Smart Spending – Not Sacrificing: Discover 5 ways to cut costs without compromising style, experience, or the magic of your wedding day.
These days, many people are looking for ways to cut back – and weddings are no exception!
If you’re planning a wedding, you’ve probably noticed that like everything else, the cost of celebrating your big day has risen. And no – it’s not just because venues and vendors hear the word wedding and decide to charge more! The reality is that everything has gone up – food & beverage costs, gas, insurance, flowers (thanks in part to COVID), labour – you name it. But the good news? There are plenty of ways to trim your wedding budget without sacrificing a special experience. In fact, you and your guests probably won’t even notice these cuts!
Here are 5 things to consider cutting down or removing from your wedding budget:
1 – Save the Dates & Invitations – Cutting Costs, Not Style
- I love beautiful paper and design—but I also dislike waste! A great way to save while keeping things stylish is by opting for digital Save the Dates. You can still have a beautifully designed piece that fits your overall theme, but instead of mailing it, send it by email. It’s low-cost (or even free!), and if you set up a wedding website (check out my previous blog post on that), you can direct guests there for more details and updates throughout the planning process.
- There’s something special about receiving a gorgeous paper invitation in the mail, and if that’s a must-have for you, absolutely keep it on your list! However, to save on costs, consider asking guests to RSVP online via your wedding website. This way, you still get the elegance of a printed invite without the added expense of RSVP cards, envelopes, and postage.
- Not too fussed about a physical invitation? You can go digital here too! A beautifully designed e-invitation can be just as impactful while keeping things budget-friendly and streamlined. Just be sure to include clear RSVP instructions so guests know when and how to respond.
2 – Welcome Bags & Wedding Favours
Providing welcome bags at guests’ accommodations or filling bathroom baskets with little extras is a lovely idea—but is it really necessary? This is an easy place to cut back, as many items never get used. And if someone forgot something? Your trusty Wedding Planner likely has an emergency kit stocked with essentials!
This one is a big please don’t for me! Unless you’re gifting something truly meaningful and personal that you know your guests will cherish and take home, skip the wedding favours!
- Chocolates & cookies – Usually eaten before dinner even starts.
- Jams & sauces – Often left unopened and forgotten.
- Candles, coasters, soaps – Most get left behind, and unfortunately, many end up discarded by the venue.
Instead of spending money on knick-knacks, put the money toward something your guests will truly appreciate – like an incredible meal they’ll be raving about long after the wedding!
3 – The Bar: A Budget (and potentially messy) Money Pit
As I mentioned earlier – I dislike waste! And that includes wasting money at the bar. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good drink as much as the next person, but the bar is one of the biggest budget drains at a wedding.
I truly believe that if you’ve invited your favorite people to spend an entire day (or weekend!) celebrating with you, offering them a couple of drinks and a great meal is the least you can do. But here’s what I always tell my couples: “It’s not your job to get your guests drunk!”
A great balance? Provide a well-curated selection during your cocktail hour (think: non-alcoholic options, plenty of water, champagne, a white wine, a red wine, a couple of beers, and maybe two signature cocktails). Then, offer wine with dinner and perhaps a couple of drinks afterward.
What to avoid? A fully hosted bar all night long. Not only does it lead to a massive bar tab, but it can also invite trouble – excessive drinking can result in damage or mess, which many venues will charge back to you!
Let’s be honest—how many times have you been at a wedding with an open bar, grabbed a drink, had a sip, put it down to dance or step away, and then… where did my drink go? So, you go and get another one. When guests have to purchase their own drinks, they tend to be much more mindful of what they’re consuming.
I’m not saying cash bar all the way, but consider a hybrid approach:
- Hosted bar during cocktail hour
- Wine with dinner
- A couple of drink tickets per guest for after dinner
- Cash bar for the remainder of the night
With the right communication (in advance), this approach comes across as thoughtful and mindful of everyone’s well-being – not as cutting corners. Your guests will still feel taken care of, and you’ll avoid a bar tab that spirals out of control!
4 – Dinner – Keep it Simple
Your wedding reception (food and beverage included) can easily make up 50% of your total budget, so it’s essential to ensure you’re serving your guests a satisfying meal while keeping costs in check.
Rather than stretching your budget with multiple courses, focus on a smaller selection of high-quality dishes. Serve a delicious appetizer (think: salad, soup, or similar) followed by a main course with a few options (beef, chicken, fish, and vegetarian). This not only keeps the costs down but also prevents guests from sitting for hours while they wait for several courses. Ideally, the dinner service—including speeches—should take 2-3 hours, allowing guests to mingle, dance, and socialize afterward.
There’s often the assumption that a buffet or family-style dinner service is cheaper but not always! Since a buffet usually offers a wide range of food choices to accommodate different tastes, this can increase the overall food cost. More options mean more ingredients, more prep time and labour, more staffing and set up, and there’s often leftovers that go to waste.
With family-style service, larger portions of each dish are required to ensure there’s enough for everyone at the table. This means more food overall, which can increase the cost. Additionally, family-style dining requires numerous service dishes, platters, and utensils – which can add up on your rental bill. Since platters need to be delivered to each table and replenished throughout the meal, it typically requires more servers to get multiple dishes to the table in a timely manner, further increasing labor costs.
When it comes to dessert, I recommend skipping the plated options. From my experience, many guests either only take a bite or don’t touch it at all, leading to food waste. Instead, consider offering a self-serve dessert table with smaller, bite-sized treats. This way, guests can choose what they like, and any leftover desserts can be packed up to enjoy later (perfect for a post-wedding snack!).
5 – Cheers to Smart Champagne Service
I’m a big champagne lover but I’m feeling that pouring a couple of bottles of your favourite bubbles over precariously stacked coupe glasses has run it’s course. While it looks great in photos, those stacked glasses often go undrunk as the rim and stem are quickly coated with champagne. Another potential waste is the traditional champagne toast. Unless the glasses are efficiently poured and passed by staff right before the toast (maybe also offering a non-alcoholic alternative) and guests can say yay or nay to it, a toast can end up being a lot of wasted champagne.
How about a champagne wall or shelves instead? If this is poured just before guests have access to it, it’s lovely and cool and bubbly, and if guests aren’t partaking in this, they simply skip the glass (and guests who finish theirs may go for a second!).
So, how do you know where to spend your wedding budget and what to leave out?
Before making any decisions, I always discuss what truly matters to my clients. We identify the “must-haves,” the “nice-to-haves,” and the things they definitely don’t want at their wedding.
From there, I streamline their budget, ensuring funds are allocated toward the things that will have the biggest impact on their experience and guests’ enjoyment. This approach not only helps prioritize the important elements but also ensures that money isn’t wasted on items that may go unnoticed or aren’t essential to the overall vision.
By focusing on intentional choices and aligning your wedding budget with your values, you can enjoy a beautiful wedding without feeling burdened by unnecessary costs.