Wedding Photography Money Saving Tips

Weddings can get pricey, but there are ways to save money and still have get all the services you want! Here are some money saving tips for your wedding.

Largest costs for weddings:
(ordered from highest to lowest, based on national average)

(Click on items above to see ways you can save!)

Ways to Make Your Wedding Affordable

Prioritize your major purchases:

Write a list of the largest purchases you will be making (see sample list above) and prioritize them by order of importance to you. Not by what you expect will be the most expensive, but by what truly matters to you and your groom.

Spend on things the things that matter most, and use the money saving tips on the other things. It's best not to just find various money saving tips and try to save on everything you can. You can have a cheap wedding without making yourself feel cheap. Let some things be special, even if it's just one thing....treat yourself... it's your day!

 

Wedding photography: money saving tips

Photographers equipment and development costs alone are huge. Then there are the hours of work on and after the wedding editing and sorting through the hundreds of images. You can save money on enlargements and albums (and some other creative ways mentioned below) but don't penny pinch too much when it comes to the photographer – and I'm not just saying that because I'm a photographer. After your wedding day, the only things you have left are your pictures and your video. These are the only two services that last a lifetime and can be passed down to the next generation.

With that said, here are some ways you can save on your photography.

The date:
Saturdays are the most popular wedding day, Sundays being the next most popular. If you choose a weekday, your photographer may be able to offer you a deal.

The season:
May to September are the most popular wedding months. Selecting another month will likely reduce your rate at least slightly, if not significantly.

The package:
Most photographers will offer some sort of package deals that will work out to be cheaper than if you order everything individually. Check out the packages that are offered and don't automatically assume that the cheapest package will save you the most money. Sometimes it is not the best if you will end up ordering more prints and albums separately after the wedding.

The prints:
Getting prints at a professional lab or through your photographer is usually more expensive than taking them yourself to get printed. While this may save you money, take note of a few things. The quality of your prints, taken to your nearest 1-hour photo lab will almost surely not match that of a professional lab. If you were to compare the two side by side you would likely see quite a difference in sharpness and color. If you can, ask to see samples from your photographer of their chosen lab so you can compare prints and see if the difference in quality is worth it to you. Consider getting your enlargements and your favorite photos printed through the photographer, and get the rest printed yourself. This take us to your digital files or negatives:

The originals:
Hire a photographer that will give you the original digital files, or the negatives so you can print some yourself, or make prints for friends and family without always having to pay the lab prices. Most photographers will give you the negatives (or nowadays, the digital files) for a small fee. Sometimes, they are included in the price of a package. If they don't offer them right away, they will often offer them after they've kept them on file for ordering for a year or two. Ask ahead of time what the policy is so you don't end up spending too much down the road.

The Reception:

A Luncheon? Dinner Reception? Cocktail Party? Desserts? The time of day you choose, or better said, the meal you choose to serve, will greatly determine the cost. If the time of the reception is not one of your top priorities, you could save a bundle by selecting anything other than a dinner reception. An Afternoon Tea reception might be nice... pastries and fruit... or perhaps a Luncheon with finger sandwiches and salads.

If it's dinner that you want, you can save by ordering food that you can have picked up on the day and set it up yourself. Or, just order the main entrées and make the side dishes like rice and veggies yourself.


The Wedding Planner:

The 'Do It Yourself' DIY Wedding Resource believes in empowering couples to plan their own weddings affordably and with style.  If you want an alternative to a wedding planner that does everything for you, try the DIY Wedding Resource.  They are located in the Fraser Valley, and host workshops to connect you with resources and tools to 'do it yourself'. Visit The DIY Wedding Resource


The Couples Attire:

The wedding dress can vary greatly in price. You could find something perfect for under $200... or you could find yourself trying on dresses over $2000. Some brides purchase dresses that aren't specifically “wedding” dresses, and save quite a bit this way. The more obvious thing is to seek out sales, or look for a second hand wedding dress. This could turn out well if you can shop around, since wedding dresses are pretty much only worn once, a second hand one could look as good as new. Just be aware, cleaning a wedding dress could cost up to $250, so stay away from the one that looks good “if only it was cleaned”. You won't know if it will come clean, or if it is actually stained.


