7 Tips to plan a beautiful wedding on a small budget!

Indian weddings are an expensive and stressful affair, involving lots of customs and rituals. Things do get taxing, not only for the bride and groom but also for their immediate family members involved. Even though weddings are supposed to be, a one-day event but it is customary for family members to stretch the celebrations by a few days more leading to increased expenses ,exhaustion & event estimation. It would not be out-of-context to quote a recent study that states that expensive weddings are one of the main reasons for causing lower success rates in marriages! It is true, that Weddings can be arranged within a moderate budget with some good planning and smart implementation. Planning a wedding on a small budget requires prioritizing the elements which are absolutely essential and allocate funds consequently. Wondering how to plan a wedding on the small budget?

Keep reading as we discuss some of the best ways to have a frugal wedding this year:

1. Set the budget  to Plan Beautiful wedding:

Before anything else, it is important to set the amount you are willing to spend for your wedding. Once the budget is fixed, Stick to it! The risk of overshooting the budget can be mitigated, if the bride and the groom can come to an agreement on the proposed amount when planning their wedding. Further, do remember, half of your set budget, would get spent on food and venue. Also, continuous monitoring of your budget-vs-expenses is equally important to adjust to different expenses that come along a wedding. You might have friends and relatives ready with their advice but stick to your essentials to make an economical wedding.

 

2. Identify the financing sources, if any:

Who will be spending the money? Will it be yours or your parents or from some family member or loaned? Decide who wants to spend and how much. It has been found that many family members take the responsibility to sponsor specific things for a wedding. It could be the wedding gown or photography or gift items. Caution needs to be exercised while giving a cost estimate to a willing sponsor so that the estimate looks reasonable and respecting their limitations at the same time while planning a wedding on a small budget.

3. Narrow down the guest list:

This is a point worth pondering over a long time since it can influence the wedding expenses considerably. To conduct a wedding at a moderate budget, the guest list needs to be short. Many times people with minimal to zero acquaintance to the bride and groom are invited to wedding receptions just because they had invited the groom or bride before and out of obligation! And this leads to a pretty long list. When planning a wedding on a small budget, invite only the close ones and keep the party intimate and easy in the pocket. Keep in mind that a small guest list cuts down on food expenses thereby allowing you to go for a medium sized cost-effective reception. Additionally, a small guest list also allows connecting with everyone in a much better way rather than being pulled in different directions with minimal attention on an individual.

4. Stick to essentials:

While planning a wedding on a small budget, it’s an absolute necessary to stick to things which are critical. Few things, customs, traditions, requirements, and rituals are must-have for a wedding. For example, a church wedding can be an unavoidable ritual. On the other hand, you may trim down your expenses on decorations, flowers, entertainment, music, groomsmen and bridesmaid gifts, and clothing. Have a frank conversation with your partner and decide where you can compromise and where not and go for those which are imperative for the wedding by cutting down on the unnecessary.

5. Select a venue that’s flexible:

Many reception halls and wedding venues provide discounts on weekdays and off-seasons. Apply this strategy and seize the opportunity for planning a wedding on a small budget. Besides, avoid using their catering or venues that charge for allowing outside catering. Rather go with your own wedding catering to save money. Family owned restaurants or ability to cater own food preparation to the small list of guests not only helps keep things within your means but also relieves the invitees from tasting typical wedding reception food. In addition, venues which are potentially not known as wedding location can also serve as affordable venues. Arranging the ceremony and reception at your own or parent’s home or at the common venue can reduce your wedding expenses hugely.

6. Simple honeymooning:

Unwinding the pre and post wedding session exertion with your partner and spending some time together is the essence of an ideal honeymoon. Visiting well-known honeymoon spots in different exotic locations worldwide might sound really exhilarating but are quite expensive too. Having said that, staying closer to home can help you spend reasonably. Avoiding an ostentatious honeymoon is one of the prerequisites for planning a wedding on a small budget.

7. Hiring a reliable Wedding Planner:

Wedding planners are key influencers to the entire process of wedding planning and execution! And hiring a reliable Wedding Planner like Holydelights (www.holydelights.com) from the initial wedding planning stages can work in your favor since they can deliver a memorable wedding at your specified expenses you are willing to incur. Wedding Planners are very resourceful people and do have quite a few tricks up their sleeve which can certainly impress you. Besides the aforesaid tips, there are other ways which can help a couple to plan a wedding within small budget. Like instead of gifts, one can request close friends and relatives to shoulder the responsibility of the musical events like DJ-ing  or videography or digital imaging. Asking close family members to render services aligning with their talents instead of gifting can be a major move to keep wedding within budget. In the case of drinks, stock your wedding day with wine and beer only. Another great way to save on the cost of venue is by moving the celebration to a comparatively smaller town which is easily accessible yet at the suburbs thereby cutting down on the cost drastically. To conclude, a budget wedding can be equally awesome if one knows the right tips and tricks to follow. So, plan it right beforehand and have a zero debt show. Hopefully, this write-up helps you to do so!