Save money on your wedding! How to celebrate on a budget.

10 money-saving tips for your wedding

1. LOVE INSTEAD OF MONEY 

Are you in love, engaged and now want to get married, but don't want to start your life together with a mountain of debt? Then here are a few tips on how to celebrate your special day in style and still save money. How to plan and celebrate your big day on a budget.

2. DETERMINE AND DISTRIBUTE BUDGET

A wedding is a project and since you usually get married only once in a lifetime, you cannot fall back on your own reference values. Therefore, first of all create a list with individual items such as food, drinks, wedding photographer, decoration, rings, ... up to the location and band or DJ. 

You can find a great free budget planner on the page of mein.traumtag.de. Once you have determined your budget, you can distribute it accordingly to your own priorities. You can spend thousands of Euros on decoration and flowers alone, which will wither and be useless one day after the wedding, or you can invest the same amount of money for great wedding photos, which you will still like to look at years later. On other costs such as the fees for the civil wedding, new identity card, etc. you have less influence and must plan accordingly.  

Reading tip: HOW DO YOU FIND THE RIGHT WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER?

3. SET PRIORITIES

After you have set your budget, you need to decide what is most important to you. For example, if you want to have great photos of your day, you should not save on the wedding photographer, but if the DJ is more important, you should not save on this.

4. PLAN REALISTICALLY

Most restaurants and locations offer so-called all-inclusive packages: The room, the decoration including menu etc. At first sight this always seems to be quite expensive compared to doing everything yourself and renting only the room. However don't underestimate the hidden costs waiting for you: you might have to rent dishes, tables and chairs or often chair covers, also you need waiters, decoration etc. When you add it all up, the sum of the "do-it-yourself package" is usually equal to or even higher than the "all-inclusive" package. Additionally you have the stress of organizing everything, which doesn't necessarily stop during the wedding day. Therefore, calculate realistically which items you'll have to deal with if you do everything on your own. Because one thing almost always happens: In the end, it will be more expensive than expected.

5. DISTRIBUTE EXPENSES

If you want to save or do not want to go into advance, distribute the expenses. For example to relatives and friends. As a wedding gift, you can request individual services and, for example, have the wedding photographer you have chosen given by your parents and the wedding cake given by your clique. 

6. CHOOSE ALTERNATIVE DATES

You can easily save by celebrating your wedding in spring or autumn or winter. When choosing a date, you should consider if you want to have your wedding on a weekday such as Friday, because during the week caterers and event companies usually offer their services for less money.

7. wedding dress

Even a stylish wedding dress does not always have to be sinfully expensive. Should you decide to get married in autumn or winter, you will benefit from the fact that many bridal shops reduce the prices of wedding dresses from the summer collection to make room for new collections. In addition, some shops offer the rental of wedding dresses for less money. 

Caution is advised with bargains on the Internet: Often, unfortunately, very cheap offers are of inferior quality. The same applies to Second-Hand offers from the Internet. Pay attention to the right of return.

8. DO-IT-YOURSELF (DIY) METHOD

As always in life, time against money. Do as much as possible yourself. Rather than paying a lot of money for the invitation cards, craft together 3 evenings a week. Have a look at Pinterest, they have great ideas. Thank-you cards, decorative elements and guest gifts are also easy to make yourself. Do you really need an oldtimer with a chauffeur or is the best man with his car enough? 

9. REDUCE GUEST LIST

Think carefully about who you really want to have with you on the big day. Because without doubt the greatest savings potential lies in reducing the guest list. One assumes an average per capita consumption of food and beverages of approximately 100 euros, i.e. with ten guests less you will save 1,000 euros - an amount that can perhaps be better invested elsewhere than in the cousin, whom you haven't seen for what feels like 100 years and who you have no contact with. Your wedding = your guest list!

10. DO NOT LET YOURSELF GET STRESSED

At last the most important: Remember, it's your day, not somebody else's. Be grateful for tips, but don't let anyone tell you what to do. The wedding should be special and you want to enjoy it and not be happy "when it's all over". It's not about winning a competition against others, but only about what you want - only then will your wedding day be perfect and you can enjoy the day with your family and friends.