5 Places To Save Money on Your Wedding That Many People Don’t Even Think About

5 Places To Save Money on Your Wedding That Many People Don’t Even Think About

I tell couples that are on a tight budget or just looking to cut costs here and there to forget about the items that people are ultimately going to throw away. This consists of paper items. The invitation is a must and cannot be avoided. And email invitations are NEVER acceptable unless the ceremony it is a surprise for your guests, which is fine so they don’t suspect anything. (I’ve seen it done and it does work.)

1)Instead of spending a lot on you invitations, order them from an online company that has been in business for a while and possibly you have used in the past for things such as business cards. Now a days no one really cares about calligraphy or fancy engraving. It’s an invitation and an invitation only. Yes it does set the mood for the wedding itself but most people will read it, respond (if they are polite) and either put it on the fridge with the kids paintings and take out menus, or enter it into their Blackberry and toss the actual invitation.

2)Also I am a huge fan of R.S.V.P. postcards. You can have them made up with the same theme from the same printer, buy postcards from the location/town/attraction, etc that you plan to have your wedding or even request cards from the place you plan to have your honeymoon. The stamp is cheaper and will even help with weight when it comes time to mail the invitation package.

3)Make sure you ask the printer if the invite is standard mailing size and consider carefully what information you put in that envelope so you can use a standard stamp instead of having to go through the trouble of weighing the darn thing and then having to request “hand stamping” at the post office so your pretty bows and junk don’t get crushed in the automatic stamping machine. You can always put directions, activities, out of town information and timelines on your wedding website.

By doing this you will accomplish 5 things. You will not piss off your postal worker with handing them another task for the day, you will save your precious time by not having to measure, find and purchase special postage either in person or online, you will save money on the actual postage and on the cost of returned invites for the stamp you already paid for and the now ruined envelope with all of that red “insufficient postage” ink all over it, and finally you will save your sanity and that of your guests because there is a good chance you may have procrastinated in getting the invites out or ordering them in the first place, so now your envelopes will be received promptly.

4)Another place to save money is to not have place cards or escort cards. There really isn’t a need for them. If you have a large mirror, chalk board, etc that is attractive or whatever goes with the feel of your wedding, you can find someone with good handwriting (which is so not me), and after you have organized your seating chart, write in alphabetical order by last name, the guests names and table number. It’s also one less thing for them to remember pick up or lose during cocktail hour.

5)And speaking of cocktail hour, please forget about those personalized napkins. No one cares about them, there is no need for them and they are a huge waste of money.