Your wedding day is supposed to be the happiest day of your lives, you’re getting married, right?! But the lead up to the Big Day and of course the day itself can actually be one of the most stressful times in your life. Couples often go all out to impress and spend way over their budget. When actually if you break it down, the day is meant to be about devoting yourselves to spending the rest of your lives together and celebrating with your nearest and dearest.
That’s why we’ve created this step by step plan for you to show how simplicity really is best!
1. Make your A-list a Small-list!
A shorter guest list is not only easier on your budget, but on your sanity too! Of course we aren’t suggesting you chop your list down from 100 to 20, or that you leave your best friends off. It’s just that more often than not, a smaller list comes with less admin to do. Don’t forget as well that on the day it is time consuming to speak to 200 guests! You’ll have much more quality time with your beloved guests if you keep your numbers more intimate.
2. Shorten your timeline
This counts for both the planning time and the main event. You don’t have to spend years planning your wedding. Often this would lead to spending more money as things inevitably crop up along the way. It also means more months of planning stress! You could easily plan an elegantly simple wedding in 6 – 12 months. Book your venue and suppliers, then plan a short(ish) timeline for yourselves.
You also don’t have to have the wedding over an extended weekend if you don’t want to. Whilst this has become a popular way of celebrating recently, we suggest you go back to basics. Work with a co-ordinator to choreograph your day so that it fits in a suitable time frame with you. You don’t have to start the day at 5am, have a canape reception that goes on for 3 hours or keep an open bar going until the early hours the next day. Keep your day simple and short!
3. Keep your menu simple
One of the biggest costs of your wedding day will inevitably be the food and drink, but you’re definitely able to keep within a set budget whilst not missing out on some delicious food! As a catering company, we always try to take as much of the planning on ourselves, to save you much less hassle! Our menus combine crowd-pleasing classics, sharp presentation and straightforward pricing.
There are so many handy ways to have excellent catering within your budget. One simple way is to choose a set menu instead of a pre-order. Gone are the days where you need to feel pressured into giving your guests the choice of 3 different options for each course. At the end of the day, they are attending to watch you get married and celebrate with you! They don’t need all the fancy choices in the world! By choosing one set menu, not only does it keep the price down, but it also takes a huge amount of the planning and hassle away from you – what could be better!
Another great way to keep your catering within your budget is to choose just one caterer for all of it. Canapes, wedding breakfast and evening food all priced together in one straightforward quote! Also if canapes aren’t your thing or you don’t want to stretch your budget to fit them in, enquire about doing something different! Having a cream tea is an increasingly popular choice to compliment your welcome drinks (particularly in Devon of course!)
Take a look at our menu to get your tastebuds tingling…. https://www.mulberrycatering.co.uk/sample-menu/wedding/
4. Ditch the fluff – simple decorations are the way forward!
Keep it minimal. Very little expense, very little trouble. Do you remember that saying, less is more? Well it’s an oldy but a goody! Especially when it comes to your wedding decorations. You don’t need Hollywood cascading lights, massive ice sculptures and hand-calligraphed wooden welcome signs to make your big day memorable. If anything, this can all take away from the beauty of the day. Stick to some simple floral arrangements, nice candles and traditional favours in inexpensive packaging. Trust me, this will look simply stunning!
Another great way to keep your decorations simple is to pick a venue that requires very little decor! If your venue is already naturally beautiful, you don’t have to go to the end of the Earth and back to do anything more.
Check out www.glasevents.com for some simply beautiful wedding decorations
5. Simple entertainment
Once again, your guests are there to celebrate YOU! Which means you don’t need a gospel choir, a 10 piece orchestra and fire breathers to keep them entertained. Have an acoustic solo artist/duo or maybe even a saxophonist for your arrival drinks. Have a 4 or 5 piece band for the evening party. Or if you really want to keep it simple and stick to a small budget, create a playlist for when your guests are tucking into canapes, and have a DJ for the evening! Remember, it does not have to be complicated or extravagant.
We would totally recommend Daniel Costin for your music entertainment, go check him out!- danielcostin.live
6. Delegate, and hire a Wedding Coordinator
Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of your friends and family. Not only will be it be extremely difficult to do everything by yourself, but your wedding party will actually love to help you out! Delegate tasks and tick them off your list as you go. You’ll soon see that to-do list get shorter and shorter!
Also consider the idea of having a wedding planner. Even just for the day. This is your best bet if you’re looking to simplify the wedding planning process (trust us, it’s not an easy one!). Whilst you may be thinking this will cost you more money, an experienced coordinator can actually end up saving you money in the long run. They will handle all of the smaller details so that you don’t have to!
Pop on over to these excellent local wedding coordinators that we absolutely love to work with and who will take all the stress of planning away from you!
Wedding Planning & Coordination – Elisabeth Shell Events
7. Stop trying to impress
Remember, it’s not a competition. Don’t play the comparison game with extravagant and over the top celebrity weddings or photos you’ve seen on Instagram. This will make you not only stress and overspend, but it will also make you feel like nothing you do for your big day is worthy. Trust me, it’s really not worth it! Whilst fancy weddings are nice at the time, they’ll leave you with a huge amount of stress and debt. I’ll repeat it one last time, your guests are there to celebrate with you, not to be wowed at the amount of money you’ve thrown into it. Keep it simple, relax, and enjoy your beautiful day with your loved ones!
So there you have it, 7 ways to keep your wedding as simple as possible! Of course there will still be some wedding stress (that’s normal!). Just stay positive, stay present and breathe! Always remind yourself WHY you are getting married and return back to basics. Remember,
Our ethos is simple.
Good luck!
