Planning A Wedding » wedding expenses

Planning a Wedding – The Wedding Budget Save Money on Caterers, Food and alcohol

Alex — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:31:00 +0000

A huge part of a wedding budget is the food and drink. Is it possible to have a great reception which isn’t catered or professionally bartended? Yes! Planning a wedding budget precisely depends upon how many guests invited and which type of food.

If you’re planning to cater the wedding yourself, understand the costs involved are not just the food itself. Guests need dishware, utensils, cups, saucers, wine glasses, water glasses, etc etc etc. You’ll also need serving dishes, serving plates, serving utensils, napkins, table cloths, food warmers etc etc etc. There is a long list of needs which at some point it will be more expensive to do it yourself vs catering the affair.

Before you decide to cater yourself, check catering prices and make sure the location where you are having your reception will allow any outside food. Note: you must know how many guests which will attend.

Calling the Caterer:

What you should know before you call: Before you call the wedding caterer be sure to get a reference from a friend, relative or check with the better business bureau and health department.

Ask if they are available to cater on the date of your reception!

What you should be asking for:

A faxed copy of the menu options and if they make special requests.
A faxed copy of a contract.
Do they provide, what is the cost, what color/style selections are available and can you supply (instead of them) and get the cost lowered: silverware, cups, glasses, plates, table cloths, linens, table decorations, centerpieces. (this is very important to save money)
What is a list of extra fees to expect in detail: ie tips, staff costs, broken dishes, among others
Do you provide clean up? Are we able to negotiate by cleaning up ourselves? What is the cost of clean up if you do it?
What time is needed for setting up and cleaning up?
Are regular beverages included, and how much does this cost?(Ask for specific beverages like soda, coffee, tea) Are there extra staff involved?
Do you have a liquor bar service? How much is this cost? What staff are involved?
How much and when do you require the deposit?

How to save money on caterer costs:

Now is the hard part. Wherever you are planning a wedding reception it is vital you check if they allow outside catering, liquor, food and drink.

If you are allowed those or if the location is not licensed for liquor you can pick up banquet license and insurance. You cannot supply any food or alcohol where money changes hands (hired help, catering etc) unless you have these protections. It is vitally important you follow local laws and regulations in terms of serving food and alcohol. This means extra work, even while saving money for your wedding, and is why most people choose catered events centers.

Now that the liability is out of the way. Here is my top 10 ways to save money on your wedding catering.

Cater yourself – the only way this works is if you have a small wedding and can supply the silverware, cookware, serving ware and dishware or if you are willing to use plastic and paper.
Local costs of rental equipment sometimes will charge you less than the caterers! Be aware you will probably have to pay extra for them to pick up dirty dishes. – Check all costs, contracts and liabilities.
Supply staff yourself! Family and friends will have a list of students willing to work at your wedding for a lesser cost. Some of them are even licensed bartenders.
Do the clean up yourself, ask your family and friends to chip in and see if the location will allow you to clean up the following day. Alternatively you can hire your own staff to clean up (see number 2 about staff).
Buy the beverages, including alcohol yourself and hire your own licensed bartender.
Buffets cost less than single serving foods.
Supply your own wedding table decorations, its 10 x cheaper than going through any service. Be aware you will need friends and family help with this.
Host your reception in smaller out of the way areas. You can get a better price on a place that is looking for more business.
Rent your linens from wedding specialists. This is extremely cheap at about 6-10 bucks a table cloth and you can find rentals for your chair covers and decorations too. However, you can buy sheets (what I did) and table cloths in various colors for little as well. Check Shops. Remember that white or off color can be dyed. You can also use fabric paint and craft store items to decorate linens you buy.
Offer to publicize any of the companies you use. You can put the caterer on a special wedding program, offer to advertise them on your web pages, companies will often reduce your prices substantially for well placed advertisement.

Best of luck and next on planning a wedding : How to save money on the photographer and videographer!

Trimming Your Wedding Budget

Alex — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:58:00 +0000

If you’re keeping up with my blog, you should have a detailed list of your wedding budget, in order of most important to least important, and your list should include the cost of those things. Now I want to talk about how to trim your wedding budget.

We’ll start with the most difficult item to reduce cost; the wedding dress. Let’s face it, for some brides, the dress we choose is the most integral part of our wedding. I actually planned my wedding around my dress. This is usually the most costly part of a wedding budget.

The best place to start lowering the cost of your wedding dress is on the Internet. If you know the style number of your dress, and the designer you’re in luck. A simple search on Google will produce numerous websites which sell the dress. you can then browse each of those websites and see who is selling your dress for less. If you’re unlucky, like I was, you’ll only have an idea of what you won your dress to look like. If this is the case, you can browse the numerous websites dedicated to bridal wear. I recommend The Knot.

The Internet is not the only place you can save money on your gown, a great place to save money on your wedding is with a seamstress. Using a specialty dressmaker has the bonus of experience, however, it also has a higher price.

There are tons of other ways to save money on your dress. You can rent a bridal gown, share a bridal gown (advertise for bride-to-be, who will share the dress with you), or you can find a used wedding gown on Craig’s list and other used gown websites.

Remember that wedding gowns do not have to be white, ivory or pink. Wedding gowns can be red, blue, purple or any other color you want. Wedding gowns don’t even have to be wedding gowns, you can use a suit or even a prom dress.

One last thing, my friend recently rented her wedding dress at a local costume shop.

Stay tuned for my next blog about saving money on the reception. Specifically, booze and food. Meanwhile you can check out an interesting link on Spring wedding favors

Planning a Wedding Checklist – Part Two Trimming the Budget

Alex — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:54:00 +0000

If you read Planning a Wedding Part One The Budget, you should have started a budgeted list from the most important items to the least important items on the wedding checklist. When adding totals you may be over your budget so the next crucial step is where and how to trim your wedding budget.

