1. Tag your destination wedding on to an already planned holiday
If you’ve already planned a dream getaway, why not get married en-route or at your holiday destination? It can be expensive to travel and getting time off from work can be an extra hurdle. The cost and time effectiveness of combining a holiday with a wedding makes it the ideal solution for many couples.
2. Have your ceremony, reception and honeymoon at the same location
By combining the ceremony and reception locations you save by eliminating the often complicated logistics involved in getting everyone one venue to the next. Honeymooning at your wedding location means even more savings and many resorts will provide complimentary upgrades to honeymooning couples and/or include special celebratory items such as champagne, flowers and chocolate.
3. Negotiate group discounts
If you have a medium or large sized group attending your destination wedding, check to see if you can negotiate group discounts on travel, accommodation, activities and meals. You’ll be amazed at how much you can save yourselves and your guests by negotiating a discounted group rate. It’s quite common for the savings to be in the order of 10% to 50%.
4. Consider an alternative to a traditional wedding gown
There are so many more cost effective options to the traditional wedding gown. Gone are the days where you had to spend thousands of dollars on a dress you will wear for just a few short hours. If you’re marrying overseas, check out what the local brides wear or consider dressing down for a more casual affair. If you are getting married on the beach for example, a tropical dress rather than an elaborate white wedding gown could not only be more suitable, but cheaper too!
5. Do your own hair and makeup
Doing your own hair and makeup is a great way to save money on your destination wedding. It can also be fun especially if you enlist the help of a willing wedding guest. If the thought of doing your own hair and makeup is daunting consider having only your hair done professionally and doing your own makeup. There are loads of books and online beauty sites with step by step instructions on how to achieve perfect wedding day makeup.
6. Buy local wherever possible
By choosing local you’ll save money on everything from food to flowers. Find out which flowers are local and incorporate them into your wedding flowers. Selecting local produce for your wedding menu will not only save you money but add to the experience for you and your guests as you eat like the locals do. Locally bought souvenirs can make delightful wedding favours which can work out much cheaper particularly if you’re marrying in another country with a favourable exchange rate.
7. Set up a destination wedding wishing well
Instead of guests dragging gifts along with them to your destination wedding, suggest instead that they donate the funds they would have spent on gifts to your destination wedding wishing well. These funds can be used to pay for elements of your destination wedding, activities or honeymoon. Your destination wedding gift fund can include things like airfares, dinner for two, couples massage and tours. There are companies like Wedding List Co. that specialise in managing your wishing well.
8. Send e-invites
Traditional wedding invitations are no longer the only option when it comes to inviting guests to your wedding. Consider instead the e-invite that you can design on any number of available design programs. Convert the invitation to portable document format (PDF) and email to family and friends. Most brides find that guests will RSVP via email anyway – it makes sense to save on expensive invitations and postage and take advantage of email instead.
9. Plan your destination wedding for a non-peak period
Substantial savings can be made by booking your destination wedding outside of peak tourist times. You’ll find that transport, accommodation and even activity prices are lower in non-peak times.
10. Elope!
Perhaps the biggest cost saving action you can take is to elope. Eloping (the two of you running away to be married) will reduce costs dramatically as you won’t need to host and entertain guests.
Do you have any other ideas on how to save money on a destination wedding?
Destination: Wedding - A guide to planning the destination wedding of your dreams is available in paperback and digital formats at Amazon (UK), Amazon (USA) and from www.destination-wedding-book.com.
For free tips and advice, connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to be kept up-to-date with everything destination wedding!
