Archive for October, 2006
You’re reading that correctly - find a venue that’s currently undergoing renovations. Now, why would I recommend such a ridiculous idea as to find a reception hall that’s being worked on? It’ll be covered in plastic sheets, plaster, and all sorts of construction goodness that will prevent you from really seeing what the end product will be. You’ll have to worry that the place won’t be complete in time to actually hold your wedding or your reception, you’ll have to worry that it won’t even really look like what their plan says it’ll look like, and you’ll have to put down a sizable deposit even though all those concerns are still plainly visible.
So, why would I even recommend doing such a thing? Because no one else will and a hotel loses money whenever its rooms go unused, conference and dining rooms included (if not especially). So, by looking past the scaffolding, you can snag yourself a really good deal by looking at venues under renovation. There is risk with this strategy but you can we rewarded for taking that risk.
Wedding favors are nice, whether it’s some candy, a candle, or some other trinket, but they will probably collect dust on some forgotten shelf until it’s time for you to move. Now consider this alternative: make a donation to a worthy cause instead of buying wedding favors. Let’s say you have 200 guests, if you would’ve spent about $5 per guest on wedding favors, consider donating a thousand dollars to the [insert name of a worthy charity here].
When everyone gets to their table, you could leave a note saying a donation was made to the charity or just mention it in a toast. Some people may be upset they didn’t get a candle or some candy but they’ll probably get over it. 
It’s estimated that the photographer and videographer will run about 10% of your total wedding budget and so it should be at least second on your list of things to investigate trimming (the first being your guest list). One of the ways you can cut costs on a photographer and videographer is to hire them for the ceremony only. For the recording folks, a large portion of their costs has to deal with the hours they spend taking photos and video and so if you can trim that down, you can trim down their costs. Having great photos and video footage of the ceremony is crucial, something that you likely will regret skimping on, but cutting out photos and videos of the reception probably won’t be missed too badly, but that’s a personal decision.
You can get as extravagant or as simple as you want when it comes to invitations (just remember that it accounts for a minor part of your wedding budget, bigger dollars can be saved elsewhere but every little bit helps) and when it comes to printing it, engraving is the most expensive option. A cheaper alternative is to print the invitations yourself and with where printing technology is, and the quality of the paper you can buy from a stationary store, you can print very nice invitations from home and save yourself a few dollars.
Our first wedding cost cutting tip is a pretty well known one to anyone who has even though about weddings and that is you should cut out live cocktail hour music, if not cut live music all together. If you want live music, don’t get it during the cocktail hour because your guests will be chatting it up for that time anyway so their music will fall on deaf ears. Instead, play a Frank Sinatra CD (Try The Very Best of Frank Sinatra, a two-disc set of Frank’s very best) and save yourself a few extra dollars.
As for the rest of the wedding, skipping live music all together will not save you as much as you think because the alternative is a disc jockey, which aren’t cheap themselves, but will save you a couple dollars in the long run. Also, you can avoid tricky audio issues like feedback (since the microphone won’t be used too often) and bad singing (since it’ll be pre-recorded!).
As you go to establish your wedding budget, it’s important to be cognizant of how much each piece of you your wedding should cost. If the benchmark for how much your reception should cost is 30% and you’re spending 40%, perhaps you’re neglecting other aspects of your wedding. Or, it could mean that the reception is important to you, more important than the other parts, and so you’re willing to splurge and cut back on other parts of the wedding. Either way, it’s important to make educated decisions, not haphazard ones. What you’ll find next is a list of each piece of your wedding and approximately (remember, this is merely a rule of thumb) what percentage of your total budget most couples spend.
Another way to look at this list is to discover where you should focus your penny pinching energies. You will see below that the “everything else” category only counts for 10%… that includes invitations, save the date mailings, gifts, etc. Finding ways to squeeze a few cents out of that won’t be as effective as looking for deals on reception halls or attire.
Reception: 50%. The reception is the biggest piece of your wedding budget since it’s the one most dependant on the number of guests you invite. The church will hold as many as it will hold and you won’t need to donate more simply because another seat is filled, you will with the reception. In addition to paying for the food and drink, some places may charge a flat reception hall fee (if you look hard enough, some places will throw in the reception hall for free if you have a minimum number of guests).
Attire: 10%. A big piece of this 10% will be the bride’s gown and the groom may consider buying a tuxedo if they plan on going to many more black tie events in the future.
Photographer, Videographer: 10%. Part of the Big Three vendor spends on your big day, the photographer and videographer will be spending 8 hours filming and photo’ing plus all the post-wedding editing and cropping, which is why the costs will amount to a fat 10%.
Flowers & Decor: 10%.
Music & Entertainment: 10%.
