How to organize a wedding with minimal costs - planning a budget celebration step by step

How to organize an inexpensive wedding? The celebration associated with marriage is traditionally celebrated in luxury. However, some couples prefer to save money on the holiday.

This may be due to the fact that the newlyweds want to save money that they could spend on celebrating, to travel during their honeymoon. Some people simply cannot afford a big-budget holiday. But even with little expense, a wedding can be celebrated beautifully.

What can you save on?

The savings that can be obtained by wisely changing the organization of a wedding can amount to several hundred thousand rubles. To achieve such impressive results, it is enough to reconsider the cost of some components. You can save on things from the following list:

• live music;
• renting a hall, replacing the restaurant with a country house or lawn for a picnic;
• professional participants of the festival (toastmaster, organizer, etc.);
• alcohol (you can’t take cheap brands - you should either limit yourself to a less expensive type of alcohol, like craft beer instead of wine, or give it up altogether);
• wedding cake;
• suits of the bride and groom;
• motorcade;
• decoration of the hall;
• number of guests (invite only your closest ones, parents);
• car decor.

Some things should not be touched - if you skimp on them, the holiday will be a failure. What elements of a wedding are “taboo” are described below.

Groom image

18. An extraordinary idea for a wedding 2022 - an engagement ring for the groom. We are used to the fact that after an engagement only the bride wears such a ring, but why is her loved one worse?

19. Replace a blue or black suit with a colored one:

Sam Rae MUA Photo

20. For those who find the previous solution too bold, there is another option - an original lining. Here you can turn around as you please!

Margherita Calati

Original wedding idea

The concept of the wedding celebration greatly influences the holiday budget. You can organize a wedding that will cost only 2-3 tens of thousands of rubles. The most important thing is to think about the location of the holiday.

Options:

1. Cheap holiday in your own country house. Both in winter and in summer, at the dacha you can have a good time in the fresh air, organizing competitions, buffets and full meals. This option is ideal for a group of friends or family. Here you can even save on entertainment if you have a projector or a good TV in your home - this equipment can be used to create a home theater. A family holiday in nature, where children are invited, usually does not include alcohol, which also allows you to save money. In general, you will have to spend no more than 50,000 rubles.
2. Picnic in nature. This method of marking allows you to save not only money, but also time. A modest picnic can seem unforgettable if you tie it to something - for example, use food, clothes, movies in the style of the 60s. Since the celebration in nature is short (guests simply cannot stay in the fresh air for a long time without amenities), the costs are very small - 20-30 thousand rubles, and if about 10 people are invited, then you can lower the bar to 15 thousand.
3. The event will take place in a small cinema, where the hall will be rented exclusively for the wedding celebration. Particularly impressive will be the independent choice of an open-air cinema or a night cinema. The cost reduction lies in the fact that you can forget about all the traditional attributes of a wedding - the toastmaster, the organizer, the banquet hall, even the motorcade. You can make homemade snacks in advance and limit the menu to invited friends. You almost don’t have to think about entertainment - you can watch 1-2 films dedicated to the theme of the wedding or to the favorite genre of films of the newlyweds. Particularly interesting are nightly programs in honor of certain directors - for example, the night of Hayao Miyazaki or Quentin Tarantino. Renting the hall will cost about 20 thousand rubles, snacks - no more than 10.

Wedding planning should be done at least a month before the celebration, otherwise, due to the rush, you can forget about many ways to save money. If you delay preparations, you may need agency help at the last minute, which will increase the cost of funds.

Location

The summer season is the peak time for weddings, so it’s cheaper to get married in winter - banquet halls offer good discounts on room rentals. In winter, you can save money on a photo shoot after registration; even if it happens, it will be short-lived. A winter celebration can be made homely and cozy by gathering with tea in a cafe or pizzeria immediately after registering the marriage.

Ideas for a budget wedding in summer are very diverse and provide more options. For example, summer makes it possible to arrange a picnic or buffet instead of a long, tiring banquet.

One of the guests who is interested in photography can take pictures of the gathered friends. The ability to barbecue or bake vegetables on the grill will save a lot of money. You can order a cake from a friend who bakes them for her family with pleasure. If your relatives have a garden, ask for vegetables and fruits from there - this will also reduce costs.

