How to Save Money on your Wedding
Great style doesn't have to cost a fortune.
The new issue of In Style Weddings tells
35 ways to scale back cost without having
any
of your guests even realize it! It's about
making smart decisions. Even if you have
unlimited funds,
you'll want to steal some of these ideas
because they'll make your wedding chic, fun
and less predictable. For example,
serve a zingy signature cocktail that compliments
your colors instead of stocking a full bar.
Less cost, and your guests will be amused.
Where did you come up with these ideas?
In Style asked the top wedding experts -
many of them plan celebrity receptions -
how you can get a big bang for less bucks
in the major categories - invites, flowers,
table, favors, drinks, cake. We are not talking
about tacky alternatives. We would never
sacrifice style.
Invitations
Here's a liberating tip: Engraved invites
are no longer necessary. Get the same look
and feel with
thermography - and save about 40 percent.
The technology is so good with thermography
now, you are not compromising quality.
The engraved costs: $480 for 100 invites
including response card and two envelopes.
The thermography costs: $300 for 100 of the
same. That's $3 each for the thermography;
$4.80 for engraved.
In New York, the price for engraved is sometimes
even higher, $7-10 per invitation. Our Invites:
From shwamy.com, 312-337-2147.
What exactly is the difference in printing
methods?
Engraving is pricey because it involves making
a copper plate of the invitation in reverse.
Engraving is commonly used for personal
stationery because the copper plate can be
used repeatedly at a margin of the price.
Thermography gives a similar look without
the added expense of a copper plate.
The invitation is offset printed, and while
the ink is still wet it is applied with a
powder resin that is
then heated (this is where the word thermography
comes from, thermo meaning heat) giving it
the raised finish.
Here's another money saver: If the timing
is right, send your save-the-date card inside
your holiday cards.
Save-the-dates can go out up to six months
before the big day. No one will think you're
cheap - they'll think you're resourceful.
Flowers
Usually flowers are ten percent of the bridal
budget. An average centerpiece for a table
can cost $50; in New York,
wedding planner to the stars Marci Bloom,
tells us that brides can spend $150 per centerpiece.
Here's an idea we love, and it can cut your
centerpiece expenses in half: Use candles
instead of flowers as your centerpieces.
Candles of varying heights are beautiful.
Ours are from Creative Candles, and you can
buy them on the web.
Remember, you want unfragranced candles on
your table and make sure you check to see
that your
venue will allow for open flames. If not,
use hurricane lamps or votives.
Hot pink and mango orange candles:
Virtually dripless and handcrafted by Creative
Candles, at www.ccandlestore.com or call
800-635-0274
to special order from 47 colors. Sample
prices:
Votives ($20.50 for 36); 3x12-inch banded
pillars ($20 each); 18-inch tapers ($8.40
a pair).
White porcelain candle trays:
From $6-$24 each by Tampopo at Dandelion,
888-548-1968.
Before we get to more floral tips, let's
talk about the brilliant color palette shown
on "Today":
Florist Remco Van Vilet of Van Vilet &
Trap Event Design (212-352-3385), chose orange
as the primary color
and electrifying pink as an accent to melt
the coldness of a modern table. It is so
exuberant and inviting.
On the table:
-Custom pink linen napkins from Chelsea Marketplace,
212-594-8289.
-Orange Love-style glass chargers, $27 each,
white dinner plates, $20 each. Both from
European Sources Direct,
800-535-0378. (Or, ask them about a rental
outfit near you.)
For bouquets:
Nix the frilly bridesmaids bouquets. Instead,
have your bridesmaids carry simple bouquets
of the same flower.
Less pricey, especially if the blossom is
big as in peonies, tulips or hydrangeas (more
volume for less money with just a few stems).
Many stylish brides will actually prefer
the simpler version, it's more chic.
To stretch your floral budget even further:
Have your bridesmaids' bouquets do double
duty.
Cut the stems horizontally, not diagonally.
Wire the flowers through stems, tie up the
bunch with a
pretty ribbon and they will stand on their
own. Ask your bridesmaids to place their
bouquets on the cake table.
This is a great idea because what do the
bridesmaids do with their bouquets after
the reception?
Might as well put them to good use. The added
beauty of this idea is that your flowers
stand alone
so you aren't paying for a vase plus you
avoid the added cost of decorating your cake
table.
Will flowers last if they're not in water?
Hardy flowers will last long enough. Stick
them in water when you get home.
Also, be sure to ask your florist what's
in season. Out-of-season flowers can
cost three times as much as in-season blooms.
Favors
So do you cut favors altogether to save on
cost?
Unless your favor is edible, don't bother,
and save $5-15 a guest. No one needs another
cheap chotchke in his or her life.
Better to give something from the heart.
How about a personal thank you note for coming
to celebrate? A handwritten note at each
place setting.
For an adorable edible favor: Lollipops,
which also serve as your table numbers.
