11 Easy Ways to Use A Wedding Budget to Achieve an Elegant Day

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Your budget wedding can be the blissful, wonderful daydreams are made of. With just a little careful planning it can be everything you ever wanted. A few important details enabled me to have a completely elegant, stress-free, drama-free intimate-budget wedding.

Wedding Budget Tip #1 Decide What’s Important to You

I wanted an outstanding meal. Pretty much all I cared about was the food. The love of my life was next to me and what I wanted was a memorable experience.

Are you creating an event for someone else or yourself? We were in the unique situation of having a small, intimate reception that permitted us to please ourselves. 

If food is what’s important splurge on that, if it’s your dress alteration, book it. After all, it’s your big day. Making a list of “must-haves” vs.”nice to haves” will help you to put things in perspective. 

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Wedding Budget Tip #2 Use a Restaurant

It’s a waste of money to rent a space, decorate it, and be stuck with all the ‘props’, just avoid it all. Choosing a nice restaurant ensures quality and it also ensures ambiance. A banquet hall could be plagued with neon exit signs and a popcorn ceiling, complemented by hotel carpet and blank walls. That doesn’t exactly evoke feelings of romance.

With an upscale restaurant, you won’t have to worry about overcooked steak, canned sauces, and frozen chicken cordon bleu. I knew everyone was just going to remember the food and I wanted to direct my money towards a nice meal.

Wedding Budget Tip # 3 Choose a Pre-fixed Menu

If your party size allows for it, you should contact restaurants and see what sort of pre-fixed menus they have available for an event. Pre-fixed menus often include a great array of the restaurant’s most popular entrees. You will get several included courses and it lets your guests choose reasonably and without guilt. Everyone will be relieved with their options, and the restaurant will offer more than chicken.

Wedding Budget Tips #4 Do You Want to Spend a Lot On The Flowers?

Did you know that you can get 50 long-stem roses from Costco for under $40.00. You can get your fill of dozens and dozens of flowers at a low cost.

With a little foresight, you don’t need to break the bank in the flower department. A little ribbon and baby’s breath…. you can create your own bouquets and corsages.

Don’t forget if you live in the right climate you can also grow your flowers. You might not be able to decorate an entire dance hall, but homegrown flower corsages could be a memorable touch.

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Tip #5 Book a Reputable Photographer

Facebook is a great place to view the photographer’s most recent work.

If the lighting and composition are great in many sets of photos, that means you will be photographed in a flattering way as well. Example: Ever wonder why Instagram girls always look so good? They know how to work the angles. A good photographer should help you work your best angles too.

Reach out to the photographer and make sure that you get along. You want all good vibes. A photographer’s job is to make you feel at ease from the moment you start talking. This will ensure natural facial expressions and better pictures.

At the end of the day, no matter how much or little money you spend, your memories will forever be etched in your mind.

But to me, pictures are worth a thousand words. It was really important to have some nice photographs of my family on my wedding day. It was worth it.

Photographers rarely give you actual prints now. However, they will release the images to you so that you are legally allowed to print them. Make sure that the whole service promised is provided.

That means that your images should come digitally edited and enhanced. It’s a good idea to pay a little bit extra for the thumb drive. This will make it infinitely easier for you to share the images with your family.

Budget Wedding Tip #6 Consider the Wedding Cake

Instead of contracting a bakery, we ordered the signature lemon cake from the reception restaurant and it was just perfect. Superbly fresh, and hassle-free, and we didn’t have to run from bakery to bakery taste testing.

With some simple wedding cake decorations from Michaels, you can personalize your cake and still keep it classy. My mom and I added the flare and no one was any wiser.

Our guests were fully satisfied after a delicious, and completely generous 5-course meal. The cake is just the cream on top. Simply add a beautiful wedding topper on a cake for photos. Voila! You just saved an easy $1,000.

Tip #7 Bring Your Decor

We unabashedly used our mantle decor on our wedding table. My husband and I have a collection of different crystals, and they added the perfect touch of personal elegance. Use your beloved items and you won’t be stuck with wedding props at the end of the night.

You don’t have to go crazy with DIY! I know someone who hand-wove more than 150 feet of felt to create the perfect table runners! They were gorgeous, but what do you do to throw them away after?

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Wedding Budget Tip #8 Wedding Favors

A wedding favor isn’t required, but it’s always nice to send people away with memories. An easy and beautiful idea is to provide Jordan almonds and silver candied balls in a veil material that matches your wedding. Candy is inexpensive; use it to your advantage. Who doesn’t want a little snack for later?

These wedding twinkle lights will add ambiance to any space. They’re so cute! 

Another gift idea for an intimate group is to give small succulents or cacti! It would be simple to customize and add the wedding date by using a ceramics pen on any tiny

Tip #9 Avoid a Dress That Needs to Be Altered

Alterations not only cost money but also require time. You best be prepared to spend a few hours at the tailor if the dress you purchase doesn’t fit well!

An A-Line Dress or an empire waist is beautiful and provides a gorgeous silhouette. This classic style often involves fewer alterations and can accommodate a lot of different sizes. Modcloth has some really beautiful, stylish dresses and first-time customers will receive 20% off first-time customers will receive 20% off Modcloth.

Don’t feel like you have to wear a white dress! When your wedding is smaller, there is a strong chance it will also be less structured, a white dress might not even feel appropriate. I have very pale skin and a white dress completely washed me out. I chose a cream-colored, Adrianna Pappell embroidered gown that I found at Macy’s for around $150.00.

Check out some of her dresses below. All of the dresses are so elegant and dreamy, it was love at first sight for me. Most dresses are well below $300 and average around $200.00. 

If you are wearing a vintage gown or a relative’s wedding dress, make sure to check the reviews of your seamstress, sometimes alterations are just necessary.

Budget Wedding Tip #10 Utilize Discount Stores

If you must buy, you can find all sorts of goodies at stores like T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and Ross. These stores are full of surprises, and you just might stumble upon the perfect rose satin shoes as I did!

There are always tons of sparkly table runners, elegant candlesticks, and topiaries. I even snagged my thank you cards at a fraction of the normal cost, which was great since I messed up on half of them. 

When you’re looking for any sort of setup material, the dollar store should be your first stop. I’m not saying you should try to make a plastic table runner look classy. But you could make flowers out of the same material for a backdrop.

Gather a plethora of styrofoam, faux and real rocks, glitter, and other diy items for your wedding. Create faux hydrangeas with paper, grab lace your table runner, decorate styrofoam balls…There are some hot items you can get at a fraction of the price at the dollar store, check it out.

Wedding Budget Tips #11 Don’t Forget about the Honeymoon

There are tons of cheap ways to have an awesome honeymoon. Check out your state’s website and see if there’s anything you haven’t explored yet. If you do get to go out of town consider AirBnB. There are condos and houses available all over the world for a fraction of the price of a normal hotel.  

Be dedicated to what’s important to you and don’t let other people’s expectations persuade you to spend more money than you are comfortable with! 

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