In the same way that people think college gets expensive, or having children gets expensive—the true gravity of how much a wedding costs does not hit you until you are planning one. The battle of “to spend or not to spend” is constantly raging and both sides make sense. In one respect, spending a lot on one day seems fairly trivial; the entire thing will be done in twenty-four hours. However, when you’re only going to have one wedding and you know you’ll remember the day for the rest of your life the phrase “it’s just this once” has wallet-opening power.
Choose your battles. Even couples that have a nearly unlimited budget shouldn’t waste money on their wedding. Weddings are constantly changing with different seasonal trends, traditions and ceremony styles. You should only splurge on the things you actually care about. Additionally, focusing on making a few items truly grand will make a much bigger statement than having the entire event overdone.
SPLURGE- The Rings
Your wedding ring will be the symbol of your marriage for the rest of your life. Over time, presents will be forgotten, pictures will be put away and the cake will be long gone but your ring is the constant and daily reminder of your commitment. Splurging on your ring doesn’t mean buying the biggest or the flashiest jewelry available. However, getting diamond rings and wedding bands that your partner will truly adore and happily wear every day is worth the money. They are more than jewelry; they are the symbol of the deepest bond people can make in our culture.
SAVE- The Invitations
Invitations get sent out far in advance. Many couples make the mistake of splurging on the invitations and then wishing they had that money three months later when they are buying things they really want. Yes, your invitations will hang on many refrigerators and one will make it to the front of your wedding album but they do not need to be expensive to look good. And any guest that doesn’t attend your wedding because the invitations weren’t fancy enough doesn’t deserve to be there anyway.
SPLURGE- The Photography
Anyone that thinks about pictures of their grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. will notice a trend. You may not have anything that person owned, but if you have one photograph of them it is surely their wedding picture. Now, these days photography is much more prominent so that problem won’t be as common; but pictures of you on your wedding day will always be kept by your loved ones. With that in mind, don’t you want the photos to be good? You don’t have to have a lot of them and they don’t have to employ over dramatic or over priced techniques. But if a couple is making wedding budget cuts the photographer should be one of the VERY last things to go.
SAVE- The Wedding Party
I don’t know who first thought that making her 2nd cousin a bridesmaid was polite. But there is no reason to have a wedding party of twenty people. Those twenty people are not your best friends and having all of them at the bachelor/bachelorette party will be awkward. If you cannot keep your attendees to five or under then cut it down to one or two each. At first people may be a little surprised, but if you are only picking two attendees and someone is your third best friend then they really can’t be that offended. Having a smaller wedding party will create less hassle, which is worth its weight in gold when a wedding draws nigh. It also saves your friends money and means that every aspect of the ceremony will take less time (and therefore be cheaper).
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written by: Nan Gibbons
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photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/weddingparaphernalia/3286088378/