If someone you know has a dacha, then ask (even after paying a small rent) to hold a banquet at their place - a wonderful summer and autumn option. Potatoes baked in coals, the smell of a fire, songs with a guitar - the informal and bright celebration will be remembered for a long time.

Do not try to celebrate the event with a ride in a limousine - it is expensive and not always justified. Hire a bus for guests and a business class car for yourself. If one of your relatives can take your guests home in the evening, ask them about it.

If you decide to hold a banquet in a restaurant, look for a place where you will be allowed to bring your own alcohol and snacks. Choose not the most expensive dishes on the menu, and make the banquet itself as short as possible so that the guests do not have time to get tired and bored.

The best budget wedding is well-connected ideas to decorate the celebration in an original, inexpensive, budget-friendly and beautiful way without “losing your face.”

Should you hire a wedding planner?

If the wedding is inexpensive, this most often means that there are few guests, and the location of the celebration, the decoration of the hall, and the entertainment are simple and do not require much effort during the organization. All these items can be prepared by the newlyweds and their parents themselves, which will allow them to avoid spending money on the cost of wedding planner services. Savings – up to 15 thousand rubles.
How can you create a beautiful holiday without using professional services? You just need to distribute responsibilities between the future couple, and partially among the guests (if they don’t mind).

There will be a minimum of problems if all actions are performed step by step, without haste.

Here is a general step-by-step plan that will help you prepare your wedding yourself:

1. Choose a wedding theme and limit your budget. Select the elements of the celebration (costumes, decor, restaurant) in accordance with your budget. Below are the rules for selecting inexpensive wedding elements.
2. Keep the decor and wedding food simple. It is better to decorate the hall yourself or together with friends, and leave the preparation of dishes entirely to the cafe staff (or order ready-made dishes for a picnic or to the cinema - depending on the location of the celebration).
3. First, develop a general schedule for the day (registration at the registry office, then a buffet reception, then a banquet hall and a walk), only then add details.
4. Be sure to think through several options for the entertainment program. It is better if the classes are “with reserve” - in case the guests don’t like something and have to replace the game or competition.
5. Involve adult relatives who already have experience in holding a wedding in the organization. They will give valuable advice and can take control of the preparation time.

If both husband and wife are always bad at planning events, you can ask a friend to help with the planning for a small fee.

Who entertains the guests

A professional presenter should hold competitions, sing songs, and invite guests to congratulate the newlyweds. It must be at the wedding if you have invited more than ten people. Don't think that inviting a friend, who is usually the life of the party, will solve the problem of entertaining those present. No, a friend will eat and drink in a restaurant on an equal basis with others, and if he entertains guests, then only his neighbors at the table.

Ask friends who recently celebrated the same event who was their toastmaster.

Here it is important to choose not the most expensive presenter in terms of cost of services, but the one who will fit into your company in terms of the manner of conducting, the proposed competitions, and the choice of musical accompaniment. The scenario is discussed separately and in advance - this is important!

A bold option is to find a presenter among students of theater universities. But first, of course, you need to discuss all the small points with him. And if you know someone who is willing to make extra money by throwing you a fun day, then this could be a great gift for you!

How to choose a restaurant

Where can I find a good but inexpensive cafe for a celebration? There are several tricks that will help you save:

1. Make your own snacks instead of ordering them from a restaurant. Savings up to 5 thousand.
2. Go to an establishment outside the big city, in the suburbs. Prices there are on average 30% lower.
3. Rent not the entire hall, but only individual tables.
4. Agree with the restaurant on a discount in exchange for free photos for the company website, good recommendations, etc.

You can even abandon the restaurant altogether (this was discussed above).

Invitations

The cost of printed invitations is on average 150 rubles per piece, says Polina Vinogradova.

What does the price consist of? From the work of the designer, the number of colors, the complexity of the die-cutting stamp and design (postcard or postcard + envelope), urgency. “And also on the number of printed forms (some of the guests are called to the registry office, and the other part - to the restaurant, since the addresses and collection times are different, these are different printed forms. Or, for example, you can enter the names of the guests by hand, or you can print the personal an invitation, again, this is a different form each time),” continues Anastasia Fedik.

