5 Things That Won’t Save You Money On Your Wedding

5 Things That Won’t Save You Money On Your Wedding

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Until you actually plan a wedding, it can be difficult to get your head around just how much everything costs. Budgets can quickly go out of the window even for the savviest of wedding planners. Here are five things that won’t save you money on your wedding.

If you’re getting married soon, you’ve probably been reading lots of articles on how to save money on your wedding. What you might not have read, is many articles about thing that won’t save you money on your wedding.

I got married a few months before writing this article, so I speak from experience!

5 Things That Won’t Save You Money on Your Wedding

1. Hiring Suits

We seriously considered hiring suits for our wedding. In the end, it was looking so expensive we decided against it.

Many high-street shops offer competitive prices on suits and this also takes away the stress or having to get them all rounded up and returned to the shop after the wedding. Plus, the state my husband ended up in on our wedding night I am so glad we didn’t have to give his suit back!

We bought our suits from Next – they all fitted well and we saved money by ordering them across 3 different next accounts to get the online new customer discount of £20. You can find more info about it here. If you are looking for a super budget option Primark do a wide range of suits starting from around £40.

A wedding can be so expensive - here are 5 things that you might think will save you money - but actually won't. Should you hire suits? Find out here.

2. All-inclusive wedding packages

All-inclusive packages always sound like a budget-friendly option until you sit down and actually look at your numbers. They can work well for those planning a smaller wedding, of say 40 or less.

If you are having a larger wedding they often charge a massively inflated rate for additional guests, meaning the cost of having those extra guests could outweigh the savings made by having an all-inclusive package in the first place. Make sure you have really done your sums before committing.

Related Post – Why we chose an independent wedding celebrant

3. Things That Won’t Save You Money On Your Wedding: DIY Everything

DIY weddings are all the rage thanks to Pinterest and all its wonderful pictures and tutorials. Realistically, DIYing every single part of your wedding is just not possible, no matter how creative and crafty you are.

Or how much time you think you have. It can be surprising how much real life gets in the way. We spent the month before our wedding living in and running a pub. Something we never would have predicted happening when we booked our wedding 18 months before.

I have seen many brides dashing out the night before the wedding to buy a table plan or favours because they have simply run out of time. Also, crafting supplies can be pretty pricey, so it may actually be cheaper to pay someone else to do it for you.

My advice would be to pick one or two ideas that you really love and do them really well. It will be less stressful and you will feel far more relaxed without a mountain of half-finished DIY projects cluttering up your house.

Related Post – My favourite wedding freebies including free Disney postcard

4. Buying A Dress From China

Cheap dresses from China are all the rage for today’s budget Brides. While reviews remain mixed -(I have seen some horror stories and some absolute stunners) personally, I would not want to risk my money. It may ‘only’ be £80-£100 but that’s money you could be putting towards a quality dress.

Try places like Pre-Loved and Wed2B for bargain dresses that you can actually try on, feel and see the quality of before buying.

My bridesmaids dresses actually came from an unexpected place – can you guess where? 

5. Bringing Your Own Booze

Bringing your own booze may seem like the answer to venues’ pricey wine offerings. Make sure you check the price of corkage first.

I have seen venues charge as much as £9 a bottle corkage, making their £12.99 house plonk seem suddenly more appealing. Also think of the hassle of buying, storing and transporting all the aforementioned booze to the wedding right before your big day.

I speak from experience. At our wedding, we had a completely DIY bar. I wish we hadn’t.

Problems included the barman we were going to use being taken ill just before the wedding. He was providing the kegerators. As we could no longer use them we had to buy in cans from the supermarket at the last minute.

One of the barrels of ale we bought was damaged in the back of the van and leaked half of its contents on the hour-long drive to our wedding venue. Not fun.

Also, the alcohol we bought for our groomsmen was accidentally put behind the bar and sold, meaning half our gifts to them were missing.

Weddings can be so expensive - here are 5 things that you might think will save you money - but actually won't.

For me, wedding planning was really stressful and there are so many things I wish we had done differently. I hope this list helps you save some money and really consider your options. I have also written about why I wish we had spent more money on our wedding.

Want some ideas that will save you money on your wedding? Try this post from Emma at the Money Whisperer: 7 Ways to save on your wedding

12 thoughts on “5 Things That Won’t Save You Money On Your Wedding

    • Author gravatar

      I’m with you on these – especially the cheap dresses from China, mostly because a friend of mine does alterations, and does a lot of work on making these dresses actually look good! She told me all of the brides who bring them to her would have been better off just buying a decent dress in the first place.

      • Author gravatar

        Absolutely. I was lucky enough to have a decent budget for my dress but there is no way I would have bought from china no matter how much I had to spend. Wedding planning can be an absolute minefield of what’s good value and what’s not, lots of research required.

    • Author gravatar

      Agreed with nearly all of this but have to say that we got an amazingly priced budget deal because we got married in February so it’s always worth considering how getting married out of season can mean decent wedding packages.

      A friend bought dresses on eBay from China. They were hideous and nothing like the picture. She felt like such a fool!

      • Author gravatar

        Yes there are definitely good deals to be had, especially out of season. I think as long as people consider very carefully it it’s worth it for them then they should be fine. Dresses from China do seem to be very hit and miss – personally I don’t think it’s worth the risk – or the stress!

    • Author gravatar

      These are some fantastic tips. I definitely wish I saw them before I got married. We did DIY wedding invitations and that was a huge pain. While we saved money I definitely felt we spent way too much time. If I had to do it again I would have found a more time effective way to send out invitations.

    • Author gravatar

      I have a small frame so didn’t want a large dress. I found one in monsoon, a knee length lace shift dress for £150 in monsoon. And I wear it for special occasions with navy accessories.

      One of the best ways to save is not to have stuff. Not a single guest commented that they didn’t get favours and I’m afraid I can’t recall many favours I’ve received at weddings. One wedding I went to, the bride and groom made a donation to a charity on behalf of each guest, which I thought a beautiful idea

      • Author gravatar

        Yes, there are so many small ways to save. Little touches can be very nice but you don’t need ALL of them to have an amazing wedding. It’s fab you are able to re-wear your wedding dress. So many end up just sat at the back of the wardrobe gathering dust!

    • Author gravatar

      Although I’m not even engaged, I have to admit I’ve thought about all of this stuff before! Some of these surprise me that they work out to be more expensive!

    • Author gravatar

      We’re planning our wedding at the moment (well, we’re supposed to be – we’re not really getting too far with it!), and the whole budget thing is a real minefield. I’ve sat down loads of times and done a few calculations, and quickly realised that I’ve added up literally thousands and thousands of pounds worth of stuff in hardly any time at all.

      I’m quite tempted by the idea of just eloping somewhere for a weekend and coming back married. My fiancé likes the idea of Vegas, and it’s becoming more tempting!

      • Author gravatar

        We went to Las Vegas on Honeymoon and absolutely loved it so I can see why it would appeal! My husband was the same and would have happily eloped but I knew it meant our parents wouldn’t be able to come and I think that’s what swayed us into staying here.

        I think before you start wedding planning you just don’t realize how much everything costs – a few small things can massively add up very quickly!

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