The coronavirus has had an enormous impact on the personal finances of millions of people.
There have been furloughs, redundancies, and an unprecedented shift in working practices in the form of a home-working revolution. If you’ve planning a wedding at some point in 2021, or even in 2022, then you might find that you need to downscale your ambition slightly in order to stay within your budget.
These are circumstances with which everyone is familiar, we might see a bit of a cultural shift when the wedding industry recovers. There might be less pressure to push the boat out financially, and more of an emphasis on emotion and personality. Let’s take a look at a few cost-cutting measures which are sure to enjoy an upsurge in popularity.
Homemade Decorations
Making the venue feel like it’s fit for a wedding is something that you can do at home with the help of the right arts and crafts supplies, and a little bit of skill and dedication. Here’s where you can make sure that everything is exactly matched to your personality, from the placemats to the bunting to the wedding favours. You might even grow the flowers yourself!
Baking
If you know someone who’s been honing their skills in the kitchen over the course of lockdown, then what better opportunity could there be to demonstrate their progress than on the day of your wedding? Of course, there’s a bit of risk involved here, so you needn’t feel that you’ve got to get rid of the paid-for caterers entirely.
Make sure that you thoroughly road-test everything that’s going on the menu, and make sure that there’s a vegan option. And make sure whoever makes the cake knows what they’re doing!
Go Second-Hand
One off purchases like wedding dresses command enormous prices, and they depreciate incredibly rapidly. By looking for a hand-me-down, or by scouring the second-hand market, you may find that you’re able to pick up a bargain. The same applies to wedding and engagement rings. If you’ve been working on your sewing skills during lockdown, then so much the better.
Invite Fewer People
Lockdown might have caused you to fall out of contact with those less-often-seen relatives. And if you’re having a low-key Christmas (as everyone surely is), you might find yourself under greater pressure to make space for everyone. But a slimmed-down guest list means less money spent overall – so, start cutting names!
Go Out of Season
Since many of the weddings scheduled to take place in 2020 have been pushed back into 2021, you can expect higher demand on venues, perhaps persisting well into 2022. This is almost guaranteed to push prices up. Get around this by shifting your wedding to a weekday night. Doing so has an extra benefit – it’ll cause many of your guests to drop out, thereby slashing your expenditure further.