At the top of your list are the items which you’ve deemed most important, which means they are the last parts of your checklist to be trimmed. Even if you are within budget for your wedding, there are always ways to trim the budget.

As part of my wedding planning I made certain decisions which seemed to be beyond reach of a budget of $10,000. For instance my Calla Lily theme. One of the most expensive wedding flowers available, and out of season during my wedding in July. My dress was shipped from New York to the small town in Sweden where I live. We bought, not rented, my husband’s tuxedo, also from New York. We had an outdoor wedding in a remote area with a rented tent. We had nearly 55 guests and 45 of them from out of town. We rented cabins and a special hotel for my parents. We had flower centerpieces and table centerpieces. We had chair decorations and table decorations. Everything I wanted for my wedding. The point, as you may be wondering about now, is that you can manage the wedding of your dreams within your budget or even less. I got exactly what I wanted and so can you, if you’re willing to put in the work!

You can view my wedding pictures here for our wedding pictures.

Planning a Wedding Checklist Part 1 – The budget

Alex — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:03:00 +0000

A checklist is essential when planning a wedding. Starting a checklist early and keeping a running checklist is important to relieving stress and anxiety as the wedding day approaches.

The best way to start planning for your wedding is with a budget. While many sites offer a list of wedding budget information, I have yet to find one which helps keep a bride and groom to their budget. When planning your wedding it is essential to keep as close to your budget as possible, not only to avoid stress, but also to avoid eventual arguments stemming from the cost.

Make a list of wedding expenses and order them from most important to least important.

Begin your budget planning with a list of the expected wedding expenses and use this list to order expenses from most important to least important. This is a crucial step in your budget to make decisions on trimming expenses.

Write down the actual costs of the most important items on your list.

There are a few guidelines to the percentage of a wedding budget each itemization will cost. For instance most brides spend approximately 10% of their budget on attire (dress, tux, shoes etc), however, by ordering your list from most important to least important you may effectively alter any “normal” budgets. The most important part of my wedding was my dress and jewelry and my husband’s tuxedo. Our total budget was $10,000 and my dress alone was $1200 dollars, quite a bit above 10%. Ten percent will be a good base start if you are unsure of certain other aspects, but if you have your heart set on certain parts of your wedding, its best to use actual numbers. I wasn’t prepared to get married without that particular dress, so when planning my wedding I included the cost of my dress first. When planning a wedding make sure you write down the cost of anything which you know isn’t negotiable irregardless of price. Research the items so you can find them for the least cost.

Find out and include the list of costs over which you have no control.

There are certain things which a bride and groom have no control. The marriage license, for instance, is issued by the city or state and is a fixed cost. Unless they are at the bottom of your list , this part of your budget list will include the officiants fee, location fees etc. Remember if these are unimportant than they are not a fixed cost.

Set a number of guests and stick to it! Try and approximate the maximum for each food plate.

This is very important in your budget. Whatever your guest list will determine the cost of nearly 50% of your wedding. Anyone, outside of the bride and groom, that wishes to include certain guests needs to include funds for the wedding. This includes parents. If they want to invite your twice removed Cousin Mac from Nova Scotia whom you haven’t seen or heard from since the age of 3 months then they will pay those expenses ie; catering cost etc. Food costs are very malleable, depending on how much work you’re willing to outsource or DIY.

Copy 1-4 on another sheet and add additional expected costs.

A second sheet which lists all the expenses of the first sheet should now include what you want for the rest of the wedding. If you wanted certain flowers or bouquets for example. This second list will include the cost of the least important items on your list. Research the cost of each item and highlight the least important. These will be the variable costs.

Total the second list and prepare to discuss the budget costs.

Approach your relatives with the total wedding costs and subtract their contributions. Once you know what your relatives are able to contribute you can decide, if needed, how to pay for the rest of the wedding.

7. Make a list of possible items your friends might be able to help pay.

While it may be crass to expect your friends to pay for anything on your wedding day, there may be expenses which friends wish to contribute. A dinner on your honeymoon, your hotel suite on your wedding night, a special outing on your honeymoon, the champagne for the toasts. There is no easy way to ask people for money, however having your friends read this site might help =). They may be planning these parts already but wanted to surprise you. Note to all friends: best not to surprise too much as it might end up being paid for twice!

8. Be sure to include the costs of important events surrounding your wedding day.

I read so many articles prior to my wedding my head was spinning. During the first 4 months of planning I had a set cost which I realized wasn’t really the cost. I hadn’t included the honeymoon or wedding night hotel room, the rehearsal dinner, flowers for the flower girl basket and so on and so on. When planning your budget close your eyes and picture your wedding from the bachelorette/bachelor parties to the rehearsal dinner, the day of and the weeks after. You’ll find hundreds of things which most budgets do not list.

There are hundreds of ways to trim the budget costs when planning a wedding. In future articles I will detail how to save money on your wedding, or where to get money to pay for the extra costs.

Incidentally, many brides spend a significant amount of time in wedding planning and most have to live within significant budgetary constraints, when they plan their weddings. You can even find useful financial planning spreadsheets on the web to assist in keeping track of wedding expenses and staying within your budget. Since the wedding is just the beginning of a long life together as a couple, financial planning doesn’t stop with the wedding ceremony. Instead it is just the beginning of being financially responsible and preparing for a home, a growing family, and responsible lifelong personal financial management. You might want to take a look at financial budgeting software to start learning more about home financial planning, investment savings accounts, and how to keep your personal information safe. ”