Katie Pottinger of In Style made these for
her wedding and everyone went wild for them.
They're inexpensive - about 10 cents a pop
because you make them yourself. (Even better
if you can enlist your mother,
mother-in-law, bridesmaid or cousin who wants
to help.)
Do-It-Yourself Lollipops with table numbers
from LorAnn's Sweet Shoppe at www.lorannoils.com.
Or, call 888-456-7266.
To make the lollipops, you need lots of corn
syrup and sugar plus:
-Flavored Oils (1/8 oz), $1.19 each
-Candy Coloring (1 oz), $1.50 each
-Large Sucker sticks, $2.50 per bag of 100
-Sucker bags, $2.50 per bag of 100
-Silver twist ties, 95 cents per bag of 50
-Numbered stickers from Paper Access at www.paperaccess.com.
Drink
So how do you keep the liquor bill down?
The pros say: Serve wine and champagne plus
a signature cocktail in your color scheme.
That way, you don't have to stock a full
bar. Our signature drink is the Pample-mousse
champagne cocktail
because the orange-pink color of grapefruit
juice matches our décor.
Grapefruit-colored Cocktail:Pample-mousse
champagne cocktail from Callahan Catering,
212-327-1144.
Glassware and flatware:
from Crate and Barrel stores or www.crateandbarrel.com
-Oona flatware: 5-piece setting, $19.
-Footed Cooler glasses, $2.95 each or a set
of 12 for $29.95.
Another way to cut your liquor bill: Forget
the champagne toast. Toast the happy couple
with dinner wine.
Here's why this idea is not only less pricey
but better: Most everyone is drinking something
else at the
time so they just take a sip of the champagne
and put it down to continue with whatever
they're drinking.
So pouring all those glasses of champagne
is a real waste. Plus, when you mix champagne
with other drinks, you're likely to get a
monster headache.
More cost-cutting liquor tips: Some hotels
and clubs charge three times the retail price
for alcohol.
So it's worth asking if you're allowed to
bring in your own. You may have to pay a
corkage fee, but it's negotiable.
If you do buy your own liquor, ask if you
can return unopened bottles.
Cake
Go with a frill-free cake using real rather
than handmade sugar flowers (as Jamie Lynn
DiScala of "The Sopranos" recently
did).
No one eats those sugary flowers anyway.
Mary Cleaver of The Cleaver Company who baked
our cake
says that cakes decorated with hand-crafted
designs of fondant and pulled sugars start
at $15 a slice
because of the time it takes to decorate
them. Some go as much as $25 a slice.
Our cake is $7.50 a slice so you are saving
50 percent when you decorate with fresh flowers.
And that's not all:
Cheat with a sheet (cake). Order a small
cake to display plus a big sheet
cake made with the same filling to serve
the guests. You will save money by not having
a massive cake to decorate.
Plus, it's a lot easier to cut a sheet cake
than a wedding cake. No one will know which
cake his or her slice came from.
The sheet cake for 50 is $6 a slice, another
twenty percent savings. So the combo ideas
of using a cake with
real flowers plus a sheet cake will cut your
per-slice cost from $15 to $7. That's more
than a 50 percent savings.
-The Cleaver Company cakes at Chelsea Market
NYC. To order, call: 212-741-9174
-Three-tiered vanilla butter cream icing
cake for 100, $750. Sheet cake for 50, $300.
Cake plates: Shake cake plates, $12 each
from European Sources Direct, 800-535-0378.
(Ask about rentals near you.)
More ways to save:
Skip the dessert course. Serve wedding cake
instead. And don't have a food orgy.
Those dessert smorgasbords are as over as
the days of gorging out! Everyone is more
health conscious.
No one wants all that food. You end up having
to find organizations to donate it to --
another stress you don't need.
Dress
And there's a new way to spend less on the
dress?
Brides spend ten percent of their wedding
budgets on the dress. Designer gowns average
about $3,500
and can go beyond $28,000. (More than the
average American wedding!) A gown under $1,000
is considered a bargain.
But you can do even better online. Guess
how much we paid for the gorgeous gown on
our model Amy Grant?
Would you believe $200? We found it on eBay!
Of course, there are drawbacks:
You can't try it on beforehand and you can't
return it. But you can turn around and sell
it again.
-$200 Gown: New wedding ball gown by Zure
(ours from ebay.com) For information about
this brand: impressionbridal.com).
More smart money-savers:
1. Consider alternate days of the week like
Sunday as Saturday night bookings are the
most expensive.
2. Choose a location with in-house catering;
unusual locations will cost you more because
you have to bring everything in.
3. Hire a DJ instead of band. If you want
a band, cut down the number of band members.
4. Don't automatically agree to the standard
wedding package. Be more creative, and save
yourself money. 5.
Hire a photographer who gives you the negatives.
You will save a fortune because you can make
the album yourself.
Always & Forever Video & Photography
gives you the negatives from your wedding!!!