They say nothing is free, but I know from living on a broke budget that there are many free things in this world if you just take the time to find them. Thankfully, this even applies to weddings and it’s easier than ever to plan a wedding on a budget. These are some of the best ways to cut corners and get something for free to help you save big money on your wedding day.
Electronic Invites
It might sound crazy, but wedding e-vites are starting to trend. With a growing awareness of the impact of paper on the environment and people who simply want to save buck, they provide the perfect solution. It’s important to follow-up with your friends and family though just to be certain their invite didn’t end up in their junk email folder.
Wedding Websites
Tell everyone about your story in a fun and creative way. Free wedding websites help you connect all of the most important information to your guests. When you create a wedding website, you get to choose the theme, add images, put in the event time and location, and so much more. The designs are chic, stylish, and help you communicate everything you need in a free and modern way.
Free-ish Officiant
Don’t want to fork out money for someone to officiate the wedding? Did you know you can get ordained online for free or cheap? Some states require an ordained wedding officiant to handle the ceremony. But the cool thing is that there are ways to become official for good or just for the day. Choose someone you love and respect to get the credentials if they don’t have them already. It’s likely they’d be honored to participate in your day in such an important way.
Pot-Luck Style Dinner
It might be a terrible idea, but what a fun way to include everyone in the wedding. Some people love pot-luck style family gatherings so for them, this could be a great way to save cash on the big day. It’s important to note that if you do this, you risk people being offended or frustrated that you’re not providing a meal. So maybe you provide the main dish, and they bring all the delicious sides.
Church or Community Center
Some churches rent out their event halls for low cost or a donation to the ministry. The same goes for local community centers. They provide affordable alternatives to hotels and other large wedding venues. These types of locations are perfect for smaller gatherings.
Get Married at a Park
If you don’t care about fancy decorations, a wedding ceremony at a local park could be the perfect solution. Some of them allow weddings as long as it’s standing only. Additionally, in Colorado, you can get married in the Garden of the Gods for free. You just need to make a reservation in advance and follow their rules. Look at your local parks and see if any of them offer something similar.
Borrow your wedding gown
What if instead of paying $5-$10K on a dress you’ll wear only once, you simply borrowed from a family member or friend? Since most people will never wear theirs again, they might be excited to see their wedding clothes get a second act. Be prepared to offer to pay for cleaning services and understand that you may not be able to make any alterations if you don’t love something about the dress.
Free online wedding planners
There are countless companies who offer wedding checklists to help you plan a fantastic wedding. Once you get it done, you can put in the details and check it off the list. These are helpful because if you hired a wedding planner, you could expect to pay up to 20% of the total cost of your wedding on them.
What not to get for free
While free is good, it’s also important to think through the parts of your wedding day that probably should go to a professional. While you may think that random camera phone photos of the day will suffice, hiring a professional photographer and/or videographer is something you should definitely plan in the budget. Unless you have a friend, who is a pro and will do it for free, it’s best to hire it out.
One way to save however, is to only hire them for the most important parts. If you get them for at least the ceremony and formal photos, you’ll have some key memories captured professionally. You can let your buddies take endless camera phone pictures of the reception and dancing and upload those for you later.
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