Off-season Weddings Part 2: Still saving you some serious money...

May 08, 2015

Last time I mentioned the off-season savings for your venue and accommodation but that’s just the beginning in price differences when compared to summer weddings (Oct-Mar).

Wedding Dress

From late March the majority of bridal gown boutiques, stores, and websites will heavily markdown their stock of last season gowns to make room on the racks for their next range. These are commonly known as Sample Sales and can mean crazy price reductions - sometimes even up to 80% off and above. Keep an eye out for outlet sample sales coming up because these will often stock some impressive designer gowns at amazing prices - but you’ll need your running shoes and elbows out that day to get your hands on your dream dress before the bridezillas get to it!

Catering

This isn’t necessarily an on-season/off-season tip for catering but in saying that caterers are at their busiest in summer. As you’ll probably come to realise during your wedding planning whenever the word ‘wedding’ is mentioned when requesting a quote there is usually a separate price list or cost specific to this occasion. This more often than not also means, unfortunately, that these prices are inflated. This is especially true for catering, so if you can get away with it, try not to mention you need catering for a wedding of 80 guests. Instead enquire into the cost for a function of 80 guests. Once you’ve paid your deposit the word ‘wedding’ should then be safe and so will your conscious knowing you’re not paying more than you need to.

Flowers

Big money saver here - talk to your florist about what flowers will in season for your off-season wedding date (this goes for all weddings regardless of the time of year) and weather they can buy an assortment of flowers in bulk on your behalf from the markets for your arrangements and bouquets. Yes, you might not get the two-dozen bouquet of tulips you wanted, which my florist friend tells me are tricky flowers for wedding bouquets anyway, but you’ll have some amazing colours and different sized flowers to work with without blowing your budget.

Off-season weddings are much better than the title ‘off-season’ suggests. You can save a lot of money and stress choosing a wedding date from April through to September. Once you pick a date though the rest is easy, good luck! x