Save Money on Your Wedding

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So you’re tying the knot but have fallen short on the budget. Nothing comes quite as exciting as embarking on that amazing voyage called marriage with only you and your spouse to be as the main protagonists. Let’s face it, the grandest weddings in the biggest churches, with the most expensive gowns and suits, and inside the most expensive venue aren’t exactly the barometers for what is about to come. Sure, you’ll get a month’s worth of glamor and elegance, but what comes next wouldn’t necessarily be the same thing.


If you’re like me and you want to make sure that the marriage is not all about the wedding, then read on.


Go Traditional


Different nations have different traditions when it comes to wedding ceremonies, but one thing in common in all of the weddings I’ve witnessed is that all cultures have, at one point in time, valued traditional weddings more for their social value.


Instead of holding the wedding in a grand church or in a 5 star hotel, you could hold it in your own garden or home. That is, of course if you live in a place where there’s still lots of garden space.


If you don’t have your own house yet, you could ask close family whether they’d be willing to host the event. It wouldn’t hurt if your parents have a large garden. If they agree, make sure that you pay them and offer to clean up the mess afterwards. Most parents would be glad to accommodate their children’s wedding as long as it would not be boisterous and as long as they don’t have to do anything stressful.


Crowdsource Your Food


Okay, this is a little bit extreme but I’ve seen weddings using this approach when it comes to food. Some people have that knack when it comes to friends that they would gladly pitch in for a simple ceremony where everybody can contribute in their own little way to help out a friend. As the host, you could buy the ingredients and perhaps hire a knowledgeable and local caterer to cook up a delightful meal.


I’ll hazard a suggestion to cook the food yourself but that would just ruin your gown!


Gowns and Suits are for Your Grandparents


I can’t understand what the whole pomp and pageantry is all about. Weddings are meant to formalize the union of two people and not to bring yourself in debt. The last thing that newlyweds would want is to have to grapple with finances after the honeymoon.


If you’re holding a garden wedding, simple attires would do. For the groom, he could opt to wear a simple suit or a simple and white collared shirt with Khaki pants. Or, he could just borrow the suit worn by his father.


The same austerity measure applies for the bride. If she likes she could just opt to wear a simple floral dress or a white skirt.


At the end of the day, your imagination could do wonders for you and your spouse to be. Remember, it isn’t the wedding that’s going to mark you for the rest of your life. It’s the marriage and the company you will keep that comes after.

One cheap option for your ceremony and/or reception is to book it all at a bed and breakfast that offers an all inclusive wedding package. Many b&bs offer packages that include a site for the ceremony, as well as the reception; food; sometimes décor; often, photographs – all combined with one or two nights lodgings.

Many offer even more in their packages. Some offer witnesses if you want to elope! B&bs can often be cheaper than purchasing each of these pieces separately. The locations are always beautiful, as is inherent to a bed and breakfast. Plus, if you book well, you’ll already have a built in place for your guests to stay, and/or will already be at your honeymoon destination. Either way, these kinds of packages can save you lots of money.

Check the b&bs in your local area and in any places you were thinking of honeymooning. I did this for my wedding and came out with a beautiful ceremony and reception on the coast for under $4,000.00 total. Now, print your own invitations with a do-it-yourself kit and you’ll still have money left over for a down payment on a house, instead of being in debit for your wedding…

There are many ways to save on a wedding and I’ll share the ones with you that I used myself just a year ago.

First, when it comes to invitations, I suggest going to a copy store or a major chain like Wal-mart and buying the blank invitations with templates and typing them yourself. This is quite expensive (about $20 for a box of 40 plus printer ink), just make sure you find a pretty font such as a script font You can do the same for programs, just try to use the same theme.

Bridesmaids bouquets can be made using artificial flowers. Decide on two flowers that have your wedding colors, buy them in bunches and cut the individual stems off of the bunch, then put them together using floral tape and wrap ribbon around the stems. Also, use fake rose petals (can be found on an online auction site).

