Have you decided to get married? Now it’s time for a little prophecy: You’re going to spend a lot of money. And you can save a lot of it. How? With knowledge. Knowledge is money.

General data on wedding costs

The events industry has over 4,000 service providers in various fields. It is recommended to meet personally with the suppliers and check recommendations and professional experience. It is necessary to bargain and not respond to every “goat” that the service provider tries to bring into the transaction. It’s also worth remembering that you shouldn’t get carried away by expensive gimmicks: every penny you save on the event will be used to build your family the day after.

Our examination shows that the average wedding cost is close to NIS 110,000. How did we arrive at this astronomical amount? Thus:

The most desirable and expensive period for weddings is from the second half of July until the end of September. While the least sought-after months are October-March. A winter wedding will save up to 30% of the cost of the event.

Thursday is the preferred day so it is priced higher. During the “hot” season, the gap between wedding prices on Thursday and other days of the week is about 25%, and in the winter months the gap is about 6%. If you don’t want to get married on Thursday, you can save up to 25%.

Wedding budget planning

As with any event or large expense, it is necessary to decide what the budget is intended for the wedding.

• Check the amount available to you for the wedding – from savings, and from the amount your parents allocate for it.
• Build a wedding budget – remember to include the henna, engagement party, bachelor party, bridal Shabbat, groom’s Shabbat and accompanying clothing according to what you are planning. It is also necessary to include the cost of registration with the Rabbinate, the engagement ring and wedding rings, invitations, passports and a gift for guests if you decide to do so.
• Make as detailed a list as possible of the number of invitees on both sides. This will affect the choice of hall/event garden and the price. It is possible to rely in a certain way on income from the invitees – from the checks that will be given, but it is not worth relying on this completely.

To the calculator for calculating wedding costs

Choosing a wedding venue

Wedding season is upon us and many young people are making their first contract for their wedding, not knowing how to negotiate and draw up a contract. Prior knowledge can prevent mistakes, save a lot of money and prevent aggravation ahead of the important day.

What do you need to be careful about?

• Do some market research among the banquet halls. There are significant differences in “dish” prices from hall to hall. Geographical location also has an impact on price. Events in the center of the country will cost more than in the north or south. Event gardens are usually more expensive than halls.
• Check that the hall has a valid business license and insurance.
• Do not immediately sign a contract with the banquet hall. Take it home for review and consultation with parents or friends.
• Check the cancellation fee if necessary and the amount of the fine you will pay.
• Be sure to write down in the agreement with the hall all the details of the reservation – down to the last detail. It is important to attach the menu to the contract. Specify all the equipment and accessories that the hall undertook to provide, including a detailed description of the table design, flowers, etc.
• The law states that the price must be in shekels and include VAT. Make sure this is how the amount appears in the contract.
• Make sure that the price of the dish or the total price also includes alcoholic beverages. These are usually beverages made in Israel and the spirits that are made abroad are at an additional cost.
• Check the number of waiters, the ratio between the number of waiters and the number of tables, the number of chairs at each table (to prevent overcrowding), the amount of “reserve portions” – all these also affect the price.
• There are halls where you pay according to the seats occupied, and there are halls where you pay for tables. If so, it is recommended to use seating notes to save sitting around incomplete tables and to save opening spare tables.

Choosing Event Service Providers

Closing a deal: Deals with suppliers should be closed in the winter. Even if the wedding is in the summer, vendors are more anxious to close deals and tend to give lower prices. There are companies that allow closing packages that include all suppliers for the event at a predetermined price. It is recommended to examine the companies’ offers compared to the cost of closing a service with each provider separately.

Price and branding: There is a tendency to think that a high price for a wedding-related service or product indicates quality while a low price indicates poor quality. It is important to know that many times there is no match between quality and price. It is worth relying on the recommendations of friends who have already married and experienced.

Don’t present yourself as getting married – if you’re going to buy a suit for the groom, say you’re buying it for other occupations – a conference at work, traveling abroad, a job interview, etc. This way you can save hundreds of shekels on clothes and shoes. It is recommended to check the regular stores, before searching in specialized stores.

Do your own and get help from your friends: Today you can easily design the hall, tables and take care of gifts for guests at very low costs. Just before you close with a designer, see if you can design the event according to your personal taste alone or through good friends who want to help.

Choosing a wedding dress

The most important thing for the bride is the wedding dress of course. Since this is a dress for one evening only, you should consider borrowing from a charity (not only for the religious sector) or buying from a seamstress, or ordering from abroad when purchasing online (it should be taken into account that sometimes repairs must be made by a seamstress in Israel), which can save several hundred shekels.

The question always arises – renting or purchasing a wedding dress? Sometimes the dresses are cheaper, but you don’t have to go for the expensive wedding dresses from the leading designers. Today, hundreds of much cheaper models are offered among designers at the beginning of their careers. There are outlet stores for wedding dresses, models from previous years’ collections and even second-hand wedding dresses. As for the bride’s shoes, you should of course buy shoes that will serve the new bride even after the special evening.

Buying a bouquet for the bride

If you declare that the bouquet is intended for another happy event and not a wedding – the price of the bouquet can drop by half. You should choose seasonal flowers because their supply is high and therefore the price is low.

Rings for a couple and a watch for the groom

There are huge gaps in jewelry prices by regions and stores. Sometimes the smallest stores offer the cheaper products. It is recommended to check and compare prices.

The prices of watches have dropped significantly in recent years due to the use of our cellphones for the purpose of knowing the time, so it is worth finding out carefully where there are attractive deals.

Also, when buying the watch there is no need to specify that it is a watch for the groom. Sometimes the mere mention of the event causes the price to rise.

Event photographers

• Wedding photographers often offer a ready-made agreement to the couple. It is important to read the contract carefully and make sure that there are no discriminatory terms in it.
• The agreement must include all the details of the service – the number of photographers (stills and video), the time of arrival of the photographers and the time of their departure.
• Make sure with the photographer that the cost of the photograph includes a basic amount of photos and an album, and what the price of any additional photos scheduled beyond that is.
• The terms of payment, price and delivery dates of products must be included in the agreement. It is customary to pay a down payment or 50% of the prepayment and the balance upon fulfillment of all the terms of the agreement.
• Make sure to include a clause stipulating agreed compensation in case of breach of the agreement by the business, including compensation for late receipt of the final product. Also, make sure to specify the amount of compensation due to the business in the event that you cancel the event.

DJ/Orchestra

• Do some market research and haggle prices with your chosen DJ.
• When ordering an orchestra – the number of musicians affects the cost. Keep this in mind.
• Check if the agreed price also includes travel and VAT.
• Be sure to check with the DJ if he has a license from ACUM. Such a license allows him to play songs of famous artists and singers in public, and receiving it involves paying a certain amount of the DJ to ACUM.
• Check all the details of the contract with the DJ carefully, including the DJ’s arrival and departure time.

And most importantly: try to enjoy the preparations and of course the evening itself, just don’t forget the morning after.