55 Clever Ways to Trim Your Wedding Budget

July 27, 2011
Nancy Neil

Who says weddings can't be amazing and affordable? With our helpful tips, yours will be.

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Brandon Lata Photography
Plus, Learn About 7 Common Unforeseen Wedding Expenses

Planning a wedding on a budget can make it difficult to look at the big picture. Instead of getting overwhelmed by all the major details and the price tags associated with them, start with these small ways to save money. Not only will our simple wedding budget tips and tricks help you cut planning costs, but they'll add up to one unforgettable celebration. Who says weddings can't be amazing and affordable?

The best part of all is that these tips don't feel like sacrifices. Serving a signature drink? You probably wanted to anyway. But maybe you didn't realize that this is one great way to see major savings on your bar tab. Another great tip? Fill your bouquet and centerpieces with in-season flowers! Local, seasonal blooms are more affordable than imported varieties, and we promise that you'll love the look. Follow one, five, ten, or all of our tips and watch the savings follow. 

If you're ready to plan your perfect wedding while saving big, these clever budget-trimming ideas are for you. Click through to see all 55 tips for making your dream day a little more affordable.

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Serve a Signature Drink

Millie Holloman
Get More Signature Drink Ideas

Serve a custom-made cocktail, such as punch or a classic libation, instead of providing a full bar. 

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Limit Alcoholic Beverages

Edyta Szyszlo
More Ways to Save Money on Alcohol

Limit alcoholic beverages to wine and beer, choices that will satisfy most of your guests. Join mailing lists at wine shops, then, when wines you want for your wedding go on sale, buy in bulk and in magnum sizes to save.

When you're ready to buy wine, go with wholesale. You'll pay your caterer a corkage fee to pour it, but wine purchased through him can cost twice as much. Most merchants offer a 10 percent discount for buying wine by the case, and they'll often increase that if you purchase several cases at once.

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Consider a Wedding Breakfast or Brunch

Breakfasts, brunches, and afternoon teas are usually more affordable than evening receptions: They're shorter, the fare is lighter, and guests tend to consume less liquor early in the day.

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Comparison Shop Wedding Cakes

Charlotte Jenks Lewis

If your caterer's contract will permit it, hire an outside baker to provide the wedding cake. Even though you'll have to pay a cake-cutting charge, you will likely pay less overall if you shop around.

Even if you want a tall cake, have your baker make only the amount required to serve each guest one slice. Any additional tiers can be made of Styrofoam and iced to match the others.

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Buy Local Ingredients

Gary Ashley for Les Loups

Have your caterer use local fruits and vegetables that are in season. Not only will these items be more economical, they'll taste fresher.

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Avoid Pricey Main Courses

Gary Ashley for Les Loups

Use expensive ingredients, such as lobster, in hors d'oeuvres rather than in a main course. Consider a raw bar for cocktail hour stocked with fresh clams, oysters on the half shell, and poached jumbo shrimp, lobster, smoked mussels, and crab cocktails.

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Forgo Full Dinner Service

Collin Hughes

How dinner is served affects the price. French service, in which guests are served by waiters from a platter at the table, and regular plate service are the most expensive. More economical is family-style, where diners help themselves from serving dishes brought to the table.

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Make Cake the Dessert Course

Alixann Loosle Photography

Dispense with a separate dessert course, and just present the wedding cake as dessert, with coffee and tea to end the meal.

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Punch-and-Cake Reception

Raymond Hom
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A punch-and-cake reception held in the late morning or afternoon is the least expensive type of party. To make it special, serve several cakes of different designs and flavors, or make punch in colors that match your palette.

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Two Wedding Cakes Can Be Cheaper than One

KT Merry
More Tips for Wedding Cake on a Budget

Order two cakes for the reception: a large sheet cake and a small fancy one to be used for display and the cake-cutting ceremony. The sheet cake, which can be less elaborately decorated than the other, gets sliced and dished up in the kitchen.

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Top Off a Simple Wedding Cake

See Gorgeous Wedding Cake Toppers

Order a moderately priced, plainly decorated cake, and make the focal point the cake topper. Vintage bride-and-groom figurines, wedding bells, horseshoes, a basket filled with fruit, or a pair of doves (from an antiques shop or handmade) are classic symbols that can make a cake memorable.