Favors are another area that can become expensive. If you know someone good with a computer it doesn’t have to be. Make bookmarks, laminate them, punch a hole in the top and loop a ribbon in the hole. Water bottles are another good idea. You buy the small bottles of water (like the kid size the sell at wholesale places), then you print labels on the computer, remove the label that comes on the bottle and replace them with the labels you make. Attach the label with super glue at the seam and tie a ribbon with a tag around the neck of the bottle. You can also make CDs with your wedding music and print the covers for the jewel cases. All of these favors are inexpensive, you just want to start on the early and get them out of the way.

If you are having a wedding at a wedding venue, like a plantation, a lot of the time if you are pleasant they will throw extras in if you just ask (mine gave me fireworks). Also, if you are having an evening wedding you can use white tulle in the room, and rent artificial floral arrangements from a party rental place, since they usually have candelabras for weddings available for rent. Also candle lighting is great, since you don’t need a lot of decorations if you have enough candles in votives around the room.

You can also save on after wedding transportation and drive your own vehicle, if it is an evening wedding, since you probably won’t leave until all the guest are leaving. If alcohol is going to be served at the reception, you can limit it to the toast and just buy one or two types of champagne and give everyone a glass just before the toast. These are just a few of a ways you can save on weding expenses.

There are many ways to save money on your wedding.

1. When you send out invitations, ask guests to respond by email or telephone – this will save you money on stamps.

2. Check Consignment shops for wedding dresses. You can usually find one still in good condition. Some towns have a shop where you can rent a wedding dress, saving you hundreds of dollars.

3. For religious weddings, consider having your wedding near a major holiday. The church will already be decorated, saving you lots of money on flowers.

4. Ask your friends and family to be a special part of your wedding by helping you assemble favors and make invitations, centerpieces, and other homemade inexpensive touches. Ask them what they did to save money on their special day or check internet sites like DIY for ideas. One of them can easily get an officiants’ license online to save you an additional fee.

5. Instead of hiring a photographer, buy a bunch of disposable cameras for your guests to use. They simply take pictures of what they like and leave the finished rolls at your gift table. You usually get more personalized pictures this way since family and friends know you and it saves you hundreds of dollars.

When it comes to plan your dream wedding, you probably want to have every detail personalized to each of the guests. But it is expensive to plan a wedding and time consuming. There are many corners that can be cut to save your time and money.

For example, the table decor. You don’t need to spend a big part of your budget on your table decor. You can get the decorations are second hand stores and you can do all of them by yourself. There is no need for a wedding planner to work on the table decorations.

For example, you can cut costs down by 50% on napkins, table cloths, utensils, and candles by shop them yourself.

1. Buy napkins that match your wedding color

2. Use white table cloths that are elegant and match any color

3. Go for plastic utensils. You can buy nice looking ones at special wedding stores. If you prefer real ones, then rent or borrow them

4. Go to craft stores instead of wedding stores for your candles.

Plan ahead, and buy in advance can save you lots of money.

Article by Sean Saunders

Are you about to begin planning a wedding on a small budget? Then you should know that it’s a rough road ahead. Not only will have to sacrifice some of the things you want for your wedding, you’ll likely have to make cutbacks on some of the things you NEED. Luckily though, if you were to use some of these clever money saving ideas, planning a wedding on a small budget would not be nearly as problematic.

Money Saving Ideas for Planning a Wedding…

1.) Buy the decorations yourself instead of paying for a professional decorator. Why should you do this? Because a professional will charge you an arm & a leg for doing simple things that you could easily do for less than HALF the cost.

It’s true a professional will have more experience than you, but with a little guidance from online websites and wedding decoration guides, there is no reason you can’t decorate the wedding yourself and save a boat load of cash.

2.) Consider other options before heading straight to a caterer. Although easy & convenient, caterers are incredibly expensive and will take a humongous chunk out of your budget. If possible, prepare the food yourself or have a friend — whom is a decent cook — do it for you as their gift.

