Indian weddings are famous for their extravagant week-long celebrations complete with resplendent ceremonies. You simply cannot cut them short; and you certainly cannot make them a private affair by inviting just a handful of guests. Can you compromise on the food menu? No-we didn’t think so. Then how are you going to have a wedding within a budget of 5 lakh INR? The idea is not impossible- you can do it thanks to the following pointers!
How to plan a budget wedding under 5 lakhs
1. Save for your wedding in advance
A little bit of saving each month can go a long way when it comes to a wedding. If you are just out of college and have recently got your first job, then open a wedding fund from your first month’s salary and make it a recurring savings account. Even 5000 INR a month can help you save more than 3,00,000 INR in five years. That’s a whopping 60% of your total wedding budget!
2. Make a detailed wedding budget
If the date has been fixed the first thing you need to do is fix a budget. Sit with your family and, if possible, your partner-to-be, and decide upon a particular budget that meets expectations of both families. Break down it into all the main categories such as attire, food, venue, decoration etc. Now, prioritise the list according to your preference. If you want to dress in a designer wedding attire then it could cost you anything upto INR 50k . But if you want ace designers such as Sabyasachi to design your wedding wear then it’d easily cost you at least INR 2.5 lakhs. So, if you want to dress like a Bollywood actress, you might want to slash down other costs.
3. Go off-season
Just by planning an off-season wedding, you can save as much as 40% of your budget. From photographers to wedding caterers, you can easily bargain your way down with all wedding vendors during an off-season. For those who tend to consult their family astrologers for an auspicious date, an off-season date could be a challenge to fix. If you can find a way to manage this problem, a big chunk of money could be easily saved.
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4. Hire a wedding planner
Contrary to the popular notion that hiring a wedding planner can shoot up the wedding budget, it can actually help you reduce the cost. A wedding planner can find you the best possible options within your budget. In fact, the planner can help you find the best deals which could be otherwise difficult for a non-professional to figure out.
5. Make it a destination wedding
Not joking! A destination wedding can indeed be an excellent idea if you are on a budget. A destination wedding gives you the liberty to make it a consolidated event to save a lot of time and energy. At the same time, you can limit your guest list to some extent. You can even choose a foreign destination within this budget. A lot of not-so-willing guests tend to opt out of such far away destination weddings because they don’t want to bear the airfares.
6. Trim your wedding list
Whether it’s a destination wedding or not, there’s little logic behind continuing the great-Indian legacy of inviting endless number of guests. So, try to rationalise it a bit. Also, make RSVP a must. It can save you from wastage of food and lots of unnecessary arrangements.
7. Digital invitation is the best
About 80% of your guests check their email inbox more often than their letter box. Hence, it makes absolute sense to send your wedding invitation by email instead of investing 40,000 INR on printing elaborately decorated invitations and other wedding stationeries. Of course, you will need quite a few of such stationeries for the special guests and close family members.
8. Try other less-hyped venues
How about a wedding at a heritage palace or a beautiful cottage atop a hill instead of a 5-star banquet? It’d be a unique experience for you as well as your wedding guests. Moreover, you will be able to save INR 1 lakh or more from your venue budget.
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