How We Saved $ Planning Our Wedding
When Andrew and I were planning our wedding we had goals in mind in terms of planning and budgeting. We wanted to have a beautiful wedding without spending a ton of money. Honestly I myself have never been a fan of over the top weddings. Another reason we wanted to save money was because we were getting married in the midst of Covid. Simple yet beautiful is how I would describe the vision we had. Luckily I have a great partner in Andrew. He never wanted me to plan anything alone and he was so helpful in the planning process. We were fortunate that we had similar taste and vision of what we wanted in a wedding. I have heard of some instances where the bride to be does all the planning and the groom just shows up. That is just not who we are, and thank goodness.
As a disclaimer when I say we planned our wedding on a budget I don't mean we were the type to take it to an extreme. We didn't crunch numbers and haggle to make things cost less, and our budget was not really strict. Some tools we used for saving money included comparing prices for every big ticket item, using spreadsheets to organize our thoughts, contacts, dates, alternatives and costs, sitting down and discussing alternatives with our vendors, and finally doing a bunch of DIY projects together. By speaking of what we did and providing tips, I am in no way claiming myself to be a professional wedding planner by any means. I just think that by writing this post I could potentially help provide ideas and ways to save money when planning your wedding.
I believe there are certain aspects of a wedding that will and should cost a little more: venue, photographer/videographer, and catering. This is what we tackled first and in that order.
Venue. To save money in terms of venue I suggest shopping around and looking into what the venue includes for the price, to make the best choice for you and your partner. Identifying what the venue provides, versus what other items you would need to make the venue complete should be considered before reserving. For example, our venue came with ceremony seating, reception seating, a full kitchen, a sound system, an on-site wedding coordinator, and 2 cabins for the weekend which was very helpful. Andrew and I researched just about every venue within 50 miles of our home to determine the best venue for us. In the end we chose a venue in the state park where Andrew proposed. It had the benefit of being affordable and sentimental. One of the ways we attempted to save money in terms of venue was by selecting the 1 day versus 2 day price. However, a few weeks before the wedding we decided to pay for the second day in order to set up and decorate the venue the day before.
Photography/Videography. Price is important when it comes to photography and videography, but quality of photos/video is just as important. When choosing a photographer/videographer it is important to look over their work to know what you will be paying for. The photographer we chose also had significance to us. She shot our engagement photos so we knew then that we would be booking her. Shoutout to Ashlee Burgess Photography + Lindsey for their amazing talents. When we booked with Ashlee at the time videography was not a part of her packages and we did not attempt to find a videographer outside of our person. We decided against a videographer to save money, BUT I do recommend having one if you can afford it for the amazing memories videography provides.
Food and Beverage. Catering is a huge part of a wedding and can be very costly. We saved money in terms of catering by choosing a buffet over plated meals. Buffets are great because they provide your guests with options and we feel it was just as great as a plated meal. (Our vendors served our guests as they went through the line). We also did not purchase appetizers through our caterer to save money. We bought finger foods and trays from Sam's for our guests to enjoy during our cocktail hour. We also saved so much money by not having an open bar or bartender. We bought a few wine and beer options, but also allowed our guests to bring their own alcoholic beverages. This helps guarantee that your guests will like the alcohol choices if they bring their own and saves you so much money.
Cake. We also saved a good portion of money with how we did our cake. Instead of having one large multiple tier cake we did a 2 tier cake for us to cut and 2 large sheet cakes for our guests. One large tiered cake cost much more than what we opted for. Doing this also gave us the option of having multiple flavors. We loved so many of the cake flavors we tried that we opted for 2, and this also provided our guests the choice of what flavor they wanted. Having a 2 tier cake was perfect because it still gave us the cake cutting experience and looked great in pictures.
In our price comparison for the cake we found that we were also able to save some money by choosing a local baker who would deliver for free within a certain mileage. Other cake places we looked at charged a fee for transportation of the cake.
Music. Another big expense of a wedding can be the DJ. We did not book a DJ for our wedding. Instead we created a Spotify playlist of songs we liked and those we felt our guests would enjoy. We hooked up our device to the sound system of our venue and played the music that way. We just had our wedding coordinator be in charge of starting and stopping our entrance, exit, and first dance songs. This saved a ton. Make sure you have Spotify premium though so no ads are played. How awkward would that be?
Hair and Makeup. For the wedding I booked an amazing makeup artist. As far as hair goes the person I wanted to do our hair was not available my wedding day. I shopped around for someone else, but they were all either booked or cost more than I could afford for 8 people at the time. My bridesmaids suggested instead that we all do each others hair, which is what we ended up doing. I really enjoyed this because it was also a bonding moment for me and my girls. I do not suggest this though if you do not have someone who is good with hair, or if your timeline is too busy.