If preparing the food yourself is simply out of the question, then you can always save money by taking the buffet route instead. With a buffet, you can offer tasty, yet inexpensive food at a fraction of the price a sit-down dinner accompanied by servers.

These are just two of many great ideas that can help you to begin successfully planning a wedding on a small budget.

For the complete list of money saving tips & ideas for planning a wedding on a small budget, try visiting http://www.Dream-Weddings-on-a-Budget.com, one of the most popular and informative wedding planning websites on the web.

By Arlene Chorba

1. Pick a breathtaking location. Wedding by the lake, sunset wedding on a beach, wedding ceremony in a botanical garden — the possibilities are endless. You don’t need to worry about how to decorate the place. Mother nature already did it for you!

2. Determine a set number of guests that you want to invite and keep to your list. Invite only immediate family and intimate friends. This is a big factor in keeping your wedding costs down and stay within your budget.

3. Make your own wedding invitations. Look online and browse for Do-It-Yourself wedding invitations or you can go to your own local craft stores. You can also choose to make your own wedding invitations from scratch. My husband and I did our own. It was very involved and took a lot of time but it was worth it. Our guests were greatly impressed. Most of all,it helped us a lot to stay within our wedding budget.

4. Keep your centerpieces simple but elegant. Make them yourself, it is not hard. You can check for ideas from local craft stores. Look online for great deals, check eBay and other auction sites. Oriental Trading is a great place to start looking. They offer great items for so much less cost.

5. Look for inexpensive wedding favors. If you are getting married during spring or summer, you can have flower seed packets as favors. Another unique idea for favors is a personalized bookmark with a written poem, quotation or Bible verse that has a significant meaning for you and your bridegroom.

6. Buy a wedding gown that is on sale. Get one during off wedding season (usually September to February) when the bridal stores are slashing their prices to make room for new inventories. Another option is to look for wedding gowns at online auctions like eBay. Try looking at classified ads too. Be open and try other avenues. Don’t think that, just because you did not get your wedding gown from a wedding boutique, the quality will be less.

7. Pick the bridesmaids dresses from a retail store as opposed to a wedding boutique or bridal stores, it is a lot less expensive. Your attendants will appreciate it too, since I am sure they have their own budget to consider also.

8. When setting priorities in planning for a budget, wedding pictures and video usually top the list. Most couples do not want to skimp on this. Be wise when choosing your photographer and videographer. Since you are going to have an outdoor wedding, make sure that whoever you choose is very experienced and can work with natural lighting. Ask to see a previous client’s pictures and videos for proof of their work.

However, if pictures are not a priority for you and you don’t want to pay too much for these services, then another option is to go to a local campus or university near you and ask a photography major student if he/she would do the service for you. Students charge a lot less than the professionals. Just be cautious and make sure that you are getting a good one. Ask if they can show you their portfolios.

Placing a disposable camera in each table for the guests to use during reception is another source of wedding photos. Just don’t expect high quality pictures. From my experience, the resulting photos sometimes show poor quality, depending on the lighting available. If used outside with good outdoor lighting, the results are good. Pictures taken indoors show poor quality due to lack of good lighting.
bridal car

9. Rent a classic car or a convertible instead of hiring a limousine for a bridal car. Have a friend or family member have the privilege of chauffeuring you around. This could cut down a lot on your overall wedding costs.

10. Have your wedding events all in one place. Pick a nice country club for the wedding reception, set-up the wedding ceremony in their professionally landscaped lawn (they usually have gazebos too that you could use as a place to exchange vows) and have all the wedding party’s photos in the same place too. This would save you a lot of time and effort, not just for you but also for the guests. After the ceremony, the guests can then proceed to the country club for cocktail while the wedding party can have their professional photos taken. Also, there will be no need to worry about providing transportation for the attendants since everything is done in the same location.

If followed, these wedding budget tips can really cut down your wedding costs significantly. There are a lot more ways that you can do to stay within your wedding budget, especially if you are willing to compromise. Be creative, think outside the box.

