How to have a cheap wedding, by Josh Withers

Most wedding vendors would scoff if they were asked to write a guide on how to have a cheap wedding, but not yours truly. I love a challenge. (If you want to model the numbers, the wedding budget calculator is a good place to start.)

So here’s my quick hits on how to have a cheap wedding:

• Invite less people. Every person you invite mutliples the cost of your wedding. Mo’ people, mo’ dollars.
• Get married closer to home. Transport, accomodation, flights, for you, your family, and friends, all adds up real quick.
• Reduce your expectations. Expectations are the most costly thing we carry as people. If your expectations are high then your budget needs to match. Low expectations create a low budget. Here are cheerful, cheeky additions you can add to your “How to have a cheap wedding” quick hits section, in your voice:
• Ditch the three-course dinner. Nobody will die if they eat Maccas or pizza. Feed people what you can afford.
• Wear what you want. White dress, op-shop suit, or your favourite pair of jeans. It’s your wedding, not the Met Gala.
• Skip the fancy invites. Shoot your peeps a text, email, or a Facebook Event will do the job.
• Do your own music. Dance to a Spotify ad!
• Cut the cake budget. Woolies mud cake tower, anyone?
• Skip the favours. We might not want another tiny jar of jam.
• Plugged-in wedding. If you don’t value fancy camera photos made by an artist get everyone to use their phones. Just make sure they clean the camera lens first. Finger smudge on the iPhone camera lens is the number one reason people think their phone cameras suck. That and the fact they might not be a good photographer.
• Elope. A wedding by definition is you hosting people, and hosting people costs. Eloping is for you. IF you don’t want to host, elope.
• Get me as your celebrant for free. If you’ll post a Reel or TikTok about choosing your celebrant and tag me, my creator discount refunds your booking fee at 50,000 views and the entire ceremony fee at 150,000 views.

Ready to talk pricing for your wedding? Get in touch and we’ll figure out the cheapest way to do this properly.