This year RCH Designs is looking for your best money saving tips for planning your wedding. Share with us your best tip to save you money. All tips will be reviewed, posted on our blog for readers to vote for the best tip.
The winner will receive FREE Day Of Coordination for their wedding!!!
Enter your tip as a comment (click comments tab below) and be sure to include the following information or your entry will not be valid. You must be a follower of RCH Wedding Design blog to enter. Entries will be accepted 5/5 until 6/5. Voting will begin 6/8 until 6/10, winner will be announced 6/10 via email.
Name:
Wedding date:
Budget(optional):
Email:
Tip:
Entry Rules:
- Must be a useful money saving tip
- One entry per bride
- All necessary information MUST be provided at time of entry
- Brides MUST be a follower of RCH Designs Blog
All valid entries will be posted to the blog for voting, final list of entries will be used by RCH Designs on our web site and blog to help other brides save money on their wedding.
8 comments:
Name: Chrissy & Matt
Wedding date: 10/10/09
Budget (optional):
Email: MattandChrissy2009@hotmail.com
Tip: The Power of Negotiation
In difficult economic times, most of us are turning our pant pockets inside out, to only find lint and no spare change. In an environment where everyone is working extra hard to make a buck, a lot of us are also putting forth a significant amount of effort to save a buck. Since my fiancé and I are funding 100% of our wedding, we have had to find ways to cut costs. One of our methods has been through negotiation. I have found that most vendors will work with you on prices. I have found that the vendors are extremely understanding and sympathetic during these less than par times. I have come across many vendors that are willing to work with you to create your dream within your budget (RHD Designs was one of them).
Business 101: Most vendors will work with you before they let you walk out the door to a competitor.
Think about the following:
1. Clearly communicate what it is you want
2. Research and prepare potential options in advance
3. Be patient & polite; don’t argue
4. First understand the vendor’s position; then conclude on yours
Name: Amy
Wedding date: Novmber 7, 2009
Budget(optional): $15,000.00
Email: Fameliz@hotmail.com
Tip: Plan your wedding off season. This is the best money saving thing that we have done! We have saved on our venue, photographer, videographer and DJ just by moving our wedding up 2 weeks. Since we are paying for our wedding 100% on our own and we have a fairly modest budget for 150people this has helped us immensley.
Tara McGillicuddy
11.27.09
tmcgilli2002 at yahoo dot com
Planning your wedding in the off season and on a Friday night has helped us a lot. Also, not being afraid to ask "is there an off season/Friday night discount". At first I was nervous to ask for discounts but I have found that if a vendor will not discount, they will throw in a freebie such as a free engagement session.
Alexa Schwartz
alexaschwartz at gmail dot com
July 31, 2010
Tip: Recruit Friends! I never knew how skilled our friends and family members were until I started planning our wedding. From graphic design to baking to sewing skills. The biggest help for us was keeping everyone in a loop with planning. We made a planning website and put up ideas about what we may need help on and the offers started flying in! I have realized that the hardest part is asking, and everyone wants to help!
Name: Anya & Joe
Wedding date: 11/7/09
Email: anyalee@verizon.net
Money saving tip: Etsy.com
The average cost of a wedding in Massachusetts last year was about $22,000. That's down over $6,000 from the previous year. And these days many brides and grooms are faced with much of the financial burden from their own weddings. But there are many money saving tips that can help engaged couples plan the weddings of their dreams on limited budgets.
Many brides and grooms know that having their wedding off season or on a weekday can cut the cost of a reception way down. For that reason, Joe and I decided to get married in November. Not to mention that it is a great time to leave New England for a honeymoon somewhere warm.
Another common practice these day is vendor negotiation. Vendors, especially those who own their own businesses, can be surprisingly flexible with their prices. It doesn't hurt to try to negotiate to get a lower price. We have been very succusseful with negotiating for our wedding and have saved lots of money that way.
However, my best money saving tip (and the one I want to share with you) is the website Etsy.com. Etsy is an online marketplace where you can buy and sell homemade items. These items can be searched by category. The "wedding" category has everything listed from gowns, to bridal jewlery, to just married signs, to paper products (just to name a few). You can also put up what's referred to as an "alchemy request". This is where you describe an item that you want to purchase and the amazing arists from all over the world place bids on your request. Not only can you find almost anything wedding related, but you can find wonderful deals. For example, I put an alchemy request up for 100 pocketfold inviations with 4 inserts (with normally cost $7+/ea.) and I was able to find a graphic artist who is custom making them for me for $300 total. Now, that's some money saving right there! We have also purchased a custom cake server set, personalized hankie, numerious bridesmaids gifts, custom made fabric flower for my gown, fabric bout., table place cards, menus, programs and favor tags...all for ridiculously low prices.
I encourage any bride to check out Etsy.com and you'll see how easy it is to to save money on almost anything you could need for your wedding. Good luck to everyone and happy planning!
Name: Jillian & TJ
Wedding date: 3/27/10
Email: jilliannoeltaylor@gmail.com
Tip: Rationality
Be rational and take your time when making decisions ~ you will inevitably save money!
I have had a few of those moments where I wanted to make a quick decision but (with TJ's help) I have taken my time and it has proven to be a great approach.
Not only do we save money by researching vendors - we feel comfortable when we make a decision, knowing its the smartest and most economical one!
Name: Kate & Jesse
Wedding date: 11.14.2009
Email: kate.normandin@gmail.com
Tip: Use your resources and be flexable!
My fiancé and I took advantage of booking our Venue only 6 months in advance and being flexible on the date. Doing this saved us 20% off all the packages they offered and they gave us 50% off the room rental fee. This has saved us a huge amount of money not only with the venue discounts but vendors also give you discounts if you book closer to your date, because they have less of a chance to fill that slot and there is more room for negotiation. Also when you only have six months to plan a wedding you are forced to stay organized and use your resources.
I have used the knot boards for vendor referrals, which helps me save time and money. Doing this has narrowed down the amount of vendors I have to meet with before comparing and booking. Also if you mention to your vendor that you follow the board and that you will give them a shout out on the wedding boards they have been very receptive and willing to negotiate much more. Because after all the best type of advertising is referrals and word of mouth! Also a lot of brides post links to discounts and helpful sites!
The other advice I would give that my fiancé and I are doing is keep it personal and do what's most important to you. We chose to have a small wedding party to honor our siblings and to also cut cost. Having a big wedding party cost more money do to Flowers, Gifts and rehearsal dinner. I was nervous I was going to hurt some of my close friends feelings because I was in there weddings, but They were all really happy to be able to pick out there own new dress to wear!!! And I am still having them be active in all the planning if they want to be!
We were also able to give our family and friends discounted room rates do to our flexibility!
So to all you brides my advice is to be flexible, use your resources and most of all enjoy it; it goes by so fast!
Happy Planning!
#5 is my vote
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