choosing a meaningful location (especially outdoors) does pose more of a stress risk during the planning process…. parking – weather – bathroom… so it’s important to weigh out the pros/cons of what you value most during the planning process for yourself. wedding venues usually offer protection/rentals/staff/etc and that’s one of the things you’re paying for when having your wedding at a wedding venue.

2) be intentional with your guest list — i actually think this is one of the smartest ways to save money when planning your wedding… the higher your guest count – the more money you’re likely to spend (regardless of your budget or vision)… this can be hard for most couples, but i encourage you to be intentional and figure out how you can say no to your aunt betty’s best friend’s neighbor’s mom. you can always send her a christmas card.

3) schedule your wedding on a friday or a sunday or maybe even during the week — a LOT of vendors, especially venues, offer ‘off day’ and/or ‘off season’ discounts for weddings held on ‘less popular’ days and during ‘less popular’ times of the year!

4) use meaningful and/or reusable decor — for our wedding especially, we had a TON of decor — but most of it were pieces from our home or pieces from our family… depending on your theme, you may be able to find GORGEOUS decor options at local thrift stores or from wedding sites/groups where brides are selling their gently used wedding decorations!!! we still to this day use a lot of our wedding decorations as house decor… and it holds such a special place in our heart now too!

5) be honest with yourself — one of the easiest ways to save money for YOUR wedding is to truly ask yourself… ‘does this even matter’ — ‘is this even important’ — and if it isn’t… skip it.

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i really encourage you to define what’s MOST important to you as a couple — and then invest in those areas of the planning process!!! and at the end of the day — your marriage is more important than the wedding day… having a beautiful and fun wedding is amazing of course, absolutely – plan your sweet little heart out and make sure your friends and family are loved and have the best time… but not at the expense of being in massive wedding debt the second you return from your honeymoon… start your marriage off focusing on what really matters most – the two of you!!!!