Oh I'm so bored of the daily stories about credit crunch brides having to compromise on their fairytale jamboree and all those couples cancelling until they can afford what they had always dreamed of. Their woe and despair is captured by the media to illustrate the severity of the economic downturn exagerrating the situation and making those in the wedding loop feel it's the end of the world.Well, in this arena I think that financial constraint is not such a bad thing at all. It will take the pressure of some couples who feel that they have to wow the crowds to keep up with everyone else. Now it's a case of spending what you can afford and that's a very comfortable, sensible thing. It's time for compromise, creativity, thought, resourcefulness-all things that normally go right out the window when wedding madness takes over.
I welcome this and think it could be just what some couples need to make them have a good old think about what they are doing and what really matters to them.
I say go with the flow. Accept it-embrace it and turn the situation to your adavatage. It's not an obstacle but an opportunity to put together a wedding of real depth and significance. Here are some of my top suggestions to help you cut the cost and love doing it at the same time.
1. Marry midweek
2. Have the ceremony and reception/celebration in the same place-so much less fuss
3. Revisit and revise your original guest list-who do you REALLY want to be there?
4. Buy retro/ charity/ebay for clothes and accessories-do you have to be in white-be vivacious!
5. Round up friends and family and use their talent and skills for photography/filming, music both live and DJ, catering, flowers, designing skills, organisational skills
6. Use local, in season flowers and produce
7. Use alternaive transport like buses, bikes, on foot, friends cars-how funky can you be?
8. Adopt less is more attitude-no need to over do decs and flowers or include all that conventional wedding paraphernalia
9. Do you really need to buy all these wedding party presents that have become de rigeur?
10. Do you really need to have an engagement ring? Buy a special ring later into your marriage.
Think grass roots, home grown , homemade -HEART and SOUL-it'll make you feel sooo GOOD!!
2 comments:
Once again, you're absolutely in my brain. I've got a couple more tips, if you don't mind:
Pick the prettiest site you can afford. If it already looks good, it won't need much decorating, saving you further costs. If it doesn't look good, it may not be possible to make a place pretty, even if you have an unlimited budget.
Prioritize carefully. Sit down as a couple and decide on no more than three items to splurge on. Whether your splurge item is the food, the photos, the invitations, or the site, pick the thing that matters to you as a couple. Be ruthless about everything else.
Remember that just because something is traditional doesn't mean it's required. Pew bows, champagne, fancy clothes, flowers...these and dozens of other items are actually optional extras. Feel free to do without them or to come up with low/no cost alternatives.
Put extra effort into something that costs nothing: developing a ceremony that will be meaningful for you.
Smile a lot on your big day. Long after everyone has forgotten precisely what food there was and whether or not there was live music, your friends and families will remember your happy smile and gracious behavior.
No matter what sort of budget you do or don't have, joy is priceless. Share it liberally.
Delayed response from me but thanks so much for your ideas which I second. Pretty venues-most defo-what can you do with soulless hotels with rooms with no windows and depressing lighting and floral carpet? Nothing but nothing can disguise that can it?
I think that people need to be less scared of thinking outside of the conventional wedding box. Once they do that a whole load of options appear that are much cheaper bceause they are not over inflated typical wedding packages.
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