Bride's Paradise May/June 2017 | Page 4

YOUR DREAM WEDDING ON A BUDGET!

ost brides think a low budget wedding means giving up that fairytale wedding you have envisioned all your life, this is rather far from the truth. It is very possible to have a perfectly classy wedding on a minimal budget, all you need to do is maximise your available resources. This can be done by following a few tips we gladly gathered for you.

Identify the areas of your wedding that will take up most of your budget like church and reception venue hire, food and beverages and bridal party attire. Once you have done this find a way to reduce the cost of each one.

Firstly - Compile a clear and minimal guest list which should be strictly adhered to, this can be ensured by making your reception attendance strictly by invitation.

Secondly - Church and reception venues can be made less costly by having a marriage blessing in your local church, most churches will not charge their members for a marriage blessing.

Your reception venue options need to be widely explored, this is where the minimal guest list works to your advantage. If you have a spacious yard or know a family member or friend that has a spacious yard with a well kept lawn do not shy away from asking them for the possibillity to hold your reception there, this will mean that your investment will go into decor more than the venue. This will save you the cost of hiring expensive reception venues.

Thirdly - Food costs can be reduced by opting for a buffet menue instead of an al acate menue for your guests. There are bakers that specialise in ordinary cakes that are decorated just like wedding cakes. This reduces the cost as wedding cakes are much more expensive. If you can't afford to bake it, fake it!

Fourthly - Beverage costs can be drastically reduced by catereing for non acoholic beverages and providing a cash bar service for alcoholic beverages. This helps because alcohol is much more costly and will bite a huge chunk out of your overall budget.

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The one question every bride and groom has when planning their wedding is "How can we reduce our wedding costs but still have a great wedding?".

Well, here are a few tips we gathered on how to do just that...

This brings us to...

Lastly but not least, Bridal party attire. Let's begin with the bride and groom, It has been proven that it is far more economical to hire your attire than buy it. It does not give you the opportunity to keep them as souvenirs but that's what pictures are for, isn't it?

The groom's tux or suit can be hired as well. Classy but affordable attire can be bought for your bridal party preferbly by the members of your bridal party themselves to cut on your costs.