Cost Cutting Tips For Your Wedding

There are some things that you should never try and cut costs on, this is your wedding that we are talking about, you have to look and feel like a princess so do not I repeat do not cut costs on your dress or your hair and makeup. I have lots of ideas on keeping the cost of your wedding day down but in my experience getting your best friend to do your makeup, especially if she is one of your bridesmaids, is the first Cardinal Sin. Don’t do it unless she is a professional makeup artist because it will be glaringly obvious in your photographs. I have never seen anyone who is truly able to see her own makeup results in a mirror or put another way I have never seen a self-makeup job, which could not have been improved upon my using a professional. Testament to this is that the makeup artists that I have worked with over the years would not dream of doing their own makeup on their wedding day.

It is interesting to consider at this point that when trying to keep the costs down the general reaction is to knock out the smaller expenses i.e. the makeup artist rather than for example reducing the cost of the wedding breakfast. It is just easier but the results are dramatic, when you look back in years to come at your photographs you will not be looking your best and I will guarantee that you will have trouble remembering what you had to eat. Or consider it like this, how many photographs of the food are going to be in the album? Look, I know the food is important as is every detail of your wedding but to knock out the makeup artist to save a few quid is madness.

As a photographer you will not be surprised that I feel you should spend as much as you can possibly afford on your dress but please, please, please, please make sure the dress suits you. So often I see girls who are wearing dresses that simply do not work on them, they must have ignored their shape in an attempt to be a doyenne of fashion with disastrous results.

By all means try and source your dress from the second hand frocks on ebay of which there are thousands. You do hear of the odd success story (odd is the operative word here) but if it were me I would go down the more conventional route of going to an established dress shop. You will not need to be told to buy all of the latest magazines and go to the major wedding dress fairs to see the latest ranges from the top houses but have you thought of having a dress made? Copying a design you like from a prestigious house can make considerable savings, but do make sure that you are confident in the skills of the dressmaker that you are entrusting this special garment too. Make sure you have seen lots of examples of dressmakers work and make sure that this is not the first wedding dress that they have made if that is the case think again.

Now for the hairdresser – the number of times that I see hairdos that do not suit the bride is unbelievable, what on earth possesses these girls to have such a radically different style on their wedding day which does not suit them? I do not know who they have been listening to or what they think is expected of them in their appearance but I have one golden rule, which is, if the hairdo does not suit you, no matter what the occasion you will look ridiculous.

Finally if you feel bound to do something really different do have it done at least once before your wedding day to make sure it really works and again do not let your best friend have a go that is a recipe for disaster.

I am not going to go down the route of letting a friend who has a good camera shoot your wedding. My thoughts on that subject are well documented. I have seen some really good ideas, which I would like to tell you about and which must have saved lots of cash compared to more conventional weddings.

I recently shot a wedding that was held in the grounds of a large country house. We had pretty grounds to get some really great shots and when it came to the wedding breakfast a fish and chip van arrived and we all had fish and chips. It was marvellous - nobody considered it down market in any way. Quite the opposite, there were lots of very well heeled guests who had a ball. We were lucky with the weather and we all ate outside but had it rained there was provision to take the food inside complete with the newspaper. Can I make the point at this juncture that if the food had of been greasy and badly cooked it would have been awful, so no matter what you do make sure that it is the best possible quality, keep this in mind and you will not go wrong.

Considering alternatives to the conventional sit down meal is a really good way of saving money, as well as the fish and chip van I have been to weddings were there has been a Hog Roast. On another occasion cold poached salmon with lots of interesting salads and great summer puddings was really nice, the bride’s mother who was a fabulous cook had prepared everything.

One of my clients had their hearts set on marquee reception but this proved to be too expensive. The couple had an ingenious idea of hiring an old barn and then used a marquee company to line the inside of the barn to look like a marquee. They saved themselves the cost of erecting and dismantling the tent and the effect was the same. In fact the higher ceiling of the barn worked really well and they were very fortunate when there was a thunderstorm on the evening of the wedding, the barn was unaffected, it would have been interesting to see how the tent would have coped.

Considering alternative venues can have big savings and if you are not forced into using the venue’s catering facilities you can really keep the costs down. I have shot weddings in Public Schools that have the advantage of having large rooms for big parties and the interesting architecture looks great in my shots.

If you are the hands on type, have a go at doing your own table arrangements I saw a really interesting arrangement, which was a large vase filled with apple blossom and in the vase were green apples and cellophane floating in water. You don’t have to be very clever to work out the cost and it looked spectacular. There are lots of ideas like this in the various bridal magazines. In general I feel that visual effects do not have to be expensive provided you have the skill and the imagination and if this is not your forte then spend your money on the services of someone who has, as stunning accessories really can transform a room.

I am sure all of the hard work and planning of your wedding day is noticed and appreciated by the majority (there are those who would not notice if a bomb went off under them) of your guests and your photographs will look amazing for being inventive and different.