Article by: Ron King

Want to make sure your marriage doesn’t end up on the rocks before you get to the chapel? Then set a realistic wedding budget — and stick to it.

In the process of planning a wedding, budget concerns often is a source of disagreement for a couple. They may have different ideas about what kind of wedding they want, and about what they can afford. To make the wedding a truly happy occasion, it is important that the couple discusses financial constraints early.

Set A Budget And Save For It

The first tip is — discuss finances before the wedding plans begin. Everyone involved in the decision-making process needs to understand exactly how much money is available for the wedding.

To maximize that budget, you should start saving early for your wedding. Advance planning and saving will allow you to maintain or even exceed your budget, comfortably. And that will make wedding planning easier and more fun.

Get Everyone On-Board

Once your wedding budget has been established, set it aside for a few days and then review it again. This gives everyone a chance to let the information sink in. The budget review after this waiting period gives the participants a chance to verify that they understand and agree to the budget. This is vitally important, because someone who does not agree with the budget may overspend in 1 area, leaving the rest of the budget in jeopardy.

Budget Line Items

When you’ve decided exactly how much money is available for your wedding, the next step is to divide the total into budget categories, such as the venue, food and drink, bride’s attire, groom’s attire, transportation, entertainment, photography, favors, centerpieces, and gifts. It is also advisable to set aside money for unforeseen expenses.

Who Pays

Part of establishing a budget is to be clear on who will pay for what.

Shopping And Negotiating

You will need to negotiate contracts for services, and so you must know the budget for each area of the wedding. If you have allotted $250 for entertainment, look for a DJ whose rate is approximately that amount, then negotiate to ensure that you remain under budget.

It’s wise to shop around and compare prices for services. A company may come highly recommended, but if they are outside your price range, let them know why you are going to have to choose another company. You may be surprised at how willing they will be to give you a better offer.

Substitute Creativity For Cash

Doing things on your own is another way to stay under budget. Homemade invitations or making your own favors or centerpieces can greatly reduce the wedding cost, freeing up funds for other areas of the wedding.

Do not fall into the trap of viewing your budget as restrictive. Instead of thinking about what you can’t afford, focus on how you can make your wedding and reception truly unique. You will be inspired to create a wonderful, memorable wedding regardless of your budget constraints.

Anticipate The Unforeseen

Realize that there are bound to be snags along the way. If you go over budget in 1 area, you will need to cut the budget in another area. As long as you stay aware of your spending and realize the ramifications of all your actions, you can roll with the punches and alter your plans to accommodate any needed changes.

Make It A Wonderful Memory

A wedding budget can cause emotional strain on a couple and their relationship. It is important for them to discuss their finances and establish a clear budget for their wedding plans. Doing this early in the wedding planning process can help the couple to avoid conflict during the planning phase of the wedding. It can also make the wedding more fun for everyone, and start out the marriage on a positive note.

After all, working together is what a marriage is all about.

About The Author

Ron King

Visit http://www.gr8wedding.com to learn more. Ron King is a full-time researcher, writer, and web developer. Copyright 2005 Ron King. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left intact.

1. Plan your wedding ceremony and reception in the morning, on a Friday or Sunday night and consider the winter months for all these times and dates will be less expensive.

2. Try to keep your guest list minimal.

3. Make your own veil. You’ll find that most craft stores sell how-to books and even supplies on designing your own veil, which can save you hundreds of dollars.

4. Shop online for your wedding dress. Go to a nearby bridal shop and try on dresses so you know they fit, and once you find some you like, search for them online, you’ll most likely find them, and for much less.

5. Supply your own alcohol for the wedding if you can, you’ll be sure to save.

6. Opt to not have a dinner reception. Choose to have a brunch, cocktail or dessert party instead.

7. Use silk flowers. Silk flowers are beautiful, look real, and are always less than real flowers. Better yet, you can even rent them.

