Areas to cut back to save money

[LuluLovesDisney]

Just curious where you would cut back to save money:

1) Engagement Ring

2) Wedding Location/Amenities (like flowers, linens, photography, music)

3) # of wedding guests

4) Honeymoon

5) Other events (dessert parties, rehearsal dinner, welcome dinner, etc.)

If you've already had your Disney wedding, which areas do you think you would cut back on, and what would you never cut back on?

Thanks!

 

[autumnbride2B]

I would cut down on flowers and maybe some of the linens. Also on other events. We are having a welcome dinner instead of a rehersal dinner, but I managed to come up with a menu that is only about $25.00/person.

 

[wendy46001]

I'd have to say extra events (you can always make welcome dinners and brunches a pay your own way event), then i'd have to say guests (for a custom wedding anyway).. linens would be next on the list, I love flowers so it would be hard for me to cut those....

 

[purplegirl247]

Ooooh, good question.

Well, we saved the most money by deciding to do an intimate wedding, with family only. At most, we'll only have about 16 people. My engagement ring is also a trio of amethysts, which wasn't to save money so much as I don't like diamonds, but I think it would be an option for someone who wants a nice ring but doesn't want to spend the $$ for diamonds. Oh, and since I wanted such a simple wedding, I got a simple dress (and will get a simple suit for DF). My dress was only 100 bucks, actually. Hooray!

The places where we opted NOT to save money was by hiring an outside photography (I just heard so many great things about Randy Chapman that I didn't want to chance anything else!), by doing the MK Photo Session (how could I pass up a chance to be so up close and personal to Cindy's castle??), and by hiring Anna to do my hair and makeup (I'm not very girly, so the idea of doing it all myself TERRIFIES me; lol!). We're also going to do some of the Epcot and/or Keys to the Kingdom tours while we're there, which we've never done together.

Basically, I'm trying to balance my inherently frugal nature with letting loose a bit. I mean, you only get married and have a fabulous honeymoon at Disney once, right? (Well, excluding a vow renewal, I guess!) I'm keeping track of everything on a ridiculously nerdy spreadsheet, where I budgeted how much money we should have by the wedding date from savings and how much I've spent so far. It's our goal to have everything paid off by the time the wedding rolls around, so we can really enjoy the honeymoon!

 

[D&R love Disney]

We saved money by having an intimate ceremony with only 9 guests and then a party at home. We could have saved by eliminating the wishes fireworks cruise but it was fun even though we all froze

 

[JJClemson]

We opted to save money in ALL areas.

1). I was not picky w/ my engagement ring as I knew funds were tight. I opted for a smaller diamond, but good quality. We could always add diamonds later, change the setting, etc. But, it was important to me to have a good quality diamond.

2). For the wedding, we are not having a videographer. The groomsmen are going to take turns w/ the camcorder. It will be funnier with their comments anyway! For photography, Randy was cheaper than Disney and he does such amazing work that we had to have him. Also, Sea Breeze Point is cheaper than the Wedding Pavillion. We're having an am ceremony and reception so that cuts down on our food/ beverage minimum per person.

3). Our wedding guests our only our families (parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents... we're both VERY close w/ our extended families), and a few friends each. We did not invite parents' friends, really-extended families, and other friends who were not our best friends. We are having an at-home reception for all those people.

4). We're only having a 5 night Disneymoon. This is to save money, and also b/c DF has to return to med school after his summer break. We're hoping to be able to afford a "real honeymoon" at our one-year anniversary.

5). I would really like a dessert party, but we just cannot afford it. I'd also like a welcome party too. We're just having a combo welcome/ rehearsal dinner at 'Ohana the night befoire our wedding.

HTH! Good luck to you

 

[cryssi]

I'd be hard pressed to say we saved any money, but one big expense that we didn't have was any sort of bar. We had champagne punch at the pre-reception, red and white wine and champagne at the reception.

My family did the bridal party bouquets, and we did the favors, programs, bubbles...we totally splurged on photography, but just hired videographers for raw footage (we will edit...one of these days...)

also, we didn't really have a lavish honeymoon, just a 3 day mini-moon to vegas...(DL bride)...we decided that having the big party "wedding of the century" with family and friends was more important to us than a long vacation, but that's just us...

 

[princessdisneybelle]

I would have to say the biggest way we have saved is...

changing wedding venue

doing favors, stationary, centerpieces myself

no videographer... family member doing it.

made the bouquets.. mine are doing to be silk

just figure out wat is the most important to you and your DF and make those really special.

we are fortunate.. parents are paying for our wedding and honeymoon.. but we still don't want to take advantage of that so we are cutting expenses.

 

[RangerPooh]

We cut back on the floral and linens. My family made most of the floral and all of the favors used for decorations ,and we used the standard linens provided as they were really nice. We also opted not to go with the carriage. Additionally, we had a midday weekday wedding to save $. We also scalede back the guest list to make it more of a personal event. And no videographer, just a family member with a videocamera. One of these days I might watch it...

We splurged on having a photographer. Dh didn't think we needed one at first. Glad we have pictures!!!

 

[sajetto]

For me I would NEVER cut back on the engagement ring or the honeymoon. The wedding is one day, but the honeymoon is 2 weeks for us and we would remember a lot from it. Also, the bling lasts FOREVER, I love looking at mine everyday.

We've saved money by having fewer guests by having an intimate, I've upgraded my flowers and cake, but not to a ridiculous amount, and I've chosen resturants for our "rehearsal" and farewell breakfast that aren't extremely expensive.

I am spending more money on the photos and videography because those are things I can continously look at.

 

[Rhaine78]

For me I would NEVER cut back on the engagement ring or the honeymoon. The wedding is one day, but the honeymoon is 2 weeks for us and we would remember a lot from it. Also, the bling lasts FOREVER, I love looking at mine everyday.

