The 5 Wedding Money-Suckers You Don’t Need

Weddings are infamous for how easily they drain your savings account and for the eye-bulging price tag attached to them. When brides tell me how much they are spending on their weddings, I constantly and consistently find myself choking on my own shocked saliva. For the amount of money most people spend on their weddings, I could buy a car, put a down payment on a house, even just have a healthy looking savings account to use in the future on something life-changing.

 

Your wedding doesn’t have to put you in debt or make you cash in on your 401K, especially if you smarten up and cut out these 5 wedding money-suckers that you truly and truthfully don’t need.

 

1. End of the Night Party Favors

Eager to give your guests something that will have them leaving your wedding on a good, fun, positive note? Skip spending hundreds, or even thousands, on end of the night party favors. Every wedding I’ve gone to, I’ve been too distracted to every pick up a party favor. The few weddings I’ve been to where I have grabbed one, I ended up leaving it in the taxi home or at the table I sat at during the reception. Your guests won’t even realize you don’t have party favors and your overall wedding budget will thank you for x’ing this out of your plans.

 

2. Gigantic Centerpieces

The higher the centerpieces the more money you’ll be shelling out to make this happen. Skip the extravagant centerpieces and the flower arrangements that look like they belong in the garden at Windsor Castle. Your guests will be too focused, with their eyes down, stuffing their faces to notice the detailed and extravagant centerpieces you spent thousands of dollars on.

3. A Cake That Practically Touches the Sky

Skip the cake cutting and opt in for more personalized desserts. A 5-tiered cake will cost you a lot of dollar signs, but mini-donuts or freshly baked cookies will go over as a bigger hit with your guests and your budget.

 

4. A Designer Wedding Dress

Think you need to spend thousands to walk down the aisle in the dress of your dreams? You can get a knock off dress, even one that’s second hand, and still feel like the all-mighty wedding goddess that deep down inside you are. Forget about the label and don’t ignore the price tag. Fall in love with a dress that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to admit the price of to your guests.

 

5. Extra Pre-Wedding Events

Throwing an engagement party or even hosting a pre-wedding rehearsal dinner will start to feel like you’re planning a second or even third wedding. Keep your pre-wedding celebrations small and inexpensive. In the end, your guests are most excited about celebrating with you on your wedding day. Anything before that should be casual, calm, and cool on your budget.