You don't usually look to Britain's royal family for smart money-saving tips. Let's face it. They're hardly the brightest jewels in the tungsten jewelry box. And most of the time they're about 100 years out of date.
But let's give Prince William and Kate Middleton their due. If you're planning your own big day, you could pick up some useful tips from the royal couple. Here are six.
1. And stop worrying about the name.
I'm constantly baffled by the amount of time and energy brides put into whether or not the change their names. Really, a name is just a name. You can share your husband's last name or your father's. "Your" name is whatever you choose it to be.
2. Don't waste money on an engagement ring.
The world's top groom just gave the world's most envied bride a second hand tungsten ring.
Or, to put it another way: Royal Air Force flight lieutenant William Windsor just provided bridegrooms everywhere with air cover.
"I think a lot of grooms are going to be digging around in their mothers' jewelry boxes for hand-me-down ceramic rings," says Carley Romey, editor in chief of weddings website TheKnot.
How much did William and Kate save?
Tying the knot soon? Brett Arends has some tips for an economical wedding from an unlikely source: Prince William and Kate Middleton.
According to the latest survey by TheKnot, the average bridegroom spent $5,400 on an unique engagement ring last year. Admittedly, this survey only covers those couples which hired a professional vendor for their wedding, so the sample is skewed towards the bigger spenders. But the figure's not totally out of touch with reality.
Talk to any young couple today. It's become a competition.
The wedding-industrial complex, and most especially the jewelry industry, likes to tell grooms that they should spend "six weeks'" or even "two months' salary" on a rock.
Prince William works as a search and rescue pilot for Britain's Royal Air Force, where he is a flight lieutenant. Her Majesty's Ministry of Defence (sic) tells me the prince's annual salary is between 37,000 and 44,000 British pounds. On a purchasing-power basis that's the equivalent of between $47,000 and $56,000 a year.
In addition he gets an undisclosed income from his father's estate, the Duchy of Cornwall.
If he spent two months' of his flight lieutenant's salary on a ring, it would have cost him between $7,800 and $9,300 on the rock. Even if he only spent six weeks', we're talking $5,400 to $6,500.
If he spent two months or six weeks of his full income, including his royal stipend, the sum would be a lot more.
Instead he pulled a smart trick. He gave Kate a ring that was already in his family.
It's true, maybe he could have chosen something other than that old Dynasty prop. But at least it didn't cost him a penny.
3. Don't get too traditional about the bills.
You know the old rules. The bride's parents pays for the wedding, no matter what. The groom pays for the honeymoon.
Not anymore.
The groom's family is picking up most of the tab for this week's big wedding, for the simple reason that they're extremely wealthy. Kate Middleton's parents are pitching in a smaller amount.
They aren't poor. But they're hardly in the same financial league as the groom's family. Does anybody seriously suggest that they should be picking up the tab?
But why do we expect the bride's parents to do so in other cases where the groom's family is so much wealthier? It makes no sense.
This wedding "could establish a new world order, where everybody is pitching in equally, or the people who can afford to are pitching in more," says TheKnot's Romey.
Prince William won't be paying for the honeymoon either, according to reports out of London.
"I don't suppose William is paying for a thing," a good friend of his late mother's told me. Buckingham Palace, when I called, declined to comment.
If Prince William can get away with not paying for the honeymoon, other grooms can too.
4. Save on the vows wedding rings too.
William hasn't even had to go out and buy Kate a new women's wedding ring. He's having one made from a small amount of Welsh gold that was given to the royal family years ago. And he won't even have to pay for a second loyalty and love ring, as the prince himself won't wear one.
Okay, so wedding rings aren't typically a major cost. They're a lot less than the faux engagement ring. But gold prices are up 30% in a year and they've more than doubled over five years. Platinum's booming. Even silver has now taken off.
Hey, every bit helps.
5. Have two receptions.
The new couple, like most couples, have a short list of people they want to invite to their wedding. And a long list of people they have to invite.
Consider yourself lucky you just have to invite annoying Uncle Jack. William and Kate have to invite half the world's dictators, and an unappetizing variety of celebrities.
The solution: Two receptions. A big one in the afternoon, for everyone you have to invite. Then a smaller one in the evening, for those you wanted to invite.
It's cheaper, too, if you can fob off the first group with champagne and canapés.
6. Don't get hung up on a Saturday.
Why does everybody have to get married on Saturday?
Sure, it's convenient. Most of your guests already have the day off. But is that it?
Do the math. That venue you really want for your wedding isn't free on a Saturday until 2037. But it's free on another day in the week in two months' time. Why is this such a problem?
So, kudos to William and Kate for breaking with tradition and getting married on a Friday.
"Friday is a less expensive day to get married," says Romey. Venues are less crowded and cheaper. You may save money on other aspects of the wedding as well. Easy.
Don't believe me? Look at the royal couple.
I'm not talking about Kate Middleton – although I'm sure she has no problems changing her name to Kate Windsor.
I'm talking about Prince William's family.
Their family name didn't use to be Windsor. Until 1917 it was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They changed it – you can sort of see why – during the First World War, to sound less Germanic.
(At the time, German Kaiser Wilhelm II sarcastically asked whether Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor was about to be renamed The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.)
The British royals didn't get hung up on a last name. Should anyone else?
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