Tips for Saving Money on Your Wedding

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Start Small if You Must, But Be Ruthless About It.

I was chatting with a recently wedded lady at work, and we traded some tips on Wedding Frugality. We eventually agreed that surely no one wants to come off having a cheapskate-ish wedding - it just doesn't give the occasion due honor, and everyone invited will be wondering if Daddy fired the proverbial shotgun.

Right. I'll hurry to the list now.

1. Ask for Advice.   They say "hindsight is wisdom too late" - it's true for the married couple, but great news for you. So, if you have many recently-wedded couples around you, you're blessed. Ask them for as much advice on which corners can be cut, and what needed more spending on. Surely, this is subjective, so you'll want to ensure that you get as many opinions on the matter, so you can make you own decisions. (Saving Potential: ZOUNDS!)


2. Be a Disciple.   A neat idea is to volunteer to help a soon-to-be-married couple to see what their plans and considerations along the way. Get experience and lessons live on the scene. Also take note of the pitfalls of things that were taken for granted, and the success of some ideas that were never intended. (Saving Potential: THOUSANDS!)


3. Start Early.   We started planning the wedding two years ago, and then we were delayed. It was a blessing in disguise, because we were able to store up some cash, and do a lot of research before the wedding. And, if you're early, you won't need to pay premiums to rush stuff at the last minute. (Savings Potential: Couple o' Thousands)


4. Work on That Budget and Theme, and STICK TO IT.   It's easy to get distracted by the many things that make a wedding pretty, but trust me, just like clothes,  they may all look nice, but they won't all match. It'll be good to have some guiding principles while you go shopping or researching. Some good guidelines are: i) a strict budget, and, ii) a design theme. Better yet, if you've got spending commitments in motion (house, car, etc) make sure that budget's well planned. (Saving Potential: Couple o' Thousands)


5. Spot Market Trends and Peaks in the Wedding Market... And Avoid Them.   Great frugal tip. If you're living in a superstitious culture like mine, there are very "unlucky" periods that ward off the faithful like the plague. Right now, for example, is the "Hungry Ghost Month", where dealings in anything that needs good fortune (i.e. new job, lottery, wedding - you get the idea) are generally postponed to the end of the month. Thankfully for us, this also includes wedding photo packages. We just got a humongous 80% discount for one of the items on our list, and we imagine that it could have been larger savings have we done thought of this tip last year at this time. Too bad for us, we got much of our stuff during the peak period in December. (Saving Potential: Many Hunderds!)


6. Save on Things You Can Do Yourself, or Ask Your Friends for Favors.   This supposes that you have some talent you can use in preparation for your wedding, or have friends who do. For example, Chai Heng decided to design his own card, then printed and custom cut the cards himself. That act alone might have saved him hundreds of dollars. My colleague printed her own cards and bulletins too.For us, we've asked Mrs Sng from our Church to design our Church decorations, and she's only charging us for the cost of the materials. Friends love to participate in your wedding, and they'd love to share your joy by chipping in. So let them - and if they don't, ask them. (Saving Potential: Couple o' Thousands)


7. Let Your Buddies Know You're Saving For Your Wedding.   I can't stress enough how less "going out and having fun" with your buddies will save you loads of money. When I got low on expendable cash, I had to tell many people that I won't be able to go out as much (and I don't go out much at all). I wish I did that way before! Your friends may not respond by paying for your meals, but they'll be considerate on the venues they go with you and even remind you occasionally about saving. (Saving Potential: Hundreds!)

Technorati Tags: wedding, adrian and angela, family, finances, life, logistics

Comments

[LoanForWedding.com]

Weddings can be soooooo expensive! You've made a lot of great points in this article - great job!

[Liangsong]

Not just saving for a wedding, but saving in general, separate your salary account from your savings account. I did that, and boy, my finances became clearer to me.

Here's an additional tip: Save before you spend. I took out a sizable portion of my salary and plonked it off into my savings before budgeting on how much I can spend. That way, you don't get to imagine that you have a large pool of money to spend.

[Adrian Koh]

That's a great frugality hack to saving money - clearly separating finances to "trick" the mind into careful spending. Another one to add : I'm of the opinion that one should do, as far as possible, do away with credit cards. It works on the same principle, that you DON'T have a large pool of money to spend. It helps if you stick to cash wherever possible to check your spending habits.