Planning a wedding can be a major undertaking. Booking the venue, finding the vendors, managing the guest list…. All of these things can be extremely stressful and take away from couples enjoying their day.
If you feel your wedding planning is getting out of hand, there are many things you can eliminate from your day to reduce the stress. In fact, elopement or getting married at a courthouse are always possibilities! But if you want to make a compromise that is somewhere in the middle, here are some things you can definitely do without!
A Gift Registry
Gift registries are convenient ways to let your guests know what items you will be needing to start on your married life. However, they can be timely to create and they are not absolutely necessary.
Instead of a gift registry, you can include a brief note in your invitations letting guests know what kinds of things you are looking for. You can also provide guidance for those who specifically ask.
The Abundance of Guests
When couples get married, many of them feel it’s necessary to invite everyone they’ve ever known in their entire lives. However, limiting your guest list will make your wedding easier to deal with from the get go.
Less guests mean you can save money by renting a smaller venue and ordering less food. You will have fewer invites to send out and you will spend less time chasing after guests to find out whether or not they can make it. You will also have less people to deal with at your reception and ceremony so you can focus on your new spouse and truly enjoy your day.
If you are afraid people might become insulted if you do not invite them to your wedding, simply explain to them that your having an intimate affair. It’s likely they will understand.
Bridesmaids and Groomsmen
Yep, these are not necessary either. Believe it or not, couples can still get married without having a huge wedding party. What’s more, your besties may be relieved to not have to buy an expensive outfit of your choosing that they will probably never wear again!
Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties & Wedding Planning
Some couples may insist on celebrating to say good-bye to their single lives. If this is a rite of passage you can’t go without, so be it.
However, remember bachelor parties don’t have to be elaborate affairs with a bunch of your friends getting drunk and taking a limo to a strip club. You can just hang at home and binge watch your favorite Netflix series or head out for a couple of drinks.
On the other hand, you can skip bachelor and bachelorette parties completely and you might not even miss them.
Servers
Instead of hiring a bunch of servers to serve food and drink at your wedding, try going buffet style. Set up an attractive table where people can get their own foods, drinks and desserts. Not only will you save on time, money and stress, this will add a casual atmosphere to your wedding that will be more fun for you and your guests.
The Cake
You really can’t have a wedding without some sort of dessert. However, a cake can be quite expensive and the truth is, a good amount of most wedding cakes end up going to waste.
Instead of ordering an entire cake, opt for cupcakes, donuts or pastries. This way guests can take as much as they want and food won’t end up going to waste. You’ll also end up saving a pretty penny!
Decorations and Supplies
Most couples will want their weddings to be vibey, but you don’t have to invest a lot of money with over the top decorations and supplies. If you are handy, you can create your own decorations.
You can also rely on what you already have mixing and matching furniture items and using mason jars as drink mugs and flower vases. This will provide a boho chic vibe that will add to the fun atmosphere of the wedding.
The Bouquet and Garter Toss
Not only are these traditions unnecessary; they are a bit antiquated.
The idea of women pushing each other out of the way to catch a bouquet that means they will be next to be married is not exactly in line with feminist thinking.
And the whole garter thing is just kind of creepy. In this tradition, the husband takes a garter off his bride’s leg to toss it to his guy friends so they will be the next to marry. Just weird.
Now, if you insist on including these things in your wedding ceremony, we’re not going to judge you. However, they are kind of unnecessary and eliminating them means one less thing you have to think about.
Wedding Planning and Assigned Seating
Assigned seating may seem like a small detail. It just might be more trouble than it’s worth. You have to think about each of your guests, who they get along with and where it will be most convenient to seat them.
Then you have to make sure they know exactly where they will be seated by providing everyone with some sort of name at their setting or by giving them notice of their seating in advance.
You will also have to deal with the possibility that they might be unhappy where they are seated and they may complain, get insulted and ask that you move their positioning.
It may just be easier to avoid this drama and let guests sit where they want. This will also make them feel as if they are free to roam around. It will also lighten up the atmosphere at your party.
So, there you have it. Nine things that you can eliminate from your wedding planning to make it less stressful and less expensive. Which of these will you be crossing off your list?
