How I saved thousands on my Long Island Dream Wedding
Weddings cost a small fortune, especially on Long Island. I have been planning my wedding for as long as I can remember, and “pinning” long before I was even engaged. A wedding is one amazing night of your life, but you have the future to plan for as well. We wanted to have our dream wedding but do it at a cost that was more comfortable for us. Do you want to know how I managed to SAVE MORE THAN $20,000 dollars?
1. Reception Venue (Saved $8,000+)
The most popular months for a wedding on Long Island are May-October. Venues adjust their prices according to the busy seasons. I knew that I did not want a summer wedding, because the heat can be unbearable for me with my MS. There were a few venues that I already knew had fair prices, so I made appointments there. The other venues, I messaged ahead of time to ask for a general price per person. If it was out of my price range, I didn’t bother to look. I would hate to fall in love with something that I couldn’t afford. Another thing I learned was to watch out for the “plus plus”. (For those who don’t know... “plus plus” means Price per person PLUS 20% “administrative fee” PLUS sales tax. So, if a venue says that their price per person is $100 plus plus, you are really looking at close to $130 per person).
A Friday night is much less expensive than a Saturday night, so we chose to book a Friday. Most of our friends and family will have off for a weekend before having to go back to work, so we thought this worked out nicely. We fell in love with a venue on the water, Chateau La Mer. I first met with a coordinator from the venue at an expo. Being an “expo bride”, I was given some bonus items: Extra tier on wedding cake, Chocolate Fountain, Ice Cream Bar, and Zeppole Station ($1,000+ savings).
We loved the idea of getting married outside on the water, but we loved the idea of saving as much money as possible for our future even more. Brandon’s grandparents had some health issues, and we wanted to get married sooner rather than later.
We chose Friday, March 3, 2017.
This night cost us $40 less per person than a wedding at our venue during peak season. With a guest list of 125, this saved us a total of $5,000.
The venue we chose was on the lower end of cost compared to other Long Island venues. I can’t really come up with an exact number for savings here, but I would say I saved at least $2,500 by choosing the venue that I did compared to the average venue cost per person.
2. Venue “Extras” (Saved $1,000+)
Ask your venue what kind of on site “extras” that they have. AND THEN GET THEM TO THROW THEM IN BEFORE YOU BOOK. My venue included the use of up lighting (this truly makes a difference on the look of your reception space), virtual dance floor, and use of television screens. The venue has a price sheet where these items add up to $1,000.
Sometimes venues do not have up lighting or televisions available. Outside vendors could charge over $1,000 for the lighting alone.
Luckily, my venue had these items on site and included them for me. I made sure that they put these extras on my contract as included.
I also got charger plates included. I don’t think that most venues do this but it’s worth asking before you spend $2+ per plate.
Make sure you get everything in writing!
3. Photography & Videography (Saved $2,500+)
Hiring a private photographer & videographer can save you a lot of money because there is no one in the middle. I looked into so many photography and videography packages from various companies and the prices truly vary. Based on the average that I was seeing for a photography and videography package from a larger company, I saved $2,500+ by using a private photographer and videographer. I had complete confidence in the product that I would receive from these ROCKSTARS. A lot of their business comes from word of mouth and recommendations, so they will do their best every time.
We are so happy with the result. The day of the wedding was a breeze thanks to the amazing team we hired. I have to give them a shout out here because they are so unbelievably talented. My photographer was Kaitlin Cremmins and my video team was Koleda Productions. They are true artists and I would recommend them to anyone. They put so much effort into making everything perfect and captured exactly what we wanted.
Photo and video were so important to us! I know that we will be watching our wedding video constantly and reliving the night as much as we can.
4. DIY Centerpieces ($900+ Savings)
I might be the minority here, but flowers were not important to us. I couldn’t fathom spending thousands on something that would die the following day. We chose not to use real flowers in our centerpieces. Using Pinterest and with a lot of help from our family and bridal party, we made our own centerpieces and I thought that they turned out perfect! I’m unsure of the exact savings here, because I never priced out real flowers. I believe on average, a floral centerpiece is at least $100, probably higher... sometimes lower. I will use $100 for a base. We had 13 guest tables which would cost $1,300+ from a florist. Instead, I spend about $25 on each centerpiece. I am a huge Disney fan, and I wanted a simple carriage for the centerpiece. We purchased the carriages in bulk online in white and sprayed them gold. We bought a large pack of candle holders, some “real” looking fake tea lights for the center, some fake flowers from Michaels (with a coupon.. of course) and glued the flowers to a burlap ribbon around each candle holder. Real tea lights aren’t expensive, so we purchased enough to form a circle around each carriage. After the wedding, I was able to give them to family and friends and I have one on my coffee table.
