5 EQUAL IMPACT DETAILS, ONE JUST HAS A SMALLER PRICE TAG
Detail #1: PROGRAMS
Unless you are planning to have a program that doubles as a fan for those sweltering + sunny wedding days, you can 100% skip them. Most of your guests will glance at them before the ceremony, and leave them at their seats right after.
Instead:
Try making a single timeline or program sheet. You can make one with a themed border to maybe pair up with the look of your invitations? Add a little flare to compliment your wedding colors? Have cute little embellishments to showcase the day? Set a large framed program near your guest book and gift table, or by the entrance to the ceremony. Your guests will see the flow of the day, and you’ve only spent a fraction of what you would’ve spent to print hundreds of programs. Way to go you!
Detail #2: BOUQUETS + ARBOR FLOWERS
Not over the moon about flowers? Just luke warm? Worried your bouquet might outshine your dress and block half of it for photos? You understand the floral impact, they are beautiful, but man they add up quick and can bust into your budget. Yet, you don’t want to go the route of fake flowers, and let’s face it, you aren’t particularly a strong enough green thumb to handle growing your own wedding flowers.
Instead:
Now, before you chance it with ordering in bulk and hoping that you and your squad can put your centerpieces and bouquets together after the rehearsal dinner (caution!) - consider doubling up your impact, and just trimming things down a bit! Most florists make a bridal bouquet, and a bridesmaid bouquet. They are visibly different in size and wildly different in cost. If it's just the same to you, see if your florist can make just a slightly larger bridesmaid bouquet for you instead of quite a bit larger bridal bouquet. Also, talk with your florist about making your arbor flowers easy to remove. That way your wedding coordinator can easily take those flowers, and pop them right over to your sweetheart or head table. Bam! One display, two functions. There are a ton of little tips and tricks you can do with flowers, but for now we are keeping the rest in the wedding planner tip vault!
Detail #3: FAVORS
Like programs, these tend to be things that we are very often cleaning up a lot of at the end of the night. People get excited and hit the dance floor, are all lined up for your big send off, and leave their favors at the table.
Instead:
If you are thinking that you should have favors to say a thank you to your guests that have travelled into town for your wedding, consider having a little local token for them at hotel check in. If you are expecting a large number of out of town guests, it’s likely that you’ve blocked some rooms at a local hotel. Guests will be excited to have a special welcome item when they arrive, and it will feel well thought out. Also, since they will have their favor already at the hotel, they will be less likely to forget it. AND- if you just do a little thing for your out of town guests, you are spending a fraction of what it would be for your entire guest list. If you want to have something a little more all encompassing, make a donation to a charity that is near and dear to your hearts. Post a small sign or framed note that says something to the effect of: In lieu of favors the Bride and Groom have made a donation to _____ Charity. A cause that is important to them because _____. Whoop! High impact + less dollars!
DETAIL #4: OFFICIANT
Think about the weddings you’ve been to. Is there something that’s blown you away in the ceremony? Was it the officiant that was managing things? Or more of the content of the ceremony? While it is 100% necessary to have an experienced speaker perform your marriage ceremony, it’s not 100% necessary to tap into your wedding budget for it.
Instead:
Think about the people in your life. Is there someone you know that has officiated a wedding before? Someone that you think is a great speaker and isn’t afraid to manage a crowd? A person that is confident enough and might be willing to make it official? I’d bet money that you’ve got someone that fits this description. We are always telling our couples that if they are thinking they want to save a few dollars AND have a more personalized ceremony, ask someone that knows you to be your officiant!
DETAIL #5: BAR SELECTION
This one is a little prickly, just because I know most people feel passionately about the wedding bar selection in one way or another. All I ask is for you to think about your guest list a bit. Do you have mostly family coming? Are they big drinkers? Is it going to be a lot of friends that like to dance the night away? Will there be a good number of kids running around? While I can see the motivation for having a full bar, I am not fully convinced that you need it. Alcohol at a wedding can end up being one of your biggest expenses- don’t let it catch you off guard!
Instead:
Offer a limited hosted bar- meaning pick a couple beer options, one red wine, one white wine, a cider or rosé maybe and if your venue allows it, make one type of hard alcohol available (pick a classic like vodka or whiskey) along with standard non-alcoholic options. Your guests will be happy that there is still a variety, without pining over the loss of all the costly top shelf liquor. The bonus here is that you can write out your bar menu to make it seem ultra customized by adding in a little blurb on there. Something simple like - “Brides choice: Rosé & Grooms Choice: Whiskey + Coke”, is easy for guests to understand what options they have at the bar, but still makes it circle back to it being a day celebrating you! Gosh this is making me thirsty!
An extra tidbit? We’ve just tested out a little wine experience that I think could be so fun to apply to weddings. This company brought several wine samples to our office, and was able to direct us through them. We took our time with each, and felt like it would be such a great experience for our couples. The best part was that the company can help pair wines with what you’ve got picked for your dinner menu at a competitive cost + boom, you’ve got a hand selected wine menu for your wedding! Like cake tasting but for wine!? Yes Please! Email us if you want more details!
Think you’ll give one of these wedding trade-offs a go for your big day? Comment below and let us know what you think!
Who is It’s Your Day Events?
We are a Seattle, Bellingham and Bremerton, WA based wedding planning, wedding coordination and design agency. What we do is at times difficult to picture because the services we offer are intangible. When you are scrolling through beautiful photos, with stunning flowers, and amazing cohesive design; the magic behind that is the planning, design, and coordination. This is what we do.
We professionally organize, plan, and coordinate the details.
We dot the i's and cross the t's.
We triple check it all once more.
Then, when the day comes, we watch the wonderment and happiness on your face as your wedding day unfolds, just as you dreamed it would.
Contact us for any wedding planning, wedding coordination or design needs!
