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Posts: 11
12/2/09 8:32 A

I have negotiated most vendors. I got my limo and classic car for $500 less than they normally charge. My fiance gets a free tux rental, and so do our parents. We're making our own table linens instead of renting. We're making all of our own paper products (this means I am). We're having LOADS of flowers, but only ones that are in season.

There are tons of tips out there, and great ones on this thread!

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11/19/09 3:05 A

photos-sf2p.fbcdn.net/v284/244/2/116496000
7/n1164960007_30087568_4026.jpg
That's a bouquet I made for a friend's wedding. I think it cost $8. It had crystals mixed in with the flowers too which was cute.

http://photos-sf2p.fbcdn.net/v284/244/2/
1164960007/n1164960007_30087571_4922.jpg
That's my bm's bouquet's before I added the crystals.

I just wanted to post these to prove that you can DIY and make your wedding look awesome with faux flowers. lol

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11/19/09 2:55 A

One of my biggest money saving suggestions that always gets shot down is to use faux flowers. People can be talking about charging people to eat and the minute I mention faux flowers they act like I suggested they sell their first born. lol (I used to work in a bridal shop btw.) I'm not talking about the tacky pepto pink roses with hot glue "dew drops" on them....I'm talking about really gorgeous, affordable, nicely arrange faux flowers. If you're not a creative person, take a creative person with you and go to a Hobby Lobby or a Micheal's and check out their flowers...you'll be surprised. I'm going to use faux flowers for the table and for my bridemaids as keepsakes. I've handtied and corseted the bm bouquets and added feathers and little swarovski charms that have their initial on it that they can then keep on the bouquet or add to a necklace later. My flowers will be real and I'll preserve them afterwards (just because I love the look of real white flowers). Even with all the bells and whistles on my faux flowers, they don't even come close to the price for basic real flowers that will die a day or two after. I'm even going to give my table arrangements to people who have been really important to me in my life as a beautiful thank you and reminder of my wedding.

And every time I hear that guy on TLC gripe on faux flowers I just roll my eyes...he probably buys $100 a roll toilet paper. lol

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11/17/09 7:28 A

Do as much DIY as you can. Make things instead of buying them (favors, invites, etc) and pick a venue that doesn't need a lot of decor. The place I'm using is so pretty (and surprisingly cheap!) that I don't need to run around and put flowers everywhere. Also, often cutting out a beef option from the menu can save a ton of money per head, and if you want alocohol, just offer beer on tap and a few wines. (And a lot of places will let you have 2-3 mixed drinks ready to go for a very low rate).

Good luck!

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Posts: 28
11/16/09 8:38 P

we are keeping it small. less people to feed and we are doing the food ourselves. we are also getting married at a state park wich is free and needs very little decoration. i got my dress on clearance as well and saved a bunndle. any ideas on cheap kilts??

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11/11/09 6:51 P

I was at a friend's daughter wedding on Saturday and they made their on buffet table with home made barbecued chicken and barbecued beef, bags of chips, carrots etc. and punch and tea. Very nice set up and I am sure it saved them lots of money.

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Posts: 125
11/10/09 6:47 P

We're getting married on a Friday night and they cut the price by 20%. Also other perks come from Friday weddings: the dj gave us a discount, and the photographer threw in a lot of free/extras because of a Friday date. Just something to think about :) Good luck!

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11/9/09 12:22 P

My husband and I got married a little over 2 weeks ago. We saved alot of money. One major thing we did was with our cakes. Instead of having flowers as centerpieces and then cake for everyone, we had cakes as centerpieces. This way you kill two birds with one stone. We had a cake to feed 8-10 people at each table. We had 4 different flavors that were varied at each table. This way everyone could start eating their cake whenever they wanted. It was also fun because people got up and mingled, tried other flavors at other tables and had a blast. We paid $430 for 22 table cakes, a small 2-tiered cake for the wedding party, and cake stands. Otherwise we would've paid $700 for flowers and then another $700 for a cake. It was a hit, we even sent some of the extra home with out of town guests and our parents. Good luck with wedding planning everyone!

