Welcome to the Wedding Site for the Brides to Be
Cut down: Have two bridesmaids instead of 10. This will save you on gifts. Serve only three courses instead of five. This will save on price per head. Invite 100 guests instead of 200. This will save on everything. Do the math: If your wedding comes to $150 per person for food and drink, cutting your lost from 200 too 100 will save quite a bit. We only invited 50 people. Out of the 50 people, only 39 had showed up. Be careful, because some places still charge you on a minimum amount of people. I definitely learned my lesson.
Loosen up: The less formal the affair, the more affordable it will be. Instead of having a sit down dinner, go for a casual brunch or barbecue. Get rental cars, instead of the added expense of a limo. My husband and I didn't do anything like this. We just had a buffet for the our close family and friends.
Pick and Choose: You don't need the best of everything. Get rid of the hors d'oeuvres and spend your food budget on exquisite entrees. Serve a wonderful cake, but skip the dessert table.
Put it off: Get silver or white bands for now, and upgrade to platinum on your First Anniversary This is something my husband and I did. We just got plain wedding rings for now. We are looking into getting my diamond sometime next year.
Do it Yourself: Never underestimate the penny-pinching power of elbow grease. Coordinate the alcohol yourself. make the favors, address your own envelopes, and do your own hair and make-up. (This is something I did for my own wedding) We made our own invitations, envelopes, and favors. I did my own hair and make-up as well.
Invitations:: Keep them basic. Remember, top quality paper, fancy typography techniques and custom-colored inks increase the cost, as do decorative envelope linings and multiple enclosures. Choose one elegant element and keep all the rest simple. Use response postcards or make save-the-date cards yourself. To keep postage costs to the minimum, stay away from oversize or overweight styles. For our wedding, we just made our own invitations. We had everyone call us for RSVPs. I told everyone by the word of mouth, to save the date. It was definitely cheaper for us and everyone in the long run.
The Dress:: Do you have your mind and heart set on a courture? Save massive bucks (as much as 15%-35%) by simply swapping out the fabric. For instance, a dress made with of poly satin instead of silk satin will cost hundreds less.
Formal Wear:: Wear basicblack nondesigner tuxedos. Encourage the groomsmen to rent from the same place. That means, if you do, your groom's tuxedo will be FREE!! If your wedding happens to be nonformal, wear a nice a suit that you may already own. This is what my husband did. He wore a nice shirt and dress pants.
Transportation: Choose a Cadallic over a limousine. If you really want the limo, don't go overboard: stick with an average sized vehicle, use it for only the bride and or the wedding couple, leave out the amenities, and have the wedding party carpool.
Flowers: Phase out expensive flowers for an inexpensive ones. Even little substitutions add up: If you exchange Black Magic roses for the more reasonably priced deeply colored dahilias in all your bouquets and table arrangements, you'll save about $5 a stem. If you were planning on having five roses per bouquet and 10 per centerpiece-- with a wedding party of five girls and a guest list of 200 people you save a load right there. When I did my bouquet, I had bought one at Party City, which was an expensive route. I also had bought silk flowers from the Internet. I made all my own centerpieces. That's an inexpensive route that you can go.
Ceremony: Exchange your vowes in a naturally beautiful place. For instance, a park, flower garden, or an already ornate house of worship. So, you don't have to spend the extra money on decorations.
Reception Site: Reduce the number of overall dinner courses and keep your menu simple. Stick with the specialities of the season and region. If possible, buy your own alcohol. Have caterers bring out the fancy Dom Perignon for the toast, but then switch to a less expensive champagne for the rest of the evening-- no one will ever have to see the bottle, or know the difference for that matter.
Cake:Order or a small and lovely cake that's exactly what you want and, in the kitchen have several sheet cakes of the same flavor cut for your guests. Steer clear of tiers and handmade sugar flowers and special molded shapes. Have your caterer (if you have one) decorate each plate with a flavored sauce, instead. A little tip: buttercream frosting is tastier and cheaper. For us, I had a friend of mine make the cake. She made a heart shaped cake, which was only three tiers. Plus, I bought all the cake making materials from the cake mixes to the cake pans. Easier and cheaper!
Reception Music:Keep the band small. If their equipment is up-to-date, a small combination band shouldn't sound like it's small. Or have the band do double-duty, playing at your ceremony and then your reception. Or you could chose to have a DJ. DJ's usually cost less than having a band. The best DJ's and bands are in highest demand on Saturday nights, so try Friday or Sunday for a slightly discounted rate. For our wedding, we made CD's and brought our own CD player. We opted this way, because we thought it would be cheaper. Plus, we didn't have a lot of guests that wanted to dance.
Photographs:Hire a photographer just for the ceremony plus a limited amount of time at the reception. Keep prints simple, and steer clear from special treatments. Make sure you select a package carefully, some include parent's albums, but many don't, which means you may have to pay an additional fee later on. We didn't have a photographer at our wedding. My new brother in law had a good digital camera. So, he took pictures for us and put them onto CD for us to enjoy. Also, my father had a 35mm camera. So, for our wedding album, we had his pictures. That trimmed that expense for us.
Honeymoon:If you have frequent flyer miles, this is a good opportunity to use them. Make sure you avoid traveling during high season, the peak tourist time when things are most crowded and of course, in demand. Check out airfares for departuers out of a nearby and smaller cities. Also, let people know that you are on your honeymoon. That could result in benefits of chilled champagne waiting for you in your suite or free upgrades.