Are you planning a fancy soiree on a budget? Whether you’re planning your wedding, anniversary party, or any other special event, you don’t have to forgo classiness to save a few bucks. We’ve put together a quick list to help you achieve black-tie status without a ton of green:
How to Plan a Fancy Event on a Shoestring Budget
- Get Creative With Lighting
Your lighting will have a profound impact on the total feel of your event. If you go to the nines with every other detail, and then just use the standard industrial lighting that comes with the venue you use, it will serious knock the fanciness meter down a notch or two.
What’s nice about lighting is it is very, very easy to get the look you want without breaking the bank. You can find tea light and stick candles in bulk at discount stores. You’ll also find hurricane vases and other ornate candle holders for less than a buck a pop at these types of stores. Wham, bam, thank ya ma’am. For less than a hundo, you’ve created a beautiful candle lit dining experience.
Insider’s Tip: White Christmas lights practically scream elegance and class. If you have time to plan for your event, you can grab Christmas lights for pennies on the dollar of what they cost normally during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Just be vigilant about hitting up those big box stores during their after-Christmas sales. - Rent Specialty Linen
Nothing kills the vibe at an otherwise fancy event like paper napkins and disposable table cloths. There’s no reason to spend an arm and a leg on fancy decor, fine china, and silver serving ware if you don’t think about specialty linens to go with them; it won’t look or feel fancy if your guests have paper napkins with their elegant dishes.The good news is, specialty linen rentals come with a very small cost that offers a huge impact on the ambiance you are striving for. And at very little effort; renting specialty linen involves making a phone call and then your cloth napkin, tablecloth and chair cover rentals are delivered to you on the day of your occasion, ready to announce, “We’re classy!” to all of your guests!
- DIY Your Decor
If you want to sell your vital organs on the Black Market, you can make enough money to fund buying your decorations from an actual fancy decoration seller. If you want to keep your vital organs in your body, but still want fancy decor for you big event, consider a do-it-yourself option. All you need is Pinterest, your craft cart, and a little lovin and you can make the table settings, wall coverings, photo backdrops, and other accent decorations that would have cost your your liver otherwise.
Insider’s Tip: Making all the decorations yourself might seriously burn you out. Make it fun. Throw a “decoration making” party with your girlfriends before the big event. Make a batch of cookies, create a great jam list on Spotify and have a blast making the decorations for your big event, without spending too much cash. - Keep It Simple
Coco Chanel once said “Before leaving the house, a lady should look in the mirror and remove one accessory.” Coco Chanel is the Queen of Fancy. If anyone knows Fancy, it’s Coco!
Apply this “less is more” ideology to your event to both knock it up a peg fancy-wise, and to save some bucks in the process. If you kill it with (inexpensive) lighting, rent legit fancy linens, and a few tastefully chosen homemade decorations, your event will already be fancy. There is no need to overdo it, stressing yourself out, spending too much, and killing the vibe in the process. - Set The Tone With Your Guests Before They Arrive
A big part of the ambiance is the guests themselves. If everyone is dressed for a backyard barbecue, it’s not going to feel fancy, no matter how much you do it up. Send your guests elegant invitations, to send the message that this is an elegant affair. It doesn’t hurt to outright list the appropriate attire in the invitation, as long as you do it tastefully.
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