Florist. We shopped around for our florist and went with a smaller local florist. Sitting down with our florist and discussing alternatives was very beneficial to the beauty of the end product and savings in the end. She was able to help us visualize our dream while also fitting into a budget range. My bouquet, Andrew's boutonniere, and our arch flowers were purchased through our florist, and were the only real flowers we had at our wedding. Andrew chose a more simple design for his boutonniere and I opted for a medium sized bouquet and that helped with price. I think the size and flowers we chose could not have been more perfect.
Since Andrew and I had 7 people each in our bridal party we opted for artificial flowers for our bridal party. We purchased pre-made bouquets and boutonnieres from Hobby Lobby and they looked just as good as real flowers. Unless you were looking at them from up close you could not even tell that they were artificial. If you want to get crafty you can also make them yourself with florals from Hobby Lobby or Michael's. Both of these stores have discounts on wedding décor and florals all the time. We also purchased florals for our centerpieces from Hobby Lobby online.
Décor. A majority of our wedding décor was made by Andrew and I. What we did not make we purchased mostly from Etsy and Amazon. (I will do my best to include links of everything).
Our DIY Projects. We did so much DIY and had a blast doing it. It not only saved us money, but it was fun to do and gave us joy to be able to say "oh yeah we made that" when guests admired our décor. Here are some of the things we made ourselves for the wedding and how we made them.
Our wood slices used in our center pieces.
If you look up wood slices on Etsy they cost a pretty penny. We thought why pay that when we could make them ourselves. A family member of ours had recently cleared off some land and had some down trees. We found a down tree that was a decent size and of good circumference of how we wanted them. The hard part was sawing them and trying to get them the same thickness and as flat as possible. After sawing them we just had to sand them, add a wood shine and let them dry.
Mr. & Mrs. Table Flowers.
These were so much fun to make. We purchased the green floral foam and florals for our Mr. and Mrs. table from Michael's. All you really need to make anything like this is the florals, foam, and wire cutters. I suggest buying a little extra foam for trial runs to place the flowers in a way you like them.
All signs at the wedding.
For the signs I got my inspiration from Pinterest. I used Google Docs for the fonts and typed the Guestbook and Seating Chart using that. Then I just printed them and put them in nice frames we found at Walmart. For the Welcome sign I had my cousin use her Cricut for the lettering. I bought an easel and the glass for it on Amazon, and then purchased paint in our wedding colors to paint the back of it. These were super easy and cheap to make.
Our event timeline.
This whole piece in its entirety cost less than $10. All you need is the pallet, some paint, and a pencil. Andrew got the pallet at a local place called Chattahoochee Pallets Inc. for $3. If you are local and would want something like this check them out. If you are not local, look into places that sell or have spare pallets for cheap. They are fairly big in size though, so make sure you have a way to transport it back and forth. As you can see from this picture, I just painted it with white paint and used black paint for the writing. I suggest using pencil first before going over the writing with the paint.
Cornhole boards.
Need something for your guests to do while you take pictures after the ceremony? Have friends who don't know what to get you for a wedding present? Andrew had been wanting cornhole boards for a while and asked his fraternity brothers to sponsor the boards instead of a traditional wedding gift. With the help of YouTube we were able to make the cornhole boards on our own. The wood was purchased from Home Depot, while the material for the bags was purchased at JoAnn Fabric store. Building the boards was fairly easy and if you know how to sew, the bags are easy to make as well. Just fill the bags with corn and then you are set.
Tip: We also made a DIY photobooth using PVC pipe, spray paint, and a white backdrop for our guests to take pictures with. You can purchase photobooth props on Amazon. (Unfortunately it did not get a lot of use because of a storm.)
And last but not least our arch!
We both wanted something different than the typical arch design. Hexagonal arches have become pretty popular in recent years and we had seen one on Pinterest that we loved. It was Andrew's idea for us to build one ourselves. The cost to build it was not bad compared to buying one online or renting one. The wood for it was purchased from Home Depot as well as the hardware. If you have the tools to build it or know someone who does that is also a cost you do not have to worry about. Luckily this was the case for us. YouTube videos were helpful in the construction of it and attachment of the flowers. Our florist provided what we needed for the flowers so look into that if need be when planning your wedding. Building our arch ourselves made it even more special to us!
There are so many more little planning details that went into our wedding that I did not cover, and there are a variety of ways to save. I tried to include direct links or similar links to everything we purchased within the text. If you have any questions during your wedding planning process do not hesitate to reach out! I find so much joy in planning and creating.
XOXO, Kassidi
Special shoutout to our amazing vendors:
Venue: Lake Franklin Event Center
https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/f-d-roosevelt-state-park-wedding-pine-mountain/33d1b446c6d92fd1.html
Photography: Ashlee Burgess Photography
Catering: Contemporary Catering
Cake: Kat's Café & Cakes
Florist: Flower Cart
Makeup: Makeup by Lydia Ward
Dress: J. Andrew's Bridal
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