THINGS I DO NOT REGRET SPENDING LESS ON FOR MY WEDDING

October 14, 2022

Weddings are expensive. How expensive ultimately depends on you and your spouse to be. There are endless options for each aspect of a wedding from catering to photography to decor to your bridal look. I would actually say it's a little intimidating just how many options there are. Now, just how do you find ways to save money without sacrificing your instagram worthy wedding? From my experience the key would really be to prioritise what's most important to you.

The following are some examples of where I chose not spend bank on and definitely do not regret.

1. VEIL

My veil cost about a $100 USD. Now I know that doesn’t sound like ‘less’ but with the price of veils going upwards of $1000 USD, it was on the relatively cheaper side of things. I bought a plain (sans lace, beads, glitter) two tiered chapel length veil in ivory and I loved it. I live in Jamaica, and I bought my dress and veil in the U.S. I planned these trips generally over a long weekend, so there was limited time for bargain hunting and I ended up getting my veil at the same store that I got my dress, albeit on two separate occasions. I did check out David’s Bridal for a cheaper option, because in my mind ‘mosquito netting’ shouldn’t cost more than twenty dollars. However, the quality and structure of the veils were obviously different and I wasn’t a fan of the options I had seen there. Who knew craftsmanship counted for veils ? Amazon has thousands of veils for less , but as with all things amazon this does involve some trial and error. If you have the time and patience I would suggest this as an option.

The bonus has been that my best friend was able to use this veil on her special day, and so will my sister-in-law to be. The fact that it had no added embellishments made it blend seamlessly with their very different wedding looks. Definitely ‘Sisterhood of the Travelling Veil’ vibes.

2. HAIR ACCESSORIES

Do NOT buy your hair accessories or jewellery in a bridal boutique if you have a tight budget. Firstly, these aren’t real gems for the most part and secondly, they may not ever be used again. Amazon and Etsy  have such a wide selection of bridal accessories for whatever look you’re trying to achieve. These were my amazon picks, all under $20.

2. SHOES

If you google wedding shoes, Jimmy Choo pops up. Now I am not a shoe person and I don’t wear heels often so brand named shoes were at the bottom of my list. I knew I wanted something minimal and classic.

I did a lot of googling and came up on a UK based wedding site (www.laceandfavour.com). I got (what I think are ) the perfect ivory satin heels with pearl detailing. At the time I believe these were just over $100 USD. They do scream ‘bride’ because when else are you wearing satin heels, but they’ve been sturdy enough to be reused also!

The things about wedding shoes is, depending on the length of your dress… neither you nor anyone else is going to see them again after putting them on. They make for beautiful details in getting ready pictures, and accessory pictures but if your budget is tight… I’d opt to spend less on them.

4. WEDDING INVITATIONS

I love do it yourself projects, and I looked at my wedding as a giant DIY project. I love and appreciate beautiful stationery but was unwilling to pay for it at that time. This didn’t stop me from wanting it, and I found an invitation set on amazon that was perfect. I go into details on this post.

In addition to the invites, I used linen envelopes and hand addressed the envelopes. 

Similar invitation sets :

• Pearl White with Pearl Foil Border

• White with Silver Foil Swirls

5. WEDDING PROGRAMMES

DIY-ing is great, except for when it’s 4 am the morning of your wedding and you’re trying to design and print wedding programmes.  This was my experience and it 100% did not have to be that traumatic. I made the programme on Canva, used linen paper and a mixture of twine and ribbon for the binding. It takes a little effort to figure out the best way to print a multipage programme, as well as how to bind them.  

6. WEDDING CAKE

Wedding cakes are also another beautiful decor detail, that add a wow factor to your space. I got multiple quotes, and that wow comes at a price. Honestly, adding wedding in front of anything comes at a price. My lovely mother-in-law is a baker part time, and she made and decorated our wedding cake. Covid hit Jamaica about a week before my wedding and with that came guest restrictions. We had invited about 150 guests and were down to 25. The initial plan was for my MIL to bake the cakes ( and the serving cakes) and for them to be decorated by someone who was familiar with that. What ended up happening in our small at home reception was her decorating one of the layers of our original cake with fondant. It was beautiful and served its purpose for our impromptu reception.

This list will vary from person to person, but what’s really important is choosing your top priorities. Weddings can be very expensive, and pinterest is a never ending rabbit hole of ideas. Make your list early, choose what you’re willing to spend on and know that with some effort ( DIY/ amazon searching ) there are beautiful things available for less.

-Kristen