Some Thoughts on Wedding Expenditure

We planned for our wedding for almost a year. Thankfully my wife is very organized and planned ahead for everything so the day went smoothly as planned. With wedding costing more and more each year, it is very important to control the costs and not overspend.

Here are some of the tips for saving money and controlling the expenses:

• Plan early and be organized
• Plan ahead and list out all the services you need and expenditures that will incur.
• Keep all the invoices and record how much you have paid for everything on an excel spreadsheet.
• Shop around
• There are many companies offering essentially the same services (gown rental, photographer/make-up artist, wedding car rental, venue decoration, etc), shop around before giving them the deposit.
• Resist the pressure from sales person! Don't give them deposit unless you are absolutely satisfied with them. There are lots of choices.
• Services provided by different companies in Hong Kong can vary greatly. Before choosing a company for a service, read online reviews of the company see if there are any complaints (ESDLife is the largest discussion forum about wedding service companies in Hong Kong).

Also, in Hong Kong, it is customary to give out red pockets to waiters and everyone who helped (photographer/videographer/make-up artist/MC) so prepare those expenditures ahead of time.

Because we didn't spend much money for wedding photo and we used a package for photographer/videographer/make up artist and gown rental, we were able to control our expenses within budget and actually came out ahead after netting all the red pockets received from family and friends. I think it is important to save up early so you can get the ball rolling, the earlier you start building up the investment portfolio, the more time the investments can compound and grow. So make sure you don't spend too much on the wedding party!