This post is one in a series on frugal wedding tips.
One of the initial steps in the wedding planning process is picking a date. The peak wedding season is said to be from June through September. If you choose a date during this peak period you can expect to pay elevated prices. Companies do this because they know you will pay. Can you plan your wedding on those other months? If you can, you can save a lot of money!
Be Open to a Winter Wedding
Supposedly, winter weddings are starting to catch on. Personally, I would not have minded a winter wedding. We are going to be spending all of our time inside anyway. Why does it matter what the temperature is outside? Having a winter wedding can drastically reduce your costs because not many people will be vying for the same venue. In addition, if you are heading somewhere warm for your honeymoon, you will appreciate it even more!
Get Married on Superbowl Sunday?
This is something that I would HIGHLY recommend against. Even though the both of you may not like football, that does not mean that every one of your guests dislike it. Can you picture it now? You are in the middle of your first dance and you notice that your Uncle Ron is nowhere to be found as well as 50% of your guests. Where are they? They are in the other room watching the game on Uncle Ron’s portable television! Like I said, avoid this day even if the price is too low to pass up. You will be disappointed with something!
Have Your Wedding Earlier in the Day/Week
A great way to save close to 15% is to have your wedding reception earlier. I am talking from around 1 to 4. This will allow the venue to prepare for another reception after yours. This will require you to have your wedding earlier in the morning around 10:30. Did I hear about a superstition that said you should get married when all the hands of the clock are going up?
Having the wedding earlier in the week, say Friday can also save you a bundle of money. It’s because the venue can then hold another wedding reception. I pity the people who book it for that Saturday for almost 20% more for the same thing!
Would anyone like to share their personal wedding date story?
We planed to have our wedding on Friday morning, but the place was near a highway so you could see the road and the power lines – not very inspiring, So we decided to have it on the following Sunday night and still managed to save some money by not doing it on Thursday night, which is the most requested day of the week. We had our wedding on August, because during the winter I still had to attend university.
Oh, you’re going to like this one, Adam. My ex-husband and I remarried last October 2007. We had reconciled a year or two prior, and finally started making plans. I thought it would be real special to wait until both our sons were 18, so they could be both sign as our witnesses on the marriage certificate. Our youngest turned 18 on the 6th, so we set the date for two weeks later. I got the okay from work (where they let us have the wedding and reception free), from our pastor and started lining things up. In the back of my mind, the 20th seemed like a significant date, but my mom’s birthday is the 18th, so I thought it must be that. About three weeks into planning (I only had about four months) Mr. A says to me, on the way home one day from work, “Isn’t the 20th the day our divorce was final?” I thought for a moment, and then it hit me. Indeed it was. We were remarried 15 years TO THE DAY that our divorce was final. Some people freaked out and said we should change the date, that it was a bad omen. We thought it was awesome and like a sign that we were “meant” to reunite.
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If you are having a winter wedding consider one just before Christmas when the location will be decorated for Christmas anyway. Our church had greenery and red velvet bows, banks of poinsettias, and candelabra down the isle. I just went with the whole winter theme, and that saved a lot on the florist expense.