Posts: 8
11/6/09 11:36 A

Don't get swept up in having professionals do everything. I ordered my runner online, my veil online, got a petticoat off ebay and added more padding to it, we made our own invitations that we got from Michael's (they looked awesome btw). We had a wallet size picture of us in a cute frame as a wedding favor, and a CD with love songs that tell "our story" from beginning to end as favors as well. We downloaded them, and burned them ourselves, and got the kit to label the CD's. I didn't care about real flowers, so they were artificial, no one knew! Even my bouquet, which I have as a momento, I ordered from a lady who has an online ebay store. We made our own centerpieces too with stuff we bought at Michael's.

My sisters decorated with stuff I bought from Michael's too. Just look at the books for ideas, then do it yourself. My wedding had about 150 guests so we had to make about 15 centerpieces plus the ones for the head table.

Your wedding doesn't have to be expensive to be beautiful. No one knew how much we did ourselves! It also provides the opportunity for you and your fiance to bond and get creative together.

Edited by: MELLOFTON at: 11/6/2009 (11:38)

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Posts: 245
11/1/09 4:23 P

We are renting a beach house (with over an acre of land) for a week and will be able to supply our own food and liquor. Also, because of the beach house, our venue will be doubling as our place for lodging.

We are also looking at getting the flowers wholesale and "DIY" the bouquets/centerpieces.

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Posts: 88
11/1/09 11:57 A

We're getting married on a Saturday afternoon bc/ we are getting married right on the beach and want our guests to enjoy the scenery. Also, we decided to have a friend video the ceremony. I also saved a lot on my dress, but I absolutely love it. We're having our ceremony and reception at the same venue. A friend is doing our stationary and we are making our favors and centerpieces. Also, saving by having a small wedding party.

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10/31/09 11:08 A

Personally, I plan to do all of my own wedding stationery: invitations, escort cards, programs, thank-you cards, etc. It's much cheaper than store-bought stationery, much more personalized, and several of my friends can help me put them together assembly-line style!

We splurged on a 12-piece swing band for the reception (my fiancé is a ballroom dancer, we met while socially swing dancing, and many of our friends come from the scene), so we are keeping the ceremony and dinner a small select group of our closest friends and family, then inviting everyone else to the reception to dance and mingle. We'll have hors d'ourves passed around after dinner so the guests will still have something to snack on... WAY less expensive than a sit-down dinner for everyone.

Other cost cuts for us: having the wedding on a Friday (cut the price of the venue literally in HALF), no wedding band for me (engagement ring will serve as both), very few flowers - small bouquets only (I'm not a flowery kind of gal), having a fake cake to display but serve sheet cakes to the guests, open bar for the cocktail hour only.

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Posts: 2
10/13/09 2:38 P

We're getting married in Mexico. It will actually end up being cheaper for us than holding a wedding in the city. Also, the honeymoon's included!
Most resorts have wedding planners included in the price so you don't need to worry about details yourself and the travel means that your closest friends and relatives will be there to share in your day. That sounds a lot better than paying to feed parents' friends and distant cousins...

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10/13/09 12:40 P

im hoping to DIY alot of it

Posts: 316
9/25/09 9:11 P

I am not going to have a DJ at my wedding OR buck and doe. So many of my friends have EACH and EVERY song that I'd want at my wedding on their ipods, /computers. We will do it that way and save almost 1000 dollars :)

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9/25/09 3:49 P

Use paper plates and cups
If your not super picky about your centerpieces, get flowers ordered from a local grocery store and put them together
Chair ties are unnecessary
Shop for venues and be open to anything


If you are happy on your wedding day, your guests will be happy and they wont care about china, etc. I have 180 people coming to my wedding and the total cost is $6000. Also make sure you get a good DJ if there is dancing, that will make or break your reception. Have fun!