So the simpler the better. If you have a large number of guests, it makes sense to consider electronic invitations. “An electronic invitation will be much cheaper. The difference can be from 15 to 50 thousand rubles,” Anastasia calculates.

Inexpensive wedding dress – where and how to choose

A wedding dress is one of the most expensive parts of the entire celebration. A new outfit, tailored according to the fashion of the latest season, can cost several hundred thousand rubles. Typically the cost ranges from 50 to 100 thousand rubles.

Options for saving on a dress without compromising your appearance:

1. Wear a family heirloom. In some families, wedding dresses are passed down from generation to generation. This option is only suitable if the fabric is of high quality and the outfit has not deteriorated over time. If you take a family dress, you can do without any costs at all, but in some cases you will have to alter the outfit to the size of the new owner. This will cost several thousand rubles.
2. Rent a dress. Price for half a day - from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles. Compared to an expensive dress, this is a savings of almost 10-20 times.
3. Buy clothes in a regular store. Not all weddings should be held in a strict traditional style. Often it is enough to wear a well-cut colored dress, which differs from the usual one only in accessories.
4. Buy clothes at a discount. Bridal salons sell old collections at a special price. Price reductions can be up to 50%.

The simplest and least expensive option is to simply introduce a non-traditional dress code so that the bride can come to the holiday in a looser outfit.

How to inexpensively do a bride's hair and makeup (tips)

You can reduce the cost of makeup by doing it yourself or asking a friend. Nowadays, many girls know how to do excellent makeup on their own.

But you will have to allocate funds to purchase expensive cosmetics - cheap ones will be noticeable even with skillful application.

It is almost impossible to create a complex wedding hairstyle for little money. A girl can simply loosen and style her hair in a standard salon, and then decorate it with a wreath.

If you still want to get an interesting composition, you can ask your familiar stylists for help or try to do your hair yourself, following the instructions in the video tutorials.

How to decorate a hall and cars at minimal cost

Decorations for cars should be prepared by yourself. There are inexpensive traditional types of jewelry:

• you can make natural wreaths with woven ribbons yourself using plants from your garden plot;
• Rag dolls are often attached to the bumper of a car - there are no costs at all, since many people still have rag toys from childhood;
• A good decoration option is balloons, which will cost about 10 rubles. per piece, but they always look great thanks to the bright color.

If the husband and wife have friends in the printing industry, you can ask them to print temporary stickers for vehicles.

Decorating the hall is a more difficult task. The following budget elements can be used:

1. Balloons. If you have the skill, the balls can not only be attached to the arches and left near the ceiling, but also arranged into entire compositions depicting the rings of the newlyweds or a swan (a symbol of love). The easiest option is to purchase a large number of balloons in “expensive” colors (white, cream, gold) and fill them with helium.
2. Flowers from your own garden. If the bride or groom has their own summer cottage, and the wedding time is summer or early autumn, you can cut flowers from your own property to decorate columns and tables. Some inflorescences, such as hydrangea, are dried, others should be cut right on the day before the holiday. To prevent the flowers from wilting, you should prepare small baths of water for them, which can be hidden in the overall composition.
3. Candles. You can buy many candles for up to 1000 rubles. They will give the holiday a traditional atmosphere, especially decorating the hall at night. To make candles look even more impressive, you should use beautiful candlesticks or lanterns. Buying them yourself is expensive. It is better to inquire in advance if the restaurant establishment has such props in the pantry. Restaurants often stock this kind of thing for decoration at banquets.

Economy option

If your vacation budget is limited to 10–50 thousand rubles, then don’t be upset. You can relax with this money both in Russia and abroad. Here are some simple options:

• Go for a week to St. Petersburg, Sochi, Pyatigorsk, Kaliningrad or any other beautiful city.
• Stay for a week in a suburban hotel where there is a forest, river, mountains or some kind of activity.
• Stay for 2-3 days in a beautiful five-star hotel.
• Go for a weekend to an old provincial town, where you can book a hot air balloon flight.
• Go on a week-long cruise on the Volga.
• Find a last minute tour, for example, to Turkey.

