With the credit crunch in full swing, here are ten top tips to help you make your wedding budget go just that little bit further.

1. Choosing the same cover design for your invitations, order of service and menus will reduce the design costs.
   Choose flowers that are in season.
2. Using a wedding car with 5 or 7 seats can save you money. It could take your attendants in trip and come back for you, saving you money on hiring extra wedding cars.
3. If a one or two tier wedding cake will feed all your guests, why have a three tier cake?
4. If you know someone who can bake your wedding cake, ask them if they would and then take it to a professional cake decorator for icing and decorating, this can save you between 10-15% on the price of your wedding cake.
5. Cut your wedding cake before the wedding breakfast and serve it as dessert.
6. A buffet is less expensive than a plated meal.
7. If you are having champagne cocktails fro your reception drink, use sparkling wine instead. It ia half the price of champagne and a good one can taste as good as champagne in a cocktail.
8. Magnums of champagne contain twice the amount as a normal bottle but do not cost twice the price – remember this when ordering the champagne.
9. If your reception costs are increasing above your budget why not consider having a cocktail reception or afternoon tea.
10. Make sure you are fully aware of contract terms of all your suppliers. Some may charge VAT and, if not budgeted for this may not be easy to find.

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If you are going by tradition, the Bride’s father pays for the majority of the wedding (especially expensive to the Father of the Bride’s wallet when he has two or more daughters!).The bride’s family traditionally pay for:

• the wedding stationary
• outfits for the bride and her attendants
• the flowers (other than the bouquets, corsages and buttonholes)
• music
• the wedding photography
• transport and
• the reception (including food, drink and the wedding cake).

The groom should pay for:

• the bride’s engagement and wedding rings
• bouquets, buttonholes and corsages
• church or ceremony fee
• presents for the best man, ushers and bridesmaids
• the wedding night venue and
• the honeymoon.

As for the bride, she only has to pay for:

• the groom’s wedding ring and
• a gift for her new husband.

How to…Suit Your Particular Circumstances

With couples choosing to get married later in life, this in general means that that they are more financially secure, which often means that they will pay for some, if not all of the wedding themselves. This comes as a big relief to the father of the bride – phew I hear you all say! A word of warning to the fathers, this is not always the case, so keep saving just in case.

Now days, the bride and groom often share the cost between themselves and both sets of parents. There are those fathers who are “old fashioned” and feel that it is their responsibility and honour to pay for their daughter’s wedding. The other extreme is those couples who pay for the whole day by themselves. There is no hard and fast rule, basically what ever suits your circumstances goes. The important thing is NOT to get yourselves and/or your family into debt. If you can’t afford, do not have it.

Those Awkward Money Conversations

Talking about money is one of those conversations that can lead to arguments, so it is very important that you know how to approach discussing the budget the right way. Most important is always be open and honest. Should your parents offer to help financially, you need to know how much they are going to contribute. You do not want to make plans on that presumation that you will get £15,ooo, only to receive a cheque for £1,000 the day before the wedding! Panic, stress and a large bank loan. You need to sit round the table and work out what your exact budget is and who is going to be responsible for the money and paying the suppliers.

Accepting financial help from family members does, however, give them a “say” in how you organise and theme your wedding. So, if  you do not want parents involvement in the wedding planning, you must think hard before accepting their money. If you are thinking of inviting your best friends for a Las Vegas wedding, and your parents have a long list of family and friends they would like to invite to the “wedding of the year” at a castle venue, then you have a problem. Thoughts and expectations need to be aired and layed on the table early on in order to avoid any falling-out.

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