5. Bridal Party Bouquets ($200+ Savings)
For my bridesmaids, I wanted something simple for the girls that would still look classy and beautiful. Either a babys breath or a simple white rose bouquet. Even something like this was getting quoted for $30 or more each from a florist. I had 10 girls, so this was adding up to about $300 from a florist. I decided to try our local grocery store, Stop & Shop, to get a quote. My husband used to work there and always brought me home the most beautiful bouquets. I was able to get all 10 bouquets for a total of $80! I only needed to purchase my own ribbon and bring it in, since I wanted something specific. I think that the flowers looked amazing and I am so happy with the results.
6. My Bridal Bouquet ($100 Savings)
I was watching Shark Tank and learned about a company called Ecoflower. The flowers are all made from recycled and sustainable materials. The bouquets are completely custom. I was able to pick the colors, what I wanted the stems to look like, what I wanted to base to be wrapped with. You can even choose a scent! I took a leap of faith and designed my bouquet online. Not long after, I received the most beautiful bouquet in the mail that smelled like fresh roses. The best part? I can keep it forever. The average bridal bouquet that I was getting quotes for was somewhere between $150 and $200. My Ecoflower bouquet cost only $75 shipped.
7. DIY Photo Booth ($1,000 Savings)
The photo booth at my wedding was one of my favorite parts. Photo booth rentals cost anywhere from $500 to $1,500. I knew I wanted one, but couldn’t really find a spot in our budget for it. Luckily, my boss’s dad (91 years old by the way!) is very handy. I showed him a picture that I found online. It was basically one large center panel, 4x8, and two side panels (2x8 each), held on with hinges. He built it, and then my bridesmaid and I painted it. I am so proud of how it turned out. We used a chalkboard paint and chalk paint pens and painted quotes that we love. I purchased props from the dollar store and on clearance after New Years Eve. I put out a selfie stick and I think that our guests had a lot of fun with it!
Invitations are another thing that I didn’t want to spend a lot on. I was able to get a design from Miss Design Berry on Etsy. I loved our invitations because they were so fun and non-traditional. We printed them on Vistaprint during a 60% off sale. My suggestion to anyone would be to get a design that you love, and print yourself. I don’t even know how much we saved by doing this, because I know that the prices of invitations can range a lot. My total cost for invitations was about $125.
(Come on... how freaking cute were these!)
9. Honeymoon Travel Agent ($700 Savings)
If you can’t tell, Disney is my thing. I always book my trips through a travel agent because it doesn’t cost any extra to use them. Their commissions come directly from the place you are traveling to. I think that this is a fact that is unknown to many people. When planning a Disney vacation, I have always and will always use a travel agency. I used Kristin from Magic Carpet Destinations. She specializes in Disney, but she can help plan any trip. What’s really great about using a travel agent, is that whenever a new deal or discount comes out, they will help reflect that onto your trip. I know that I don’t feel like sitting on hold with Disney reservations for 4+ hours trying to amend a reservation.... Kristin took care of this for us. Kristin helped us save over $700 on our dream Disneymoon! Other benefits of using a travel agent, especially for a Disney vacation, is that she will help you book your dining, fast passes, and more. We had an issue with one of our dining reservations and she was on the phone right away to fix it. Visit her website and reach out to her if you need help planning your vacation or honeymoon.
10. Wedding Rings ($1,800 Savings)
His Band: For Brandon’s band we used JVL Jewelry. I was able to find a coupon code online for a FREE wedding band (Originally $300). At first I thought, could this be real? Well... it was. We love his tungsten wedding band and I know that it has a lifetime warranty. We only needed to pay $25 for shipping & handling. Take it from me, this deal was not “too good to be true”.
My Band: My engagement ring is from Kohls, Simply Vera by Vera Wang. I get so many compliments on it! While I’m not sure what exactly Brandon spent, I do know that he took a page from my book and used coupons, went when there was a sale, and got lots of Kohls cash back. I wanted to get a wedding band that complimented my beautiful engagement ring. I went on Black Friday, where I was able to get 70% off plus $15 for every $50 spent. When all was said and done, I saved $1,500 on my wedding band AND I got lots of Kohls cash back... which we used to buy some of the pieces for Brandon’s wedding attire.
(HIDDEN MICKEY... Thank you Katie!)
11. Transportation (Saved $1,550+)
We had a large bridal party: 10 Bridesmaids + 11 Groomsmen. I needed to find transportation for everyone from the ceremony venue to the reception venue, and back to the hotel afterwards. For the amount of people that we had, we needed a party bus or a large vehicle that could accommodate everyone. The average quote that I received was $1,000 each way. I couldn’t get myself to spend that much on a 20 minute ride. Through recommendations, I found a shuttle service on Long Island called Cardinal Car Service. We were able to transport everyone there and back for a total of $450. Awesome customer service, a clean vehicle, and enough space for all of our friends. We were even able to fit the “plus ones” on the ride back to the hotel with us. The bus was not fancy.. didn’t have any crazy lights or features, but when you have the best bridal party in the world starting our own bus ride sing-a-longs... it was absolutely perfect.
