Affordable Wedding Suppliers and how to find them in your budget

Do some research and find the suppliers that you want to use. You can break this down into maybe three wedding scenarios – So narrow down your shortlists to this for each wedding option.  You need to consider the venue, flowers, decor, photographer, videographer, cake, hair and makeup, dress and suit, bridesmaids and groomsmen outfits,  vehicle, where you will be getting ready, wedding favours honeymoon, etc. Once you Have 3 options for each of these suppliers and a pricing guideline for each you need to highlight what is essential to you.

For instance, you may consider a photographer as essential but a videographer may not be.  Then calculate your essential budget for the wedding. Put all the things that are not completely necessary into another category for extras and calculate a budget for that as well. By now  you should have  a pretty good idea of what to expect

Now what you need to do is know how much money you need to pull off your dream wedding.  There are two ways you can do this. If you are paying for the wedding yourself then be realistic about the amount of money you need and what you have available. Take your researched suppliers and see what will fit into the budget.

You will soon know where you need to make some changes If someone else is paying for your wedding then sit down with them and see what they can afford to pay and work around that. Some things may have a range as well, for instance as a photographer I have 4 different wedding packages So depending on how much time you need me for this can give you a range budget to work with.

Securing your venue is an important step. You can’t really budget without knowing which venue you will use on which date and how much the venue will cost and what is included. Wedding suppliers also cannot quote you properly until they know how far they need to travel and what date they will be needed.

Venues also often charge per head so you need a rough estimate of your numbers. Then you can calculate how much the venue is going to cost or know where your cap is for the number of guests you can afford. This is normally the biggest part of your budget to consider.

If you arent fitting into your date here are some tips to try help you stay in budget.

Choose a winter wedding date  – Often wedding suppliers will give a reduced rate over this period because it is less popular. Choose a weekday rather than a Saturday for the same reasons.

Keep a lookout for wedding specials on offer on wedding directories. Here are some great options to consider :

https://www.celebration.co.za/specials/

www.confetti.co.za

Look for your wedding suppliers well in advance :

sometimes if you secure booking with them early and pay your deposit or full amount upfront they will give you this seasons pricing for next seasons wedding.

Negotiate with your suppliers: If they have set packages that don’t quite fit your budget then have a closer look at the package and see what you can do without. Then ask them if it’s possible to remove those items and how much of a discount they can give you.