Posts: 907
9/24/09 12:41 P

I feel so lucky that my cousin, who is a wedding photographer, offered to do our photos as her present to us. I'm also happy that I have a friend who plays piano for weddings who has offered to play for us. Whew!

We're also making our own centerpieces, and I think I'm skipping a veil unless I make my own. The ones I've seen are SO expensive!

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Posts: 2,528
9/23/09 6:08 P

I have several friends who do photography as a hobby. I'm asking 2 of them to be my photographers and will pay them for film and time but at a fraction of what I'd be paying a professional. A friend of mine also owns a catering service which saves me money. A friend of my mom's is making my dress. Another friend of mine owns a church (yes owns, she bought the parishiners house and the church came with the property) so I don't have to worry about a church rental fee. It's nice to have friends in high places LOL.

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9/23/09 11:03 A

Hey Guys, I am not a bride to be (yet)
but I do accounting and admin work for a wholesale flower business and have learned a lot from brides coming in on ways to save money.

1. do your own centerpieces-get some cheap dollar store vases and polished rocks from ikea or a craft store plop in some Gerber daisy's and you are good to go-a florist will charge you at least$30 a piece for this and you can do it for about $5 or less, with minimal time commitments.

2. talk to wholesalers-at my location we do not sell to the general public anymore but many places will for one time large orders or at least direct you to a florist or someone who the company has a deal worked out with to get flowers cheaper. just do your research first-I can't stress this enough, know what you want and how many, wholesalers cannot and will not offer you the same kind of service that you would get at a retail shop. Dont expect exceptions to the rule either, if roses are sold in bunches of 25 you are getting 25 they dont care if you only need 15.

3. sticking with the flowers, unless you are really crafty and able, do not do your own bouquets, florists will charge a fair amount for this work, but thats what they do, I can almost totally guarantee they will do a better nicer job then you. If you just want a couple of flowers together then maybe go for it but for any kind of design leave it to the experts...its really not as easy as you would think.

4.Plan flowers early!! wholesalers need at least 3 weeks to guarantee getting the flowers or giving the bride time to pick something else if you pickled something that is out of season, and (at least with us) when we get wedding orders from florists we make sure they get the best possible product, last minute stuff just gets whats left in the cooler.

5.Rent stuff, loads of places will rent you a cake topper or cupcake stand,vases, decorations and so on.

6. who needs a $400+ cake?..its trendy now to have a cupcake stand set up..enlist a friend or family member who likes to bake, ask them to make you the cupcakes and get the bridesmaids together for fun decorating, you can do it all for less then $50!

7. e-invites, this may not be the best idea if most of your guests do not have email but pretty much everyone does these days, design a nice email invite and have guest electronically RSVP, its environmentally friendly and FREE!

8. make your own wine, loads of towns have UBrew places where you can make your own pretty tasty wine and even design your own labels to customize them to your wedding, the cost is much below a liquor stores and it can doucle as a gift as well, you need to plan this at least 6 months in advance depending on the wine variety you are going with.

9. if you do not want to make your own wine talk to liquor store owners/managers, most places offer case discounts so if you need 200 bottles you could be saving yourself a couple of hundred bucks depending on what you go with. same goes with all other booze, I work PT at a liquor store and have seen people save a WACK of money doing this.

hopefully some of this stuff helps :)

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9/22/09 8:26 A

Well, my husband an I got married last year but we just did the justice of the peace thing, with the promise of a ceremony for one of our anniversaries whenever we could afford it! We are thinking of doing it for this next anniversary, so November 12th of next year.

I agree with the couple people that said to the effect that you need to decide what is the most important thing/things to you about it. For me it is pictures and my dress! lol ITs the romanticism of looking beautiful and walking toward my man in a tux, its my little girls dropping flower petals with ribbons and little flowers in their hair, its autumn leaves in the back ground of our photos.

