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News Nation revealed that the average cost of weddings in the US is around $28,000. However, that’s not the case in every state. For instance, organizing a wedding in New Jersey will cost you an average of $47,000. Meanwhile, a wedding in Wyoming will only set you back by $15,800. They also showed that 30% of the couple’s budget goes to paying for the venue, while 23% goes to catering services. Couples also have significant expenses such as paying for the band, wedding rings, and photography services. And this doesn’t even include the costs for pre-wedding activities.

Therefore, couples like you need to consider and plan their budget when leading up to the wedding. A guide to budgeting by AskMoney highlights how this will help you keep track of the amount you have already spent, and will let you know if you need to cut back on expenses. Moreover, it will give you time to decide on how you’re going to pay for these expenses. If you’re planning to organize pre-wedding events like engagement parties and rehearsal dinners, it’s even more necessary to have a budget to properly allocate your money and make sure that everything is accounted for.

Here are some tips you can follow to ensure that you won’t have to spend more money than necessary:

Engagement Party

Engagement parties bring families and friends together to celebrate the newly engaged couple. Although it might be tempting to invite all your wedding guests to this event, you can reduce your engagement party expenses by inviting only a couple of friends and family members.

You can also cut back on your expenses by strategically choosing the time of the event. For example, you can host your engagement party after lunchtime and before dinner so you won’t have to prepare and pay for full-course meals for your guests. You can serve desserts or light snacks instead to allow your guests to comfortably mingle with other guests. However, be sure to let your guests know the time and menu so they can come prepared.

Rehearsal Dinner

Rehearsal dinners are usually paid for and organized by the groom and his family, but you can alleviate the financial burden on both sides of the family by talking with your partner. Discuss who will pay for the venue, food, and decor to ensure that all necessities are arranged and paid for.

Since rehearsal dinners are usually arranged the night before the wedding, you can get overboard and overexcited in preparing for this event, which can overshadow your wedding day. In our article on “How To Plan A Wedding On A Budget In 2021”, we suggested choosing a simple venue where you can also have your ceremony and reception. This will help you lessen your pre-wedding expenses, and you can allocate that money for other expenses on the big day instead.

Bridal Shower

Unlike engagement parties and rehearsal dinners, bridal showers are small events for close friends and the family of the bride. Therefore, you can opt to host this event at home to save on venue costs. If you have a spacious backyard, this can easily become a great spot to host your event. You can also choose to cook homemade food and desserts instead of hiring catering services.

Lastly, if you have the time and patience to prepare ornaments from scratch, you can look for ideas online to help you get inspired to make your DIY bridal shower decorations. It’s one great way to save money and spend time with people who can help you prepare for the event.

Bachelor/Bachelorette Party

Lastly, you can save money on your bachelor or bachelorette party by only having your closest friends. Since there are no strict itineraries or traditions for bachelor and bachelorette parties, you can think of fun and affordable activities instead. For example, Alex Linde suggests fun bachelorette activities such as having a pool party, trying an escape room, and going for a winery tour. What’s important in this event is to enjoy your quality time together.

Moreover, it’s necessary to let your friends know of the expenses for the event. In most cases, it’s the friends of the bride and groom who pays for everything during bachelor and bachelorette parties, but not everyone may be on board with this idea.

Weddings are expensive and when you take into account all the traditional pre-wedding activities the costs can quickly add up. In order to save money on the pre-wedding activities, we hope the above tips prove useful.

Article written by Jackie Roanes