9 Ways to Save Big on Your 2021 Wedding!

Are you looking for easy ways to pair down your wedding day budget this year? Though you may have big ideas for how you want your day to look, being flexible in your planning can help you keep your budget on track. If your wedding got postponed in 2020, planning now will help you plan a wedding day you’ll love, while sticking to your budget.

Top ways to save while wedding planning

Book on an off-peak day

With most people looking to get married on a Saturday you can often save some money by choosing to get married on a Friday or Sunday. Mid week weddings might even save you more! Along with this, spring and summer are the most popular seasons, so opting for a late fall or mid winter event might allow you to book your dream location, without a high price tag.

Shop early

With so many businesses struggling to stay afloat after a disastrous 2020 wedding season, many are offering discounts for events booked in 2021. Shop now for wedding favours, table décor, invitations and wedding decorations to see what kind of discounts you can find. Not only does this give you a bit of a discount on some necessary supplies, you’ll be giving businesses some cash flow to help them keep operating for years to come.

Think about your location

When looking to save money on your wedding, your location is the first place to start. While you may have been dreaming about a huge and ornate local venue to hold your nuptials, opting instead for a family-owned property or a lower cost hotel can lower your budget significantly.

Go with a buffet

Table service dinners, while beautiful in appearance, can jump up your overall cost by quite a bit before you even know it! Choosing a buffet meal instead can help you stay on budget, and still allow your guests to have a great meal. At the end of the meal, offering small, bite sized dessert portions is often the best way to go. After a big meal your guests are likely already full and won’t even notice if the dessert portions are smaller.

Be flexible

With so much uncertainly in the world for all of 2020, planning your 2021 wedding will need to be met with quite a bit of flexibility. While you might have a picture on your vision board of all your perfect wedding details, being flexible is the only way you’re sure to put together a wedding day that you’ll love. While we’re hopeful that travel will resume in 2021 and your out of town/country guests will be able to make it, or your destination wedding will go perfectly, if you have your heart set on some details that could be affected due to Covid restrictions, it might be best to wait until 2022.

Consider the price of flowers

Though you might be dying for a bouquet full of peonies and hydrangeas, opting instead for simpler flowers in the right colours can save you quite a bit of money. The cost of bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres, center pieces and décor can add up very quickly so choosing a flower that is even $1-2 cheaper per stem will have you noticing the savings very quickly. Another popular trend that can save you quite a bit of money this year is to include more greenery and foliage than actual flowers.

Reduce your guest list

The easiest way to save several hundred dollars is to pare down your guest list. Though you may not be able to imagine celebrating without everyone you have on your list, taking some time to really think about who you’re inviting can save your budget big time.

Go small at the bar

Having a great selection at the bar may be nice, but you don’t need to offer 6 kinds of beer or liquor to your guests. Stay on budget by making a signature cocktail and serving just beer and wine alongside. If you must have hard alcohol, limit the offerings to just 2-3 kinds to help keep costs down.

Don’t go overboard on the cake

Rather than ordering a multi-tiered wedding cake, opt instead for a one or two tiered cake for the cake cutting, with cupcakes or other desserts to complement it. Choosing a simple design rather than an ornate one can also help keep it within budget.