How To Create A Wedding On A Budget

After you have budgeted for these essentials, you will have to consider what kind of wedding you want to have: large or small, budget or lavish, ceremony & reception in the same place or separate, modern or traditional, religious or secular, formal or casual, local or destination, and what season you want your wedding in.

Once you know what style of wedding you are aiming for, then you can plan what you are going to wear in accordance with that choice. If you are planning to have a small wedding in your church, with the reception in the church hall, your wedding dress should reflect that choice. If you are planning a horse drawn carriage, and a more formal reception, your wedding dress will be more flamboyant to reflect that choice. If you are planning a winter wedding, you can choose a wedding dress that is of a heavier material like velvet, and have a fur muff. A summer wedding dress would have cloth more suitable to the hot weather, and for a destination wedding on a beach you might choose a knee-length or mid-calf dress length with glittering flip-flops instead of a full-length gown and high heeled shoes.

When planning your wedding attire, also include bridal jewellery and bridal accessories in your plan. A beautiful headpiece, necklace, and a set of earrings will elevate a simple gown into a more lavish and classic wedding ensemble. The appropriate undergarments, comfortable shoes, and a classic handbag to hold your essentials, round out your wedding attire.

Beyond the essentials of a wedding, there are additional elements that are standard in planning a wedding—but they can be done lavishly or on a budget. The main elements of a wedding are: wedding location, reception location, food/catering, invitation, music, flowers, cake, alcohol, wedding decorations and wedding favours, photography and videography.

The majority of weddings take place in a church, synagogue, or mosque. Each has it’s own traditions with costs associated with those traditions. If you were finding that the costs are too high for your budget, a viable option would be to have your religious leader perform the ceremony outside the church at another location. When this occurs, many of the usual traditions are put aside because those traditions are attached to the location. A simple wedding ceremony can take place where you are having your reception, without the pomp, ceremony and cost of a wedding that takes place in your place of worship. Be honest and candid with your religious leader when discussing your wedding budget. They will often accommodate your needs and your budget, and still give you that “dream” wedding ceremony you’ve always wanted.

If you are on a tight budget, you might opt for a cocktail party for a reception instead of a full sit down dinner. For example, if you had your wedding ceremony at 1 pm, your 3 pm reception can easily include hors d’oeuvres, champagne cocktails, and music at a fraction of the cost of a full meal. Get creative and have the cocktail reception at your local botanical gardens or some other garden site. This can be quite elegant with a small quartet playing classical music in one corner of the garden, and champagne, wine and hors d’oeuvres being served as guests slowly walk through the gardens. Strategically placed seating with small tables would make this a very comfortable and elegant affair at a fraction of the cost of a full sit down dinner.

With a little imagination, you can take the essential elements that make up a wedding, and recreate them in a way that reflects your personal style without spending more money that you want to.