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Serve Champagne for Toasts Only

Christopher Baker

Instead of pouring Champagne all night long, serve just a single glass to each guest at the appropriate time to toast the bride and groom.

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Select In-Season Flowers

Bryan Gardner
Get In-Season Fall Flower Ideas

While most popular bridal flowers are available year-round, some traditional ones—peonies and lilies of the valley, for example—can be difficult to find and expensive out of season. Seek your florist's advice before deciding on your flowers.

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Economical Wedding Bouquet Embellishments

Get More Non-Floral Centerpiece Ideas

Mix berries, pinecones, and other economical non-floral embellishments among costlier blooms to fill out bouquets and displays.

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Repurpose Your Wedding Flowers

Bryan Gardner

Make floral arrangements do double duty: If there's an adequate number of ceremony flowers and they're an appropriate size, they can serve as centerpieces at the reception; otherwise they can decorate guest-book, seating-card, and favor tables. Place bridesmaids' bouquets on the dessert table.

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Streamline Centerpieces

Get More DIY Centerpiece Ideas

Instead of decorating tables with large arrangements, float a few flowers in shallow bowls or glass cylinders filled halfway with water. Here, we floated five or six peony blossoms in a footed bowl, surrounding it with scattered votive candles and satellite peonies in smaller bowls.

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Arrange Fruit-Filled Centerpieces

Bryan Gardner
See Wedding Centerpieces With Fruits and Vegetables

Bowls, compotes, or even cake stands filled with seasonal fruits from a farmer's market can take the place of expensive floral presentations.

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Decorate Tables With Candles

Millie Holloman
See More Candle Centerpieces

A single pillar candle in a hurricane lantern is a wonderful centerpiece, as is a casual display of votive candles in the middle of a table.

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Turn Favors into Centerpieces

Raymond Hom
Get Floral and Plant Favor Ideas

As an alternative to traditional flower centerpieces, group favors together on the table. Even if you spend a bit more on the favors themselves, you'll probably save overall.

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More Flowers Can Cost Less

Courtesy of Saipua
More Flowers You Never Thought of Using

Don't overlook such floral standbys as daisies and carnations. They're available year-round, are quite affordable, and when arranged en masse make delightful centerpieces and bouquets.

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Find Low-Cost Drama in Flowering Bulbs

Johnny Miller

Flowering bulbs—amaryllis, narcissus, and hyacinth among them—often cost less than regular flowers and are dramatic, even when arranged simply.

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Two-in-One Favor Place Cards

Max & Friends

Use favors as seating or place cards to save a bit on stationery costs. For seating cards, write guests' names and table numbers on strips of paper, affix them to the favors, and set in order on a table near the entrance. For place cards, put favors with names attached at guests' places.

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Use What You Already Have

Mademoiselle Fiona

Your florist won't have to supply vases for your centerpieces if you have a collection of containers, such as jelly or milk jars. Filled with flowers, such vessels make pretty displays.

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Put a Cap on Calligraphy

Pablo Béglez

Have a calligrapher letter only the cover of the ceremony program; print the interior pages using favorite fonts on your own computer. Consider making up menus, seating cards, and place cards with your computer, as well.

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Make Your Own Favors

Joe Goger

Handmade favors and decorations are appealing and usually cost less than store-bought.

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Celebrate Off-Season

Aaron Delesie

Vendors will be more likely to reduce fees if you choose a winter date rather than scheduling for summer, when rates are at their highest. This doesn't apply, however, during holidays. Fridays and Sundays are generally less expensive than Saturdays for renting a venue.

For a destination wedding, book a date that is not as popular for travel in the region.

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Downsize Your Bridal Party

Lisa Lefkowitz

Try to keep the number of attendants as small as possible: The larger the bridal party, the more you'll spend on gifts and flowers.

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Set Guest List Boundaries

NBarrett Photography

To minimize the guest list, refrain from inviting children and coworkers. Include your friends' significant others but not casual dates.

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Negotiate Contracts