8. When decorating, use more greenery and baby’s breath, with fewer flowers to cut costs but still make the setting look fulfilled.

9. Create your own invitations. You can easily create a design with use of a computer and software programs available for this task, as well as purchasing your own wedding desktop publishing paper.

10. Consider using local universities qualified but inexpensive musicians, photographers, and videographers. Professors can point you in the right direction to finding the best students in the program.

About The Author

Nathan Dawson writes for http://www.marriedfinances.com and http://www.successfulmarriageresource.com, great online sources for marriage and finance information.

Once you have got over all the excitement of your engagement, it is time to get to work & plan the wedding. Your first task should be to draw up your wedding budget, without one you will find it very difficult to accomplish anything. A carefully though out budget will help you determine how much you can afford to spend & how much you can allot to different aspects of your day. Here are some tips on drawing up a sensible budget you can afford.

Who’s Paying for the Wedding?

Traditionally the bride’s parents would pay for the whole wedding, however in modern time’s couple’s have either pay for their wedding themselves or split the cost between themselves & the parents. If you can pay for the whole wedding yourselves then you are in a great position, but if you need to ask your families to help out then you will need to approach it diligently & sit down with them to discuss it. Be prepared to be asked how much you think it will cost & how much you want (or expect) them to chip in. Don’t base your wedding budget on the average amount for a wedding (around $25,000) but on what you can afford.

There are several options:

Your parents decide on the amount they are prepared to contribute, you then set your budget & make up the difference yourselves.

Your parents pay for specific items such as the flowers or catering.

You will then have to decide how to pay for everything else.

You set your budget & split it evenly. This is a good compromise & good if you have a divided family. For instance, you, the mother of the bride, the father of the bride, & the groom’s parents will each contribute $5000, for a total of a $20,000 wedding budget.

How Much Do You Really Need?

This does depend on your budget, but a good starting point is to work on an amount per guest such as $100 per head. From this you can allow $50 per head for catering with the remainder going towards everything else. However, where this fails is if you are having only a small intimate affair with say 10 guests, here you may find $500 does not go very far! As a starting point this does however, work for a large wedding & can allow you to have a lavish do & a lot of guests. You can of course throw a wedding on a shoestring, but be prepared to compromise on a lot of the details.

Figuring Out a Basic Wedding Budget

Use the wedding budget planning worksheet to set out the basic figures. If you already some of your costs put them in & adjust your other figures till the budget works for you. If you know anyone who has recently got married ask them for the prices the paid to local vendors or ask if you can borrow their planning notes to help you. Remember to keep figures realistic or your whole budget could go through the roof.

Making Room for What Matters in Your Wedding Budget

Think about the most important aspects of your wedding day to you. Spend more on your ceremony & photographer than on flowers & favors. If you wedding is small then your catering bill won’t be so high as a big wedding, so you can allocate more money to other things.

Ways to Save on Your Wedding Budget

If, after you have drawn up your budget, you discover that the final figure is way above what you can afford then it is time to make some compromises. Go through the budget & take out anything that isn’t really necessary or that you are prepared to do without. Things like the number of bridesmaids – do you really need 12 attendants? Think about how much twelve dresses, 12 pairs of shoes, 12 set of accessories & 12 bouquets will cost. Keep attendants to a minimum, if they are really good friends they will understand. Look at having your ceremony & reception in one place, which will save on transport costs & you will get a better rate at the one venue than paying for two. If after doing that the numbers are still too high, then it is time to go back & look at what is really important to you on your wedding day. Maybe consider a small wedding now & renewing your vows in 5 or 10 years time, when you could afford a bigger party.

Once the figures add up, set your budget & stick to it. This is easier said than done, but it is vital to achieving the best wedding you can afford.

About The Author

Georgina Clatworthy is a dedicated full time writer who composes informative articles related to wedding favors and wedding. She is connected with 1weddingsource.com, today’s leading wedding planning social networking site. Visit the author’s web site at:
http://www.1weddingsource.com