10 Top Tips for Saving Money on Your Hawke’s Bay Wedding

Andrea Brigden of Hawkes Bay Events

We all dream of having a picture perfect wedding – after all, isn’t that why you’ve chosen to get married in Hawke’s Bay, one of the loveliest locations on the planet?!

As you will have no doubt discovered, a wedding can come with a high price-tag attached, especially if you are planning to invite everyone you and your partner have ever met. So, what can you do to avoid paying for this one day for the rest of your married lives?

Well, firstly of course you must set a budget.  What can you realistically afford? A good way to ensure that you keep within your budget is to set it lower than the ‘real’ figure you had in mind, that way when unexpected costs creep in (as they inevitably will) you can still afford to pay for them!

Once your budget is set, work out what is most important to you – is it the photography, the dress, the ceremony venue, the food or the music? Put the essentials in order of importance to you, work out how much you are prepared to spend on each and then adjust the rest of your budget accordingly.

One of the easiest ways to save money on your wedding is of course to invite less people! Start with close family and friends; then decide on some rules between you about who you can invite in addition. Unless you particularly want a family oriented day, don’t feel obliged to invite your guests’ children – with plenty of notice they should be able to organise a babysitter for the day, your guests may even have more fun without them.

A smaller guest-list will not only cost you less in food and drink, but can also open up different venue options to you that host more intimate weddings such as Clearview Estate Winery catering for up to 60 guests or the County Hotel which hosts up to 50.

When it comes to invitations –making your own can cut costs down considerably and offers a personal touch. Hawke’s Bay has some great resources for specialty papers and embellishments that can suit your theme. Hastings Rubber Stamp in Heretaunga St and Scrapbook Corner in Napier are a great place to gather ideas and they both run card-making classes. When you are ready to assemble the invites, why not ask your bridesmaids or a team of girlfriends, sisters and mums over to help you at least three months out from the wedding – it’s a great excuse for a practise hen night with a few drinks (after you’ve made the invites!).

If you are going for a less formal wedding, you can save even more money on RSVP cards and postage by getting your friends and family to phone or email you their RSVP instead. Just think: if you are sending out 70 invites you’ll save $35 on stamps alone! Or if you want to go a step further and your guest-list are all email savvy try www.evite.com which has a range of online wedding invites to choose from and you can even design your own – for free! If you think this is just a bit too informal for your wedding, try it for your engagement party instead – you can really have some fun with it including polling for what sort of music they want to hear!

Keeping your bridal party small invariably makes dressing people easier and more cost effective. After-all, you only require two witnesses to sign the register. If you choose just one bridesmaid you don’t need to worry about finding a style that suits the varying shapes and sizes of all your girlfriends and you will save money on hair and make-up too. If you really can’t whittle it down to one or two, consider choosing a dress that the girls will each wear again and can purchase themselves. They don’t all have to match in style – just coordinate overall. You can maybe bring them altogether by adding a motif that runs through each style.

If you don’t have your heart set on a wedding in the height of summer, you could save some money with some venues by having it at a quieter of year.  Te Awa Winery for instance offers the incentive of no venue fee for bookings confirmed for over 50 between the months of May and September.

The winter months shouldn’t be all doom and gloom around these parts anyway. In fact we are pretty fortunate that we often have crystal clear skies in the middle of our Hawke’s Bay winter.  Just think about the great theming opportunities the other seasons bring too, including different flowers in season.

The time of day you choose to have your wedding can also help you reduce your spend. A wedding in the early afternoon can be followed by a ‘bubbles and canapé reception’ or a lovely ‘afternoon garden tea party’. Why not follow this later with an intimate sit down meal with just immediate family and the bridal party?

When it comes to decorating your wedding ceremony and reception, think and shop creatively. Once you have decided on the overall theme make regular visits over the months to the $2 Shop, Dollars and Sense, ‘op shops’ and garage sales. You’ll be surprised what you can pick up for next to nothing!  Look out for quirky mismatched vases and shabby chic vintage floral table cloths if you fancy a garden tea party theme.

Draping fabric and fairly lights can literally transform a venue, which makes them ideal for decorating the ‘blank canvas’ found in a club function room or village hall – two very cost effective venue options.  Try trademe for cheap draping fabric and ‘The Warehouse’ or ‘Kmart’ in the sales after Christmas for strings of fairy lights.

However you decide to plan your wedding within your personal budget, my advice to you is this: don’t be bound by convention or let others dictate to you how your day should pan out. Think creatively and your day will be a memorable experience for all who share in it.

Andrea Brigden of  Hawkes Bay Events