Your wedding day is one of the most special days of your life, but you don't need to spend the next decade paying the bill! Here are some simple ways to slice the cost of getting hitched....

Hit the Sample Rails
If you're not too bothered about having a dress in the current seasonal range, check out sample sales and last season's collections. There are some stunning dresses out there, I found the perfect fit in a sample sale at my local dress shop for just €300 down from €1000 - saving €700.

January Sales
The shops slash prices big time in January ready for the next season, so make the most of it and shop for bridesmaid dresses. I picked up 4 bridesmaid dresses in a department store sale for €15 each down from €100! I actually bought 6 as it was such a bargain, so if there was any weight loss/gain there were dresses to fit perfectly. I then sold all 6 dresses on eBay after the wedding for €15 each! I also picked up 2 dresses for the flower girls for just €5 each down from €20. Total saving - €370.

Save on Flowers with a Garden Wedding
I got married abroad in the gardens of a Plantation House in Florida. The flowers required were minimal thanks to the lush gardens blooming with colourful roses. All I needed were my bouquets and buttonholes, then each bouquet was placed into a vase on the 4 reception tables meaning I didn't spend a penny on table flowers either! Total saving on an average quote for church flowers and table centrepieces - €600.

Keep The Guest List Down
We were a little ruthless with this one, but by marrying abroad it allowed us to be really selective with the guest list. We had 25 guests and paid €50 per head for food and drink. Our original guest list for a wedding at home was 100 guests, many of which would have been distant relatives, friends & plus ones which can bump up the numbers. Saving 75 guests x €50 - €3750.

Destination Wedding
One beauty of a destination wedding is as soon as you've waved off your last guest, you're already on honeymoon! We hired a villa to have our own space, but spent some time with our guests too. The cost of the wedding package included the venue and garden hire, photographer, videographer, officiant, tables, co-ordinator and other extras and was a steal at around just $2000! The flights, villa and car hire plus spending money made the whole package around €5000. We costed up the same wedding at home and for the venue hire, photographer, videographer and honeymoon, the price was at least double. Total saving - €5,000.

The Personal Touch
I made all of my favour boxes and place cards by hand, buying flat packed favour boxes at home to take with me and buying sweets from a supermarket to fill when I got to the destination. I wrote out the matching place cards with a calligraphy pen. They looked great and only cost around €50, total saving approx €150.

Total saving = €10,570

A lot of my budget was saved by getting hitched abroad which isn't everyone's cup of tea. There are still plenty of ways above to save thousands on your wedding, saving you more money for a dream honeymoon!

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