I dont want to make my marriage a very extravanagant affair. No one in my family listens to my simple wedding demands and we are having
a proper mehendi (hall booked)
a proper barat event (hall booked)
My dress is costing around RS. 60,000 ( i have saved up some cost from this)
Wedding set - 5 tolas set already there
Guest list - i truly want to bring it down as much as can be, but my parents and others already have quite a long list of their own
I cant figure out where to cut costs; there are many people i really dont want to call but well oh well the melodramas of not calling them are too much to take!
Daffy, there is NOTHING you can do which will be actually listened to. The fact of the matter is that parents themselves get so excited about the entire deal that they take over to a major extent. I tried to cut costs too but I was absolutely brushed away ! :) You can keep your own guest list small but that wont make much of a difference
if your parents are happy with it, u must also b happy ... y want to cut the cost if yr parents can afford or u want to act upon sunnat ?
Its not about being happy; they are happy because they want to do it for me while i think it could go for a better cause and ill be happy if the basics are there. Im not saying a want a very simple wedding, i agree that i do want some of the things of the present day weddings but for that i dont want them to spend lacs of rupees. Anyway, they have decided they will be having the wedding in present day modern style so i just want to try to cut the costs where ever they can be.
Decorations, flowers, favours, entertainment?
Decore & flowers - they already arent that much, just the very basic level
Entertainment - We have a DJ that cost the minimum of rs.5000 which is very very reasonable
I dont see where else it can be cut because we are already going for the basic things but even then the inflation is so much that the overall amount goes around 1 million minimum
Venue and guestlist make the most difference to your cost
You can save on other elements such as decor but I don't think it would be a big difference...
Decor (i think u can save on decor with centrepieces etc), Photog/Video, Makeup, Favours, Invites, other gifts (gift giving for inlaws)... i guess u can save on those areas
1 million rupees = 10 lakhs, right? That's a very reasonable budget for a wedding, DaffyDuck! I know cousins of mine that spent in excess of 70 lakhs (way too much IMO) for their weddings! Well done for budgeting down to that amount!! If you want to go even further, you probably have to adjust the fundamental aspects of the wedding, such as: less costly invitations, make-up, transport, food/drinks, guests, decor, clothing (bari) and amount of jahez/gifts to in-laws.
how about asking your parents to invite just "mr and mrs" where casual acquaintances/work colleagues etc. are concerned
The guest list of the mehendi can also be cut down drastically to very close family and friends
I understand that the per head catering costs have increased significantly now :(
My college roomie's wedding was getting out of hand and I finally calculated the exact cost per guest, wedding favor included and told her parents that by shaving off a mere 10 people how much they were saving. After they saw the hard numbers they were all for keeping the number limited. unfortunately they barely cut any of their friennds and made my roomie cut hers.
Also sometimes we feel obligated to invite not only uncle and aunty, but their kids, and their children's spouse and kids and that's the worst paying per head for a child that barely eats. I really believe that as we are all getting older everyone's family is getting bigger. try to stress to your parents to only invite their friend and not send an invite to all of their married kids. maybe anyone that lives with aunty and uncle's home is invited but not the extras you know? that too really helps.