Oct 20 2008
Guest Blog: Debunking Money Saving Tips for Weddings
There is so much information on how to save money when planning your wedding. Magazines, internet, books, family friends, well-intentions strangers that give you unsolicited advice on the street, it’s hard to decipher what works and what doesn’t. Some ideas are solid gems of truth. Some suggestions are, well….not exactly accurate. I love to save money myself, so let’s dive in…
1. Add fake layers to your wedding cake and serve your guests sheet cake from the kitchen.
If only this was true. I personally LOVE this money saving tip. However, whomever thought of this clever idea didn’t take into consideration the time it takes to frost and design the outside of the cake. This is only speculation on my part, but I strongly feel that all the wedding cake designers convened at a secret meeting in some undisclosed location and decided to band together for a united front.
Because if you go talk to a cake designer, more often than not they will still charge you a premium for those fake layers. It can’t be the flour and water that costs so much; it’s their design time. Taking it a step further, in our area (the Midwest) cake designers have told us repeatedly that it is hard to find the styrofoam layers that is needed to create the layer. And they can’t guarantee the design applied to the styrofoam (an un-natural material).
The only way this option is 100% viable, every single time, is if you rent a total fake cake. There is a small section on the first layer so your cake designer can put in “real cake”. This is so you can still have your cake cutting ceremony in front of your guests. Otherwise the entire thing is fake, with fondant design.
MYTH: Saving money on fake cake layers: debunked!
2. Choosing faux flowers over real flowers will save you money.
Well that all depends. Do you want faux flowers that actually look like real flowers or the stuff you get from WalMart (complete with silicon beads of water on the flower petals)? Because if you want high quality faux flowers that make you want to reach out to touch it (just to see if it is real), then you will pay high dollars for affect. In some instances, just as much if not more than real flowers.
We help our clients by using faux flowers with REAL greenery on floral displays that are strategically located high above the guests heads….no one can tell the difference and our clients save money.
If you want fresh florals but are not sure that you can afford them, then find a florist that can get wholesale prices. Instead of choosing 4-5 different kinds of flowers, you are better off with going with one or two types of flowers. This is because the florist can get one shipment in and may be able to pass that savings on to you.
And frankly, if you aren’t a floral person…then don’t have any. It’s 2008, do what you want to do at your wedding. Forgo boutonnières and have the guys wear a pocket handkerchief. As the bride you can have the one bouquet and have your girls carry purses, parasols, feathers, fans, candles, or nothing at all. And of course there are many, many ideas on DIYbride.com for reception decorations that don’t involve one flower at all!
MYTH: Faux flowers are cheaper than real flowers: debunked!
3. I can save money on not having a wedding planner because I have a church coordinator and venue coordinator.
Well, that is actually a true statement. Venue coordinators are often included into your overall reception fee and church coordinators are usually required and either part of the church rental or a nominal extra fee.
The caution here is to understand how much you can really depend on them for your needs. Sometimes saving money and relieving stress and potential problems are two very different things.
To put it simply, just remember that a church coordinator is concerned primarily about her church. She has to cleaning up, lock up and most importantly, make sure no one is disrespecting their property. Likewise, your venue coordinator’s primary responsibility is to their venue. They have to make sure catering needs are taken care of, food is out timely, wait staff is being managed, bartenders have what they need.
Neither of them are truly working for YOU. Not that you should expect their service to be lacking, however they haven’t spent the time getting to know you and your personal wishes or needs and your family nuances as you would with a wedding planner. It’s just important to understand where their priorities are so you don’t have higher expectations from their services.
MYTH: Church & Venue coordinators save you money compared to hiring a wedding planner: slightly debunked and in the very least, food for thought.
Plan on!
This article was submitted by the uber-fabulous Saundra Hadley.
Saundra is owner and event engineer with planning…forever events
Related posts:
- {Guest Post}: Save the Date or Save the Money?
- Darcy Miller's 10 Ways To Trim Your Budget
- We Wanna Know: What Kind of Venues Are You Using?
- Ask The Experts: At Home Weddings Off Limits Areas
- Real Simple Weddings Mag at C & B
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All of these tips are fabulous, Saundra! I’m especially delighted to see the fake cake myth debunked as I’m starting to see that mentioned more and more as a budget-friendly option. It isn’t.
Ew, those beads of water on the fake Wal-Mart flowers are sooooo tacky and gross… they remind me of trashier members of my family hehe.
(If this idea hasn’t already surfaced on this blog)
Cheap Flowers…
I’ll be buying all of my flowers for my wedding the week before at the farmer’s market where I live (Seattle). My mom and I plan on meeting the vendors a couple weeks in advance and letting them know our intentions to essentially buy out the place, so that they’re prepared. For a wedding of 150 people, we’re sure this will be under $200, possibly less. (I regularly buy gorgeous in season bouquets from the farmer’s markets here for $5 a pop).
I love the idea of flowers that are in season and support my community. My wedding will have a slightly mismatched feel to it, so I think this will work beautifully. We’re planning on having a cocktail party with the bridal party, my future mother in law and friends to put together the flower arrangements.
Our other idea was to have potted plants. I’m lucky enough to have a mom and future mom in law with neon green thumbs who wouldn’t mind spending the upcoming spring caring for dozens of plants that would also be guest favors. Hell, maybe we’ll do both!
One way to save money with the sheet-cake cake method is to just have a small cake. It’s still a real cake, still pretty but it’s not enough to feed your guests -and that’s where the sheets come in. A cake doesn’t have to be huge to be beautiful.
Thanks for debunking the cake myth. As a former decorator I couldn’t agree more. It still takes the same time and skill level to decorate a layer whether its styro or cake. The styro isn’t hard to find but can be expensive.
Having a small centerpiece cake on the head table and serving your guests from sheet cake in a better way to save $$. Better yet are cupcakes.
Thanks everyone for the input. It was fun to write this blog entry. And I love some of your ideas for saving money!
These are great ideas! Thanks esp for debunking the fake cake. I always wondered how frosting would stick to cardboard or styrofoam.
Great advice! I’d love to see the other myths you could bust!
Super Post!! And Saun, I am glad that you pointed out that quality faux flowers may cost just as much or more than fresh flowers.
My daughter got married 2 weeks ago, and believe me, I know how to save money on a wedding LOL. My husband has been off work on disability and the purse strings were tight! First off, we had NO planner. All it takes is a little organization on someone’s part. As far as the cake thing goes, yes get a smaller “show cake”–we had a small 3 layer and mostly sheet cakes. The lady who did our cakes also did homemade dinner rolls–cost $300. I went to a BBQ roundup last fall and found a guy with a wonderful beef brisket–he did the meat only for us–cost $360. My son in law had worked with a lady in high school who catered a country club. She did the potatoes for us at no charge–just the ingredients–it was her wedding gift. My daughter found out that her part time employer had been a florist for 20 years and she did all the bouquets as her gift. Coworker and I did all corsages boutennieres & altar flowers. Total cost of about $300 for nice silk flowers. Our total wedding cost with dress was under $4000 for 300 guests!
Thanks for the advice. I’m a little concerned that there is so much mention of “church” in this post and in others. Not all people get married in a church; please show some respect to the rest of us by using “ceremony site” wording, for example.