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With the average wedding costing around $ 27,000 in the United States and considering the hard hit economy, many couples are trying to make as many cuts as possible to the overall wedding budget. Planning a wedding can be hard enough, but now you have to find the right places to cut the wedding budget. Do not worry there are several easy ways to cut back and we've outdone them below.
It all starts with communication. Once your ready to start planning a wedding you first need to sit down with your partner and discuss the budget. Who's parents are paying for what or if you two are paying for it yourself, how much you two can afford. You next need to determine what aspects are the most important to you. For her it may be the gown, for him it may be the food. This will give you a priority list of what each of you wants to spend a good amount of the wedding budget on.
After deciding on a number for the budget, you have to then talk about some of the first important planning aspects: size of the wedding, location and time of year.
– Number of guests
There's no getting around it, the number of people that attend your wedding will have the greatest impact on your wedding budget. The higher number of guests the more you will pay for food and drinks at the wedding reception. Think about it, if you're planning a 125 person wedding, and the average cost per head for food and drink is $ 75, then you'll be spending $ 9,375 on food alone (this does not include gratuity, taxes or server fees) . So when trying to make wedding cost cuts consider only inviting the people who are important and involved in your life all the time. This can cut your number from 125 to 70 which will drop the cost of food significantly at your wedding reception
– Location, Location, Location
We all know you pay for location whether it's for a house or a wedding venue, so keep in mind the expenses that come from planning a wedding in an expensive location. Some couples think that planning a destination wedding can be cheaper for wedding costs than planning a wedding at home. It saves on the wedding budget because usually only a few key people attend. You do not have all those extra costs of purchasing flowers and designing a reception hall. Most resorts offer affordable wedding packages that include music, ceremony officiate, a brides bouquet and grooms boutonniere and rental of their gazebo or archway. Of course this depends on the location. Getting married in Hawaii is definitely going to be more expensive than getting married in Cancun.
– Time of year
The peak months for weddings are June-September, so be sure that if your planning a wedding within one of those months you will be paying top dollar for venue and providers services. So to save on wedding costs considering having your wedding in an off month such as March, April or October. Many times winter months such as January and February offer huge savings in off-season prices because all the Christmas parties are over and seasons are willing to book anything at a much lower price.
A great way to save hundreds in wedding costs is to attempt do it yourself (DIY) wedding projects. Such projects include: putting together your own invitations and other stationary (you can purchase invitations at Walmart, Target or Michael's 50 invites for around $ 25), making your own floral arrangements and bouquets, baking your own home-made favors for the wedding reception ( such as cookies or jam) and designing your own stickers and labels. DIY wedding projects are very easy to do if you just use a little creativity. DIY wedding projects will not only save you money, but it will make your special day exclusively yours.
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Source by Jamie P Williams
