By Puja Gupta
New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANSlife) While one might have plenty of ideas to plan the big day and tend to spend a hefty amount of their savings on one occasion, couples must keep the budget well within reasonable limits. To get this right, couples need to set the budget right from Day 1. Weddingz.in have outlined five tips to help couples organize their dream day, all sans compromising on quality and pushing the limits of your budget sky-high.
1. Trim down the size of your guestlist; wave goodbye to the “door ke rishtedar”
While The Big Fat Indian Wedding sounds great, it can be extremely overbearing to foot an unnecessarily huge bill causing massive financial strain. In order to avoid hassle over your big day and make the most of it without having to spend time socializing with your typical “Door Ke Rishtedar”, consider the idea of an intimate wedding with close family and friends. Thereby, pruning down on your guestlist will save you costs/damages on venue, food and drinks, keeping your budget in check.
2. Wedding invitations: Physical cards are passe, websites are in!
In today’s age, wedding creatives have undoubtedly become extraordinarily fancy, with graphic designers devoting hours to make them just about perfect. Nevertheless, these carefully designed physical copies add up to the costs of your wedding tremendously. Wedding cards include significant investment across time, effort and costs, the most strenuous chore while opting for wedding cards is the requirement to personally deliver it to family and friends. Also, another problem with physical copies is that you can run out of cards!
To avoid the hassle around invitations and make it a seamless process, an alternative to the wedding card is creating an efficient wedding website. With a website, you can easily design a beautiful wedding invitation, encompassing all necessary information, including supplementary features like maps, directions, transport, accommodation, memories and more. All you have to do is send your guests the link to your website. If you wish to reduce your wedding expenditures significantly, wedding websites are a smart and quick way to ensure your guestlist is excited, updated and happy!
3. Choosing a beautiful venue: Make it your own!
Opting for the right spot to say ‘I do’ is the most mattering decision. The venue accounts for almost 60 per cent of one’s budget inclusive of food, drinks and decor. You can either make or break your budget around this one single decision.
One trick to reduce the budget is to keep it minimalistic and elegant. Shortlist the theme, flower arrangement, lights that aren’t extremely elaborate yet can lift any simple space up. Recently, rustic and outdoor wedding trends have emerged instead of grand decor. For instance, opting for low-cost and seasonal flowers that are as elegant can make the space look lush while reducing costs efficiently. You can also use candles, lanterns, lamps and tea lights to bring alive the space without investing in high-intensity lights.
Expert Tip: Weigh all your options and check out multiple venues, before closing in on the venue in your first go!
4. Tracking all expenses: Keep a ledger!
An organised approach to planning your expenses is paramount to keep your wedding within a budget. To keep track of it all, it is recommended to create a spreadsheet to record the cost of expenditures. This will support one to easily check on all of your expenses, so you never end up unnecessarily wasting money as well as keep track of the progress.
5. Cushioning the blow: Create a dedicated savings account!
It is a good idea to set up a savings account for the wedding, if you are well aware of your budget and expenditures. This helps the couple set aside a small amount of money for the big day, each week, leading up to the wedding. It doesn’t matter how much it is, but even a small amount goes a long way. This can help cushion you against at least a part of the expenses that you incur.
With the upcoming wedding season approaching, opt for the right wedding planners, vendors and smart choices. Be smart to splurge but be smarter to save!
(Puja Gupta can be contacted at [email protected])
–IANS
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