How to save money on the services of a toastmaster, musicians, photographer, videographers - ideas

It is better to abandon the toastmaster and musicians. The couple's relatives can host the entertainment program, and a music playlist that switches automatically is even more convenient than live music. Savings – up to 50,000 rubles.

But what about the photographer and videographer? You can choose from the following options:

1. Call a photographer you know. If you know someone, they can give you a discount.
2. Combine the cameraman and photographer in one person. Saving 1.5 times.
3. Find aspiring photographers online who are building their portfolio. They are often willing to conduct photo sessions for a nominal fee or even for free, but in exchange for good recommendations.
4. Install the video equipment on a tripod and turn it on for the entire duration of the celebration. So you can refuse the videographer.

It is better not to ask friends who have no experience in photography to photograph.

Cortege for an inexpensive wedding

Are you sure you need a limousine? Perhaps the cortege can be removed from the list of items required for the wedding. This will significantly save money.

If a tuple still seems mandatory to you, you can choose a budget option. You should choose cars from car sharing organizations. This is a car rental for an hour.

Calculate exactly how much time you will need to transport your guests. After this time, deliver the cars back to the company with your friends. The savings come from the fact that wedding agencies often rent out a car for the whole day and add a large markup.

Another inexpensive option is to use a relative or friend's car.

If the number of guests is small, you can limit yourself to 1-2 cars.
It’s easy to get this amount of transport by simply asking your friends. If there are a lot of guests, you can order a minibus. Simple, no-frills transport, which is intended only for transportation, costs about 2,000 thousand rubles per hour. But you can also use the service of a mobile party - rent a bus, inside of which everything is equipped for dancing, making cocktails, etc.

Cost - about 10 thousand. This is 2.5 times less than the cost of a holiday limousine, while the capacity is greater, and the interior is spacious and there is an opportunity to have fun along the way.

What you can't save on

Most wedding paraphernalia can be removed and made less expensive to save money properly. But the question arises: “Which moments must be left traditional and dear?” Not every way to reduce spending is right.

It's best not to try to squeeze additional savings out of the following:

1. Bride's makeup. It would be better if the image of the girl is prepared by a master, but she will look impressive and will amaze everyone with her beauty. If attention is not focused on the future wife, we can assume that the holiday was a failure.
2. Taste of festive dishes and timely ordering of a table. You can limit the number of different food options and replace main courses with appetizers for the buffet table. But the main component of the dishes, the taste, cannot be deteriorated, otherwise the guests will literally be left with a taste of cheapness. It is better to spend money on individual dishes (cake, meat compositions), but you can save on snacks.
3. Cake. You can reduce its size several times, but if you start saving completely on it, both the guests and the newlyweds themselves will be unhappy. It is better to find out the address of the nearest expensive pastry shop and order a small cake with a minimum of decor, which is suitable for a family celebration. You shouldn’t bake the product yourself if you don’t have the skills, or buy regular store-bought options.
4. Rings. When proposing marriage, it is important to understand that changing rings after the wedding is a bad omen. Therefore, it is better to try and be able to buy expensive jewelry than to change it after the wedding. If you change the rings, then the young couple, according to popular beliefs, will have to face troubles.
5. Working on the groom's style. You should at least find a decent suit to rent if you don’t have a business jacket and trousers in your wardrobe. If you forget about the appearance of the groom, then he will be overshadowed by the male guests.
6. Bride's hairstyle. Here it is also better to trust the professionals.
7. Photo and video. It’s better to give a lot of money to a professional photographer to capture one of the most important days in the life of the newlyweds, than to see blurry, failed shots instead of ceremonial photos against the backdrop of the city and the wedding palace.

This video contains a lot of useful tips on how to organize an inexpensive wedding:

Even a very inexpensive wedding can be the best day in the life of the newlyweds. After all, the main thing is not the amount of money invested, but the quality of the entertainment program, the friendly atmosphere and the originality of the celebration. Have you come across examples of successful low-cost weddings in your life? Surely yes.