Everything Else: 10%. Yep, everything else includes the ring, invitations, gifts, cake, etc. Everything else will cost as much as flowers & decor, as much as music & entertainment, as much as photographer and videographer.
From “The Knot’s Guide for the Groom.”
Even though everyone working with you on your wedding day will have been paid before they showed up, you’ll still have to tip them. So, how do you know how much to tip the photographer? Or the officiant? How about the parking attendants and the bartender (if you have a bar)? The rule of thumb of 20% just won’t cut it so here’s how you should approach it.
Wedding Coordinator: No tip is expected, but you can send them a thank you card or some other small gift.
Officiant: $100 - $200, given by the best man.
Transportation (Bus, Limo): 15-20%. Check that a gratuity isn’t already included.
Parking Attendants, Valets: About $1 per vehicle, given to the supervisor beforehand. Be sure to inform your guests that gratuities were already provided.
Coatroom & Restroom Attendants: $0.50 - $1.00 per guest. Check that a gratuity isn’t already included.
Musicians: $20.00-25.00, but no tip is expected.
Photographer & Videographer: $20.00-25.00, but no tip is expected.
Banquet Manager or Maitre D’: $200-$300, but check that a service charge or gratuity is not already included.
Caterer & Waitstaff: This only applies if the catering isn’t offered by the reception hall you’re in. Consider how many waitstaff you have and calculate a tip that way, then throw a little extra to the catering manager.
Bartenders: 10% of the final bill, be sure to check that a gratuity is not already included.
You Won’t Need To Tip… the business owners of the services you provide, the florist, the baker, the bridal shop, invitation or party rental companies.
From “The Knot’s Guide for the Groom.”
It’s sometimes difficult to invite a friend and ask them not to bring a guest (that is to send an invitation to your friend and not to ‘your friend and a guest’) because one usually thinks that an invitation, by default, is for you and a guest (a date, if you will). The problem with that is if everyone you invited brought a guest, the cost of holding the wedding would increase tremendously.
To be entirely honest, I think every guest would understand if you merely extended an invitation to him or her and not to an accompanying guest (we can all understand how much a wedding costs). Now, if your friend is married or has a serious boyfriend or girlfriend that you know, if might be difficult to pull this off and its recommend that you invite them both. It’s not worth the grief of inviting one and not the other. However, if the financials really are that tight, then just invite one as they will likely understand (if they are your friend, which they should be if you’re going to invite them!).
Simply send an invitation for your friend and then follow it up with an email after you’re certain they’ve received it. Explain that you are looking to keep the costs of the wedding manageable and that you mean no disrespect but you only invited the friend and not a guest. If you are good enough friends with them to invite them to your wedding, they will likely agree. Don’t be afraid to broach the subject!
Instead of including a reply card or second envelope with your invitation, consider asking all (or at some) of your guests to RSVP online or via the telephone. This will save you a little money in terms of postage, reply cards, and envelopes; but it also reduces paper waste and clutter on your end. You will have tons of papers from various places that you don’t really need reply cards to help you become more confused. When you get the cards you will likely enter them into an Excel spreadsheet and then discard the cards, so skip the cards entirely!
Most folks usually have access to a computer and can shoot off an email (or if you are computer savvy you can setup a form online that they can access). If they don’t have access to a computer, not entirely uncommon, then a telephone call is possible too. If you don’t want to force your guests to call you, then you can always just add a reply card to a smaller subset of your guests that you think won’t have easy computer access.
You won’t save a ton of money on this, probably less than $50, but every little bit counts!
I read a tip about putting disposable cameras, around two, on each of the dinner tables in lieu of hiring a professional photographer and I have to say that’s a ridiculous way to save money. Putting disposable cameras on each of the tables and having your guests take action shots is a great way to augment professionally taken photographs but it certainly isn’t a replacement, unless you really don’t care about photos at the reception (then it’s a perfectly good idea!).
Here are several reasons why a disposable camera is a bad idea (when used to replace a professional photographer):
- Camera Use Will Be Low - It’s likely no one has done any studies but the number of photos actually taken with the disposable camera probably won’t be particularly high. It certainly won’t be 100% and if photos of the reception are important to you then it certainly would be too big of a risk to take, don’t you think?
- Photo Quality Will Be Low - Unless you discover super high quality digital disposable cameras (at which point you’re no longer really saving much money anyway), the photo quality will be low.
- You Won’t Have Digital Copies Too - Chances are a professional photographer will take the photos digitally and your disposable cameras won’t.
Now, disposable cameras as a means of augmenting a professional photographer is a great idea because you can get so many more candid shots. A professional photographer can only take one photo at a time but an army of your closest friends, after they’ve been drinking heavily, can take a whole slew of photos!
Where should you go to buy disposable cameras? I personally would recommend eBay if you’re looking to save some money and willing to sacrifice on film quality.