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The Big Day Gets Smaller
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"It's only going to be about 30 people now, but this is the best thing for us as a couple and will be a really memorable and special getaway," Starghill said.
Typically, the biggest expense is the reception, which can cost well over $10,000 on average for a guest list of 150, experts say. To save the largest amount of money in your wedding budget, attack the guest list, said Summer Krecke, deputy editor at bridal planning Web site WeddingChannel.com.
That's what Etienne of Woodbridge did when she decided to reduce her total wedding budget from $40,000 to less than $30,000. The 26-year-old educational nonprofit organizer is having her wedding in New York and has a big family and lots of friends there. But at $100 a head for dinner and rising costs for everything else in daily life, it made sense to cut down the guest list from 240 to 200, with the hope that only 170 will show.
"It was tough, and I'm even considering who is a better gift-giver, like my dad's friends, to keep on the guest list," Etienne said.
If cutting guests isn't an option, wedding planning experts suggest looking at different dates -- including Fridays and Sundays or weekends in the fall. There are only 52 Saturdays in the year, so chances are the local country club will raise its rates for choice Saturday evening receptions in the summer, Krecke said.
"We're seeing more people have cocktail receptions on Friday night instead of sit-down meals, or people are cutting back the number of entrées from three to two," Krecke said.
There are less-noticeable ways to cut back. Fake the cake, Krecke suggests, with a small tiered cake partially made of a prop. Then have a sheet cake in the kitchen to serve to guests.
Annandale floral designers Sweet Pea Flowers said more people are scaling back on the traditional big centerpieces for reception tables and pew flowers at churches. They are asking for simple glass bowls filled with water and a few floating flower heads. Other shortcuts include teaming up with other couples to share flowers at the same venue for staggered wedding times. Many brides, said co-owner Caryn Ginsberg, are contacting the company for consultations but assembling their own arrangements by buying their flowers in bulk at Costco.
"There's not a bride that doesn't ask for ways to cut down costs," Ginsberg said.
