Tips on budget guzzlers from wedding essentials

Scenario 1

You know you are below budget from the start but you want to have a wedding. What are some of the ways you can go about arranging for your dream day at a minimal cost?

Guest list

Looking after your guests, who may have spent aconsiderable amount to be with you, should be your mostimportant concern. So think seriously about the number.It’s better to invite fifty and look after them well, than tryto stretch your resources. Make out a guest list – if in doubt,ask yourself, would you be insulted if they did not invite youto their wedding? Work out how many are likely to comeand then you will know how much you will roughly spendper head. Remember, food is a very big budget driver as it takes up almost 50% of the total wedding budget.

Ask for help

Depending on how creative your friends and family are, askthem to help in all sorts of ways. But never allow someoneto take over responsibility for an area in which they have noprevious experience. For most girls the greatest priority isthe dress, which I think is a mistake. You can have the mostbeautiful wedding dress and it does not have to be worththousands of shillings. What is most important is that it fitscomfortably and emphasizes your best features. Similarly,it is a needless expense to have ten bridesmaids or even smoother the church with flowers, when few well placed arrangements, highlighting the building’s best features, can be as effective.

Double your pleasure – group wedding

This is good for friends, cousins or even brothers. You probably have the same family friends, common friends and relatives. If you do decide on a double wedding, there’s a great deal of “killing two birds with one stone” to do.Fortunately, most of it saves you money. You send out oneinvitation for both couples, buy one set of flowers, have aDJ or band. It would be best for everyone’s eyes and earsif the level of style and formality between the two weddingparties was the same. Long, flowing burgundy dresses in one party and red polka-dotted mini-skirts in another will not make for a pretty picture. Similarly, it’s doubtful thatyour DJ will appreciate alternating heavy-metal tunes forone couple with classical recordings for the other.

Let’s say a sister, close friend, or relative wants to share your wedding day. You, of course, would tell her to Get Lost.Okay, maybe you’re glad to share this day with someone who’s special to you. Whoever the special person is, the two of you will have memories to share for the rest of your lives.Before you consent to a double wedding, realisticallyconsider your relationship with the other couple. If thetwo of you are likely to be pulling each other’s hair out atthe altar, or have drastically different opinions on religion,fashion, music, or other issues, you may want to “just sayno” rather than risk any embarrassment at the wedding. Inother words, you should only agree to a double weddingif the memories you and your potential fellow couple willshare for years to come are likely to be pleasant ones.The main piece of protocol to be aware of in a doublewedding is that the older of the two brides proceeds downthe aisle first with her wedding party, and does other keythings first. As you might imagine, two full wedding partiescan get rather large, so find a place that can accommodateeveryone. Aside from the fact that everything is done twice,the double wedding can be just like any other wedding.As far as bridal showers and other pre-wedding events go,it’s up to you and the others involved to decide whether ornot to do things jointly. It’s certainly easier on everyone elseif the two of you have a joint shower, but if either of youfeels the need to retain a sense of individuality, you mighttactfully request doing some things separately.

Cocktail reception

Serving hors d’oeuvres (bitings) and appetizers at your reception is not only one of the hottest trends in catering,but also affordable. The secret is to have your caterer keep the preparations simple and the ingredients inexpensive.Include an assortment of meat and vegetarian samosas,spring rolls and kebabs. Presentation is very important. For example, if people walk in and the food is appealing and tastes good, it makes an impression.

Destination weddings

For less than Kshs.100,000 your groom and you can have a real wedding complete with God’s blessings. Many hotels are now offering wedding packages for example the Whitesands hotel.

That’s all folks!

It is not common but an idea that few have tried. Couples without a budget for a reception go ahead and invite guests for the ceremony only. Let your guests know in advance though. After the church service you leave for your honeymoon or to your first night venue. Or alternatively organise for a small cocktail drink.This is what you should do. First, review all your expenditures; menu, music, flowers, everything. Then consult each vendor to figure out where it’s possible to cut costs or change choices without reneging on your agreements. Many service providers told us that they would be willing to work out a solution with couples in a genuine financial crisis.In this section, professional wedding planners and service providers give advice on budgeting for the big day and surprising brilliant suggestions on how to reduce your expenses without sacrificing your dream.

No couple wants to go into debt in the name of wedding budgets and start off the marriage in liabilities. For a perfectly budgeted wedding and honeymoon, carefully itemize each expense to make it a groan-free success. You will be paying out a lot and small items seem to add up and if you are not careful, you can easily go over the budget.

Who pays for what?

A wedding planner, Patricia, from Wedding Essentials says there are no hard and fast rules as to who pays for what. From her experience it’s the couple that pays for the wedding with the support of their family and friends. Traditionally, the African custom dictates that the groom and his family pay for most of the expenses. So in most cases, you’ll find that many times it’s the groom’s side who take care of the larger side of the cost and the smaller costs like the tents and flowers, the bride plays a dominant role because the theme is normally the bride’s. So together with the groom, they will have to put their money together and decide how much they are going to spend on the different things and to have a contingency. Sometimes depending on the financial status of the couple and their respective families, costs may be shared on any item related to the wedding. While some parents may offer a cash gift for the couple to choose how they want to spend it, offers of cash from uncles, aunties, and grandparents are common but not expected. In the western world and Asian communities, the bride pays for the whole wedding including dowry where applicable.

Gone are the days that couples had to rigidly follow traditional rules and customs. More and more couples are opting for the modern way of setting a wedding and many times, there really are no rules or division of duties. Both parties can agree to share the expenses of the wedding, or the bride and groom can decide to pay for it themselves. Rules are bending or being bent to accommodate the bride and groom’s wishes which are the most important in the end. Couples usually save up for their wedding if they decide to pay for it on their own. Sometimes if the expenses become a tad staggering for them, they may ask for help from close friends or relatives.

Who Pays for What?

Most of you (40%) are paying for your own wedding, of these 64% are using their own savings, while a small percentage (14%) is getting loans from the bank. 18% of you are asking friends to assist you, while 8% of you have your parents financing your wedding. In comparison, 99% of the Asian brides told us their family is paying for the wedding.

How much are People Spending on Weddings?

On average the African bride (51%) is spending Ksh500,000 to Ksh1.5 million, while 19% spend below Ksh500,000. 12% spend over Ksh1.5million. 5.3% are spending over Ksh2.5 million. On average the Asian bride is spending not less than Ksh5 million. The average guest list is not less than 3000, with most holding not less than three parties.

Her Hand in Marriage

99% of the grooms are still the ones popping the big question, of those 43% go down on one knee half the time over a romantic dinner.

Wedding Planning Stress

Surprise, coping with your mother in-law and dealing with both families is the least stressful thing about organizing your wedding. Issues with financial planning ranked first, followed by traditional ceremonies, guest list, and balancing your job with planning weddings, in that order.

The First Night

62 % of you told us that you plan to stay in a hotel for the first night while all of you plan to go for honeymoon. 51% of you will travel to a domestic destination, while 42% plan foreign travel. The rest of you are not sure.

Big Day Beauty

Most of you are planning to change your usual cosmetic brand with more emphasis being on lipstick, perfume and eye shadow. Advertising and magazine articles are still Influencing your choice of a cosmetic brand for your big day beauty