Wedding season is the season of love, lacy gowns and delicate flowers.
At this point, invitations may be flooding your mailbox for weddings this summer and into the fall.
Celebrating a new marriage together with your friends is great fun, but all those wedding invites can put a strain on your budget. Between wedding attire, travel costs and gifts, each wedding can add up to a pretty penny. (And it can be even more if you're in the bridal party and not just a guest!)
In fact, according to recent research by Express Spending & Saving Tracker, the average wedding guest is out $673 for each wedding they attend.
Here are just a few ways you can save on each wedding while still having fun and celebrating the lucky couple in style!
1. Save on airfare
Get the best deal on your flight with these ideas:
- Clear your browser cache before searching for a flight so airlines don’t target you with high-prices.
- Get the lowest rates by booking your ticket for mid-week and/or taking a red-eye flight.
- Shop on a Tuesday about six weeks before you’re planning to fly out to score the best deals.
- Use apps like Kayak, Skyscanner and Hopper to help you find the best-priced tickets. Some apps will even send you alerts when tickets on a flight you’ve looked at go down in price.
If your destination is within driving distance, you can also choose to hop on a train, board a bus or carpool with some friends and turn the drive into a fun road trip.
2. Think outside the registry
Jump off the registry bandwagon and get creative! You can give the couple a more personalized gift, like a themed breakfast basket for the morning after, tickets and reservations for a dream date night or a customized kitchen package complete with quirky mugs and whimsical gadgets. No one has to know how much (or how little) you spent. But, your gift is sure to be memorable and treasured by the couple.
If you’re part of a bunch of friends who are attending the wedding together, you can also choose to purchase a group gift. Do some detective work to find out the couple’s secret luxury gift wish, like a top-of-the-line grill or a leather sectional sofa, and then let each friend contribute to a pot until you have the full amount. You’ll save on your gift costs, and you’ll know you’ve given your friends a wedding present they’ll be thrilled to receive.
3. Shop in your closet
Don’t feel pressured to spend hundreds of dollars on a dress for your friends’ weddings. Chances are, you won’t want to wear the same piece twice in a season. Instead of dropping a ton of money on attire, rent a gown for a fraction of the price from rental services like Rent the Runway. Or, borrow a dress from a friend.
4. Invest in a good suit
Tux rentals can run you up to $150, so if you’re looking at several weekends of weddings over the next few months, it might be worthwhile to invest in a staple suit or tux you can wear again and again. Make sure the suit is of decent quality and will make it through hours on the dance floor with its seams and buttons intact. Once you’ve got your suit in the closet, you can change up the outfit to match different wedding colors and themes by swapping the shirt and tie or the cummerbund and bowtie.
5. Use AirBNB instead of booking a hotel
You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a hotel stay for every destination wedding you attend. Instead, check out AirBNB or VRBO for affordable lodgings in the area. You can save even more by booking a full apartment or an entire house with a couple of friends and splitting the cost.
6. Don’t be afraid to say no
Members of the wedding party inevitably end up outspending everyone else. Most of these costs are dictated by the bride and groom. If you’re asked to be a bridesmaid or an usher, and you know you can’t afford the associated costs, don’t be afraid to explain your position to your soon-to-be-married friends. They’ll likely understand, and either accept your declination or make some adjustment to their plans so you can still be part of the wedding party.
Here’s to a season of affordable and joyous wedding celebrations from all of us here at Commonwealth One!
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