Budget Saving Ideas - The Big Four

When planning your wedding, a major factor that can have a huge impact on your budget comes down to four different numbers:

1. The number of guests
2. The number in your bridal party
3. The number of wedding elements for your reception
4. The number of hours your wedding reception lasts
Here is a look at how these four things can affect your budget.

Traditionally, the parents of the bride paid for most of the wedding costs and the number of guests was decided by them also. The majority of the guests invited tended to be mostly family or extended family and just a few friends.

In today's weddings, with more couples paying for most of their own wedding arrangements, it's usually the bride and groom who have the most say when choosing the guest list. As a result, guest lists see more friends being invited and the number of family guests tend to depend on how close of a relationship they have with the couple getting married.

What it boils down to is that the more guests you invite to your wedding the more it will cost. Depending on the type of wedding you're planning, the number of guests will influence things such as the number of:

• Stationery - number of invitations, order of ceremony, placecards, thank you cards, postage
• Wedding Ceremony - number of seats
• Bridal Party - number of bridesmaids outfits, number of grooms outfits, jewellery, transportation, gifts for bridesmaids, bridesmaid's bouquets.
• Wedding Reception - number of tables & chairs, meals, drinks, wedding favors, wedding cake, table centerpieces, decorations, wait staff, linen, crockery, cutlery, glassware, cleaning services.
• Size of Venue - the more guests the bigger the reception venue
• Time - depending on what type of reception you're planning, but you may need to pay for hire costs of venue, or overtime costs if your reception goes overtime.

The size of your guest list is the one single factor that impacts the total cost of your wedding. Keeping your guest list down to a reasonable size for your budget can be a big challenge particularly if you have a big family or group of friends or if you want to have a big wedding.

You may need to dust off those negotiation skills to keep your guest list under control. This can become complicated if one or both sets of parents are contributing in some way to the wedding costs. Sometimes parents feel that they are entitled to have a say in who gets invited.

Here are a few suggestions on how to manage your guest list:

* Sit down with your partner first and work out how many family members and how manyfriends you want to allow from both sides. Then you can show your list to your parents and ask them who they want included. If they want to invite extra guests, then they will have to pay for them.

* Only invite family and friends who have some special connection to you or you have an ongoing relationship with.

* Only invite work colleagues you socialize with or have some special regard for.

* You could invite work colleagues and distant family and friends to the wedding ceremony but not to the reception. You could always have a casual wedding party or coming home party after you get back from your honeymoon where you invite those that weren't invited to the reception. Make sure the wedding invitation states this clearly so as to avoid confusion on the day.

* Prioritize your guest list - put those guests you most want at the top. Then once you've made a list work out how much per head each guest will cost and then deduct those guests that go over your budget.

It may sound mean but it will help you to decide who you really want and can afford according to your budget. Don't be tempted to go over budget if you think you might hurt someone's feelings. You will need to keep any extra funds in reserve, as there are bound to be some price increases as time goes by.

* Having a wedding in a special place or out of town - this may help to cut the guest list down if you have a particularly large group of people you could invite but can't afford.

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Good  luck with your wedding planning.

Regards,

The Wedding Fairy.