EJ and I were in the process of completing our budget. We had long engagement period for this reason - we are on the budget wedding.
Simple Yet Memorable
Where are you cutting in your budget wedding?
I would like to share some areas that we saved from our wedding budget below.
Church and Church Package
We chose a church near to where we currently live to save time in travel (visiting the church, arranging papers, etc.) and money (we picked the basic package).
Our wedding is Christmas time, we believe that the church will be already joyfully decorated.
Florist
I wanted to have cascades bouquet but when I was quoted a price it cost more. I sent the number of entourage we have and cut some pieces to save cost. I've fallen for a semi-cascading one because it seems romantic and perfect for me. I dreamed it.
It's not super important to us to have so many flowers around the church and on the venue. We will have beautiful red and white semi-cascading bouquet, 1 piece Rose with fillers for boutonnieres, nosegays for the bridesmaids and pinned corsage for the sponsors.
We have saved for our florist because the price includes everything, entourage and ceremony set-up with labor and delivery.
Wedding Rings
Wearing a wedding ring is a wonderful tradition. Yes, we agree! It symbolizes love and commitment to one's spouse. But for us, any ring can be our wedding ring as long as we loved its style/design and we are comfortable wearing it.
Sometimes jewelers mark up the prices because they understand that getting married couples are willing to spend for the perfect rings.
I'm proud we've got our pair of wedding rings for 15,000-20,000 pesos our initial budget was maximum 40,000 pesos. It's perfect! We didn't know at first that it was actually possible.
This saves us a lot in our wedding budget. Our advice - know your budget, compare prices and purchase rings that you're comfortable to pay and wear. Pusuan mo! :) Try not to get caught up in what you’re expected to buy that is out of your budget and instead enjoy picking out a wedding ring you love the most that you are comfortable to pay.
Hair and Makeup (Bride plus 2 heads)
We hire a makeup artist at a good price recommended by our OTD coordinator. At first, I don't want to hire an HMUA. I really want to save cost here. I think I'm beautiful and I believe I will be more beautiful on the day of my wedding with or without HMUA.
For the bridesmaids, something beautiful and simple makeup. Since we are paying for their dress we asked them if they can do their own hair and make-up to save cost. We will provide some makeups for retouch in the hotel (I have makeups).
Bridesmaid Dress and Groomsmen Attire
We got infinity dress for the bridesmaids at PHP 1,250 each (with tube) and we will rent for the groomsmen attire. We found the suppliers already, they are both in Quezon City.
For the flower girls dress, my Mother Merlie (tita) was a seamstress and she is currently doing the beautiful dresses for my 6 pretty flower girls - aged from 2 to 6.
Wedding Gown
I really liked ready-to-wear (RTW) wedding dress. I want to fit directly if the dress looks really good on me but I purchased made to measure to perfectly fit in my body with almost same design as the RTW.
I go with the mermaid wedding dress. I think it flatters my figure. I have a "this is it feeling". It was very simple and I love it. Love at first sight really exists in the world of gowns, I'm super excited about my wedding dress.
Groom's Suit
EJ bought his suit at ZARA Men at a 70% sale price during Great Singapore Sale.
He felt very comfortable when he was fitting the suit. He will wear a different color than our groomsmen. He goes with the gray color and black for our the boys. ZARA Men was our first stop and he bought it directly. My fiance is not picky about what to wear, comfortability is his main priority.
Wedding Shoes = My budget is < $SGD150 or PHP 5,000
Waah, I bought my wedding shoes at $69 Singaporean dollars or PHP2,346 pesos. I saved almost half in our written estimated cost.
I was looking for a pair of heels that are not too high, elegantly beautiful and are comfortable and I'm glad I found Elisa Litz. Their designs are classy and no doubt it can suit any dresses, gowns or even jeans! I really loved their bridal design selections.
No Mobile Bar. We will buy a bottle of wines and beers and will serve those who want to drink only.
We only have two things that we are not cutting, it is our venue and caterer. This two eats a lot from our budget but we are okay and happy with our supplier.
Planning a budgeted wedding is beautiful, we don’t want to spend on anything that does not really matter. It is not about the money and showing off, but about having a meaningful wedding celebration with our closest family and friends.
For others, our wedding can be expensive, for some, it is super budgeted but for us, this is a comfortable amount we could spend - 11 years in the making.
We don't want to ignore working on our budget because we don't want to end up with some add-ons that we simply can’t afford.
How did you save money on your wedding budget? Please share your best tips and experiences in the comments below! :)
