Wedding Tips for the Budget Conscious Bride

Today I had the amazing opportunity of joining Canada AM to chat about wedding budgets! Don't we all wish we had an endless wedding budget to play with? But alas that's never the case and all to often Brides and Grooms have a year of difficult decisions and sometimes awkward conversations ahead of them. Here are a few tips on how to curb costs without sacrificing design.

Invites versus E-vites:

This is one I'm asked about all of the time... the big debate: Invites versus E-vites (electronic invitations). What people often don’t think about is just how many notices are sent out for a wedding: save the dates, engagement parties, bridal showers, and of course the inserts that go with an invitation indicating parking or directional maps, and brunch details. A a great place to curb the budget is by using e-vites for the events leading up to the wedding and housing your additional information on a wedding website, thus foregoing the paper inserts. But still spend on a beautiful invitation. It's the first impression your guests will have of your wedding and the very first opportunity to showcase your wedding design.

Wedding Cakes:

I love love love wedding cakes… they’re part of the wedding design; they are a true artform. These stunning cakes are from Nadia & Co. and really showcase exactly why people fall in love with wedding cakes in the first place. BUT not every bride and groom have the budget to get the 4 or 5 tier cake they want. Instead, go for a smaller cake 2 tier cake and raise it up by renting a decorative pedestal. You will acheive the height you lost by not ordering more tiers, and will maximize your cake’s effect but for a fraction of the cost.

Wedding Favours:

Half the time guests leave these at the table or don’t even notice them on their way out the door. Instead, have guests take leftover cake slices home with them in customized cake boxes! Brides are always worried that they will have too much cake leftover and who doesn't want a delicious piece of cake the next day (or in the cab on the way home if you're me...) You can get regular square cake boxes and add a custom sticker, boxes with a cute little window on the top, or these adorable cake slice shaped boxes (Party City).

Bridesmaid dresses:

Ladies we’ve all been there… it’s a cliche for a reason. Who wants to buy another bridesmaid dress that they are never going to wear again? But if the alternative is something you can’t afford, what are your options? Here's a budget friendly tip: Rent those designer dresses! Rent Frock Repeat has designer dresses, they have multiples of each dress and they carry multiple sizes! The best part is, your girls can wear a designer dress they wouldn't normally buy, feel like a superstar and then give it back for a fraction of the cost of buying something they don't want. The dresses shown here are specifically ones that brides and bridesmaids are going gaga for lately :) (Dress details below)

Veil:

Use this as an opportunity for your “something borrowed!” Most brides can’t even consider buying second-hand for their wedding gown, but many of us have friends who’ve walked down the aisle in stunning veils that have been worn for a few hours at most. Borrow your friends’ lavish, Cathedral-length veil rather than spending it yourself, and satisfy your “something borrowed.” This is a quick and sentimental way of saving a few hundred dollars.

Centrepieces:

Brides are so torn with flower costs. Everyone loves ordering fresh flowers but the costs can get up there if you're not careful. Here are two of my favourite tips on how to curb floral costs... all of these pretty arrangements today are from A Petal or Two and pricing is listed below!

1. Alternate: Tall centerpieces definitely have big impact, but can run the bill up quickly. Instead of nixing them altogether, alternate between tall, elaborate floral centrepieces and low centrepieces. Not only does this give some variation to your room - it's a mistake to have everything look too similar anyway - but you will spend will be less on flowers. You can still keep the show-stopping arrangements that guests will really remember on key tables, while other tables can have all candles, or smaller, lower arrangements like bud vases.

2. Know what's in season: It definitely helps to know what flowers are in season in your wedding month. For example, every bride I meet wants peonies, but they're only in season 2 months out of the entire year. Any other month, they need to be imported from Holland which, as you can imagine, gets quite costly. Instead use garden roses to achieve the same effect without breaking the bank; there are a TON of rose varieties which look quite similar to expensive imported flowers... Use local and in season flowers to your advantage!