If you’re a long time reader of my blog, you know I love sharing my wedding industry expertise with my readers. And when given the chance I am grateful to share it far and wide. To that end I wanted to tell you that recently the Associated Press included me in an article about how tariffs are affecting the wedding industry. You can read it here: A guide to navigating tariffs if you’re planning a wedding | AP News
I’ve always been a big proponent of smaller, more intimate weddings that won’t break the bank. In a shifting financial landscape and in the face of ever changing tariff news, that’s never been more true.
A destination micro wedding or luxury elopement in Las Vegas is always a great idea for couples looking to celebrate their special day their way. An intimate gathering of only your closest friends and family is the perfect way to put the focus on you and your incredible love story.
If the tariff blues have got you down, keep reading for ways Cactus Collective Weddings can help you pull off a dreamy wedding day in the Wedding Capital of the World without going broke.
Limit the Guest Count
The biggest factor in the price of a wedding is the guest count. The more people you invite, the bigger a venue you’ll need, the more food and drinks you’ll have to pay for, etc. When the party gets big, the price tag gets big too.
A micro wedding limits the guest count to 50 or less. That may not seem like a ton if you’ve previously been planning on inviting everyone you know and everyone your parents know, but it really does cover a lot of the most important people in your lives. Here’s how the math might add up for you.
- 2 Sets of Parents = 4 people
- 2 Sets of Grandparents = 8 people
- 3 Best Friends each = 6 People
- Best Friends’ Plus 1s = 6 More People
- Brothers and Sisters for each of you = 2 – 6 People
- Siblings’ Plus 1s = 2 – 6 More People
That’s a nice list of all the really important people already, and we’re only up to a total of 36. A few more or less if you have a bigger or smaller number of siblings of course, but there’s still some wiggle room to keep it below 50. We could still add in a combination of a couple cousins, aunts and uncles, or a coworker or two.
Once you announce that you’re having a micro wedding and are limiting the guest list, it’s important to stick to it. Let one extra great aunty in, and they’ll all be clamoring for a spot. They’re like ants! It’s your day. It’s ok to say “no”.
Digital Save the Dates
Whether your guest count is large or tiny, you’ll save big money by e-mailing digital save the dates rather than traditional paper save the dates. And you may find it so cheap and easy that you’ll want to send out digital invites too!
Traditionalists enjoy paper versions but traditions are changing fast and it’s certainly acceptable to go digital. Don’t worry about breaking etiquette. We’re living in a digital world.
Commenters on the reddit thread BigBudgetBrides swear by Paperless Post which offers “online invitations for all the moments that matter”. But they’re not the only player. Zola offers free digital save the dates with a number of pre-made customizable designs. And Evite utilizes an easy to use sorting tool drop down menu that lets you choose only free options versus the premium options you’ve got to pay for. Of course they’ll all try to entice you to upgrade, and even push you towards paper save the dates, but there’s really no need to splurge for grander designs or stationery if you don’t want to.
Sustainability is On Trend and More Affordable
Another one of the biggest cost stressors on wedding budgets is the dress. But there’s good news on the fashion front too! More and more brides are embracing sustainable practices and saving money when dress shopping. Just remember the second of the three “Rs” all of us millennials learned in middle school. REUSE! (The others are “reduce” and “recycle” of course.)
There’s a number of second-hand wedding dress websites and stores which would be a good place to start if you want to go this route. Many brides are making conscious decisions to reduce the environmental impact of a new dress by reusing someone else’s. One site gaining a lot of popularity is stillwhite.com. It’s an online marketplace for people to connect with each other to buy and sell gently used and good-as-new dresses. With more than 90,000 dresses for sale, it’s like the ebay of wedding dresses. You can communicate with the seller, arrange a pickup or shipping and snag a designer dress for way less than the cost of a new one. Plus, Stillwhite donates 1% of their listing and seller’s fees proceeds to carbon removal. It’s a win for you, and a win for the planet!
If you’re getting married in Las Vegas you should check out this company I just found called Renta-Dress and Tux. They claim to have more than 300 one-of-a-kind wedding dresses to rent and their prices are super reasonable, between $200 and $525. You’ll need an appointment for one-on-one service and can get the dress and be on your way in a couple of hours.
While renting wedding dresses may be a fairly new phenomenon, guys have been renting their duds for ages. My go-to for tuxedo rentals is Friar Tux, who has been my recommended Las Vegas and Southern California vendor for years. Their service offers in-store or at home fittings and you can even order up to 5 free swatches so that you can be sure you get the perfect color for your special day.
Don’t Let Tariffs Get You Down
If you’ve got the tariff blues, we’ve got the cure and lots of reasons why a micro wedding is just all around better in our opinion. Smaller, more intimate micro weddings can be more enjoyable, more meaningful and more affordable than an expensive traditional wedding. The average price per guest of a wedding is $284. That’s $42,600 dollars if you’re holding the average traditional wedding with 150 guests! When you’re ready to give tradition the ring finger, give us a shout. We can’t wait to make your wedding dreams a reality here in the Wedding Capital of the World.
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