My dress and the suits and dresses for my hubby and kids are going to be our biggest expenditure, and after that is going to be the pictures, and then maybe bouquets....I am just giving bridesmaids if i even have more than one, a color scheme. i will do it a few months a head so that they have time, and they can get whatever dress they want. IT isn't taht important to me what they look like, just my main family!

I planned on making my own invites as well, thought I hadn't decided if I was going to just print my own or actually scrap books style them all with some rubber stamps and such I may do a little bit of both! haha

Some other things i planned on doing to save money, was a pot luck style!

I plan to enlist all of my friends to bring dishes or donate their crock pots for the occasion, and it is going to be a nice down home casseroles, cobblers, pasta salads and vegi plates with bowls of punch and chips and dip kind of thing out at the local park! Since I can't afford a venue really! I am was originally thinking of having it at my church but our pastor raised our rates and it would be 500, which isn't a lot to some people but to us, with one income and six kids it is, for the aisle and the dinky hall! lol with bad lighting to boot! hahaha SO I am going to have it in the park and it will be with our without the pastor if she wants to charge that much! lol its a renewal not an original, so she can be there as a guest if she can't find it in her heart, lol and we will be writing our own vows anyway! lol

Because I want it to be magical like that. I want people to cry at how much we love each other, I want our kids to see how much we do too! I may not even have chairs for the initial walking up and vow reading part! lol I just sort of want everyone standing on the sides looking at me as I walk up to this gorgious old rusty brick fort tower, that we will stand in the arch of and listen to us profess our love and kiss, and clap then go to the pavillion which i think i can rent for an even for 50 bucks! lol nice huh! and I am pretty certain I can enlist fold our chairs and fold out tables from the church for free too!

I also think I am going to buy a one use camera for each guest, and just tell them to go nuts with pictures, not to have to be perfect either, just fill em up! hahaha And I will develop all of them onto discs, and fix them and pick my favorites, that way no matter what, I have some great shots!

I am even making my own cake! I will practice several times this year with fondont and everything, and if that doesn't work out lol I will just make the teirs, probaby only two or I even thought of a fancy couple of cupcake towers! with autumn colored frosting, and edible fondont leaves and glitter! I don't want to strss over anything else but how I look,so I am trying to keep the over all cost at around 1500. My dress won't even be more than 500! I have found ALOT of great priced gowns online! I am waiting till I am closer to my weight loss goal to get my dress though! lol

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Posts: 61
9/21/09 10:52 A

For the table decorations. You can go to walmart in the craft section and they have wide bowels that are only about 1.50. you can put water in them and have flowers floating in the water,saves a lot of money.
I think the most important is only invite people who you want to spend this very special occasion with. Sometimes you feel are you obligated to invite everybody in the whole family. I have a very large family and half of them I would have really cared less if they were there but did because my parents thought I should.

Edited by: CJANE1 at: 9/21/2009 (11:10)

Posts: 143
9/17/09 1:26 P

I saw someone mention student photographers. I was recently a graduate student. I attended with some fabulous graphic artists. You may be able to find someone who wants to build their portfolio. I also had a cheap disposable camera on each table so the guests could take candid shots. Have a box for them to put the cameras in. My mom paid for my processing.

Edited by: EBETHET at: 9/17/2009 (13:27)

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9/17/09 1:08 P

My husband and I were married many years ago, but this is what I did to save money.

1) I would suggest that every bride have a person to help run the wedding. On your wedding day, you will be too busy to answer questions. I don't think you need to hire anyone. Invite someone who is not part of the family but is a friend to help. They can fix problems, find missing items, answer questions so you don't have to. Give them special thanks and a gift like you would a member of the wedding party.

2) If things don't go the way you envision, relax and accept it. Don't worry about perfection. Any mistake is just a small blip on a fabulous day.

3) I bought my dress off the rack at JC Penny's during a sale for $150, and I can't imagine one that would suit me better. I would recommend choosing a beautiful dress that is less expensive. Why let the dress get all the attention?

