Let’s talk about weddings. Every human hopes to find the right person sometime in life and just spend forever with that person. Dreaming of the kind of wedding ceremony you would love to have is not just a girl’s thing.
Guys also fantasize about what their big day should look like and how much money they would want to spend in making that dream a reality.
Well, so many people have focused more on impressing the world than taking their vows and moving on to create a home for themselves. This has led to incurring debts just to have an extravagant wedding and become the talk of the town.
It is OK to have a big wedding if you can afford one, but it is better to have something low-key, simple, yet classy and just go for your honeymoon afterwards.
There are two kinds of small weddings anyway; one is small because you are on a low budget, the other is small because you want only a few guests.
Whichever one you choose, the tips below will guide you correctly so that you can make the most of your big day. You do not have to rob a bank to have a wedding; love is enough.
Tips on planning a small wedding;
1. Fix a date
The first thing you and your spouse should do is fix a date immediately after the engagement. The reason for this is to allow the wedding planner or the bride plan the ceremony early.
You do not want to have your bride running up and down, getting tired, and forgetting important things that need to be done ahead of the ceremony. Also, when the date is fixed early, the couple can sit down an figure out what exactly they want and set their priorities right so that nobody gets confused.
2. Have a budget
You know what you can afford so there is no need for deceiving yourself because you want people to see you as richer than you actually are. Even if you have all the money in the world, you still need to draw a budget plan that allows you to spend money on the things that are most important.
Having a budget is one thing, keeping your budget small is another. If your goal is to have a classy yet small wedding, design your budget in such a way that only essential things get significant amounts of money. If your goal is to have a small wedding, but you want the best photographer in town to take your pictures, then put more money on that.
If your wedding dress is your priority, let your cash go there. But in all your spending, know that your guests deserve the best of food and drink so make sure that you do not cut corners when it comes to entertainment.
Also, make sure there’s good music so that the atmosphere is lively and everyone has a good time. Hire a DJ instead of paying a live band to play on that day.
3. Inform parents early
This is where the problem usually is, The parents of the couple usually want to invite the whole world for their children’s wedding. They remember all of a sudden that they have an aunt somewhere at the end of the earth who has vowed to witness your wedding before she dies and they invite her.
All the extended family members become very important at that point, and they want all of them to be present. You are not planning to ruin their happiness, but at the same time it’s your wedding and not theirs, so what you should do is to inform them early enough and tell them that you plan on having a small wedding and you have a target number of guests.
So if they are inviting anyone, they have to work with the number of people you tell them to invite. You can’t please everyone, and some people will show up whether or not they are requested to attend. But the fewer your guests the better for you, you can handle the extras.
4. Stick to your budget
When you start shopping and hiring vendors for your big day, additional ideas will start creeping in from nowhere, and they would all seem important. This is where you have to be disciplined.
If something is not on the budget, don’t spend on it. If you planned on making a very tall cake for your wedding, you could opt for something smaller and beautiful as a two-step cake.
Don’t bother about changing into four or five different attires just because everyone is doing it; your wedding dress is enough. The point is, your wedding day is a special ceremony but what is unique is how you love each other and keep your home together after that day so don’t bite more than you can chew.
5. Get a beautiful low-cost venue
Look for a lovely garden that doesn’t require much decoration or just hire a tent if its rainy season and get the number of seats that would be enough for the number of people you invited. If you have a large compound, use it.
Better still, Take your wedding far away from family and friends and just invite only those who can afford to travel then use a beautiful hall that can house a few people.
6. Strategize on how to avoid unwanted wedding guests
This is a funny one, but it is, in fact, the most important. If you plan on having a wedding on a budget, you sure would want to avoid cases of people complaining about not getting food or drinks. In countries where people do respect the “strictly by invite” warning, you might have to take strict measures to ensure that everything goes as planned.
Strick measures could mean hiring mean looking bouncer to man the entrance to the wedding venue. If that might come off as too harsh and get some people offended, merely take your wedding to a different state or country entirely so that only your immediate family members would be in attendance.
Another way to limit the number of guests is to fix your wedding on a weekday when everyone will be too busy to come. That way, the few guests in attendance will get the best of everything, you get to spend less, and you have your dream wedding at the same time.
Your wedding is entirely your business so try as much as possible to avoid other people dictating what an ideal wedding ceremony should look like.