We've saved money by having fewer guests by having an intimate, I've upgraded my flowers and cake, but not to a ridiculous amount, and I've chosen resturants for our "rehearsal" and farewell breakfast that aren't extremely expensive.

I am spending more money on the photos and videography because those are things I can continously look at.

I agree! Take it from me, I got engaged this January, Married this Nov.16/06 and am going to WDW for our honeymoon Dec 10-27th. It's been a busy year. But, we had a very small wedding... only 15 people at a conservatory with beautiful greenery ... went to a nice restaurant for supper.. that was on the expensive side.. but it was worth it... we didn't have video, but hired a great photographer that was just getting started out.. she took wonderful, creative and artistic photos that we will cherish forever! I love my rings and they are forever...I would have been happy with anything but he did very well for picking out everything on his own : ) and as far as the honeymoon.. well.. we couldn't think of a better place to spend it than at our second home.

 

[StephSFL]

Ahhhh! This is an ingenious thread! We need to cut back, so any tips would be great. My parents are taking care of everything and I don't want to abuse them.
When I look at everything individually I feel like we could not live without it- maybe that was a bit overdramatic, but I bet you get my point. Then when I see the total price tag I feel a bit sick!
I have cut back by not having the Rolls Royce and a few "luxuries", but it has still gotten out of hand. I know they say 30% of those invited won't come (more for Disney weddings), but for us we have only had about 5% decline!!!! Most of ours are out of state! Don't get me wrong, I am very happy they'll all be here . . . just a lot of people.
Sorry for the rant, but I got a revised budget yesterday and I am a bit nervous!
Keep brining on the cost cutting tips!

 

[ForKeeps]

Oh...good question

Let's see....

Splurges are: the Grand 1 for wishes (I think this will be a nice treat for everyone and a good way to stay in that dress longer ), dinner at Citricos Chef's Domain (I'm a huge foodie...so spending the extra on dinner isn't a second thought), videography and Randy for photos

We cut back on: the resort (we're staying at GF for the wedding night, but POFQ for the rest of the stay. The price of the deluxes make my head hurt ), having an intimate with no upgrades or enhancements, and only inviting family.

Also, instead of having an at home reception we're going to go on a "wedding tour" over the summer and have a series of backyard parties in various cities across Ontario with our extended family and friends. I'm actually really excited about it...although it's still so far away (summer 2007).

 

[purplegirl247]

Forkeeps, we're doing the same thing: staying at the Yacht Club for the night before and the night of the wedding, then at Riverside for the remainder. AND we're doing the wedding tour (well, we aren't calling it that). But we have plans to have little mini-dinner parties with our various groups of friends to show them the pics and the video (if we end up finding a family member who has one by then!).

Your wedding is so close! Have fun!

 

[ForKeeps]

Forkeeps, we're doing the same thing: staying at the Yacht Club for the night before and the night of the wedding, then at Riverside for the remainder. AND we're doing the wedding tour (well, we aren't calling it that). But we have plans to have little mini-dinner parties with our various groups of friends to show them the pics and the video (if we end up finding a family member who has one by then!).

Your wedding is so close! Have fun!

I'm too excited to stand it. It's torture to have to study for exams right now. I can't believe the wedding is like 28 days away.

I think the mini-parties are a great way to keep costs down and yet still really get a chance to interact with the guests. We're going to have a "tour" theme and have tickets issued instead of formal invites, VIP tags, and t-shirts as favours. I'm hoping to get a planning journal going as soon as I finish my tax exam ...until then....back to studying

 

[princessdisneybelle]

I'm too excited to stand it. It's torture to have to study for exams right now. I can't believe the wedding is like 28 days away.

I think the mini-parties are a great way to keep costs down and yet still really get a chance to interact with the guests. We're going to have a "tour" theme and have tickets issued instead of formal invites, VIP tags, and t-shirts as favours. I'm hoping to get a planning journal going as soon as I finish my tax exam ...until then....back to studying

I love your theme. Very unique. Good luck concentrating on studying. Mine is months away and I can't concentrate

 

[BrideToBe82]

I would cut down on extra events...we didn't cut back on any of the other areas!

 

[Ileana]

I'd say the ring - buy what you guys can afford now. You can always upgrade later, the size of your love isn't tied to the size of the ring.

 

[Codie]

I cut on the cake (nixed it and had dessert) and limited the flowers so as to not be super extravagant--picked a place (ADH) with lots of character that didn't need a lot of dressing up. I also gave up the dessert reception that I wanted (cutting guest list wasn't an option for us), but both dh and I agree that we had a fabulous time at PI that we otherwise would not have had...in retrospect I still wish I had done it...but maybe as a rehearsal event instead of the night of the reception.

Just curious where you would cut back to save money:

1) Engagement Ring

2) Wedding Location/Amenities (like flowers, linens, photography, music)

3) # of wedding guests

4) Honeymoon

5) Other events (dessert parties, rehearsal dinner, welcome dinner, etc.)

If you've already had your Disney wedding, which areas do you think you would cut back on, and what would you never cut back on?

Thanks!

 

[hkhexom]

I'd say the ring - buy what you guys can afford now. You can always upgrade later, the size of your love isn't tied to the size of the ring.

I definately agree. I just got engaged this past August. We're both in school right now and don't have a lot of money. We only spent $400 on my 1/3ct White Gold Round Solitaire. Its perfect and exactly what I wanted. I work at a daycare and am putting on rubber gloves all day long whenever a diaper needs changed so anything bigger and it would have just gotten in the way. We're planning a small wedding and reception in our hometown and hopefully will be able to afford a Disneymoon!