The Best Tips to Save Money on Your Dream Wedding

The average wedding in 2023 cost $29,000! And it cost closer to $35,000 in major cities. That’s money that could go towards a down payment on a house, childcare costs, an emergency savings fund, and other very important expenses that have value beyond a day in time. However, weddings are also one of the most important days in many people’s lives. It’s understandable to spend a lot of money to make your big day extra special. 

So how do you balance having a great wedding with saving for other adulting goals? Luckily, there are some steps you can take to cut the costs of your wedding. I’ll go over some of those options here!

Invite Fewer People to Your Wedding

I know, this one is obvious. But it bears mentioning because the number of guests has such a sizeable impact on your budget. To put it into perspective, the Knot estimates that the average couple spent $256 per guest in 2022. Consequently, the average 80-person wedding costs $17,920 less than the average 150-person wedding. Oof. 

The reality is that you only have so much time to spend with your guests. Many couples report that they didn’t even see many of the guests they invited. Consequently, I recommend carefully considering the people you truly want to invite and spend time with. 

In a previous post on wedding planning, I suggested listing the people you most want to come to your wedding. These are your Tier 1 guests. Then, consider the guests you would really like to come, but wouldn’t be devastated if you didn’t see them. These are your Tier 2 guests. Try to keep any guilt or sense of obligation out of these lists. If you’re on a tight budget, stick to your Tier 1 list. If you can afford it, add in your Tier 2 list. 

You might get a lot of pressure from family members to invite people you don’t necessarily care about. If that’s the case, you might consider suggesting that those family members contribute to a wedding fund if they would like additional people invited.

Schedule an Off-Season or non-Saturday Wedding

This is another obvious one. However, it is not always apparent just how much of a difference it can make to your wedding budget. Specifically, venues frequently cost 20-30% less in the off-season than in the peak, Summer months. However, keep in mind that a Fall, Winter, or early Spring wedding may come with higher costs for things like flowers than a Summer wedding. Additionally, if you strongly prefer to have an outdoor wedding and live in an area with unpredictable weather, this may not be a desirable compromise.

But having an off-season wedding is an easy way to save money if you have flexibility in your timing. December is the least popular month for weddings and so tends to be the cheapest!

Likewise, having a wedding on a weekday or having a morning or afternoon wedding can save tons of money compared to having a wedding on Saturday evening. Plus, you’ll have less competition for venues during these times. Of course, your wedding guests may face difficulties attending a weekday wedding. However, that is one way of whittling down your guest list to the people who really care about you and attending.

Evaluate Your Wedding Food Options

Zola estimates that couples spend about 18% of their wedding budget on food. Lowering your wedding food cost is therefore a great option for saving money. Luckily, there are tons of cheap wedding food ideas that are still delicious and fun.

Create a Simple Menu Designed Around Less Expensive Food Options

If you prefer to go with a classic sit-down meal, you might consider inexpensive foods to center your menu around. For example, chicken thighs are one of the cheapest meat options. And they are generally more forgiving to cook and flavorful than chicken breasts. Likewise, inexpensive vegetable options include carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, onions, sweet potatoes and cabbage.

I’m not going to recommend you serve anything as gross as boiled cabbage. But glazed carrots and roasted potatoes are both delicious, inexpensive sides you might look out for as you compare vendors and set menu options. 

Alternatively, you might consider offering a vegetarian meal to cut on food costs. Meat and fish are generally the most expensive part of a wedding meal. Thus, making your main meal vegetarian can majorly cut down on costs. You can still have a filling and luxurious vegetarian meal. For example, you might have a pasta bar or pasta-based dish. Quinoa or white rice with vegetables and seared tofu is also a filling, delicious option.

And you can also take inspiration from the many cultures around the world that cater to a large population of vegetarians. For example, many delicious curry dishes are vegetarian. 

