Save money on your wedding venue with these 9 thrifty tips
In this economy, it almost feels like the cost of buying fresh fruit at the grocery store is about the same as booking your wedding venue.
As most of us are tightening our wallets and seeing our dollars stretch thinner and thinner, weddings are also feeling the pinch. Many couples are opting for a small, intimate or micro wedding as a means to tie the knot on a budget or even getting married in their own backyard. And finding the wedding venue of your dreams without breaking the bank? That feels more like a pipe dream.
However, finding an affordable wedding venue doesn’t have to cause undue stress. Whether you’re booking an Orlando-area wedding venue under $2,000 or just looking to pinch a few pennies, we’re here to share some creative ways to save a few extra dollars on your dream wedding venue.
Save your pennies for a rainy day and try these 9 wallet-friendly tactics to save money on your wedding venue (I guarantee you #8 will surprise you)!
SAVE MONEY ON YOUR WEDDING VENUE WITH THESE 9 THRIFTY TIPS
Get married off-season or on a weekday
While other brides are dreaming of their perfect autumn or spring wedding, thrifty girls know to book their dream wedding venue during off-season. In Central Florida, peak wedding season is typically November to April, and most wedding venues have a separate set of rates for peak season vs. off-season to keep up with demand.
Getting married in Orlando during the summer is a fabulous way to save some serious dollars on your wedding venue. Most couples avoid tying the knot during the sunshine months to beat the heat (and daily thunderstorms), but booking an indoor wedding venue can keep you cool and keep your wallet satisfied.
No matter the time of year you say “I do”, consider a weekday wedding as another way to maximize your savings. A friend of ours recently saved $3,000 on her wedding venue simply by booking it for a Monday wedding rather than on a weekend. Weekdays are understandably a less popular choice for couples, so wedding venues will often offer steep discounts simply to utilize a space that would otherwise be sitting empty.
These popular Orlando area wedding venues offer seasonal and/or weekday discounts:
Casa Feliz in Winter Park, FL
Capen House in Winter Park, FL
Maitland Art & History Museums in Maitland, FL
Lake Mary Events Center in Lake Mary, FL
and many more!
Ask about intimate or micro wedding packages
Saving money on your wedding venue could be as easy as a simple question. While some popular wedding venues openly offer intimate or micro wedding packages, likely many other wedding venues either offer them discreetly or perhaps would be open to considering a custom option for you.
A micro wedding or intimate wedding package with a wedding venue typically offers their space either for a weekday opportunity, a limited number of hours (perhaps a 4-6hr rental vs. the typical 8-12hr rental), and/or access to less of their property or services. For those planning a smaller wedding, this can be a wonderful opportunity to secure the wedding venue of your dreams at a fraction of the cost! The cost depends per wedding venue, but often it can be several thousand dollars less than a full wedding package investment.
If you are looking to save money on your wedding venue but planning a larger wedding, perhaps consider a small micro wedding instead as a way to cut costs. Not only does this reduce the cost of catering and rentals but it also opens the door to a smaller wedding venue or one with an intimate weddings package. While a small micro wedding isn’t for everyone, it certainly is a popular option for good reasons these days!
We love these Central Florida wedding venues with intimate or micro wedding packages:
Chapel Valley Farm in Eustis, FL
The Venue at Gentry Pines in St. Cloud, FL
Leu Gardens in Orlando, FL
The Garden Villa in Winter Park, FL
just to name a few!
Get creative: consider non-traditional wedding venues
Arguably one of the best ways to save money on your wedding venue is, well, to choose a different wedding venue. Especially one that’s not a conventional wedding venue!
In today’s wedding market, non-traditional wedding venues are becoming increasingly popular choices for couples looking to save expenses or just pursue a wedding that’s unique to their personal style. Not only is an unconventional wedding venue such as an outdoor park or a public library a way to cut costs on your wedding—but it also lends an air of originality and personality.
We especially love considering these non-traditional spaces as alternatives to wedding venues:
Public grounds such as parks or beaches (just make sure to obtain the legal permissions and/or permitting as needed)
Near Cocoa Beach? Consider the Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens in Port Orange, FL!
Community centers or city-run event spaces (to name a few:)
Tanner Hall in Winter Garden, FL
Lake Mary Events Center in Lake Mary, FL
Tavares Pavilion on the Lake in Tavares, FL
Public libraries (again, seek permission first!)
Museums
We love the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach, FL for a glamorous artsy wedding!
A private café such as Bynx Café in downtown Orlando, FL
Courthouse weddings
Vacation rentals such as these romantic Central Florida Airbnbs!
YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED
7 SAVVY WAYS TO SAVE MONEY ON YOUR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEOGRAPHY
Determine if an all-inclusive wedding venue really is more affordable
Popular wedding money-saving advice online often unanimously agrees that all-inclusive wedding venues are more affordable than booking separate wedding venues for your wedding ceremony and your wedding reception…but that might not always be the case, especially for micro weddings.
Often, all-inclusive wedding venues are framed to serve the needs of larger weddings (100+ guests), in which case a single wedding venue is an ideal choice to save money on your wedding. However, as we discussed above, many non-traditional wedding venues are becoming increasingly popular choices for couples, especially those planning smaller micro weddings or elopements. Perhaps booking your wedding ceremony at a public property and taking the wedding reception to an events venue or favorite restaurant might be the more cost-effective option for your wedding versus booking an all-inclusive wedding venue. (Looking for inspiration? Check out Allison & John's botanical garden wedding and restaurant wedding reception!)
Whether or not booking an all-inclusive wedding venue will be the more affordable option for your wedding day truly depends on your wedding size, your location and local options, and your vision for your perfect day. Considering all your options with an open mind is at the end of the day the best way to save the most on your wedding venue costs.
