How to Plan a Summer Wedding On a Budget
How to plan your dream summer wedding on a budget.
Unless you’re a millionaire with an endless financial flow, saving money is most likely an essential part of planning a summer wedding for you and your significant other. The good news is that it’s easy to organize a wedding on a budget, and we’re here to give you some of our favorite strategies:
Create a Detailed Budget
Before you get too far into dreaming about the details of your big day, you should start devising your wedding budget by figuring out how much you’re willing to spend. It’s a good idea to have a minimum and maximum expenditure figured out and then go from there. Split everything into categories such as food, decorations, wedding dress, etc., and decide how much you’d be willing to spend for each section.
Use the Outdoors as Décor
If you close your eyes and think of wedding décor, we could probably guess pretty closely what your mind envisions. For a moment, however, imagine using the outdoors as part of that décor. Holding your ceremony outside in an area filled with vegetation or perhaps some type of unique landscape in the background could give your wedding that little extra oomph you’re looking for.
Rent a Tent Instead of a Hall
Sure, it’s great to envision a wedding inside some kind of large, grand hall. The problem is that these fancy halls are also quite expensive. While we did just suggest that you use the outdoors as part of your wedding décor, the Florida sun might make that a little difficult at times. A much less costly alternative is to make the wedding a tented event complete with tent accessories such as side walls for privacy and floor fans to keep everyone cool.
Send Out Digital Invitations
While sending out wedding invitations to friends and family members has always been a tried-and-true tradition, this trend is changing thanks to technology. Not only can you send out digital invitations to anyone with an email address and/or social media account, you can also use certain platforms or apps to track RSVPs. Just remember some people on your guest list may not have access, so be prepared to send out at least a few physical invitations as well.
Search for Hotel Alternatives
If you’ll be traveling somewhere for your wedding day and don’t care about staying at some fancy resort, you should consider searching for hotel alternatives. Platforms such as Airbnb will include places you can stay that cover a variety of prices. This is also very useful for guests because they can pick and choose how much they’re willing to spend based on location, size, amenities, etc.
Rent Tables and Chairs
You can save a lot of money by asking friends and family members to bring tables and chairs for your wedding, but this will just turn into a big mess. You’ll often end up with fewer than you need and, more than likely, they won’t match very well. Instead of going out and buying them, you should consider renting chairs for the ceremony and then both for the reception.
Choose Only One Venue
Having your wedding ceremony and reception at two different places may sound like a good idea because you’ll get more variety, but it’s also more costly and a bit of a pain in the neck for some guests. There are many wedding venues to choose from that will serve both functions. Going back to what we said about renting a tent, you could always have the ceremony out in the sun with the tent standing by for the reception.
Consider Ordering a Sheet Cake
Here’s a neat little trick — when ordering a wedding cake from a local bakery, just make it a sheet cake and don’t tell them that it’s for a wedding because it’ll often be much less expensive. Then, you can simply add bride and groom figurines — or bride/bride or groom/groom, whichever the case may be — and the cake will be complete for less money. Another technique is to forgo the wedding cake and have guests bring desserts for a potluck.
Rent Dinnerware and Tableware
Another great way to save some money on your wedding is to rent dinnerware and tableware instead of purchasing it. Similar to tables and chairs, you’ll have a variety to choose from and can easily get everything matched up. You can also coordinate these items with the overall décor and landscape of the venue or even the wedding theme.
Contact Elite Events & Rentals to Plan Your Wedding on a Budget
Elite Events & Rentals supplies party rentals in Tampa and the surrounding areas. We have many items that you’ll need for weddings, birthdays, corporate events, and more. If you need more advice on how to plan a wedding on a budget or would like to place a reservation, contact us by calling (727) 791-7082 today to schedule a free consultation.