Usually when people think "wedding planner" they imagine an all-out wedding, no expenses spared, perfect day, but that's not exactly accurate...
A wedding planner can, in fact, give you the perfect wedding day of your dreams, but you don't need to go "all-out" or even spend your life savings for that to happen. Hiring a wedding planner can benefit you in so many ways, and one of those ways is saving you TONS of money!
We can give you all kinds of money-saving ideas to still get what you want, our recommended vendors, and we can even get you discounts with different vendors so you're not paying the same price as everyone else! On top of all of that, you get to enjoy your perfect day, stress free, knowing that the debt won't eat you alive for the first 10 years of your marriage. ;)
Here to give all the best examples of a budget-friendly wedding day and ideas on how you can do the same, is the wedding of Kelly and Daniel <3
Kelly and Dan had the most magical day and they spent LESS THAN $1000 for everything other than their photographer and their wedding planner (AKA Agape Event Planning ;) ). We planned this wedding in about 3 weeks from beginning to end.
At Agape Event Planning, you get all of our rentals FOR FREE, so Kelly and Dan saved a ton on this alone.
Check out each category below to see all the deats on how they saved so much money!
THE DRESS
Kelly purchased her dress from a previous bride who was selling it on Facebook! It fit like a glove when she tried it on and it couldn't have been more perfect. Her veil was from Hobby Lobby, and if you go at the right time, you can get all of their wedding stuff at 50% off the regular prices! If you're in a pinch and can't wait for the sale, just use the 40% off coupon that's always on the Hobby Lobby website. Just Google "Hobby Lobby coupon" and it will be right at the top of the results :)
HAMU
For those of you who don't know the lingo, this is the easy way of saying "hair and makeup".
I always recommend to brides to do their own makeup on their wedding day. You know what you like, and this ensures that you look totally like yourself.
You also get the sweet pictures of you putting on your own makeup! Now, for you people out there thinking to yourself, "makeup? I barely wear any makeup! I'm not qualified to do it myself!" No worries, that's me too, but it was also Kelly! This is when you have your friend do it for you or if you are in the position to do so, bring in the pro!
Always be sure to try and do a trial run with your makeup to see that it's exactly what you imagined!
For hair, don't do your own unless you are a hair stylist and have experience doing your own hair. If you are REALLY tight on the budget, just do a ton of experimenting and find something that works for you.
This is the perfect opportunity to have your friends help you out. It's not a bad things to keep it simple and play it safe when it comes to your hair, especially when you're going to be wearing a veil anyway!
Kelly was able to have one of her bridesmaids curl her hair with a simple braid across the top so she saved tons on this and still had exactly what she wanted!
The bridesmaids all did their own hair and makeup but had the option to get their own done.
Girls/Guys/Groom/Florals
I decided to do one section for these because they go hand in hand when it comes to florals, plus I didn't want a million categories lol
If you have done any wedding planning, then you know how expensive florals can be. I LOVE when couples use fresh flowers for their wedding, but I do also know how much of the budget this can take up. If this isn't a must for you, then you can always skip out on fresh florals all together and make your own silk bouquets, OR you can have a fresh bouquet for the bride only and not worry about the rest!
Kelly had very specific preferences on the flowers for her bouquet and we managed to find all of her favorites at Reasor's and Sam's.
Sam's Club is the perfect place to purchase your fresh florals, and you can even purchase in bulk and have them delivered at the perfect time for your wedding. Another great option is Flower Moxie. They give you all the need to knows on how to make your own fresh floral bouquets and centerpieces and you purchase the flowers from them. They send them to you just in time for you to arrange everything and have them done in time for your wedding.
The bridesmaids all got their dresses from Ross, Burlington and Amazon. If you play with different shades of the same colors and go with totally different dresses, it makes this SUPER easy to accomplish and saves HUNDREDS on buying your bridesmaids dresses.
Originally, Kelly had silk flowers picked out for her bridesmaids, then decided the day-of that she wanted them to go without for pictures and only walk down the aisle with them. It ended up working out great and she loved the look of everything!
The guys all wore a simple button up shirt with khakis and all of the suspenders/bow ties were purchased on Amazon. Dan had a different color for his shirt and suspenders/bowtie to give him that "groom" look so he didn't look like the rest of the guys.
For boutonnieres, Dan was the only one to wear one and he made his own with the flower of his choosing! Not every groom is willing to do that, but Dan loved getting to help out in making his own and it was special to him.
The Venue/Decor
Kelly and Dan, while on a tight budget, also knew they wanted to have their wedding somewhere special to them. After some looking around finding affordable places, we came up with Dan's family's land. It couldn't have worked out better! The backup plan for inclement weather was the family church 10 minutes away, but thankfully the weather was PERFECT.
We found the spot where the light would be PERFECT in the evening for pictures/weather and the PERFECT spot for their dream ceremony. The only struggle we encountered with this was the lack of power. We ended up finding a family friend that had a generator we were able to borrow and we just moved it far away from all of the festivities. I don't think I ever even noticed it at any point and it worked perfectly for what we needed!
We decorated the area with ribbon hanging everywhere which was purchased at Dollar Tree for about $30 total. This ribbon looked so gorgeous flowing through the wind with the sun shining from behind. The "stage" was made up of 4 pallets covered with a rug purchased at a discount store.
The rest of the decorations/linens were all included with Kelly and Dan's planning package through us so that alone saved them hundreds of dollars. The tables and chairs were all borrowed from the family's church. We moved the chairs to the reception area once the ceremony was over.
Everything Else!
The cake: Kelly's mom did a very impressive job with this! Other affordable alternatives would be a grocery store or no cake at all and do any dessert of your choosing! She used the same flowers from Kelly's bouquet to decorate the cake the made a tray of the leftover fruits for everyone.
Cake Topper: Wish.com for $1
The Officiant: Kelly's dad took care of officiating their wedding.
Favors: They spent about $30 on popcorn and we made stickers to put on them saying "thanks for popping by".
Food: Kelly and Dan decided on a sandwich bar as opposed to an earlier ceremony time with cake only.
DJ: Kelly's mom took care of hiring the same DJ she used at her own wedding. This is definitely not something we recommend trying to DIY. Hire a professional if you can! It will make a world of a difference.
Invites: Kelly and Dan went a little more modern with this one by doing Facebook/phone call invites. With such a short time frame, this was the quickest way to get the word out.
The Garter: Kelly found a specific garter she wanted from Amazon, but these can also be purchased with a coupon to Hobby Lobby or Michael's.
The Guestbook: The guest book cost about $10 from Hobby Lobby. It was 50% off at the time and just what they wanted.
The Unity Ceremony: The lightbulb vase for the unity ceremony was purchased at Hobby Lobby with the 40% off coupon as well as both the sand colors.