There are a ton of wedding planning hacks out there in google-land and some of them are pretty good. However, a lot of them are quite un-helpful because maybe you’ve never baked a cake in your life, and you don’t intend to start with your wedding cake. Or maybe the thought of creating your own signs with the help of Canva and Officeworks just gives you nightmares. DIY isn’t in everyone’s skill set and that’s where most of the planning and budget hacks seem to fall.
So today I’m sharing with you the secret to saving the most stress AND the most money. A planning hack for all the engaged couples out there who are deep in the trenches, who can’t contemplate the DIY deal, and are hoping to create their dream wedding day. You ready?
Keep your Vendor Team Tight
And by that, I mean if you can do your best to keep the list of vendors you're working with as small as possible, you will save yourself both a ton of stress, and a ton of money, which you can then spend on espresso martinis whilst congratulating yourself on being so clever 🍸
But how do you go about making this happen? I’m giving you that little gold nugget too.
When you’re researching vendors for each element of your wedding, look for the ones who can multi-task.
For example -
* Some photographers/videographers can also supply a photobooth
* Some stationers can provide more than invitations, with other creative items such as signs, bonbonniere, and even customised jackets in their wheelhouse.
* Some bakers can provide cake stands and custom cake toppers as well as the cake itself.
Utilise your vendor's talents to multi-task for you as much as possible, and as the big day gets closer you won't have nearly so many people to communicate with or logistics to handle. That’s the part where you’ve reduced your stress enormously.
One of the biggest areas where you can achieve this is with your rentals and decor. It particularly applies at a dry hire venue where you have to supply every last item yourself, but it’s also useful at any venue you’ve chosen. Try to find a hire supplier that can fulfil as much of your decor needs as possible, the one who has your particular wedding style in stock, whether it’s rustic, vintage, modern or something else. Every time you add a new hire vendor to your list, you're committing to pay another delivery and pick-up fee, and that eats up money super-quick. That’s the part where you’ve saved a heap of cash.
For the weddings I work on I generally recommend having one linen supplier, one lighting designer, and a maximum of two more hire suppliers for things like furniture, cutlery, crockery, backdrops, candleholders, table numbers, wishing wells and all the rest.
Of course, building an all-star vendor team is one of the areas where Sparrow excels! If you'd like to start your wedding planning by putting us on your team, don't hesitate to reach out. Fill out the Contact form here and we’ll be in touch before you can say ‘fairy godmother’ 😉
