What to save on?

dancerstacey

I am planning my wedding in downtown Chicago. Every time I try to save on something someone immediately says,"you can't skimp on... fill in the bank here" This is not just one side of the family, it's everyone! We all know that everything in the city costs a lot and I wanted to see what people decided to save on before I go broke. Thanks!

MrsMLRB

This may not be helpful but my FI originally insisted on having a wedding in the city but when he saw the prices he agreed to a suburban wedding. So if you haven't chosen a location, you can save a lot of money by moving the location to the suburbs.

Alright, areas you can save on: IPOD instead of DJ, making your own invites (this can save a TON of money), skipping favors, making your own programs/paper goods, cutting the guest list, doing beer and wine and a signature drink instead of a full open bar, chicken instead of beef, use cheaper flowers (like only roses instead of calla lilies). There are lots of places to cut the budget.

Ignore people who say you can't cut whatever. Money doesn't grow on trees.

Eener23

There is only one thing I didn't allow myself to skimp on - photography. All else was eligible for skimping on price.

kag0215

Decide what is most important to you and your FI and that is what you don't skimp on. For instance, FI and I decided that the venue, food, and photography were most important to us. So for that stuff we went a little over budget. We are super under budget though on my dress (it wasn't important to me to have a designer dress so I went to DB and found one that I love), videography (we're setting up a tripod in the back of the church and having a friend's sibling control it), and flowers (we have plenty but we found pretty budget friendly flowers like hydrangeas) because these are the things that we decided weren't as important.

rombacja

I agree with everyone else - you need to find what's important to YOU. I found my dream dress and called other stores until I could find it for $200 less. We're not having a videographer even though EVERYONE has told us that we're going to regret it. But we wanted a wedding in the city, so we have to save somewhere. We haven't booked yet, but we're looking into Jolie Images. They are definitely the right price in my opinion. I think you can save a few hundred bucks here and there if you're careful and if you put in a little extra time. Oh and my mother just told me that we HAVE to get a bus and provide transportation day of for all 230 of our guests. haha. As all locations are either walking or a short cab ride, this is not a priority for me, so I offered to let her pay for this if she was interested.

PenelopeSnuz

Don't do an ipod DJ.  You will regret it.

Cut budget on floral and decor....there are plenty of places in the city that don't need much decorating.

Do your own save the dates, invites, table numbers, and place cards. 

Don't spend money on a silly favor no ones will ever use....go simple and edible!

Negotiate with your vendors!

And really.....the easiest way to cut budget is to cut the guest list.

kbarker719

I totally agree with PP.  I decided that the most important things to me were a good meal and excellent photography, so I started there.  For my dress I didn't feel like spending a ton of money on that so I went to DB and got a beautiful one for way less than I thought I'd spend.  I also only have one person in my bridal party; two total including the best man (I did this because I wanted to go simple, but the benefit is that I don't need a ton of bouquets, or gifts, and we can all fit in one limo.  Additionally, this has allowed me to spoil her and buy her dress and jacket for her, which I wouldn't have been able to do if there were a lot of bridesmaids).  Our venue package also includes a cake, so that saved us a good bit of money, and our hotel suite was free because we did a block of rooms and that was one of the bonuses.

imtaken07

We are on a budget. What was important to us was photo's, video and a good DJ. The photo's and video is what you are going to have forever to remember our day. Having a good DJ is going to make, or break your reception. I have been to a number of weddings in my life and the thing that sticks out in my mind is if I have a good time, or not. I can't remember what the flowers looked like, the cake, ect. Those thing fade quickly.
We wanted a nice hall, but not one that would cost us a ton. Flowers we went basic, cake too. No Party favors.  I have never taken home a party favor from a wedding. To me, this is a celebration and I want my friends and family to have a great time and for me to have something to remember it by.

aperitisa

I definitely agree with most of the PPs above.  Don't skimp on photos or the DJ.  The photos will last forever and the DJ keeps the party going. 

We did the following to save some cash-ola:

 - No videographer

 - Minimal flower for centerpieces

 - No personalized matches or napkins

 - We bought the rights to our pictures so that we can make as many albums as we want for gifts at a much lower cost than through the photog.

 - DB dress and the bridesmaids got $20 off their dress

 - No ceremony decorations. Our church is gorgeous enough without it. 

 - This includes no aisle runner.

 - No limos.  

 - We are having a small cake to cut and then sheet cakes from Meijer (FI's only request in this entire wedding was to have Meijer cake...its AMAZING....so I figured I could do that and it ended up saving buckets of money.   For us to feed 350 people cake, it only costs $150.

- Small bridal party.  3 on each side and 2 ushers.  This means we have to buy fewer gifts and fewer flowers...plus the rehearsal dinner is smaller as well.

Ok, I think thats all from me for now!

aimers1525

Things that we are saving/skimping on:
-no favors
-no aisle runner
-no church decor other than two floral arrangements to be re-used at reception
-no videographer
-only some of our centerpieces will have flowers
-small bridal party--four on each side
-no flowers for people doing readings
-our venue package includes cake and a free room at the hotel for me and FI
-one huge bonus was that based on the amount of money we're spending we are getting five free nights for our honeymoon at a Hyatt resort
-bridal party and immediate family only at rehersal dinner
-we have a friend that is a DJ who wanted to work for free but we are paying for the cost of his room and tipping him (but that saves around $500)
-Save the dates (I got 100 free postcards from Vistaprint!)

