Archive for the ‘Finance’ Category

Tips to Cut Down Expenses While Planning your Wedding Budget

June 16th, 2011 | Rss Feed

If your wedding is around the corner, the only thing that is spinning your mind will be your budget. Weddings are the only time when we all plan to spend money extravagantly to make the event special and memorable. Thus, during this time, sticking to the budget is often the most difficult part and highly stressful. However, with a proper planning and realistic budget, you can save lots of money in your wedding preparation. When planning a wedding, there are several ways to cut costs without compromising on style and theme.  Read below to learn few useful tips on how to plan your wedding budget.

Before planning your wedding budget, make a list of things that you cannot do without and you can squeeze into your budget. For that, you should have plenty of time to shop around and buy things on sale, which can save lots of money.

The reception is an aspect that you should properly take care of when it comes to planning a budget.  So, if you want to cut cost of your wedding reception, plan it out smartly. For instance, instead of serving three to four meals, arrange a buffet style feast for your guests, as it is an inexpensive way of dinning. While considering location, rather then going for hotel or restaurant, organize it in park or public halls. Try to keep your wedding guest list as minimum as possible.

Buying a wedding dress is an expensive affair and nobody would like to cut cost on this. However, if a wedding dress is available at a half price than the rate of designer or shopping mall, who would not like to go for it. Look for the sites that sell wedding gowns at discounted rates and some even sell dresses that are as good as new and are worn just once. Visit your favorite designer’s factory outlets rather than the main boutique, as you will find a vast difference in prices. Moreover, if you or your mother or friends know the craft of stitching, you can create your wedding dress at affordable prices. If you are tight on budget, then getting the wedding gown from your mother will be a good idea, only if she is willing to give it to you though.

Decoration is the factor that can cost immensely and can sometimes take a toll on the wedding budget. Your wedding expenses depend hugely on your wedding theme. You can always create creative effects in your wedding at low rates, but for that, you have to do little research to find decorators that offer decoration arrangements at competitive prices. You can also implement ideas that are cheap and attractive at the same time. For instance, if you are organizing wedding at the beach, use paper lanterns, tea-light candles, fairy lights, etc.  These decorative pieces add romantic lighting effect in your wedding. You can get ribbons, place cards, tea light candles, centerpieces, etc from wholesaler at attractive discounts.

Wedding cakes are generally very expensive and can fall upon hugely on your budget, if you are ordering from the best bakery in the town.  If you are serious about saving money on it, then bake a cake yourself. You can look for assistance and step by step guide on how to make cake.

Following these ideas will definitely cut your wedding expenses and you can save huge sum of money for post wedding plans like honeymoon.

This article has been written by an expert associated with WeddingMuseum.com, a company providing wedding planning tips for today’s brides and grooms.

 

Wedding Budget: The Basics

November 30th, 2010 | Rss Feed

Let’s talk about your wedding budget. We’re pretty sure some of you already cringed at the mere mention of budgeting for your special day. We know it’s not the most delightful part of planning your wedding, but setting a clear-cut budget truly is the first step in your wedding planning adventure.

First, you will need to sit down with your fiance, and your respective parents, to figure out some wedding budget basics. For example, who will contribute to the wedding monetarily? It’s important to know if both sets of parents are contributing or not. You also have to know the magic number they each have in mind, and how much they can really afford. We know it can be a hard subject to bring up, but you want everyone to be comfortable with the amount they contribute to your special day. If you’re not sure about who pays for what — according to wedding etiquette — we found a great post about it. http://bit.ly/exUedj

Once a final number for the budget has been agreed upon, you will have to start thinking about what you envision for your wedding and decide which elements are the most important to you on your big day. If you’re looking forward to a big party with lots of champagne flowing, you would have to allocate more of your budget to the reception and try to save money elsewhere — forget about the fireworks, or the letterpress invitations. If you prioritize the things you really want, it makes it easier to cut costs in other areas. It can seem like a tiring balancing act, but it’s well worth all the trouble of not going over budget.

Now that you have an idea of how to spend your money, you will need to found a way to oversee all your wedding expenses. A great way to keep track of all your expenses is to use a free online wedding budget calculator. WeddingMuseum.com offers one in their wedding planning section. http://bit.ly/et99Ft

Another great trick is to hire a wedding planner to help you stay within your budget. They will track all your expenses for you, and they can also become the voice of reason when all your ideas and choices start to quickly add up. Also keep in mind that with their experience and invaluable insider information, they probably have found many ways over the years to save money that we, as the general public, would never have thought of, or be privy to.

In the end, budgeting for your wedding doesn’t have to be a painful experience. You just need to be prepared and realistic both in your expectations and in your budget. And remember that compromise is the key to marital bliss!

About the Author: Nadine Elliott, freelance writer for WeddingMuseum.com.

 

Weddings: Expecting The Worst

July 28th, 2010 | Rss Feed

Although it may seem a little pessimistic to plan for the worst, pray for the best on your very own wedding day, this kind of approach is the only way to get through the event disaster-free.

