India is a land of various cultures, traditions, languages and more, but one thing is pretty common in all of the cultures, it’s a big-fat Indian wedding. This has often taken a huge toll on Indian families. Let’s not get into the negatives right now; it will just start getting depressing. Even though it’s a dream for everyone to have a fairy-tale wedding, financially it’s difficult to achieve that. To make your dream come true and also keep it light on your dad’s pocket we might find a balance between what is necessary for the wedding and what can slide away.

Here are some points that might help you minimize the expenditure:

1) Plan a wedding offseason: The best way to save money is to plan a wedding offseason. During the wedding season usually, the prices for all services is high due to high demand.

2) Choose a venue that has low cost: Having a wedding in your home backyard or a barn or a beach, someplace that doesn’t have a fancy price tag can help you save a ton of money.

3) Buy/hire dress that isn’t designer: Wedding dress is worn only once in a lifetime, unless you marry again with the same dress on. Keep in mind that you can save a lot of money if you just buy a dress that’s a bit on the cheaper side or even hire a dress and then return would be helpful.

4) The invitation should be restricted: Have a fixed number of people in your guest list. Usually, the Indian wedding has the country in their guest list. Don’t make that mistake. Having an intimate wedding with close friends and family can help you have an amazing day with an affordable budget.

5) Decorations & Catering: If you have a friend or family who is good with decorations and craftwork, use their help to get your decorations and a good reasonable caterer can help you tone down your expenditure.

6) Hire a newbie photographer: Hiring someone new in the profession will give them an opportunity and also save you a lot of money.

7) Make your playlist: Save a lot of money by making your playlist and using that instead of hiring a DJ. I mean, everything is available on YouTube.

8) Minimize on Gold jewellery: In Indian weddings, how rich and successful you are is directly proportional to how much gold your family wear during a wedding. It is a useless way of measuring happiness and you can save a lot of money if you buy jewellery for the minimum.

9) The gift from guests: There is a new trend in town. Young couples have now stared accepting only cash as gifts from the guests that come to the wedding. Some even sit with an ATM swipe machine. If you like the sound of it, this could help you pay half of your wedding bills.

These are just some ideas you could always come up with a new scheme to make your wedding day less of a wealth draining day and more into an enjoyable one. After all, what matters most is spending the rest of your life with your beloved and having your family witness your union.