In this article you will find some cheap wedding tips to help you plan that low budget wedding. I've talked a lot about small budget wedding.
This article is to share some cheap wedding tips that can help you keep to a low wedding budget you've set.
1) Use wedding magazines and celebrity weddings for inspiration only:
Brides are always looking for inspirations for wedding themes , colors and designs. That is why I wouldn't go straight to say stay away from wedding magazines as other articles would recommend. I think you need the inspiration so if you have a wedding magazine lying around, use it for inspiration but don't buy a wedding magazine; that would be adding an unnecessary wedding cost to your budget. Instead go online, visit wedding sites like this one; you have better chance of finding more theme, color and design inspirations than in a wedding magazine that would cost you N1000 and above to buy. Celebrity weddings are always very fancy and tempting to want to follow their steps. But remind yourself as many times as necessary that your budget and their own is not the same. If you like a celebrity's wedding gown design, go to a local tailor to make the style for you. Same with their cake and anything else you want to copy. But make sure you don't go above your budget when copying magazines and/or celebrity's wedding designs.
2) Book wedding reception venue and wedding reception venue decoration items down in time such as canopies and chairs. It's likely to be cheaper.
3) Employ the help of family members, close friends and neighbors:
Do you have a friend who is good at hair dressing? Does make-up like pro? Bakes cake? Does decorations? He or she will be glad to help out on your wedding day. Instead of hiring a DJ, perhaps you have a brother or cousin or friend who has ear for good music and can be in charge of your wedding songs? You can easily borrow the equipments to play the music. For your wedding bouquet perhaps you can get from a family member or friend who got married recently?
4) Leave out wedding favors or get someone to sponsor it:
Wedding favors are wedding gifts to the guests from the bride and groom. Either you leave that out of your wedding or get a company that is into it to sponsor it and use the opportunity to promote themselves. Instead of writing from the bride and groom on the gifts they'll simply write "courtesy ... name of company".
5) Leave out Aso-ebi:
The stress of aso-ebi is not something you want to take on when you're planning a cheap wedding. The money that comes from selling aso-ebi I feel is just not worth the stress that goes into it. When my elder sister got married she didn't do the crazy aso-ebi wahala. Someone even approached her to be in charge of it but she refused. She said all her wedding guests should wear what they have. It was only us the siblings (the girls) that decided to wear our traditional attire . So either leave it out or make it an immediate family only affair.
6) Do not marry during festive period:
Things are always very expensive then and we're trying to reduce cost as much as possible not increase it.
7) Make a guest list you're sure you can handle with your budget:
The truth about wedding guest list is that no matter what you do, you can't please everyone not even if you invite 600 guests. You'll still have people that will tell you you didn't invite them to your wedding. So why bother trying to please everyone and end up inviting people you can't take care of. So I say invite a few guests, only the number you're sure your budget can fend for. I've never seen anybody who got married and didn't have to apologize to people every now and then for not inviting them to their wedding. But still I haven't seen anyone who took it personally. Some people may get angry but usually they get over it in no time.
8) Do not pay for a wedding venue:
It's hard to keep budget low if you have to pay for a wedding venue since that alone can eat deep into your wedding budget. So if the outside of your house is big or a neighbor's outside is big enough have an outdoor wedding in front of your house or your neighbor's house. If that's not possible, if your parlor is big have an indoor wedding in your parlor. If it's not possible to do the wedding reception in your house or a neighbor's house then use a government owned school compound. That's likely to be cheaper.
9) Do not print invitation cards:
Use bulk SMS to invite guests to the wedding. Bulk SMS are usually cheap, you pay less than N2 per SMS. You can send your invited guests invitations 4 weeks to the wedding. Then send a reminder one week to the wedding. You can even request that those that would be available should send a reply indicating that so you're sure the number of guests to prepare for.
10) Leave out little groom and little bride if that will mean spending more:
Usually though, some parents are so excited about the idea of using one of their kids as little bride/groom that they are willing to pay for their attire. So if that's the case then no problem.
11) Do not shop in bridal shops:
The name boutique usually means spending more. So instead of doing your wedding shopping in bridal shops like those in Allen Avenue, Opebi and V.I or any expensive areas in the world, if your local tailor makes wedding dress pick a design and have him or her make your dress. It's usually cheaper to sew than to pay for an already made dress. Or better yet buy a used wedding dress for use or rent one. And for the other wedding accessories you'll need such as material to sew your native attire, shoes etc go to Idumota instead. It's definitely going to be cheaper there. (for those in Nigeria), or any part of the world that you know they sell cheap things and that is closer to you remember buying from a far distance requires extra charges.
Use these cheap wedding tips plus your creativity and you can have a moderate wedding for a reasonable budget. You don't have to spend so much to have a beautiful memorable wedding. Forget sentiments when planning a cheap wedding. Like feeling awkward to ask for help, feeling uncomfortable using already used wedding accessories, trying to please everyone etc. You can't please everyone so don't even try to.
12) One of the things that eat deep into your budget is the wedding food:
If you can reduce your guest list to a reasonable number you would have already saved a lot. Fortunately Nigerian guests are easy to please at weddings; all they ask is that whatever you're serving at your wedding make it go round to everyone.
And you'll see that there will be no complaint from anyone. If you wish to reduce wedding cost, then you must be honest with yourself. Plan your wedding to meet your own budget and taste. Don't compare yourself with any other bride. You're unique and so should your wedding be. A happy married life which is what you're praying for when getting married has nothing to do with how much your wedding cost. In fact sometimes because of the lack of self control and couples trying to please everyone they start their new life in huge debt. And a debt can quickly rob couples of their happiness and a wedding that's supposed to be remembered fondly becomes a memory that brings sadness. So I hope you do put these cheap wedding tips to use and avoid the unnecessary after wedding headaches.
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