Videography:

Again, as with any part of your wedding, you decide which things are most important and which things to save on. Many people have video cameras and can record your wedding day for you. Of course, it won't be the same as a professional video, so take that into consideration when deciding if you should ask one of your relatives to tape your wedding.


The Music:

There are several options for music; a DJ, a live band, or a friend or relative with a laptop/mp3 player and some speakers. Each one has pros and cons. For instance, a live band will likely cost you the most money, but could be something very meaningful to you and your spouse. A DJ will probably be more expensive than asking a friend to bring his or her music along, but will they have all the songs you want? Extras like smoke machines and lighting on the dance floor add up too, so pick and choose what is most important for you. If you opt for bringing your own music, you might want to join a music download site prior to your wedding, and fairly inexpensively download any songs you like.

Flowers:

Usually there are several different types of flowers and flower arrangements at a wedding. List out the ones you will have and remember that you don't have to order all your flowers from a florist. You can save a lot by just ordering your bouquet from the florist and getting the rest of the flowers you need from a local grocery store, or getting them in silk and making the arrangements yourself. The centerpieces on the tables, the corsages, the bouquet to toss (if you have a separate bouquet for this) and the flowers to decorate the church could all be done yourself with real or silk flowers. If you're really ambitious, you could even make your own bouquet.

Another way to save money is to ask your florist which flowers are in season. Like fruit, some will be in abundance during certain times of the year, and scarce other at other times and they will be priced accordingly. You could be spending way more (or way less) for your chosen type of flower just because of the time of year.


Transportation:

Is arriving in a Limo important? For some it is, others it's not. You could rent a nice car for a day, or a sports car that you've always wanted, and drive yourself to the wedding. This could work out to much less than hiring a limo and a driver.


Gifts and Favours:

This is a great one for the do-it-yourself brides. The party favours can be anything you want, and really don't have a standard cost. Some ideas are:

  • a small flower arrangement or plant, when set at the placements would double as table decorations

  • mini candles in sachets, or tied with a ribbon

  • sachets made with lavender or potpourri. You can make them with lace and put any type of dried flower in them, they smell nice and you could attach a small flower.

  • Tree seedlings – wrap in paper to disguise the pot or soil. A nice gift that will last and be remembered

  • Instead of buying a trinket that will be tossed in a drawer (or consumed in the case of candies), a donation could be made to your favourite charity. This is a new trend among brides that is having a favorable response. You could have little gift card notices on the tables and your MC could say “Instead of party favours the couple has made a donation to ABC charity.” Donations always get a round of applause and no one will think you were too cheap to buy chocolates.

  • Which brings us to the obvious choice that you've probably already considered. Candies and/or Chocolates. They can be fairly cheap too. Especially with non-wedding chocolates like Hershey's Kisses or other chocolates not specifically labeled “for weddings”.


The Wedding Cake:

The main cost in the wedding cake is not the cake itself, it's the labour in decorating the cake. A smaller cake takes less time to decorate than a larger cake and so is less expensive. It's not less expensive because it costs less in ingredients. You can usually save a few hundred dollars by ordering a small cake that is beautifully decorated, that you will have on display, use for photos and the 'cutting of the cake' and also have a larger plainly iced (not decorated) sheet cake in the kitchen that you use to feed the guests. After the official cake cutting, have the cake taken into the kitchen with the other cake, and then serve out the plain cake. No one will even notice! This way you'll have enough cake for everyone and don't have to purchase a large wedding cake for several times the cost.

 

 

  


All Content and Images Copyright Mayan Photography. Copy or Reproduction Prohibited. © 2007. All rights reserved.