Over the last few years, my photographer and film makers WhatsApp group have been debating the same thing.
You’d be surprised how many people we as a collective say the same thing to us, especially about wedding films. “You are out of our budget” But the question we ask is… with the average UK wedding from the ring to DJ costing £21k - how can this be. When the average cost of a wedding film is around 5% of the overall budget.
So collectively, I’ve put together a list of 5 ways to save money on things so that you can maybe afford a wedding film - which in terms is an investment is not only for you but for your family long term. These are things to consider.
Before I start I also appreciate that many of the things I list below are still out of many couples' budgets and with this not to forget that it cost £46 to get married, so it’s fairly obvious that if you plan to throw a lavish celebration such as a wedding - it’s not going to be cheap.
Ok, let’s go!
Shoes:
While it’s pretty normal for many brides to love a beautiful pair of shoes for a wedding. Just remember 95% of wedding dresses cover your shoes. So is it such a big deal if you don’t spend £500 or a pair of Jimmy’s …. ? Yup, guests might get a glimpse here and there and of course, if you are wearing a shorter wedding dress it’s likely the shoes need to make a good impressing. However, it may also be worth considering… “Can I use these shoes again” if they are too bridal…this may not be the case.
Sweet carts:
Yep it’s true, wedding sweet carts can go down well with wedding guests, however with and the average cost of £250 for a pick and mix section at your wedding. Did anyone ever say, "We wished we had Haribo instead of you having a wedding film?"
Wedding invitations:
I’ve never really understood the process of sending “save the dates” then only to send a wedding invitation a few months later. Surely if you send out your invitations in good time, the people you want there will save the date? Invitations can vary in price from and where between 50p to £10 an invitation. It’s worth considering the extra cost of sending out an "invite" before the invite. Don’t forget you also have stamps to pay for. 1 first class stamp will set you back 95p now. So... if you are planning a wedding for 140 guests, you can do the maths. Or another idea...perhaps decide to go digital with your invites reserving exclusive luxury printed invitations for only your very nearest and dearest to be kept as keepsakes.
Drop a course at your wedding breakfast.
Maybe consider, that you are potentially going to spend hundreds on a wedding cake and you now plan to spend hundreds more on a dessert course for your wedding breakfast. Why not use the wedding cake as a dessert? Makes sense to me.
Using bouquets as centrepieces.
This one came from my wife. At our wedding, we very much did this. We re-used my wife’s flowers and our bridesmaid's flowers as table centerpieces. To be fair, listening to my wife explain this one made complete sense. So many times at weddings I have shot as a photographer or videographer I’ve seen bridesmaids and brides for that matter without their bouquets for the majority of the day. Leaving them to one side for 50% of the wedding. Why not put them to use and save money on centerpiece flowers for your guest tables. You save a whole bunch of money doing this and it's practical.
Ok so here are 5 tips that could save you a great deal, and this could ultimately be put towards a wedding film. When I get the response from a couple who say that a wedding film is out of their budget, I'm never convinced that it is... ultimately it very much comes down to what you value having at your wedding. Having a videographer for your wedding is always overlooked. We consume so much film and TV in life, yet many people still don’t seem to feel it’s money worth spending and would rather spend their money on disposables that no one invited to the wedding cares that much about.
Being able to relive your ceremony and speeches, all the little giggles, tears and sentiment is worth its weight in gold. You will never get this perspective with photographs.
Anyway... I’ve been Stu, Thanks for reading 📸🎥
Be sure to check out my work over on my pages as well! ... shameless plug for my work!
