A wedding is a wonderful thing to share with family and friends. However, it doesn’t have to be expensive to be beautiful. Here’s how to save cash on your wedding without looking cheap

Venue

The wedding venue can be costly, but you can save a lot of money by getting married on a day other than Saturday and by finding a place outside the city.

Food menu

The best way to save on food, drink, and desserts for your wedding is to make your own. Enlist your friends and family to help. If you don’t want to make your own, consider serving heavy appetizers instead of a sit-down meal.

Photographer and videographer

Consider ways to save, like hiring someone that’s just getting started in their career or someone who shoots weddings as a side gig.

Music

It can be expensive to hire a professional musician, a band, or a DJ, but luckily there are many ways to save in this category. You can hire a student musician, or consider a friend or family member to perform.

Decor

Sometimes less is more. Keep in mind that depending on your venue, the setting may be all you need. In other instances, get creative and pick a good, solid theme. Once you do that, everything else will fall into place.

Wedding dress/suit

Look for sales online and buying the dress before festive season begins helps.

Bride’s hair

Doing your own hair or having a friend help out with it, are two great ways to avoid spending a fortune on your hairdo.

Make-up

The same holds true for the bride’s make-up. If you have a professional do your make-up, it can be expensive. Alternatively, you can buy your own makeup and do it yourself. Or ask a friend for help.

Wedding jewellery

The best way to avoid spending above your jewellery budget is to stay out of high-end stores. You can borrow from friends and family.

Invitations

You can save a ton of money by doing part of it or all of it yourself. Consider providing your own cardstock to the printer or go electronic by sending out email invitations.

Wedding favours

The cost of favours can be fairly expensive, so consider making them yourself. Do something as simple as bagging up some candy or burning a CD.

Copyright PUNCH.