Not all of us can afford the luxury of spending a ridiculous amount of money on our wedding or even if you can sometimes it just does not make sense to. You can turn your destination wedding from an extravagant cost to a money saving deal.
The goal is to plan your wedding so that everything goes smoothly and you can relax and enjoy the day. This will largely depend on the wedding vendors that you choose. So, let’s go through some tips on how to choose the perfect wedding vendors with affordable prices.
1. A wedding planner
When you start to search for the perfect wedding vendors first question that comes to mind is whether or not you should hire a wedding planner. If you are someone who loves organizing events even if they are just parties at home, you won`t freak out if something goes wrong (e.g. the flowers don`t match tablecloths or the cheap table runners for sale that are used to dress up the tables) and you are not short on time why not take the responsibility on yourself. Otherwise, hire a planner and that will save you a lot of stress. Also, your wedding planner in The Dominican Republic can help you find other great vendors like photographers and florists etc. because they know everybody and can offer special deals and packages to meet your budget needs.
2. A Photographer
You might be able to save on a wedding planner, flowers and invites, but saving on a photographer is not recommended. Everybody will forget about the flowers, flaws in organization and someone’s drunk antics, but the photos will capture your precious memories for generations to come. Hire a local photographer in the Dominican Republic to save on travel expenses and be confident that they know magical hidden places for spectacular photo shoots. An experienced photographer will know many wedding vendors and you won`t puzzle over the question of where to find them?
3. Hair and make up
If you know your way around a make-up brush you can probably save on a make-up artist. Apply natural make up, add some highlights and the sun will make you shine. Similar to the make-up a natural approach can be taken with your hair. Use the Dominican Republic`s laid-back atmosphere to your favor, curl your hair into nice waves and fix them in place with a spray. These tips are all that you need to look gorgeous at the seaside.
4. Venue
One option is to find an all-inclusive hotel that offers reasonably priced wedding packages. Fortunately, this is a common practice in The Dominican Republic. The other option is to be creative and get married in an unexpected place – like a deserted beach or natural park etc. In order to save on catering, find a local family restaurant and ask them to prepare a cocktail party for you.
5. Invites
Go green and use digital invites – it will save you money and trees. The same tactic can be applied to the maps and thank you notes. Bonus: You will give your guests the chance to write back to you. Also, you can make the invites more personal and original by attaching a nice video of yourselves.
5. Flowers
If you were at home you could ask your relatives and friends to help you decorate the venue with flowers, however it may not be so easy at a destination wedding. You can always find ways to save money – choose bigger tables which means fewer center pieces. Remember that less is more. With the lavish nature of the island you don’t need a lot of decoration.
6. Promote your vendors
Every business needs more clients. Negotiate reduced rates with the vendors in exchange for promoting them. You can leave their card at every table or send their contact by email to every guest.
7. The wedding Cake
Who needs a huge cake at a beach wedding when you can offer fresh fruit to your guests? Choose local fruits in season and you will not only make your guests happy, but will save a great deal.
There are many small sweets shops on the island where you can purchase local sweets and give them to your guests as presents. This is a nice traditional Dominican wedding touch that will cost you close to nothing.
8 Don’t mention the word wedding
When looking for the wedding vendors in the Dominican Republic be sure to forget the word – wedding. When they hear it they usually jack up the prices.
9. Music
If one of your guests (friends, colleagues) sings or plays an instrument don’t be shy about asking them to help out. They may even feel flattered. Otherwise, there is a delightful Dominican ¨Cantada ceremony¨. Instead of background music or a band guests sing throughout the wedding. It is an easy way to make your wedding more intimate and fun.
10. Follow up on your leads
Do your homework, select the vendors that you want to hire and start following them on social media and sign up for their newsletters. In short, don’t let them fall off your radar. Whenever they offer deals and discounts you will be ready to take advantage of them.
Planning a wonderful wedding on budget is all about compromise. Define your priorities and be ready to let go of less important elements. A wonderful wedding also involves a lot of research – if you put in a bit more effort it will pay off.
Megan Wilson is a Content Manager at Boykophotography.com. She has been working to combine her skills and professional background to bring higher-level perspective into her work. Currently she is sharing her experience and vision on the hot topics from the world of photography.
