Marriages may be made in heaven but if only they could be solemnized there too.

Marriages made in heaven, what about the exorbitant expenditure?

 Every bride and groom could fulfill their vision of a perfect wedding, in an idyllic setting with as many guests and fanciful embellishments as they desired, without spending a penny on it. However, it only gets this good in dreams.

In real life, a wedding means weeks of nervous anxiety for all concerned, starting from the day the dates are decided to the moment when the final reception is over. Compounding this anxiety is the dip that you can see in your bank balance, every time a ceremony takes place.

Create a budget

As parents, the first step you should take is to chalk out what you can afford to spend on the wedding. Be realistic and do not allow yourself to be guided by emotions at this critical stage.

This needs to be followed up with an estimation of the different areas of expenditure such as clothes, jewellery, gifts, food, and decor and how much you want to allocate towards each of them.

Doing this allows you to make prioritize as well as take decisions, which are realistic and practical. Meanwhile, keep your eyes open to over-spending on any particular element.

Always keep the bride/groom privy to your plans at every stage to prevent misunderstandings. However, if you find yourself worrying over where you can cut costs, then here are a few practical alternatives.

Limit the numbers

Step back and ask yourself just how many ceremonies you actually need before and after the wedding. Both brides and grooms have had as many as six-seven ceremonies each in the past but it is possible to bring this number down to about three or four.

For instance, many families are now combining ceremonies such as the wedding and the reception to save unnecessary expenses. Also if the relationship between the families is extremely good, you could decide to have joint functions and divide the expense equally.

Here’s another game you can play with numbers. Inviting 1,500-2,000 guests to your wedding may make you the talk of the town, but tapering your guest list by about 200-300 people could give you that little extra you needed to add an exotic element to the decor or dessert in the wedding buffet.

If you are worried about hurting sentiments, divide your guest list such that different people are invited to different ceremonies.

Also, keep your invitation card simple and classy and cut out the huge hampers and gifts accompanying the card. Limit the number of cards printed and send online cards to as many as possible.

Keep it simple

Also remember that it is not always necessary to spend huge sums to have a glamorous or a classy look. If you have a good wedding planner, he/she definitely has the skills to achieve the same look at a far lesser cost.

Wedding decor has taken a more minimalistic turn. So if you don’t want to use hand-embroidered velvet for your tents, then there are simpler and cheaper alternatives such as using velvet with prints on them or even thick satin.

Similarly, creating the basic paraphernalia for a wedding like the mandap, a small backdrop, a well-decorated entrance, using domestically available flowers and props is possible at a mere Rs 50, 000 while it could even go beyond Rs 10-15 lakh.

Jewellery is yet another segment where you are likely to see huge spends, especially for wedding. With gold prices at an all-time high hovering around Rs 15,000 (per 10 grams) mark, you could consider looking for alternatives like using jewellery that has been handed down in the family or use gold-polished jewellery or even switch to silver.

In fact, this year, many brides have actually decided on fake jewellery owing to the higher prices of gold.

Stick to your hometown

Coming to wedding destinations, in the current scenario, it would make greater economic sense to limit your weddings to Indian soil or even to your hometown.

This allows you to enlist the services of contacts that you have made in the past as well as the specialized skills of people in the family.

However, with hotel rates and flight rates having dipped drastically, you have the chance to explore your options, provided you have the time and the ability to evaluate them carefully.

However, many NRIs who were looking at arranging a wedding in India are now conducting marriages in their hometown, as this would help them cut numbers.

The best bit is that with the slowdown many people, even those who can afford it, have become careful with their spending and have stopped the ostentatious display of wealth. In an atmosphere like this, a few less bells and whistles may not seem to be as grievous an error as it would be in normal times.