Wedding Budget Tips From Caterers
Posted on September 21, 2007 by Her and tagged wedding
photo: churl
In the last year we have met with many caterers during our wedding planning. Each of them had some cost-saving tips to offer us. I thought it would be fun to compile them and pass them on.
1. Dress up only the head table
If you want a fancy look but can't afford to do every table, do only the head table. You can use inexpensive complementary linens, plates and centerpieces at the guest tables, and splurge on a fancy tablecloth and fancy plates for the head table. That's the table that will be photographed the most, and dressing it up a bit more will make it look special without adding huge expense.
2. Pass the champagne
Renting a champagne flute and buying champagne for every guest is expensive, especially when some people won't even drink theirs. Instead of placing a flute at each place setting, have a waiter hand them out at the entrance. Not every guest will take one, saving on rentals and liquor.
3. Cake and coffee buffet
Even if your meal is plated, you can still save money by doing a dessert buffet with the cake and coffee. Again, not every guest will want dessert and coffee, so you can serve a smaller cake. You can use plastic plates and forks instead of china, saving on rental costs. You also won't need to rent a sugar/creamer/carafe for every single table.
4. Use Fancy Linens Sparingly
Expensive table linen rentals can cost as much as $40 per table cloth. To get the same look for less, use a basic table cloth and a fancy table runner - these cost about $5 each to rent.
5. Serve Prosecco Instead of Champagne
Prosecco is a sparkling white wine that runs about half the cost of champagne, but looks just as pretty in the glass.
Comments/Trackbacks
Trackback URL: http://www.makelovenotdebt.com/MT/mlnd-trackbacks.cgi/1152
Ariella | Sep 21, 2007
I will say that for this: Again, not every guest will want dessert and coffee, so you can serve a smaller cake, I wouldn't be too sure. You can hope that not everyone wants cake, but if you don't have enough, it will be pretty declasse. Good luck.
kira | Sep 21, 2007
decide what is important for you two and spend your money on the things that mean the most to you and will give you the most enjoyment on that day. Try not to worry about what other people's expectations are - if they love you they will understand your choices. if you are true to yourselves your wedding will reflect you and everyone will appreciate it. Our wedding was on a pretty tight budget so we chose to have ours on a friday night rather than saturday, at 8 pm to avoid having to serve dinner. We did a dessert reception (beer, wine and prosecco were offered). all those choices helped save us money but i don't think anyone thought of it that way - they just kept telling us how much every element of the night reminded them of us and how much fun they had. Your wedding and reception do not have to be like everyone else's to be wonderful!
devil | Sep 21, 2007
Plastic utensils are tacky. If you're going to do that, just go to the courthouse and be done with it (and save a bundle, too).
No, don't skimp on coffee and cake. The cake is the second-most important part of the wedding after the bride.
Always, ALWAYS hire a professional photographer. These are pictures that will be admired long after you're dead (hopefully). You want them done right...not taken by Uncle Louie because he volunteered and came cheap.
Susy | Sep 22, 2007
Do whatever you want. It's your wedding. If you want to use plastic utensils, use them. If your guests are "appalled" by this, thy obviously don't have your best interests in mind.
We wanted to save money when we got married so we had a small sat morning reception with a snack reception and we got so many comments on how much people appreciated not having to take an entire day to go to a wedding.
I always applaud couples who don't get sucked into the idea that they need to spend thousands on one day!
Christine | Sep 22, 2007
As for the cake: Have a small decorated cake the the bride and groom will cut, but have a sheet cake from the grocery store/Costco in the back to cut and serve to guests.
mir | Sep 23, 2007
Do what makes you both happy...ditto previous who said those that are appalled don't have your best interests in mind. Spend money on what's important to you two.
Other suggestions...we did a short reception with an hors douvre (sp?) buffet for a Fri afternoon wedding. We also had a fountain with champagne punch instead of individual glasses, which seemed to cut down on individuals taking more than a serving or two.
We did think it was important to pay a wedding coordinator because as the bride I didn't want to deal with the hassles on the big day. We paid her a percentage of the total wedding costs, but it was totally worth it because she helped us have a nice event well-within our budget. And I was stress-free the whole day, which was priceless.
we used plastic utensils, took our own photographs, and served Andre chamapagne at $3.99 a bottle, and our reception is talked about as being the most fun and pretties among all of our family and friends.
