How to have a budget wedding

I hate the term “bud­get wed­ding”! Hav­ing a wed­ding bud­get isn’t a bad thing — and if your bud­get doesn’t stretch to five fig­ures, then good for you! I’m right behind you.

But if you’re feel­ing the pres­sure to have a bud­get wed­ding and you’re wor­ried about keep­ing costs down, here’s some advice to help you along.

Writ­ing a wed­ding bud­get is essen­tial. Sit together and work out what you can afford and what’s most impor­tant to you both.

The best 10 things to drop from your wed­ding budget

1. favours
2. sit-down meal
3. wed­ding cars
4. band or DJ
5. cake (you’d be sur­prised who doesn’t notice!)
6. flow­ers for the venue
7. some guests!
8. sep­a­rate evening buffet
9. hen and stag weekends
10. that pile of wed­ding magazines

When you write your wed­ding bud­get, remem­ber to include any sav­ings you can make as well as what you’ll be spending.

For exam­ple, off­set the cost of your wed­ding jew­ellery by giv­ing up your gym mem­ber­ship and run­ning instead.

Instead of Star­bucks and M&S lunches, put £15 a day between you into a mon­ey­box and use it to buy your out­fits. (2 cof­fees and 2 lunches is about £15. 5 of those in a week is £75. That’s £300 a month. In a year you’ll have be knock­ing on Ian Stuart’s door…)

Back to the How-To Wed­ding Guide