10 Ways I Kept My Wedding Under $10,000
My wedding was beautiful, everything I could have wanted, and it came in at just under $10,000. I’m sure you’re thinking “how did she do that?”, and of course, you are. We all know weddings cost a mini fortune. The Knot’s most recent survey revealed the average cost of a wedding in 2017 was $33,391. …
Five Budget Tips for Your Wedding
Weddings are definitely one of the most memorable and life-changing occasions in a person’s life. But just because your wedding is a special milestone, it doesn’t automatically mean it should be expensive. From choosing affordable wedding rings to creative DIY decor, there are plenty of ways for you to save money on your wedding day. Here …
Legal Matters You Should Sort Out Before the Big Day
Planning for a wedding is not just about beautiful dresses, wedding invitations, and finding the perfect venue. You must also carefully consider various legal obligations and options to ensure you enter a safe, secure, and legal marriage to your partner. Here are the legal matters you should sort out before the big day. Apply for …
Apartment Hunting Tips For Newlyweds
Did you recently get married? Acquiring a house together is your next major step. Although purchasing a home is a big commitment that requires careful planning, the fact that you are looking for a place to start your family makes it very exciting. Whether you want to live in a condo or apartment, nothing beats …
Crowdfund Your Wedding
More and more couples are paying for their wedding plans in non-traditional ways. They fund their weddings, receptions, and honeymoons through online crowdfunding. Why Crowdfund? Weddings continue to be expensive events, especially destination weddings. Receptions are more costly than they used to be. And, honeymoons take couples to more exotic locations. Marrying couples tend to …
Monetary Wedding Gifts: What Is The Appropriate Amount?
Monetary gifts are increasingly common wedding presents. They eliminate the hassle of dealing with the registry and provide the bride and groom with what they need: money. However, many wonder what the appropriate money amount is to give the happy couple. Let’s find out: Your Relationship To The Couple The amount of money you …
Create Wedding Invitations That Only Look Expensive
How to Get the Invitations You Want, at a Price You Can Afford (ARA) – Save a substantial amount of money on invitations, without sacrificing quality, by making them yourself using your computer. It’s easy and fun to create distinctive invitations, at a price you can afford, by layering fine printable paper over a heavyweight …
Cheap Wedding Favor Ideas
Cheap. It’s such a drab-sounding word … until you realize you’re about to put on a ten, even twenty-thousand-dollar party. Suddenly, the word “cheap” takes on a whole new shine. So, you want to follow the time-honored tradition of thanking your guests for coming — wedding favors — but you don’t have a lot left over after the photographers, videographers and …
The Secrets to Planning a Wedding on a Budget
You’ve probably lived your wedding day in your head for thousands of times. You’ve picked your ideal dress, thought about the venue and decorations, and imagined the lavish wedding cake to wow your guests with. But as the actual wedding day looms closer, you might begin to dread about the cost of it all. But …
How Much Money Do I Give As A Wedding Gift?
Wondering how much dough you need to shell out for the wedding you’ve been invited to is a time-honored question. Many factors contribute to how much money you should give as a gift, and there’s quite literally “an app for that,” such as The Wedding Envelope Gift Calculator. Gift calculator apps are quite handy in …
How you can reduce your living costs in order to spend big on your wedding
Many of us dream of a big, extravagant wedding but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we can all afford it. Sometimes it feels like our money is just stretched too thin. However, there are ways that you can cut some costs and save up for the wedding of your dreams. All it takes is some …
How to save money on a wedding
Saving money on your wedding feels impossible. A wedding is supposed to be the best day of your life, not the most expensive day. In fact, a lot of people nowadays are prioritizing their weddings over getting a mortgage! So, instead of spending what you can’t, follow some of these money saving tips to keep control of …
How Much Money Should Bridesmaids Spend? A Few FAQs
Let’s face it: being a bridesmaid isn’t exactly cheap. How much bridesmaids spend depends on the bride and the cost of her wedding, with some going the crazy-extravagant route and others taking pains to make their nuptials as budget-friendly as possible. With that in mind let’s look at a few frequently-asked questions to give you …
Wedding Reception 101: Estimating Drink Cost Per Person
Before we delve into wedding reception drink cost estimations, it’s important to note there’s no real way to know how much your guests will consume. Some might have a glass and a half of champagne while others guzzle two bottles’ worth of wine and several beers. However, obtaining an estimate is still a good idea …
How To Do Everything You Want On A Budget
Managing your money is not nearly as hard as it seems. It might feel like it just keeps getting away from you and costs just keep piling up, but there are some easy ways for you to get on top of your spending. Budgeting shouldn’t be scary. Almost everyone does it and they do it …
5 Super-Helpful Wedding Apps
Need some assistance planning your wedding? There’s an app for that! Check out the following apps to help you plan your wedding, especially if your budget doesn’t include money for a wedding planner (and that’s okay!): Ringfinder – The Private Collection of Southern African Diamonds This free app is here to help you with your …
How To Ensure A Child-Free Wedding
Want to have a kid-free wedding? Many do. Not everyone knows how to raise well-behaved children, resulting in nightmares that involve small fingers in wedding cakes, crying babies, tantrums, overly-playful preschoolers, various messes…the list goes on. If you really and truly want a wedding free of children, prepare for backlash. While some, namely those who …
The (Super) Low-Budget Wedding Reception