Weddings are breeding grounds for all kinds of disasters, from fighting families and drunken best men to missing rings and photography problems. Of course not every wedding is a combination of catastrophes but given the amount of things that could – and very often do – go wrong, it pays to be prepared.

In today’s economy supplier failure is a major problem. Most couples will make their wedding arrangements months or even years in advance, booking out sought after venues, hiring bands, caterers and so forth.

Unfortunately, by the time it gets to the wedding day, many of these companies are in a very different financial state to when you met them. The economic crisis has been pretty hard on those within the events and wedding industry.

It makes sense to always have a backup plan. If your supplier does go bust, if the venue gets damaged, if the priest turns atheist – there are so many things that could happen that there is no reasonable option but to make a ’Plan B’.

Most wedding insurance policies will cover you if you have to change venues or postpone the event, particularly if something goes wrong with the suppliers. The amount of supplier failure coverage you will receive depends on the company and how much you are paying for your premium, as most companies offer tiered levels of cover.

Aside from suppliers, the next major area of concern is the guests. Wedding seating arrangements is an art, and the person who can get it right a mere genius. The key is to get all of the right people sitting together, people who will get along and not to separate friends as much as possible.

That’s the easy part. If you want to have a great wedding, it’s also important to evenly mix the two families and different circles of friends so everyone talks and gets to know each other. That’s the tricky part.

Wedding planning software is widely available online, both free and paid. Using software can help to ensure no person gets left out and everyone has a seat. It can also help to give a visual overview of the wedding and all of those attending, making it easier to plan seating.

Getting the seating arrangements right can really help to ensure the rest of the evening goes well. Combine this with supplier management and ‘pessimistic planning’ and you’re off to a flying start and, you never know, you may even get through the whole evening with barely a hiccup.

About:
Wedding insurance is increasingly becoming a key part of wedding planning. Although it won’t prevent any accidents from happening, it can help to sort out a lot of problems – financial ones at least.

 

Wedding bills on your credit card

December 28th, 2006 | Rss Feed

Sharon and I are on a financial stability kick lately. We are seeing a financial adviser to help plan our retirement and want to make the most of our money. We heard about credit cards that offer rewards but never really investigated it. We have friends who paid for their Disneyland vacation all from their credit card rewards.

Well, we did some investigation and there are credit cards that offer rewards for specific companies, like Disneyland. There are credit cards that offer rewards for airline miles and credit cards that offer rewards from a multitude of businesses.

Wow! What a great idea! You can accumulate rewards points when paying for your wedding. Most items are high ticket items that, if you’re like us, end up on the credit card anyway. The good reward plans offer 1 point for every dollar spent. Hello! That’s 30,000 points for $30,000 spent on your wedding.

If you want to investigate for yourself, check out a site we really liked. WE ARE NOT AN AFFILIATE. It’s just a cool site that offers good information about comparing credit card offers and rewards……. www.creditcards.com

Why not benefit from paying for your wedding with credit card reward programs?

 

Ways to Slash your Wedding Reception Costs

December 28th, 2006 | Rss Feed

Easy Ways to Slash your Wedding Reception Costs

Keeping costs within budget is a struggle for every bride, so here are five top tips guaranteed to keep you on track.

Keeping costs within budget is a struggle for every bride, so here are five top tips guaranteed to keep you on track.

Tip 1 – Trim the guest list
Keep the guest list down to just the people who really matter to you. This will reduce your costs as well as allowing you to lavish more food and wine on each person.

Tip 2 – Cut your alcohol costs
The largest portion of any wedding cost usually goes on food and drink. You can reduce your alcohol bill by hosting a daytime event, as people tend to drink less during the day. Alternatively, choose a BYO (bring your own) venue so you can supply your own alcohol at bulk-buy discount rates.

Tip 3 – Decrease the cost per head
Choose cheaper meal alternatives like chicken or pasta. You might also like to check which local delicacies are in season, as these are often much cheaper than you would normally expect. For example if you’re marrying in an Australian coastal town you’ll find seafood is much more affordable than it is in a large inland UK city.

Tip 4 – Limit your reception guests
Another way to cut costs is to invite everyone you know to the ceremony, but only close friends and family to the reception afterwards. This will let you enjoy a large ceremony with all your friends whilst limiting the cost of food and drink.

Tip 5 – Take the cake and tea option
If you’d rather celebrate with everyone but are seriously short of cash, choose a beautiful old church or historic ceremony location and keep the festivities simple. Invite all your friends to the ceremony and then to the church hall or local gardens afterwards, where they can share wedding cake, tea and a glass of sparkling wine with you afterwards to celebrate.

About the Author
Want a fairytale wedding without going bankrupt? For free cost cutting tips, wedding ideas, red hot promotions, giveaways and your wedding ‘tip of the day’ visit Jessica Howe’s site www.loveandcherish.net , home of the highly acclaimed One Stop Wedding Kit.