A common question that couples normally ask is “How much does a wedding cost?” or “Do I even have enough money to cover the wedding expenses?”. Well, the answer is it depends. Your wedding expense will vary drastically depending on your vision and lifestyles. Finance is a clear obstacle that you will have to tackle when you plan your wedding. Couples struggle to plan their wedding budget ahead of time and later, use their budget efficiently. However, it is actually not that difficult to plan your budget for the wedding. Here are a few tips on how you can use your budget wisely and have a cheap wedding.

Prioritize your expenses

As you plan your wedding expenses, take a step back to look at all the costs in front of you and spend some time to categorize and prioritize them. You should ask yourself a question “Is it a must have, should have or a nice-to-have item?”. Based on your own response to that question, you will easily find your priority of that wedding expense. As you allocate your budget, you should make sure you can cover all the essential must-have items first. It can be easy to feel missing out and want to have additionals but be true to yourself. For example: it is essential to have a wedding photographer who helps you capture all the precious moments in your wedding. However, it is just nice-to-have when you want a crew to film your wedding. If your budget is limited, there might be no need for that film crew from the start. You can use this method to eliminate the unnecessary costs. 

Pick a suitable wedding venue

The wedding venue normally contributes to a good portion of your wedding expense. This applies even more in Vietnam, where most wedding venues also have their own catering service for your reception. Consequently, your location choice will dictate your reception cost as well. It is important to pick a suitable venue for your wedding when you want to cut costs and save some expense. You should spend time touring different venues, asking for their all-inclusive packages as well as their special offers to find the best options. If you can save money in the wedding venue, you will automatically recover a significant amount for your wedding budget. 

Choose the low season

There is no better way to have a cheap wedding than doing it in the low season. During this time of the year, wedding venues and service providers offer a lot of promotion and discount as the market is slow. You will get a lot of good deals for your wedding and thus, save a good amount of money. If you want to go with this option, it is important to start to plan your wedding ahead of time. If you can’t avoid the wedding season, you can still save some money by booking the off-time within the season such as the weekdays or early on Friday. Be sure to inform your guests early so that they can arrange their schedule for this off-season wedding as well.

Consider multiple options

When you plan your wedding, you should spend the extra effort to find different options for each service you want to have. Contact multiple providers to get their offering packages and their quote so that you can make the comparison. This information will give you a good understanding of the market and set the right expectation. At the same time, having various providers will help you find a creative choice that fits your needs and budget. For instance, you can take pre-wedding in the studio instead of travelling to different locations. It will help reduce your spending in this category. Note: the cheapest option might not always be the most economical option. In order to have the lowest quote, a service provider can remove items from their package as well. It is important for you to pay attention to detail when you compare different quotations. Surveying multiple providers can give you an advantage when you negotiate the price with the provider as well. Don’t be shy to tell them that you are looking at multiple providers and hope to find the most cost-efficient one. Many providers have special discounts that they don’t display and only offer when asked. 

Reserve extra fund

Let’s come back to our initial question “How much does a wedding cost”. As you go through the wedding items, you are likely to have the answer for this question. However, you should never plan to spend all the amount that you have for your wedding budget. It is important to always reserve some funds and only work with 80-90% of your current wedding budget. There are many extra costs that can be incurred as you move forward with your wedding plan. Some expenses can go over what you expected them to be. Your projected income (from family, gifts, etc…) might not match your expected number. That can cause a deficit in your wedding budget and force you to go on credit. Having the extra reserve will make you feel more comfortable that you will be able to handle the unexpected. Don’t overspend the money that you don’t have. A well-managed wedding budget will make sure you can pay for your wedding in any circumstance.