Budget Friendly Bride 101 | Choosing Your Wedding Date

If you’ve stumbled upon this post, you are probably getting married, Yay! Congratulations! But let’s face it, what is the FIRST thing people love to ask once you announce your engagement, “When is the wedding?”. 

True Story: I did not choose my wedding date until 2 months after we were engaged. During the initial planning process the date changed several times. What we learned? Choose a date that you love and THEN also, pick a backup date!

Now, I HAVE to share what I’ve learned to help you choose your date and a cost effective one at that! Originally, I wanted a simple, beautiful seaside wedding and I assumed that for the time of year I wanted, it would be no big deal. WRONG!! I quickly learned that there are so many elements of a beach wedding (even on a low scale) that had NEVER crossed my mind! It became incredibly complicated and I backed away. I then realized that choosing the right time of year can save you A LOT of coins! 

Helpful Tip: If you’re considering a beach wedding, keep it small unless you have a designated space for your reception (i.e. hotel or offsite venue). Most beaches are open to the public and unfortunately, you cannot control your background as much as you would like. You may have to have a permit as well.

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In our case, we thought it would be fun to turn our dating anniversary into our wedding date. Our dating anniversary is May 7 and May is prime time for weddings. To our surprise, we saw a huge up-charge on pricing and that simply was not in the budget. Our goal is to not be left with a tremendous amount of debt after the wedding so it was back to the drawing board! 

The Peak Season for wedding venues is generally April-June and September – October with of course some variations depending on where you live. Here in the south, we tend to favor more outdoor events and choose a wedding in late spring or early summer. However, if you are open to any date, consider choosing a date that is “off season”! You will quickly see that you will save at least $1,000 or more. You will also save big if you choose to do a weekday wedding.

It’s important to have more than one date. Wedding venues book quickly especially for peak season times.

We chose our date based on a few things:

1.     Time of year

2.     Important family obligations (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)

3.     Pricing

Don’t forget, you also have to consider how long you want to plan your wedding. The average couple spends an average of 15 months planning for their wedding. 

Having a beautiful wedding can be done efficiently and economically! 

I hope you find this helpful and I can’t wait to hear all about your big day!

Stay tuned for part two on how to choose your venue!!