5 tips for making your next event more affordable

While hotels might seem like the easiest solution to host an event, with ballrooms and conference centers already set up and available to you to use, they might not be the most budget-friendly spaces to work with.

"Ballrooms are expensive," Andrew Cussens told Stacker. "Think outside the box: botanical gardens, historic sites, or rooftops could all transform into beautiful and budget-friendly settings." Cussens owns FilmFolk, a London-based photography studio that provides in-house experts to direct and work with corporate clients to host large-scale events.

Use booking sites that rent spaces hourly or ask for quotes from multiple vendors to see which solutions make the most bang for your buck. Consider whether event rentals include add-ons like catering, musicians, audio equipment rental, and event staff. These additional services could mean cost savings, but they could also lead to higher expenses, so check the numbers.

Although paper invites have been traditionally used in the past, choosing to send out invitations electronically could be an immense money saver up front.

"Digital invites are cheap [or] sometimes free, earth-friendly, and also make it easy to track RSVPs," Cussens said. "There are plenty of online invitation design and management systems that are free or close to it. In one of our case studies, a nonprofit we work with saved more than $20,000 by using a free online RSVP system instead of paper mailed invitations."

According to 2023 Wedding Report data, the average invitation price for a wedding with 150 guests in New York City is between $256 and $312. This includes printing costs and postage for invitations, RSVP cards, and thank-you notes. However, this does not include any extra design work, such as invitation design, embossing, edging, wax seals, and any other embellishments you would want to add.

In comparison, online invitation platforms make it easy to create beautiful digital invitations, upload an email guest list, and track RSVPs and messages from guests, all through a single platform. Some are free, while others provide premium services at a lower cost.

Once you choose your online invitation platform and it's time to actually write down the details, consider using ChatGPT to help word your invitation just right. Rather than agonizing over the proper wording, get a quick start and edit as needed.

Not every event is best suited for a sit-down dinner. Opting out of a traditional dinner could save you from paying $125 per person, the typical average in the United States for larger events with formal sit-down meals. Metropolitan areas may cost even more; wedding catering in New York City averages around $275 per person.

Instead, consider other options to satisfy your guests without providing a full-scale meal. "A food station or cocktail reception instead of a sit-down dinner might offer more menu options and more flexibility in portioning," Cussens said. "Partner with local restaurants or catering companies who provide prepackaged platters or finger foods, which is often less expensive than a full-service meal per person."

For example, Cussens' company assisted in a product launch party for a tech startup by connecting them with a food truck that provided gourmet tacos. "It was a huge hit with the guests and saved them on catering dollars," he said. Food trucks tend to be more affordable catering options, with prices averaging between $10 and $20 per guest.

Another major way hosts lose money when planning an event is through excessive decorations. On average, flowers and decorations can cost between $2,200 and $2,700 for a small event or wedding in New York City.

Instead, when choosing your venue, consider the value of that space in terms of natural beauty. A space like an art museum or a local garden makes it easy to provide decor without any extra cost. This way, you can focus on simple decorations to accent the ambiance already around you, such as candles, strands of twinkling lights, or small floral arrangements.

As Cussens says, "An event does not need the fanciest venue with the most expensive catering and decorations: what a guest wants is a memorable experience."

One of the biggest contributors to an event's overall bill is the entertainment for the evening, particularly the music. Although shuffling through a curated playlist through the speaker can work well for certain events, such as an engagement party or a company mixer, it may not be the most reliable option for bigger-scale events like a corporate banquet or a wedding.

Search your area to see if local musicians will work your event for a price within your budget. A small string ensemble, a jazz group, or a local cover band can elevate the overall feel of the event, but the price might be higher compared to hiring a local DJ. In 2022, The Knot found that the average cost of a live band was $3,900 compared to a DJ, which costs an average of $1,500.

If you are more tech-savvy and willing to experiment, several new platforms have cropped up offering AI tools to help create royalty-free music that could simply be played as background music to your events or any videos you may want to create for the occasion. Most platforms will ask you to select your genre and iterate from there. Who knows, you may find your inner DJ while experimenting.

Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick.