Wedding Budget Hacks
Worried about your wedding budget? You’re not alone.
Managing wedding costs can feel overwhelming, but here’s the good news—you don’t have to go over budget to have a magical day. In fact, 60% of engaged couples admit they weren’t fully prepared for wedding expenses. Many wedding guides focus on the national average (a staggering $35,000 for 2024) and suggest how to allocate funds. But we take a different approach.
Instead of telling you what you should spend, we focus on what you can spend.
✅ You set your budget
✅ We show you how to make it work—without sacrificing style or experience
Ready to discover the best wedding budget hacks? Let’s dive in!
Here are some of our quick wedding money saving hacks
Set your budget. Then give clear allocation to each category (we have a breakdown on our blog)
Skip traditional wedding dress shops and shop at your fav online retailers or go with a 2nd hand dress. (non sponsored retailer shoutout on our tiktok)
Shop around! Tell people what you can realistically spend after using our calculations from the blog post above
Choose non-traditional venues
like a restaurant (article with our restaurant wedding pros and cons)
or a nonprofit space
Have separate locations for ceremony and reception: Everyone is invited to the ceremony with light refreshments afterwards. Then host a 20 person dinner reception for immediate family only.
Consider Thursday or Monday weddings: Just like hotels & flights, weekday rentals can be 30-50% cheaper than Saturday
Use seasonal flowers that match your color palette: work with your florist to find lower cost flowers that work
Skip DJ and dancing if it's not your thing: Book a 5 hr rental instead of 10hrs & hire 1 less vendor to save $5-10,000
Decorate tables with candles or fruit instead of flowers: centerpiece will cost $20 instead of $350 per table
Keep guest list small. Keep guest list small. Keep guest list small.
Trimming the guest list is very popular advice. And here’s why!
Imagine a wedding at the same location, same season, same day of the week. Here we show how the difference between 50 guests and 150 guests can be $25,000.
Things to consider when deciding who is invited to such a special event.
If you’re looking for a budget minded planner, reach out to our team
Happy Planning!
