The figures for 2021 are in; according to Hitched’s National Wedding Survey, the average cost of a wedding in the UK almost doubled between 2020 and 2021, from £9’000 to £17’000. With inflation skyrocketing and the cost of living following suit, you might be feeling like corners need to be cut or compromises made if you’re still to have your dream wedding.
Fear not; your Big Day can still be as special and unique as those with cash to burn. In fact, it can be even more magical, free from the cliche and oppressive tradition of a blow-out wedding. With that in mind, here’s how to have your dream wedding on a budget in 2023.
Keep Things Compact
The best thing that you can do, both in terms of saving money and making your wedding planning easier, is to keep things compact and cosy. Doing so actually presents the perfect excuse for those who genuinely don’t want a large wedding but feel like there’s pressure to invite your great aunt’s cousin’s gardener along for the ride.
Because gaudy, opulent weddings are so pre-COVID, right?
Instead, simply embrace the new times, of thrift and fiscal responsibility, and let everyone know that the guest list is limited, so only immediate family and close friends are invited. It will help you to save money on just about everything, from the venue to the food, and it will mean your planning and preparation is less time-consuming too.
Read: The pandemic wedding boom
Must-Haves vs Nice-to-Haves
Separating out your essentials from the things that might be ‘nice to have’ but you’re not really that bothered about is a key part of planning a wedding on a budget. There are some things that are just difficult to do yourself and others that you just don’t have to include in your wedding.
Ask yourself about weddings you’ve attended in the past that have left a mark for better or for worse; do you remember the intricacies of the flower bouquet? What songs were playing during the wedding breakfast? Did you really need that fourth canape? At which point did a large portion of the guests decide to switch to buying pints, as the heartburn from the free-flow Prosseco was starting to become pervasive? Did anyone even touch the wedding cake?
All of these questions can inform which elements you must have, and which perhaps don’t leave such an indelible mark on your guest’s memories as they do on your bank balance.
A wedding that falls explicitly in the budget category gives you a good reason to forgo some expectations and traditions that might not really match what you want. Securing a venue and providing your guests with food might be essential, but is finding entertainment for the reception or even having flowers the most important thing?
Decide What to Rent and What to Buy
You’re going to need to make your wedding budget go further, but that’s fine; a world of peer-to-peer renting and loosely-defined lending now exists to make things easier on your wallet/purse/bag you stuff all your money in.
Whether it’s Chiavari chairs for the ceremony, floral Emilia Wickstead tablecloths for the reception, suits for the groom and best man, or fairy lights to illuminate the way from your wedding recessional, there are certain items you can rent that will help you save on your spending.
That said, there are certain items you probably do want to buy, too. If you’re serving bottles of claret for the wedding reception, then those designer table cloths probably aren’t going to make it through the day without your deposit being invalidated.
Read: 5 things worth spending your budget on
Balance Your Budget and Time
Getting the balance right between saving money and spending a lot of your time planning and preparing is tough. Sometimes you have to consider whether saving a bit of money is really worth the effort if it means it will cause you a lot of stress and take up a lot of your time.
Think about what sacrifices you’re really willing to make and what matters most to you; you want your memories both of the planning and celebrating of your big day to be as stress-free and special as possible. And the best way to do this? With a good ol’ fashioned to-do-list and budget spreadsheet, of course…
Make a Spreadsheet
However large or small your wedding is, a mental to-do list alone isn’t large enough to remember all the details for your big day. It’s time to dust off those excel spreadsheet skills you learnt in sixth form and make a spreadsheet to collate all the key dates, times, prices and contact details all in one place!
As the guys over at Wired highlight in their article ‘The Hyper Organised World of Wedding Spreadsheets‘, where planning a wedding is less about “I do’, more about ‘to do’, “spreadsheets can be generally helpful, they can also quickly spiral out of control, becoming a bullet-pointed reminder of all the social expectations heaped on people (and especially women) preparing for what they’re conditioned to believe must be a perfect event. “
Having a visual collection of the important information of the day isn’t only incredibly useful, it can also be reassuring simply knowing it’s there.
And with that, we do hope your day goes smoothly and your marriage is a loving one. Now, can we expect our invite in the post?