As some of you may know, I am getting married this year!🎉 Planning a wedding has definitely tested my ability to save, plan, and stick to a budget. Believe it or not, I have broken our wedding budget here and there and it’s been much harder to stick to one than I thought it would be. Despite the challenges, my fiance and I have booked most of our wedding vendors and we are on track get through this wedding without completely breaking the bank.😅 

I have been asked to document my wedding planning journey a lot and I know a lot of my readers are planning their own weddings so I want to share 5 things that have helped me plan a wedding without ending up broke.  

I want to preface this by saying our wedding will be fairly traditional and there aren’t many DIY things we’re doing or other crafty things to save money. When I first started planning, I searched for ways to save money on a wedding and a lot of the results I got were things like “have a small guest list”, “don’t feed your guests”, or my favorite “just elope”. 

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There is nothing wrong with any of the above, however, for us none of these things were viable. We both have huge families so we automatically have a large guest count, we definitely want to feed our guests lol, and as much as eloping sounds nice sometimes, we knew we wanted to share this moment with everyone we love.

I say all this so you know that it IS possible to plan a “traditional” wedding without going broke or going into debt to accomplish it – it just takes a little bit of planning and a lot of hard work. 😊

Without further ado, let’s dive right in!

  1. PLAN AHEAD – Although I didn’t know when my fiance was going to propose to me, marriage was something we talked about before we got engaged. We were both on the same page about what we wanted together so we knew a wedding would come at some point in the future. We both saved as much as we could and by the time we were engaged, we had something to work with. 

Don’t try to plan a wedding without having the funds to do it. This can lead to getting into debt to pay for your wedding and the last thing you want is to start a marriage with financial stress. Plan ahead and try to wait until you’re financially ready.

  1. SET A BUDGET – You knew that one was coming 😉 According to The Knot the average cost of a wedding in the United States in 2018 was $33,931. This is just an average and the price will greatly vary on things like where you are getting married, guest count, and what “type” of wedding you’re going for. No matter what, you need to set a budget and make it realistic. 

My fiance and I set a budget for the wedding overall, and then set a budget for each vendor. This has helped me stay on track with the big picture and has helped guide my selection process for each vendor. 

  1. FOCUS ON WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO YOU – Weddings are sooo expensive so if you’re going to be spending a lot of money one, put your money in things that matter to YOU. Not what matters to your friends, family, strangers, etc. For example, two things that really matter to both my fiance and me are having really nice photos and having great music and creating a fun ambiance for our guests. 

Photos are one of the only things you get to keep after your wedding and also happens to be a category where spending more can actually result in a better product. Similarly, music can really set the tone and make or break your reception. So when we were setting budgets, we allocated more than the average for those two categories because they matter a lot to us and we knew bigger budgets would help us get what we want.

For you, music might not be a big deal but something else like beautiful flowers might matter more. If this is the case, you can cut back on music by having a DJ only and not having a live band and then allocating more money to your flower budget. There is no right or wrong place to spend on your wedding, it’s really about what will make you happy.

  1. SHOP AROUND – This may vary by where you live/where you’re getting married but I have found that for every vendor spot we need to fill, there are literally hundreds of businesses that can be a potential fit. This can be overwhelming, but make sure you take time to shop around because you just never know what kind of deal you may find. When we were looking for a venue, I requested information from 75 venues. That was 75 packets of pricing information and at least 75 times I reached out to someone asking for information. There were certainly moments that I felt a little overwhelmed with information overload,  but it ended up being SO worth it. 

Shopping around isn’t just about finding the cheapest deal, because at the end of the day you may not find the cheapest place but that’s okay because that’s not what it’s all about. For me, when we made the selection of our venue out of those 75, it wasn’t because it was the cheapest but it was because it was the one that offered the most value and checked off all the boxes of things we wanted in a venue. 

  1. NEGOTIATE – I cannot stress this one enough! NEGOTIATE NEGOTIATE NEGOTIATE. If you have a budget in mind, stick to it. If you really like a vendor but their prices are too high for you, ask what can be done. Many times they will bring a price down or throw something in to help meet you in the middle.

Most of the time all you have to do is ask! Remember that the worst thing they will say is no and if that is the case, you can either accept their offer or move on to other businesses. I have tried negotiating with most of my vendors and some have said no, but some have actually met my offers. With what we have saved from negotiating with just TWO vendors, our entire honeymoon has been paid for. That’s a big deal and all it took was asking politely. 

Planning a wedding can become very stressful very quickly and they tend to cost a lot of money. Successfully planning a wedding without going into debt or ending up broke isn’t easy, but it’s definitely doable. Planning, budgeting, shopping around and negotiating can really help decrease your cost and help you plan the wedding of your dreams. If you’re planning a wedding, just remember that you CAN do it with a little bit of discipline. Don’t let the wedding expenses stress you out too much after all your wedding is just one day of your life… What really matters is setting yourself up for a long, happy, and healthy marriage. 

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Nothing on this blog should be considered personal actionable advice, research, or an invitation to buy or sell any securities. Consider all risks before investing, including the loss of your hard-earned money. Vee is an Investment Advisor for Warren Street Wealth Advisors, this blog reflects her personal views and not that of Warren Street.