12. Our Band ($3,000 Savings)
Honestly... no matter what they charged... I was booking Peat Moss & The Fertilizers as my wedding band. This was quite possibly the best decision I ever made (okay... besides marrying my best friend). I always loved watching these guys perform at local bars and they have been booking more and more weddings. We knew that we had to have them perform... no matter what the cost. A Friday in March is probably a less busy time for them... so I’m not sure if their rates vary. But the rate that I got was still thousands LESS than other Long Island wedding bands. The dance floor was never empty. We had the best time of our lives and I know that all of our guests had a blast. This band is so talented and the guys are so nice.
*A DJ will probably cost less than a band, if you are looking for the least expensive option. But for us, this was something we really wanted.
13. Decorations & DIY Projects (Savings - Hundreds!)
I don’t have a total here... but I know we saved hundreds by doing things ourselves and waiting for SALES! I am a deal chaser. A lot of my decorations were on clearance after Christmas, New Years, and Valentines Day.
Our Card Box: I purchased a blank, white card box on Amazon for $16. Brandon’s aunts transformed it using all kinds of materials from Michaels. This would’ve cost us so much more if we purchased something like this. Best part about it is - it’s custom and made with love.
My “must have” Enchanted Rose from Beauty & The Beast:
I bought all of the materials for this on clearance. We kept it on our table and I’m happy that I can keep it as another memory from our big day.
Our Cinderella’s Carriage Decoration
This piece was gorgeous. It was a indoor/outdoor Christmas decoration from Home Depot. Originally $140. And it was huge! We placed it in the entry way into the reception so it was one of the first things that our guests saw when they entered the ballroom. I knew I had to have it... so I waited until December 26th, when all of the Christmas decorations went on clearance. Saved 50% on this beauty & I had a gift card.
Savings on my Bridal Accessories:
I saved money on my veil & headpiece because I simply asked for a discount. My dress and all alterations were from the same place, and some of my bridesmaids ordered their dresses from this store as well. I explained this to the salesperson and asked if there was any discount available since were were purchasing so many items. They agreed to take 25% off of my veil and headpiece.
I found some glass-slipper-esque Michael Kors shoes from Macy’s. I saved $40 on these by waiting for a sale.
14. Savings For Our Bridal Party
We tried to save our bridal party as much as possible. We know how expensive it is to be in a wedding, and we were so grateful for all of the amazing friends that we have.
For our groomsmen, we chose to have them purchase separate pieces in lieu of renting a tuxedo. Renting costs hundreds of dollars, and the outfit needs to be returned the following day. We had them purchase shoes, pants, and shirts through Kohls. I tried to set them up with sales whenever they came along. They got their vests from Mens Warehouse. We waited until they had their “Buy One, Get One Free” sale. This cut the cost of each vest in half. I believe that overall, the outfits cost around $175. BUT they get to KEEP their entire outfit so I think that it worked out really well. AND they looked so handsome.
For my girls, I wanted them to pick their own dresses. My colors were “Blush & Champagne”. This was a little risky, because I wasn’t super sure if the dresses would go together. But they were absolutely stunning. Every girl had a different body type and different budget. Some girls were able to get their dresses for $69. Others spent more. I just wanted them to be comfortable financially and feel great in the dress that they chose.
NEGOTIATE. I was almost always able to discuss a price with all of my vendors that I was comfortable with.
DO YOUR RESEARCH. Know what other venues and vendors are charging.
UTILIZE SOCIAL MEDIA. I was very fortunate to be a member of a fantastic Facebook group called “Long Island Brides & Beyond”. It’s a group of hundreds of women who live on Long Island, asking each other questions and giving each other wedding related advice. Any time that I had a question or needed a referral, I reached out to these women without hesitation.
Social Media and wedding sites are great ways to find vendors that are within your price range and you can read reviews from other brides.
SPEND THE MONEY ON THE THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU. I can’t stress this enough. For us, a fancy car or flowers were not important. But if they are to you, find something else that might not be so important and cut there instead. For us, Music, Food, & Photo/Video were the most important aspects.
TRY TO REMEMBER that this is only ONE DAY of your life. What will you remember about this day? What will your guests remember? “Oh wow did you see those charger plates!?!” ... I don’t think so.
YOU WILL HAVE EXPENSES YOU NEVER THOUGHT OF. You will never be prepared for this no matter how hard you try.
OKAY so we SAVED more than $20,000 and still had the best night of our lives. Granted, we still spent more than I will ever accept. There is no way to avoid it. I know that some of the things that I discussed might not work for you, and that’s okay. I know that some people must get married on a busy day or peak time of year due to their jobs or other factors. I know that some of the things that weren’t important to us might be important to other people.
I would not change one thing about our wedding.
Remember to just enjoy it. The months leading up to my wedding were extremely stressful. I had a full on break down over the seating chart. Now that it’s all over, I can breathe. It all goes by so fast so make sure that on the day of your wedding you just sit back and appreciate all of your hard work. You deserve a drink from that open bar. You deserve to dance so much that your feet hurt for a week after.
