Looking for ways to make your wedding cheaper takes a lot of time, energy and research. If you want to save money then you’re going to have to get your DIY head on, but remember to play to your strengths. Time is money at the end of the day, so ask around friends and family who could help you, and then outsource where you need to. Make a list of your priorities and try to put it in some form of order, then split the budget across that. Whatever your main priorities are, don’t scrimp on those things if they mean the most. If you’re a bouji wine drinker and want your guests to have the best, then don’t settle for crap table wine. If the cake is everything, don’t get a shop bought. If the visual memories are your main priority, definitely don’t scrimp on your media team. And ask your married friends for advice, was there anything that they wish they’d put more money in to, or spent less on? 

I recently did a blog about how to make your wedding more sustainable, please read that too as it’s in the same format and a lot of these points cross over. 

AS SOON AS THE RINGS ON

• I don’t mean to go all Martin Lewis on you straight away, but you’re going to want to open a separate weddings saving account. Open up an account with a high interest rate so you can make some interest on it, it’s literally free money! 
• Go through your day to day finances and see where you could cut back. Could you get yourself some nice home coffee’s so you don’t have to buy one on the way to work every day? If so, put what you would have spent in the wedding pot. 
• Turn going out for meals into cooking something nice at home and having wedmin nights. Put that money you just saved by staying in, in to the wedding pot.

THE HEN 

Firstly, normalise one day local hen do activities rather than abroad hens!

• Do a cake baking and decorating class with a local baker, then you can learn how to make your own wedding cake and potentially save yourself £££ !
• Do a flower arranging class for your hen and then when the wedding comes around, buy single stems or even shop bought and get your hens to use their newly found skills to make your tables look gorgeous!
• Instead of spending £££ on an abroad hen, why not gather the gang and book a really nice tasting menu at that fancy restaurant you’ve been wanting to go to?? Then you get to feel bouji, knowing it’s cost you a fraction of what an Ibiza hen would have cost!
• You don’t need to buy a whole new outfit for your hen if you don’t want to, you could borrow of a friend or find a second hand one on vinted. 

THE VENUE 

Probably the biggest cost of your entire wedding so just go with what’s right for you. 

• Firstly, can you have a mid-week wedding? This might bring down costs hugely.
• Find out if they allow you to bring in your own catering, or if they have different options available. Some venues (my dream venue included) only allow you to use their catering supplier, and don’t allow you to bring your own in., which might make your decision for you. 
• Find out alllll of the hidden costs. If you’re booking a venue for its outdoor set up, find out if theres additional chargers for bad weather alternatives. If you want to do a champagne tower, are they going to charge you hundreds more. Ask everything. 
• If the venue isn’t the most important part for you and you’re going for a proper DIY budget wedding, why not have a look at your local village halls! They could have loads of character and could be made up to look gorgeous, and they might be more easy going with what suppliers you bring in, bringing your costs right down. 

THE OUTFITS

• If an all singing all dancing wedding dress isn’t your priority, then don’t feel the need to spend a made up number on it. 
• Buy second hand and customise it or rent your dream one for a fraction of the cost. 
• If you want specific bridesmaids dresses, then I personally think you should be the one to provide them. If you don’t want ‘bridesmaid’ dresses, then give your wedding your colour palette and ask them to find something they will wear again within that palette, or even better they might already have something in their wardrobe. 
• Bridal accessories are very often sold on vinted so find a little second hand bag on there rather than buying new. Or go for ‘something borrowed’ when it comes to jewellery??

WEDDING FAVOURS 

See the ‘sustainable wedding tips’ blog for more on this as diy’ing this will save you money here. Or just don’t do them!

GUESTLIST

YOU DON’T HAVE TO INVITE ANYONE YOU DON’T WANT TO.

• If you don’t want your great uncle who you haven’t seen for a decade to come - don’t invite him. 
• If you don’t want kids at your wedding - don’t invite them.
• If you don’t want your besties partners to come and just have it as besties only - don’t invite them. 
• If you don’t want your second cousins new girlfriend who you’ve never met to come, don’t invite them.
• Tell your mum NO you can’t invite your 6 neighbour friends at my wedding.

DECOR, DETAILS AND SUPPLIERS

This is where your DIY head needs to get screwed on.

• Cake - bake your own / ask a family member to make you one as the wedding gift. If you’re doing sit down 3 course meal, ask if you can serve up your cake as the desert to save on the extra course cost!
• Florals - if they aren’t a priority for you then don’t do bouquets, its your day you don’t HAVE to have them. You could just do single stems in glass jars and candles on the table.
• Candles - you can get for very cheap, and have a look in charity shops for vintage candle sticks, or ask around to see if anyone’s collected them for their weddings and you could buy off them and then re-sell, or loan off them. 
• Paperless email invites over printed and posted ones.
• Music and entertainment wise, if this is important to you then book your fave bands or dj’s. Or do you have any DJ friends who want to do half an hour sets? Or can you just plug in your playlist?

AFTER THE WEDDING

• You don’t have to go on honeymoon straight after your wedding, go once you’ve saved up some cash.
• Skip a few holidays in the lead up to your wedding year, and go somewhere you’ve always wanted to go. Or just go for a UK hols with the dog 
• Send out thankyous via email or whatsapp, you don’t need to send out cards.
• Ask your photographer for some wedding book recommendations. I personally send out 3 different price tier book options so you can get your own made as it’s cheaper than doing it through the photographer usually. And ask if they have a discount code for certain places as they might just have one! 
• Once you have your wedding photos back, if theres nice ones of certain friends or family members, print them out and frame them as xmas prezzies :)