Things that were important to me/FI/parents/FIL's not to skimp on:
-dinner and open bar
-photography
-my dress (though my mom and I came to an agreement about how much was too much)

agape1cor813

Keep it simple with the centerpieces. Candles, lanterns, floating centerpieces are probably quite a bit cheaper than actual flowers. Or, if you really want to have flowers, do tall submerged centerpieces with submerged hydrangea or other flowers. These options are both pretty and modern. 

Also, I agree that you can save a ton on your paper. If you have a friend who dabbles in graphic design they could be able to help.

kthompson76

I'm all about saving on save-the-dates, invitations and eliminating favors. Also minimal church decor. Food, drinks, photographer, DJ and florist are all important to me though!

Jami86e

a note on the "free room with package." our package also came with a room...but the price came down significantly when we said we weren't interested in the room. we are spending our first night in our own bed

lkeefner

i am shopping around for everything....i love to find a deal

i am doing the centerpieces at the reception myself (most reception sites also offer a non floral option that you can use for free)
i made a mental note as to what my church looked like this year the weekend of my weddding and i am happy with how it looked without me adding anything
friends has paseed down things that they have used for their wedding and i am changing them up a little to add my flair
there are so many more things that i can't think of right now

thealphabride

We had a gorgeous wedding on about half of the normal cost of a wedding in this market. I had everything I wanted and that was important to me but did it on a budget.
I paid for the majority of the wedding about 2/3, my fiance, now hubby paid 1/3.

You'd be surprised what becomes less important when you are paying for your own wedding!!!

Venue, flowers/decor, music, officient were most important. Every single vendor did an outstanding job.

I had a small wedding party (2 on each side) and kept my guest list small too (100, and 95 showed) This saves on gifts, flowers and most of all drama.

 I used a great caterer who delivered outstanding food (5 courses) and service total cost per plate with open bar for 3 hours: $42.

They also included all china, linen, all glasswear, all silverwear. This was a huge budget friendly idea, as I didn't have to rent anything.  I got a delicious cake from them which saved me on another delivery and set up fee. I chose a simple buttercream frosted cake and my florist did flowers, the tase was most important to me. Cake was 225.00 for 95 people.

Not as important and things I did on a big budget:
My gown: purchased off the rack (Allure Lace) at a discount at HOB, I splurged on the alterations and the dress fit like a glove and was gorgeous.
BM/Reader/USHER/Musician gifts: The girls and moms were given hankies embroidered by my cousin, and I paid for my maids and both moms make up. 
All the rest got 25 dollar gift cards. I spent a total of 200 for gifts. (not including make up for all of us)
Invites: I did gorgeous invites, made them myself and my FI printed and cut all the inserts for me, people raved about how beautuful they were, used cards and pockets.com
Prof Photography: Used a gal getting started in her business, Amy Christian from AC Designs. She is well trained by the best in Chicago photog business and she took beautiful pictures, they should be in very soon and I will post. I paid 1K and will be getting the disc with all the pics to make my own photobook, as I had more money after the wedding to do this.
Boudior Photos: If I choose to do these, I will do for our 1 year anniversary, when I have more money.
Save the dates, did not do these, I think they are a waste of money. Back in the day NO ONE sent save the dates.
Favors: almonds in tulle with a little thank you note attached done very inexpensively and loked beautiful.
Programs: my husband designed and printed them at work. You only need one per couple. We had 95 guests and had 50 programs left over, and everyone attended the wedding and the reception. Done on a big budget. They looked nice.
Photobooth: did not do this, My personal opinion is that they are silly and take guests away from the reception.
Professional Transportation: I had my ceremony and reception in the same place, and our family has Lincoln's and BMW's and our bridal party was very small so we did not need this. I had everyone show up at the venue a few hours early for pics and we did a first look. Hell we spent the night together the night before the wedding!
Ceremony musicians: did not have. My friend has a beautiful voice and sang during the ceremony. I hired my DJ for all day and he did my ceremony music and it was AWESOME!!!!
I borrowed all my jewelry from my sisters. Although I did buy a pair of diamond studs to wear. I wore a vintage necklace my gmother wore to my moms wedding.
Professional hair including trial for me was 125. I went to my regular salon as they are very close to my sisters house which was brides central.
I did't stay in a hotel the night before. I got ready with my 2 sister's (my maids) at my sister's house and we had Cynthia Sally come and do our make up at the house. That was a bit of a splurge for us. Then my brother in law drove us to the venue in his lincoln. My husband was adamate about not having a photog at his house befire the wedding, he drove our HM rental car to the venue.
Grooms Gift: did not do, I paid for a gorgous wedding and he got ME! He paid for an awesome honeymoon for us.
Didn't do bathroom baskets, didn't do flip flops for everyone at the reception, it's the little things that add up big time. Didn't do napkins or matches. I had bought very cute napkins at Michaels with the 1/2 price coupon. We used them for cocktails and cake. Believe me no one missed that our name and date wasn't on them. .
Guest Book: I didn't do the photo guest book I bought a gorgous book with a Michaels half price coupon, it had lace and bling on it and matched my gown perfectly.
Things I wish I had done a bit differently: video, I used Jeff from Shoot the Bride, now I can't get my video.
Shoes: my feet killed me all night long, I wish I had worn kitten heals instead of 4 inch heals.

HTH, good luck to you.

One last note: You don't need to do everything you see on the wedding websites, they are in it for the money. They are trying to get you to spend more and it's just not necessary.