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Outdoor Summer Wedding Ideas on a Budget

Know how to budget outdoor summer weddings.
Priya Johnson
Planning weddings on a budget is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about! Blowing up just too much money on a single day's event is also nothing to be proud of! It's always good to be frugal and prudent. Weddings are elaborate affairs and there are so many arrangements to be made.
In such cases, how can one cut down the costs? Outdoor summer weddings are always fun to plan and attend. However, how does one plan a decent and elegant summer wedding on a budget. Let's find out!
One major factor that will drastically reduce one's wedding expenses is the guest list. Curtail the number of guests and you can easily reduce the cost involved in the wedding. By tightening the costs involved in the venue, flowers, food, favors and other arrangements, one can reduce the overall wedding cost. Let's have a look as to how:

Venue

Beaches, scenic landmarks, parks, historic estates, etc. may be some outstanding outdoor wedding ideas, however, prove expensive. For weddings on a budget, one's very own backyard will be perfect. This way you wouldn't have to pay for the venue.
Moreover, if you have a friend who owns an extensive yard or resort, you can ask him or her to allow you to conduct the wedding there. Weddings conducted in parks or backyards have trees, flowering plants and other decorative plants growing, which already look very pretty.
This reduces the amount of decoration you have to do. You could even use casual themes for your summer wedding such as the backyard barbecue theme. All this will reduce overall wedding expenses.

Dresses

Gowns and dresses for the bride, bridesmaids and flower girls should be bought when the best deals are in the market. Specialty stores and bridal boutiques offer the best bargains on bridal gowns. Wedding dress will depend on the wedding theme.
Stick to common colors for your wedding, as this will reduce the expenses. Choosing unusual, unique colors will result in higher costs, because the bridesmaids' dresses and flower girls' dresses will not be available easily and may cost more to get them custom-made.
Moreover, do not have too many bridesmaids. Stick to one or two bridesmaids. This will reduce the number of dresses you have to buy, thereby lowering your overall costs.

Food

Keep the food simple. Avoid keeping dishes that need to be served warm. This eliminates the need of heating lamps or ovens. Consider the sandwich style buffet. If you have relatives who can cook, ask them to prepare the food.
You can save money on the wedding cake by baking it yourself. Again, if you have a friend or relative who can bake you one, it will be great! This will definitely reduce your overall wedding expenses. You could also replace the traditional tiered cake with simple single-tier cake.

Flowers

Buying seasonal flowers will reduce your expenses considerably. Moreover, avoid choosing exotic flowers. Stick to the common flowers like gladiolas, roses or zinnias.
These flowers will be available at a lower cost. Moreover, try sticking to one or two types of flowers only. The more the types of flowers you incorporate, the higher your costs will be. Buying just one or two types of flowers in bulk from the flower vendor will help you get the flowers at discounted rates, thereby reducing your overall wedding expense.

Decorations

Since you have opted for an outdoor wedding, you have mother nature giving you most of the ambiance. The flowers, the trees, shrubs and ornamental plants make the place look great.
All you have to do is a bit of touch up. Make sure the grass is mowed and the lawn is cleaned-up well. Have additional potted flowering plants brought to the venue and arranged in a pleasing way. For the decorations have outdoor lighting, candles, ribbons, laces and other such inexpensive wedding decorations. Same goes for the wedding centerpieces as well.

Favors

The best way to save money on favors is by making them yourself. This does not literally mean you have to make 250 favors. Gather your close friends and have them help you. The material for the favors can be picked up in bulk, which will further reduce the cost.
Since you are hosting a summer wedding, you can give tanning lotions or sunscreens to your guests along with the wedding favors.
You can get them in wholesale, thereby availing them at cheaper rates. Outdoor wedding ideas give you enough scope to plan a lovely wedding within a particular budget. An outdoor ambiance is in itself charming, and one has to only do a little to enhance the feel.
If you want to stick to your budget, start with the wedding budget amount and then work backwards. Allot certain amount of money from the final budget to food, dresses, decorations, flowers, favors, etc. and make sure you work within the limits. Summer wedding ideas are great options for weddings! All the best!