Another unconventional wedding menu idea is to serve breakfast food. Of course, breakfast food is most natural if you’re having a morning or early afternoon wedding. But breakfast for dinner is always a crowd favorite as well. So you could consider going with this as a fun, unconventional option regardless of your wedding timing. Plus, instead of a wedding cake, you could do a donut wall or tower of waffles or pancakes.

Use Pre-Made Food from Grocery Stores

Grocery stores can provide ready-made food for some of your wedding food needs that don’t cost much money compared to catered choices. While you likely won’t want to use this option for your main course, you can use ready-made food for cocktail hour hors d’oeuvres or wedding desserts.

For example, charcuterie boards are a perfect option for cocktail hour. And they are much cheaper when you buy them at the grocery store than when you have them catered. Likewise, if you have very generous friends or family members who are willing to do a little prep, you might have them cut fresh fruit and vegetables as a finger food option. 

Similarly, some couples have found that purchasing donuts or sheet cakes from a grocery store and using those as alternative dessert options is much cheaper than a conventional wedding cake. Some people still have a small, decorated wedding cake. But they serve their guests from the more inexpensive (but still delicious) sheet cakes.

Use a Food Truck, Local Restaurant, or Smaller Caterer for Your Wedding Reception Meals

In recent years, food truck vendors have become super popular and for good reason. Food trucks often offer delicious budget-friendly options that are a fraction of the price of a catered menu. For example, a food truck generally costs around $1,000-$3,500 for 100 wedding guests. Compare that to traditional catering, which costs around $5,000 for 100 guests.

You might also look into having a local restaurant cater your dinner. For example, my favorite restaurant makes the most incredible Filipino fried chicken and side dishes. I’m fully planning on emailing them to see if they cater weddings once I’m engaged. 

Finally, make sure you check out caterers who are not listed on popular wedding websites like The Knot and Zola. There are many great small catering businesses that don’t have the social media presence of larger caterers but still do an amazing job. Search for caterers near your wedding venue that have decent Google reviews and offer tastings. You might be surprised at how many options you can find!

Make Dinner Time Buffet Style

Buffet tables or food stations are generally more budget-friendly options than having a plated meal. Specifically, buffets cost about 30% less than plated meals. As mentioned above, a pasta bar is a popular option. Other great options include a taco bar, salad bar, or, for a dessert option, an ice cream bar. Some people have even had weddings where guests design their own pizza! If you’re open to a more laid-back wedding, buffet tables and food stations can be a great way of cutting down on food costs while giving wedding guests a fun activity. 

Keep in mind if there are any severe dietary restrictions or allergies that guests should be careful about cross contamination during the buffet service.

Have a Wedding Potluck

Finally, the most unconventional option is to have a potluck wedding. Potluck weddings were more popular decades ago, but have recently made a comeback, particularly among couples who are throwing more casual weddings. Instead of bringing wedding presents, guests bring a dish. This means that you are virtually guaranteed to have large quantities of food. And the best part is that it requires pretty much $0 on the part of the bride and groom. Plus, this option gives a personal touch to weddings and is one of the most unique ways of dramatically reducing your wedding budget. 

While this can be a great idea for saving money, keep in mind that it does require a lot of coordination so that guests don’t all bring the same type of food. Plus, it is a risk if you are dealing with any dietary restrictions at your wedding. And it requires some prep and advance thought to keep dishes warm. Having slow cookers available and set to warm can help ameliorate this issue. But again, this option balances cost savings with perhaps more planning and hassle than many couples would want. 

Save Money on Alcoholic Beverages

We’ve talked about the best wedding reception food ideas for saving money. But what about drinks? One option is to forego the fully open bar and serve a more limited selection of drinks. For example, a full open bar with hard liquor, beer, and wine and unlimited servings per guest costs about $45 a person. Having a more limited open bar where each person can have a couple of drinks of beer or wine costs about 1/3 of that. Having a morning or afternoon wedding also comes with the advantage that people will generally be less interested in drinking a lot.