Christina | Sep 23, 2007
Spend your money on what is most important to you - we really wanted to make sure we ended up with great photos, so we spent a lot of our budget on that. To save money we made our save the dates, invitations, our table and escort cards, centerpieces, welcome gift bags and newsletters. Our friends and family have raved about our wedding from the whole feel to the food (and it wasn't even the most expensive caterer). We also served Cava (a Spanish sparkling wine) instead of Champagne - partially because I prefer it and even the cheaper bottles taste pretty good.
Gigi | Sep 24, 2007
We just got married last month and went to another wedding yesterday. Greek weddings are all out lavish affairs. However, they always have homemade desserts made by family and close friends. People will bring them packaged nicely and set them on display until dessert.
A simple wedding we went to had centerpieces that were a short square vase and one stem of hydrangea. It was very simple, very elegant and you could see the person on the other side of the table.
MVP | Sep 24, 2007
Absolutely don't listen to those who say go skimpy on the cake. After seeing the bride walk down the aisle, many guests look forward to eating cake. You don't want Granny, who traveled several hours to your wedding, to be disappointed because there's no cake left. You can always supplement your fancy cake with a sheet cake if needed, but have enough for everyone, even if you risk having leftovers. Also, unless you're having an informal or outdoor wedding, please avoid using plastic utensils and paper plates. Tacky. On the champagne, unless it's imortant to YOU, don't worry about it. People will be happy to toast with whatever they're drinking.
C | Sep 24, 2007
I disagree with most of the comments on a key point - your reception is about your guests, not you. So when you cut budget, focus on things that don't add to the great time your guests will have, such as linens and favors they'll throw out anyway. Give them great food and good music (we had a band early on but switched to an IPOD, which was loaded with our guests' favorite songs) and they'll be happy. Booze helps, too.
L | Sep 25, 2007
"your reception is about your guests, not you. "
and my guests will one day like to visit my house, which might not be big enough to fit them if i dish out ridiculous amounts of money renting silverware and tablecloths!
hocus | Sep 25, 2007
I just got back from a wedding. Don't over think these thinks - the wedding was lovely, but not because they spent huge amounts of money on stuff but because they were both so happy. Debt and drama free is the way to be. I went to wedding earlier this year that was probably $10,000 more but didn't have the same happy vibe.
As for the cake - do half slices since a "full" slice is more than most people can eat after a large meal. If you do the buffet/smaller cake consider including cookies or something similar to "fill it out" as they are generally pretty cheep and usually take great if they are fresh. (We had fresh baked cookies - still hot from the oven - and they were far better tasting than any wedding cake I've ever had).
C | Sep 27, 2007
L - That's my point - guests don't care about the tablecloths and silverware. They just want a good time. Most people need good food, drink, and music for a good time. The rest are just trappings of the wedding industry.
BradM | Sep 29, 2007
We skimped on the actual wedding ceremony. We got most of family and friends to help out a lot. It turned out great! We didn't put out many flowers, we spent a little more to get unique places to be at. If your surrounding are beautiful, then why add tons of flowers to cover up what everyone wants to see.
Where we cut most of the costs is having a family member doing the photographs & video and got our cake from Publix! We ordered the cake based on what they recommended and the cake cutters had to take away the topper, so that it wouldn't be eaten! There was nothing left and at half the cost!
We dressed up the tables that were important and only had enough tables for the elderly! Everyone else had chairs around the room! Less tables, less centerpieces, less MONEY!
DON'T serve alcohol! For our reception, it started out at $4000~$6000! For some people it's important, but not for us.
Caroline | Nov 1, 2007
For the people who go to weddings and look forward to cakes... are you serious? I've never had really GOOD wedding cake. Even some of the very lavish weddings I've attended with big-name bakers creating beautiful cakes, it's still just kind of, eh. Cake. Same goes for the dry chicken/salmon options -- sure the filet mignon is nice, but truthfully, I'm not really going to notice the $30 more you spent on the high-end entree.
I'd rather put my budget toward entertainment (quality dj/band and booze) but that's me. I think the key is to figure out your priorities and go from there. Also, avoid buying anything specifically designed for weddings, if possible.
L | Sep 21, 2007
Ouch! A few things we learned planning an inexpensive wedding in an expensive city:
-people really can make toasts with whatever they are already drinking.
-a lot of caterers will allow you to bring your own alcohol.
-wedding photographers are expensive! we used a photo journalist who works mainly for the AP, and does weddings on the side.
-it was cheaper to buy cloth napkins from USA Linens (online) that it was to rent them.
-making your own invites is really not hard (honest!)
good luck and have fun!
Reply to this comment