Everyone knows that living in Bermuda can be expensive and getting married is no exception. The Royal Gazette spoke to two wedding co-ordinators to find out how easy it would be to stick to a budget - one for the unbelievable amount of $2,000, while another gave us advice on how to dodge the “average” wedding, which can cost up to $30,000.

According to Carmen and Allister Simmons, managing partners of The Bridal Suite Bermuda, for $2,000 you can get value for money <\m> but it all depends on how many guests accompany the bride and groom.

“If they arranged the wedding themselves without a planner, they need to consider what is important to them to keep within their budget,” Mrs. Simmons suggests.

She says many couples are willing to say their vows at one of Bermuda’s beautiful parks, or standing on a beach and for this the Department of Parks only charges $25. But if you want to remain traditional and prefer a church, a ceremony can cost up to $800. This includes the church, minister, verger (church official) and organist.

Mrs. Simmons believes with a $2,000 budget and an outdoor location, the bride and groom can have a minister, pay the outdoor fee, purchase the bride’s and maid of honour’s bouquets, flowers for the groom’s and best man’s button holes, include a small photography package, a small wedding cake and a video of the wedding, or alternatively a musician.

But, she adds, a wedding reception dinner will be an additional expense that the couple need to keep in mind. The Simmons recently organised a wedding for 15 people on a budget of $6,000. They married at Astwood Park on the cliffs overlooking the ocean.

Mrs. Simmons says this budget included not only their fee, which took care of all the legalities before and after the wedding like filing in their Notice of Intended Marriage, but also the minister and transportation.

Guests were taken to Astwood Park by taxi while the bride and groom took a horse and carriage after the wedding back to their ship.

“It also included a wedding table for the bride and groom to sit down and sign their license after the ceremony, champagne toasts for beverages after the wedding at Astwood, a calypso trio for an hour, photography, flowers for the bride, groom, maid of honour and best man and chairs for the guests to sit down during the wedding and a wedding cake.”

She says the bride and groom, visitors to the Island, also rented the company’s cedar white Bermuda Moongate for the ceremony.

Wedding co-ordinator, Chandra Persad of Deco Flair says very few brides will settle for the $2,000 alternative and knows from experience that weddings can be very expensive, even more so if the bride is young and from a large family.

Bermudian weddings can be a grand affair, she says, with guests totalling up to 300 in some cases. These weddings can cost anything up to $30,000.

A rule of thumb she says is to allot a budget of approximately $100 per guest.

After planning weddings for more than 20 years, Mrs. Persad has some ideas for young brides on how to cut back on costs.

Before actually hiring a wedding co-ordinator, Mrs. Persad suggests finding out if a friend or relative would like to plan the wedding for you. “Then they need to plan their budget and decide how much they want to spend,” she says.

One of the greatest expenses is the food and liquor at the reception and Mrs. Persad states sit down meals are costly while buffet- style meals are more cost effective.

“You don’t have to hire as many waiters and this can also cut down on the cost,” she says.

“If they are having the wedding and the reception at the same venue they can also save on costs,” she furthers, adding that by doing so cuts down on transportation costs.

Another way to cut down on transportation costs, Mrs. Persad adds, is to find friends or relatives who have nice cars of the same colour and use them to drive the bridal party to the wedding and reception.

“Think outside the box and be a little different,” she says, adding that when it comes to finding the right wedding dress or suit it might be worth taking a trip to New York where you can find the right attire at a fraction of the price to Bermuda.

Another suggestion and one which has been used in countries across the globe is to wear your mother’s or grandmother’s wedding dress.

In Europe, she says, these dresses are considered heirlooms and are passed down from mother to daughter.

“A new headpiece can always be added to make it more fashionable.”

As for the reception, Mrs. Persad suggests calling around to various hotels, especially if it’s out of season.

“I know a couple who got married at Pompano in the off-season, they got a cheaper rate as they only had about 20 or so people, so they got the area to use.”

When it comes to flowers, the wedding co-ordinator insists that couples first look at a calendar when planning a wedding as the price of flowers goes up at certain times of the year.

These include Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and Easter.

“If you get married a week after Mother’s Day as opposed to the week before, you’ll find you’ll be able to save money,” she suggests.

The last, but also not the least expensive cost will be hiring a photographer.

Mrs. Persad says it might be an idea to find someone in the family, or a friend who is good at taking photos and use them as opposed to hiring a professional - who can quote up to $3,000 for a wedding as they are paid by the hour.

Interestingly many couples are paying for their own weddings, Mrs. Persad says and sometimes members of the family will offer to pay for certain items, like the bouquet, or the cake.

“You need to take advantage of that,” she says, “Accept gracefully and thank them afterwards.”