If you are able to purchase your own alcohol, you might consider purchasing alcohol from a place like Costco where, in some states, you can return any bottles that are unopened. Check your local state regulations first before going with this option, however, as states have different rules on alcohol returns. However, if you can purchase your own alcohol and return unused alcohol bottles, this is the best option for cutting unnecessary alcohol costs.

Finally, you might consider foregoing alcohol altogether. Of course, many couples will absolutely hate this idea, and that’s okay and understandable. However, if you and your partner don’t drink or don’t drink much, you might consider offering Italian sodas or another delicious and fun beverage option.

Re-evalute Your Vendor Choices

Typically, weddings include the following vendors: caterer, photographer, DJ or other musical entertainment, wedding planner, florist, makeup artist, hair stylist, and officiant. More occasionally, weddings may include a videographer, day-of coordinator, transportation, and other vendors.

DIY Parts of Your Wedding

Depending on your preferences, you might be able to get away with foregoing one or more of these vendors. For example, you might create your own playlist and avoid using a DJ. Or if you don’t plan on having many flowers at your wedding, you might purchase blooms from a local Farmer’s Market and arrange them yourself. You can even find online flower arranging classes at places like Uncommon Goods.

Call Upon Friends or Family Members

If you have a close friend who is talented with makeup or hair styling, you might consider requesting their help. Though make sure to do a test run first and take pictures to see how your makeup looks in pictures.

Likewise, you might consider asking a friend to be your officiant. This is a great option for making sure your wedding ceremony is tailored to you and your partner as well.

And some people have turned to friends or family members for help with catering, such as having a friend make their wedding cake or having a family member make a treasured recipe for the wedding meal.

You can also encourage wedding guests to take lots of pictures. You might even place disposable cameras around the venue for this purpose. Having a wide variety of pictures from wedding guests may help cut costs on photography if you decide to have professional photographers take a limited set of pictures, such as focusing on the ceremony and pre-wedding pictures.

Look to Local Schools and Training Centers for Wedding Vendors

Finally, you can sometimes find discounted service providers through schools and training centers. For example, you might seek out the hair and makeup services of a cosmetology student. They generally charge a fraction of the price of established makeup artists.

Finding early-career DJs or other entertainers, photographers, or caterers can also help save you money. Likewise, consider vendors that do not specialize in weddings as they often offer cheaper rates. Keep in mind though that weddings do require a unique level of coordination, so you’ll still likely want to pick vendors who have some wedding experience.

Make Your Own Wedding Print Products

In recent years, it has become easier to make your own save-the-dates, wedding invitations, wedding signs, and more. I love using Canva because Canva has incredible templates for a wide variety of print products that are created by graphic designers and artists. You can simply pick a template, upload your own pictures, edit the text, and print through Canva, Shutterfly, or any vendor you’d like for a fraction of the price of regular wedding invitations.

You can also create your own designs through Canva. Canva is super user friendly and is free for their basic package or $12 a month to get access to a wider range of templates and graphics. You can try their monthlong free trial of their Pro version if you want to decide which version is right for you and cancel when you no longer need their services for your wedding designs.

If you prefer to buy print products, check out Etsy. They have a large number of personalized print products for a much lower cost than traditional vendors.

Forego the Wedding Party Favors

I’m planning on doing this myself. None of us need more junk. Harsh, I know, but true. Party favors are old fashioned and unnecessary. If couples don’t have them at their wedding, I don’t even notice. 

If you really want to give party favors, consider low-cost options like bags of candy. You can print inexpensive personalized stickers through Etsy vendors to seal the bags. At one wedding I went to, a couple had 3 candy options—one that was the groom’s favorite candy, one that was the bride’s favorite candy, and one that was both of their favorite candy. It was a cute, relatively low cost option.

That being said, many of the candy bags went unclaimed, so again, people largely don’t expect party favors anymore.

Pick a Non-Conventional Wedding Venue

Check Out Gardens, Parks, Forests, and Campgrounds

Especially if you’re having a smaller wedding, there are a wide number of unconventional wedding venues you might consider. For example, you might reserve space at a park or campground. For example, you can secure a permit to get married at a national park for free or up to $500 depending on the park and number of guests.

Keep in mind, there are limitations with this option. Generally you have limits on the number of guests (often 50 or less). Additionally, parks will generally have restrictions on noise, bringing in catered food, and potentially having flowers or decorations made from non-native species.

Look Into Meaningful Locations

If there’s a place that’s special to you and your partner, you might also inquire about having a wedding there. For example, couples have had weddings at bowling alleys, climbing gyms, colleges (alumni may get discounts for weddings at their alma mater), libraries, religious venues, and more. 

You might also rent out a restaurant or floor of a restaurant. If you have a spot you love, it’s worth inquiring about rentals as many non-wedding venues will cost less than their wedding-centric counterparts. A restaurant will likely want to cater your menu if you hold an event there, so keep that in mind.

Take Advantage of Community Centers

Community centers can also make for great wedding venues. While they are often less glamorous-looking options, they can end up looking really great if you spend a bit of time on decorations. 

The Classic Backyard Wedding

And, of course, there’s the classic backyard wedding. If you have or know someone who has a sizeable house and/or backyard, you can save thousands of dollars by hosting the wedding yourself.

Some of these venues are also great options if you decide to elope or have a destination wedding but still want to have a party afterwards with a wider swath of friends and family. Indeed, when my older sister got married, she and her husband had a destination wedding with our immediate family in Hawaii. However, they also held a casual reception with friends at a local women’s community center a couple months later.

Consider All-Inclusive Venues

This may sound a little counter-intuitive as all-inclusive venues can seem more expensive. These venues include catering, chairs, tables, flatware, and sometimes even decorations. However, they can sometimes save you money in the long run. Remember that some bare bones venues will be difficult for caterers because they won’t be able to easily prepare food. This can end up upping your costs. Likewise, vendors may charge more to travel to inconvenient wedding venues. Having a wedding venue that offers lots of onsite services can help reduce some of the costs you might experience from other vendors.

Take Advantage of Sales

Many wedding dress retailers have a couple of sample sales a year, generally in Summer and early Winter. Keep an eye out for these sales and try to plan accordingly.

Additionally, Fall is a great time to get discounted wedding decor from vendors that overstocked for the Summer wedding rush.

You might also look out for Black Friday and holiday sales on things like decor, apparel, sound systems (if you’ll be providing your own music), print items, and more.

Plan Ahead

Of course, a lot of these recommendations are not possible if you don’t have the option of planning ahead. Giving yourself time to plan your wedding will allow you to be very intentional about your decisions, take advantage of sales throughout the year, and will give you the widest options for vendors and venues. It’s much easier to make your own invitations, for example, if you give yourself time to design the invites and print a sample. 

Final Thoughts

Your wedding day will hopefully be one of the most special days of your life. It’s a great goal to try and plan your dream wedding. At the same time, 45% of couples say they went into debt over their weddings. And 76% of those couples say they had arguments over finances. While for many, this may feel unavoidable, you don’t want to create a stressful and financially insecure marriage over a single day. Luckily, I’ve provided a large number of creative ideas to save money on your big day while still having an incredible time.

I hope you find inspiration here to have the wedding of your dreams while staying in budget. And if you want helpful resources for planning your wedding, including a wedding budget worksheet, wedding planning checklist, wedding planner interview, venue assessment sheet, and more, check out my Ultimate Wedding Planning Bundle from Etsy. I’m accepting pretty much any price offer!

Did you enjoy this post? Please consider liking, subscribing, or sharing with others. I always really appreciate it! And if you’re interested in related posts, check out my posts on wedding planning, holiday planning, and creating your own eco-friendly holiday cards.