Negotiate your rates
It never hurts to ask your dream wedding venue if they have any flexibility on their costs. You might be able to save a bit of money on your wedding venue if they are running a current promotion, offer a referral or partner bonus (if you were referred by one of their preferred partners), or even simply mention your maximum budget and ask if any of the offerings in their package might be cut to meet your bottom line. Even as wedding photographers, we occasionally get a client who has a maximum budget below our package offerings who respectfully asks how we might be able to work together, and we usually try to find some kind of agreement either by reducing hours or reducing deliverables. Of course, asking for thousands of dollars off the wedding venue’s package cost might be unrealistic, but if their rates are just a bit above your maximum pricing, it might be worth a shot to ask.
If you do enter into negotiation, be prepared to be flexible on your wedding date and time. It is possible that the wedding venue might offer you a weekday availability over the more popular weekend slots, or perhaps a different month altogether or even a morning wedding vs. an afternoon ceremony. Keeping your wedding day plans with an open hand can save you quite a bit of money if you’re willing to be creative and collaborative with the wedding venue you’ve got your heart set on.
Enlist the help of friends and family
You might be surprised to find out who knows who. Perhaps a family member knows someone who owns a local wedding venue, or perhaps someone you know personally has a wedding venue side hustle! When you’re looking for ways to save money on your wedding venue, it’s always a good idea to ask around for help and personal connections.
While most couples start the wedding planning process by securing a wedding venue, if you are planning to work with other wedding professionals such as a wedding photographer or wedding planner, it might be worthwhile to hire them first before securing your wedding venue. Wedding planners are especially well-connected in the local wedding industry and may be able to secure preferred vendor discounted rates on wedding venues that you would not be able to obtain on your own. They can also help you find ways to maximize your wedding budget so perhaps that wedding venue isn’t so expensive after all. (Planning a wedding without a wedding planner? We’ve got tips for that, too.)
Another heartwarming alternative to a traditional wedding venue is to consider a home wedding. Whether at your own home or that of a loved one, a home wedding is a beautiful way to host an intimate celebration with your nearest & dearest in a space that’s comfortable, inviting, and meaningful. As home weddings become an increasingly popular option for couples looking to save money on their wedding, there are so many reasons to love this choice of a wedding venue.
FURTHER READING
THE 10 BEST WEDDING VENUES UNDER $2,000 IN ORLANDO AND CENTRAL FLORIDA
Book your wedding venue early
The last—but most certainly not least—way to save money on your wedding venue is to book early. Like, really early. Most wedding venues book perhaps months or even years in advance, so not only are you securing the wedding date of your choice while it’s still available, but perhaps that wedding venue might offer a discount for an early booking.
Another advantage to booking your wedding venue early is securing pricing before the end of the calendar year. Many wedding vendors increase their rates with the new year to keep up with demand and increasing costs, but may still offer their current year’s rates for all weddings booked and signed by the end of the year—even if your wedding takes place the following year. If you’re nearing winter and still haven’t booked your wedding venue yet, be sure to sign that contract before January to take advantage of any possible lower rates before the venue increases costs with the coming year! Some wedding venues may alternatively choose to increase their rate at the beginning of the wedding season vs. aligning to the calendar year, so it’s always a good idea to consider booking your space before this year’s wedding season goes into full swing.
Ask for a cash or up-front discount
Swiping that little plastic card might end up costing you more on your wedding venue. You might be able to save a few hundred (or even a few thousand) dollars on your wedding venue simply by asking if they offer any discounts either for paying in cash (or check) instead of paying with a credit card. Some wedding professionals include in their pricing the small percentage transaction fee that they are charged by credit processing platforms, so even saving that additional 3% could mean a few hundred dollars back in your pocket.
It’s also worth asking if the wedding venue would offer a discount for paying the full amount up-front. While this certainly is an unconventional approach, you might be surprised at what they say! We recently hired a professional service (for a personal issue, outside the wedding industry) that was quite costly, and to our surprise they agreed to a 10% discount simply by paying the full amount in advance. While there certainly is a risk to this approach—we didn’t know if we would end up liking working with this business—we made sure our contract had a cancellation policy if need be and that we could receive a refund, minus our deposit, if things went south. It was a gamble that we were willing to take in order to save a few hundred dollars on a very costly service.
While this tactic certainly requires you to have the cash in your bank account, if you have the means of pulling it off, it could yield big rewards.
Redistribute your wedding budget funds elsewhere
Now, this tip is less about how to save money on your wedding venue and more on how to find more money in your wedding budget to afford your ideal wedding venue. If the wedding venue you’ve got your heart set on is taking up a considerable amount of your wedding dollars, consider cutting costs elsewhere to make that dream wedding venue a reality.
One of our favorite ways to save money on your wedding is to hire a wedding photographer who specializes in micro and intimate weddings (though we might be biased…). Here at Author Made, we believe that the wedding of your dreams should be attainable no matter your budget. That’s why we specialize in offering wedding photography packages curated just for the needs of small micro weddings! While most wedding photographers start their packages at 6hrs of coverage for thousands of dollars, we offer micro wedding photography packages starting at only 2hrs of coverage—saving you thousands on your wedding photography & videography. Instead, those dollars can go to the wedding venue of your dreams, keeping your wedding well within your budget.
Planning a wedding in this economy doesn’t have to drain your wallet. In fact, these thrifty tactics can be incredibly simple to pull off and have the potential to yield big savings on your wedding venue!
If you’re interested in learning how you can save thousands on your wedding photography, view our pricing and packages below or schedule a free consultation call to get started today.