Even low-budget weddings can take a huge bite out of savings … and often leave you stumbling under a serious pile of debt. Take heart, though: planning a wedding yourself in a hands-on way can save you some money. At its best, it also lends that personal touch that provides lasting family memories. When you’ve …
Up, Up and Away: Balloon-Filled I Dos
Bouncy, beautiful and filled with that childlike wonder we want to hold on to forever, balloons are a fun alternative or addition to traditional wedding decor. Coming in every size, shape and color of the rainbow, balloons are playful and seemingly retro (believe it or not!) in this day and age. A lovable throwback. Choose giant …
Make Your Own Wedding Veil in Six Easy Steps
By Bobette Kyle-Wagner Want a wedding veil made to your specifications, but don’t want to start out married life with a second mortgage? Consider making it yourself! It really isn’t that hard, and it’s almost always cheaper than buying. The specifics will be as unique as you are, but the general steps to making your …
How to Get Wedding Photos on a Bare-Bones Budget
By Jessica Bonilla All brides want that one photograph that perfectly captures the wedding day. But to get it, you have to hire a skilled photographer — a cost which unfortunately usually runs into the thousands. Here are some tips to cropping your photography budget down to size: 1. Post an ad in the art …
Planning Your Wedding Reception — and Saving Lots of Money in the Process
By Mia LeCron Great deals aren’t hard to find when you know how much money you’re working with. Happily, it really doesn’t matter how small your budget is for the reception, because it’s possible to accommodate all budgets when it comes to planning a wedding. Your reception budget should consist of about 30% of your …
How Brides Can Get The Perfect Wedding Day Look On A Budget
Their wedding can be one of the most expensive single days a couple will ever spend together. With a venue, clothing, healthy and beauty, accessories, and finer details to consider, the costs soon add up. There is a positive aspect to this menacing cloud though, in the form of the Wedding Hack. Whether a couple …
Infographic – How to Save Money On Every Part of Your Wedding
Wedding Budget. Easy Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding Weddings reflect the individual personalities and priorities of the couple getting married. The focus of this special day need not be about how much was spent or saved. That’s easier said than done of course when the average cost of weddings running more than $27,000 nationally. …
Pining for Pinecones
They are symbolic of winter. They are rustic, whimsical, earthy and beautiful in the same breath. Pine cones. We love them, especially when incorporated into your winter-wedding decor. Whether you bundle them into your bouquet or use them as place card holders, there are endless ways to use pine cones on your big day. Brown …
Where Did the Money Go? A 2013-2014 Wedding Budget Breakdown
During the wedding-planning process, it feels like money is flying out of your wallet left and right. You are not alone. The budget is probably the most disputed and painful part of planning your big day — definitely not as fun as tasting your menu or trying on your dress. The average overall wedding is …
Top tips for planning a wedding on a budget
A couple’s wedding day is one of the most important days of their lives. Unfortunately, it can be one of the most expensive days of their lives as well. When couples do not have a huge wedding budget, there are a few ways that they can save money to keep their wedding costs down. Hold …
Making a Case: Live Band or DJ?
Music is one of the most important details of the big day, and believe it or not, something that needs to be thought of well in advance because good DJs and live bands book up fast. For some couples, deciding between a live band and a DJ is a no-brainer (they have family friends in …
Let Them Eat Brunch
Who said an evening wedding with a sit-down dinner was the best and only way? No way. Are you morning people? If your answer’s yes, we say choose an early wedding start time, and then bring on brunch! From coffee bars to doughnut cakes, omelette stations, DIY waffles and bountiful fruit cups, opting for breakfast food …
Skip Floral Centerpieces — Try Edible Arrangements!
With the farm-to-table ideology as on trend as ever, we can’t help but want to extend that to the weddingsphere, beyond what’s served on your guests’ plates. Try swapping flowers for alternatives like fruits, vegetables, cheese and nuts — you name it — the sky’s the limit. The end result is highly unique, memorable and individual …
Love Seat: Special Ways to Decorate Your Reception Chairs
These are the first seats you’ll take together as husband and wife; thus, they can’t be a couple of “any ol’ chairs.” Whether it’s a dainty spray of blooms, bouquet of ribbons, DIY banners or cheeky signs — decorating the newly coronated bride-groom thrones can be a fun, inexpensive task, which makes for one of …
Fun Wedding Send-Offs: 10 Alternatives to Throwing Rice
While we love how wonderfully nostalgic throwing rice is after you’ve been pronounced ‘husband and wife,’ it’s fun to mix things up and choose something festive that suits the theme and feel of the wedding and you as a couple. Here’s a round-up of some send-off ideas we love: CONFETTI: Light, bright-colored confetti makes …
Tied up in Tulle
It’s soft, romantic, versatile and inexpensive. Ladies, meet tulle — quite possibly the most bridal material there is. Whether it falls from the skirt of your gown, drapes from your veil, envelopes your bouquet or dresses your reception tables, the potential is boundless with this cotton candy-esque fabric. Check out these cute ways to incorporate tulle into …
Your Wedding Budget: 30 Easy Ways To Save Money
As fun as weddings are, they’re expensive. Like, really expensive. However, it’s entirely possible to cut costs and avoid blowing your budget. Check out a few ideas: Reception 1) Trim the guest list–this saves on food, drinks, invitations, stamps, chair rentals…. 2) Go off-season and save thousands! 3) Have the ceremony and the reception …
The 10 Best Wedding Apps For Planning Your Wedding
Best Wedding Apps We locked ourselves inside, downloaded lots of apps, tested online tools and finally came up with the definitive list of the Top 10 Wedding Apps. That’s right, we’ve found the most awesome wedding apps, the ones that convert “swiping time” into productive “wedding stuff getting done” time. We found tools and apps for creating a wedding …
