Planning a wedding is expensive. From the venue to the food, music, guest list, and transportation, it all adds up quickly and by the time your big day gets here, you may have gone over your pre-planned budget.
Thankfully there are ways to save, you just need to be a bit flexible with some parts of your vision.
When it comes to the average cost of a wedding and how much money a couple should set aside, a Toronto wedding planner says that's difficult to say.
Iris Li, founder and lead planner at Blue Lavender Events in Toronto, says the cost of a wedding depends on many aspects and those will vary from one couple to the next.
"A 150-person wedding at a non-traditional venue versus a 150-person wedding also at a non-traditional venue but they have different priorities, say one wants to be more extravagant with decor and then the other one wants all live music. It's not apples to apples," Li explained.
She does, however, have tips for how couples can save on certain parts of their wedding.
Go paperless with save the dates and invites
A wedding invitation.
Li says going paperless is not only cost-effective, but it's more efficient.
"It's easy to keep track of, and then you can drive everyone to your wedding website and track your RSVPs from there," she said.
"These days [there are] a lot of beautiful, inexpensive designs for paperless invites."
A less extravagant cake
Having a cake at your wedding is expected, but Li says you can opt to go for a less extravagant design and save money that way.
"A lot of my couples now are just doing a single tier [cake]. Something that's ceremonial, just for them to have and enjoy and not to serve a piece to every guest."
Save on decor
Decor at a wedding.
Chernishev Maksim | Dreamstime
You can also save a lot of money when it comes to decor. For example, Li notes that candles are less expensive than flowers so that's an easy way to keep some money in your pocket.
"Always make sure that when you plan your ceremony and cocktail decor that it can be repurposed, it's doing double duty," Li explained.
"Whenever I'm planning for the ceremony, [I'm] making sure it's [the decor] able to be repurposed somewhere else at dinner."
Save on transportation
Skipping the limo or expensive car rental could also save you a lot of cash.
Li says more of her clients in Toronto are getting married in the city and that means there's less transportation in between venues.
The wedding planner recommends going with Uber Black if you have the option.
Omit the party favours
Pink bouquets at a wedding.
Instead of party favours, Li suggests giving away the flowers that were used for decor to the guests at the end of the night.
"If you want to do something nice for guests to take home is to do little bouquets of the florals from the centrepieces and put that together at like a station for them to take home," she said.
Booking vendors in the right order
Booking vendors out of order can cost you later on in the planning process.
Li suggests first booking vendors that you need to be there in-person on your wedding day like make-up and hair artists, photographers and musicians.
The wedding planner explains that you shouldn't rent audio, sound and visual equipment before the band or musicians.
"You first need to know what the requirements are from your musicians to book the proper equipment and lighting needs," Li told Narcity.
"A lot of times if you do that first then you have to go back to the AV company [and] rework your quote."
Li says the design part of the wedding can come next, which includes flowers, a wedding cake, draping, and transportation.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.