Weddings are exciting events that most people, if not all, look forward to because it is an event that happens just once in a lifetime. No matter the type of person you are, you definitely want to have a day that you can re-live any time after that.
But in the face of creating the best day for you and your spouse, you don’t want to go “broke” before starting your “happily-ever-after” journey.
However, in these times of economic hardships and non-stop inflation, some money decisions should be well thought through.
Meanwhile, your budget or how much you are willing to expend should be part of things to consider when deciding to plan a wedding.
You don’t need a 1million dollars to have a beautiful memorable wedding. All you need is good planning.
Conduct a market survey with your budget in mind.
Dare to be different. Having a mind of your own and choosing to stand out in a time where viral weddings are a thing will save you and yours a great deal of cash to build your future home.
Getting a venue for your wedding is by far one of the most expensive parts of planning a wedding.
So now, here are five cheap budget-friendly wedding ideas you can consider
- Court/Civil weddings
Having a court wedding is one of the simplest cost-saving weddings one can have. All you need is an outfit, a few family members, and the fee for registration.
The approved fees for marriage registration in Ghana according to myhealthbasics are, GH¢85. 00 for both the filing of a Notice of Marriage and Issue of a Registrar’s Certificate; and GH¢160 for Celebration of Marriage (Official Marriage Ceremony). After registering, the marriage in the presence of witnesses, you are done. Whatever you choose next is up to you and your spouse; whether to have a wedding dinner with a few close friends or just go straight for a honeymoon.
- Wedding and Reception at one venue.
Church weddings are also very cost-effective because you do not have to pay for any venue to be able to have the wedding. But most people will usually have a wedding reception at a different location, and that is where the cost comes in. So, to keep it low, the wedding reception, which includes the cutting of the wedding cake, sharing of food and drinks can be done right at the church’s premises.
- Strictly by invitation
One feature of weddings that bloat costs are the number of people that attend. Therefore, trimming the number of invited guests to a sizeable amount will help you cut costs extensively. You should be able to choose the number of people to attend your wedding, limited to family, close friends and close acquaintances.
- Traditional marriage
The Ghanaian traditional wedding rites are one of the low budget weddings in Ghana.
Apart from satisfying the demands of the family of the bride, through the payment of the bride price, the main engagement ceremony also known as the traditional marriage is done mostly in the homes of the bride, meaning the cost of acquiring a venue is absorbed.
People who attend are also mostly family members and close friends thus the number of invited guests also reduces. A small number of guests equal low cost.
- ‘California girl’
Just recently there was a viral video of a lady in California who had a very low-budget wedding where guests had to buy their own food. This really went down well because food and drinks are one of the components that inflate the costs of weddings.
This has not been heard of in Ghana yet, and it is not clear whether Ghanaians will patronize the idea of this kind of wedding but it is a very cost-effective way of having a wedding reception.