Planning Your Wedding Reception On A Budget

When you factor in the cost of the venue, decorations, entertainment, and catering, it may surprise you at just how much it costs to throw a wedding reception. However, even though the amount of money you spend on your reception adds up quickly, it doesn't mean that you have to have a huge wedding budget. There are numerous ways to cut back wedding reception expenses so that you can have the wedding of your dreams on a budget.

Choosing a Reception Venue

There are several different ways that you can save money on the cost of the venue, such as:

  • Booking a large venue that has enough space to hold both your wedding and reception so that you aren't paying to rent two different venues.
  • You can plan to hold your wedding on a week night. Because weekends are a popular time for weddings, things such as venue rental tend to cost more.
  • Choose to hold your reception at home or in a relative's backyard to avoid spending money on a venue rental.

Food and Drinks

It's surprisingly easy to save money on catering costs. In fact, you'll save quite a bit of money by opting for a buffet-style meal over a sit-down dinner. In addition, you can save even more money by choosing cost-effective foods to serve at your reception. Concentrate on serving dishes that go a long way instead of dishes that are served individually. For example, it's cheaper to serve lasagna than steak. Not only does pasta cost less than meat, the lasagna will last longer than steak because it's easier for people to choose their portion size. Other ways to save money on the food and drinks at your wedding reception include

  • Instead of purchasing a large wedding cake, purchase a small one- or two-tier wedding cake to use when you take cake-cutting pictures. Then, order cupcakes or a large sheet cake that costs a lot less to serve to your guests.
  • Don't have a full open bar. Limit the alcoholic beverages that guests can drink for free to beer and wine so that you don't have to pay extra for shots and mixed drinks. You can always have a partially open bar so that guests can order and pay for alcoholic drinks other than beer and wine.
  • Skip the champagne toast. You don't have to skip the toasts completely, just don't pass out champagne before the toasts begin. Instead, tell your guests that the toasts are about to start and encourage them to grab a drink of their choice.

Entertainment

If you're trying to save money on your wedding reception, you might not want to hire a band or a live DJ. Instead, rent DJ equipment and ask one of your friends to be the DJ for the night. If you have trouble finding someone willing to play DJ during the reception, tell the person you're asking to consider it your wedding gift -- the person might be willing to be the DJ if they don't feel obligated to purchase an additional wedding gift. Just remember, if you're renting DJ equipment instead of hiring a professional DJ, you should provide your friend with a list of songs to play so that the job is fun and simple.

Yes, weddings can be expensive. However, there are plenty of ways that you can cut back the cost of a wedding reception. You'll save a lot of money by cutting the costs of the venue, catering, and entertainment alone.


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