Market goes up and goes down. But wedding is once in a lifetime. That being said, it doesn’t mean you should cash in all 401K and stocks, plan, plan ahead. Have a budget and talk to your parents and see how much they can provide. Although most families have been hit hard during the recession, many parents have saved just for your big day. The rule is to cut back on the wedding expenses as much as possible. There are many ways to cut back, such as flowers, invitations, receptions. Instead of a full reception in a hotel, have it in a less expensive venue.

If you have guests coming from out of town, Sundays are good for everyone. Choose a national park or local park for your venue. It’s cost effective and it’s beautiful. By saving money on the location, you can spend more on the photography. The recession has made many brides rethink their wedding location. Park weddings are more popular than before. Many local parks have gazebos for the reception which can save your tons of money. In most cases, the parks charge a reasonable fee which can be cheaper than your wedding dress. Call around and talk to park offices.

Here’s a little tip: don’t get the cake from the caterer directly. He will want you to. But don’t. You know why? Because he doesn’t make the cake, he orders it from some else. I just happened to see some nicer grocery stores now offer cake decorating services. I saw a layered cake at my grocery store just last week. Of course, you don’t want your cake from the grocery store. Look and shop around. I know people who are custom wedding cake designers who work full time with their day job but make extra money on weddings. Try to find one of those. They make absolutely beautiful and inexpensive cakes.

Lastly, don’t forget your family members. Do you have a great aunt, or aunt, your mom or somebody who can just do a good job as a cake decorator? What about your girlfriends? And their relatives? Ask around. Ask your church. It’s almost certain that some members in the church is a master. You can even pay her. But I assure you, it’ll be much cheaper than the caterer’s cake.

Plan your wedding in summer when flowers are the least expensive. Only use flowers that are in season. You don’t really need a florist for the flowers. Buy and arrange them yourself. Get your sister, friends, and mom to help. But flowers in bulk from the growers. If you really want a winter wedding, plan a church wedding around Christmas so the church will be decorated already.

Flowers are beautiful anyway, so buy in quantity, not quality. Don’t go for the most expensive flowers. Get lots of inexpensive ones in the less noticeable areas.

For one, David’s Bridal does carry some inexpensive dresses on its website. However, you need to do enough research. The problem with a popular retailer like that is many brides will wear the same dresses. If you want to look like one in a million, look for other places like ebay. Whatever you do, start early to give yourself enough time. The problem with purchasing from ebay is that you might have to have it fitted or cleaned.  And that can be very expensive. Set your budget and do your search.

You can also order online unique and special invitation kits. That way, your invitations won’t look so generic. Most of them come with 100 invitations or more. You can always order 2 packages. Get your printer ready and print them out. Most of these kits come with a CD where you can design the fonts, texts, format, etc.

There’s another little tip that can save you money. Use the standard sized envelopes to save postage. So be sure to choose the invitations that are not large sized. Also choose post card style RSVP, therefore you can save some postage on the RSVP cards. These are little tips, but they will save you a lot if you plan to send out 300 invitations. At a saving of $1.00 on each one, you’ll be saving $300 which you can spend on the flowers.   Of course, we can talk about how to save on that one too.

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…

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.

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.