Tips to help you save on your wedding venue and menu
People look forward to their weddings because it is one of the most significant events in their lives. Besides tying the knot with the love of your life, weddings bring family and friends together. It is the time to laugh, have fun and enjoy. There are so much planning and money that goes into weddings and sometimes couples have made mistakes by getting into debt to cover their wedding budgets. We expect if you want amazing food for your guests and you definitely want your wedding venue to stand out but that does not mean that you should test your credit limits.
1. Choose Friday or Sunday for your wedding day
The conventional day for many couples to hold their weddings is a Saturday. This means that most wedding venues are booked and those that are not been high priced. The best day to have your wedding to save on venue and menu is any off-peak day be it Friday or Saturday. Such days have fewer weddings, therefore, there are many available venues at a competitive price. You can also choose less popular times of the year like late fall through the winter.
2. Go for a morning or afternoon weddings
A morning or afternoon wedding means that you can have a midday brunch reception and more fun for your guests. Furthermore, it will save you money on your venue since you will only pay for the morning or afternoon session only and the venue can also give you a discount since they can slot in another wedding for the evening. Eventually, you will find that you have saved on your wedding venue and menu.
3. Cut down on your guest list
Weddings are definitely a time to gather friends and family. You may want to invite everybody but this decision will cost you a lot of money. It is difficult to cut off some people from your list and to invite others. Some may not take it too politely that they were not invited and others were. Unfortunately, it is your wedding and you cannot please everyone. You may not realize the need to slash your guest list until you see the savings accrue exponentially. Cutting down on your guest list will help you save on your wedding venue and menu. You will have fewer people to feed and fewer people to accommodate saving on décor and rentals.
4. Go with a ready-to-roll venue
One of the important ways to save on your wedding venue and menu is to have a venue that is already fitted with essentials like toilets, lights, and what-not. When you decide to create a venue where it usually isn’t, you are setting yourself up to spend a lot of money than what it would have cost to have a wedding in a traditional venue. A non-traditional venue would mean a lot of rentals on everything which will definitely inflate your wedding budget. Well, it is understandable that you want to have a great wedding since it is a day that will be remembered for a lifetime, you should consider just how expensive it will be. You can still create a unique venue from a traditional venue.
5. Choose a double-duty venue
Choose a venue where you can exchange your vows and still have a reception ceremony. Having both events in the same place will save you money on having to rent out a different venue for the reception. You will also cut down on the transportation costs of items like flowers.
Have your wedding ceremony and reception in the same place to save on your wedding venue and menu.
6. Choose a plated dinner
While it may seem like a plated dinner is more formal and expensive, people often tend to save too much when there are stations. With stations, your caterer will have to cook more food so your wedding menu will cost you too much. In addition, a buffet dinner will save you on labor costs. Last, it also cuts down on food wastage. Before you decide what to go with, talk to your caterer about the best options for your party are still within your budgetary limits.
7. Think seasonally
Sometimes you may want to have certain veggies and fruits for your wedding menu. However, if these foods are out of season, then you will spend a lot more money in trying to gain them. When fruits are out of season, it is highly likely that the ones you acquire don’t taste so good. Hence you will lose out on your money and your ideal reception as well. Take for instance having your wedding in July and you probably wanted strawberries. This would be possible because strawberries are in season during this time. Go with the seasons. It will save you on your wedding venue and menu.
8. Limit your bar
There is definitely a need for some drinks during your wedding ceremony but you should offer your guests some beer, wine and maybe a signature cocktail. Uncorking so many bottles can be a hassle for the caterer who will charge you more. Limit the drink options for people so that they can still quench their thirsts but at a reasonable price. Sometimes, you can do without alcoholic drinks which tend to increase the wedding costs. You can choose alternative drinks that are cheaper.
When it comes to drinks, you should also go a cheap champagne toast like Prosecco instead of spending too much money on a bottle of champagne which will remain in people’s glasses after the party. There are plenty of brands that are still sweet and yet pocket-friendly.
People hold on to memories of weddings for a lifetime. So it goes without saying that your wedding should be splendid. However, this does not mean spending too much money on a one day occasion. Use these tips to save on your wedding venue and menu.