I saved thousands on my wedding by focusing on the details that mattered the most

• My fiancé and I made our wedding possible by substituting high costs with budget alternatives. 
• Opting for fake flowers, a friend as our officiant, and a honeymoon fund eased the financial strain.
• This article is part of "My Financial Life," a series helping people live and spend better.

I got engaged in spring 2023, on my 23rd birthday. Saying yes was easy, but I was surprised to find out how unaffordable even an "affordable" wedding could be.

Despite support from our respective families, my fiancé and I had limited financial resources. Waiting a few years would've been the fiscally responsible choice, but the sheer excitement of getting married proved irresistible.

We booked our date for just over a year and a half away, eager to tie the knot but with our tight budget hanging over our heads.

To afford our wedding, we didn't DIY every decoration or skip out on necessary amenities. Instead, we stretched our budget by substituting traditionally high expenses with more affordable alternatives.

With around 120 guests, we saved thousands. Here's how we focused our spending to afford our 2024 wedding.

I traded an expensive wedding cake for chocolate fondue

The tiered wedding cakes we looked at cost up to $1,000. Many cost even more, depending on the size and location. While my fiancé and I both have intense sweet tooths, we didn't care much for the taste of expensive cake.

Instead, we opted for a more affordable dessert through our caterer. For a small upcharge, our caterer provided three chocolate-fondue fountains and an array of bite-size treats for dipping, saving us hundreds.

Plus, there was no need to pay for a cake-cutting service, a cake-tasting session, or cake toppers. We used the extra few hundred dollars to book a pricier photographer, which we felt comfortable spending a little extra on.

I saved thousands by buying fake flowers over real bouquets

According to The Knot, real flower bouquets cost an average of $2,800 in 2023. Even on a budget, the florist we spoke to estimated that we would spend around $1,300 to $1,800.

Spending thousands of dollars on decorations with an expiration date felt wasteful, so I chose hand-dyed wooden flowers instead, which ended up costing around $600.

We had snagged an even bigger deal by waiting for a sale and dyeing them ourselves — in total, we saved around $700 to $1,200.

The best part was being able to contribute another personalized detail to our wedding day and create a cherished memory.

A mutual friend married my fiancé and me

Ditching the traditional church ceremony allowed my fiancé and me to create a space that reflected our unique wedding vision. However, this left us without an officiant, so we asked an ordained friend to step in.

This matched our nontraditional vibe and saved us the cost of hiring an outside officiant. We used the money we saved to secure a reputable DJ who could easily provide music for both our ceremony and our reception.

Being married by a mutual friend added a layer of intimacy, which made that moment even more special.

I turned my wedding registry into a honeymoon fund

Booking a honeymoon was the cherry on top of my financial-stress sundae. Upholding a wedding budget was hard enough without planning a trip on top of it. To lessen the financial burden, I turned my wedding registry into a honeymoon fund.

I won't lie — I did find the idea of shiny, new kitchen appliances and expensive home goods appealing. However, my fiancé and I decided that creating one-of-a-kind memories together to start our married life was important.

We opted for a honeymoon fund over a registry for both the shower and the wedding day. This allowed our friends and family to contribute whatever dollar amount they felt comfortable with as a gesture of love beyond material objects.

The best part is that it worked! The combined contributions gave us more than enough to afford a luxury vacation without eating up what was left of our savings. Between having the cost of our honeymoon covered and all the other choices we made, we saved around $7,000.

Sticking to a budget is wedding planning 101, but strategic spending was how we made our dream wedding into reality.