5 Things You Really Don’t Need for Your Wedding

Beautiful wedding rings, a gorgeous flowing gown and a breathtaking venue are three essential things for most people on their wedding day. But with all the stunning wedding inspiration shots floating about on Pinterest and Instagram these days, it’s easy to get swept away and begin adding things to your wedding must-have list that even the royals couldn’t afford.

Things to cut from your wedding

If you want to keep the price of your big day down or save your cash so you can spend it on beautiful wedding rings or the honeymoon of your dreams, cut these 5 things from your wedding.

Favours

Chances are, you’re already treating your guests to free food and drinks — you really don’t need to give them a gift as well. If you feel too guilty not to hand out something to everyone taking the time to be part of your special day, compromise with budget wedding favours. Mini hangover kits (bottle of water, painkiller and instant coffee sachet wrapped together) or a freshly-baked treat from a local bakery are the kind of stuff that always goes down well and is affordable.

Chair covers

Ideally, your guests will be too busy telling you how great you both look and how wonderful the ceremony was to notice what the chairs look like. As long as they’re comfortable and you have enough of them, you can get away without using any fancy silk covers or extravagant bows. If you’re going for a rustic countryside-style wedding, having bare wooden chairs will even work in your favour

Menu cards

If you’ve opted for a sit-down meal instead of a help-yourself buffet, you don’t have to provide a menu card for every person. The waiters will let everyone know the dishes available as they work their way around the tables. But if you think that’s not enough, you can simply provide one large menu in the dining room that everyone can look at if they want to

Designer shoes

Insisting on a remarkably elegant bridal gown is entirely understandable. Everyone is going to see it and it’s going to take centre stage in the wedding shots that will decorate your home for decades. But the same can’t be said about shoes. Assuming you’re going for a traditional floor-length gown, no one will even get a peek at your shoes. And it’s very unlikely you’ll get to wear white six-inch heels with sparkling gemstones for any other event.

Wedding invitations

The cost of custom-made invitations, plus the price of posting them can easily cost you £100s, even if you’re having a small wedding. In today’s world, it’s possible to get in touch with almost anyone in seconds. So do yourself, your budget and the environment a favour and invite people over the phone, Whatsapp or even Facebook. If you can’t stand the idea of not sending out physical invites, make a list of your most important guests and only send out invitations to them.