4) I went down the aisle with a simple bouquet, so did my bridesmaids. I made a silk throw away bouquet. I chose a scenic location and used very few flowers. This is where you can save a lot of money. If you are indoors, I would buy bridal ribbon and make my own bows for the pews. It will save money. Have a party with some friends and make them together to save time.

5) I bought small containers of bubbles for my wedding favors. I wrapped them with ribbon that matched my bridesmaids dresses. This saved money. I purchased a simple locket for my bridesmaids. I decorated a white candle with ribbon, lace, and a flower. One of my friends made me a simple drawstring purse with lace at the top. I inherited a wedding pillow. I decorated simple wine glasses with ribbon. Anything that says "wedding" appears to be marked up. I think the Oriental Trading Company catalog has a wedding section.

6) My reception and ceremony was in the same location.

7) I did not hire a videographer, so my video of the wedding is not great. I have only viewed it once. I don't know if I would spend money on video.

8) I had a great photographer. I did not save much money here. I purchased my negatives years later, but never used them. The photos are most meaningful right after the wedding.

9) I found a lovely dress in a catalog. It suited my tall niece, my straight lined maid of honor, and my curvy sister. Because my wedding was held outdoors, it was a bit more casual. This reduced expenses. I purchased the bridesmaids dresses because my niece could not afford the dress. Although your bridesmaids may be purchasing their dresses, I would choose a dress they can wear again at a modest price. My husband's friends were flying in, so he didn't want them to rent a tux. They all wore dark blue suits. I wasn't thrilled, but he would not change his mind. I bought coordinating ties for them. My husbands ties was the same tie but slightly different. The colors matched the bridesmaids dresses. Even though one suit looked slightly different, they all looked the same in the photos.

10) My wedding was a bit casual, which saved money.

11) We did not buy the alcoholic drinks for our guests. We only paid for sodas.

11) We had bar-b-q. This matched the outdoor location. People enjoyed the food. There was plenty of salad for vegetarians.

12) I had my wedding at a lodge. They cut the cake, provided the DJ. This allowed us to have the wedding outdoors. If it rained, we could go inside. This proved cheaper than renting a tent.

I hope your day is a lovely one. I wish you all the best!





Edited by: EBETHET at: 9/17/2009 (13:21)

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9/16/09 4:17 P

We have a few specific things that are the biggest money savers for us:

- We chose a winter wedding (in Michigan) because the off-season offers much better pricing
- We chose to have it on a Friday evening rather than a Saturday evening. We're saving about 40% on our reception location just because of the day of the week!
- Because of the time of year it works better to decorate with branches, snowflakes, etc rather than fresh flowers. We're barely using any flowers so that is a huge savings as well
- We're incorporating friends and family's talents. My mom is a cake decorator and although she doesn't want to have the responsibility to do it herself, we've asked one of her former coworkers. She's offered to decorate our cake for a very minimal fee. My sister is an ordained pastor, so another thing off our list for free!

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9/15/09 5:28 P

The photographer was charging $1400 for the complete package we wanted, and I told him that we had a budget of $500 and that in addition, we could offer him the rights to use our pictures in his portfolio and website as well as 7 nights accomodation at our condo in Las Vegas - which he accepted. So on the contract, for the price it says "$500 and Vegas"! Isn't that what people used to do before money came - exchange services or things? Still works - don't hesitate to offer bartering!!

Posts: 195
9/8/09 11:13 A

I found an all in one location. They have all the decorations, in house caterer (who makes great food), in house DJ (from a company with a good rep) and it's stunningly beautiful. I don't need to stress any of the timing of different vendors dropping things off or getting it decorated on time because that is all handled by my location.

Best of all is the prices. The rental for ceremony is $800 but the reception rental is free, rehearsal is free. Corkage was the lowest I'd seen and catering started at $21/head where everywhere else started at $25-$30/head.

My biggest Money-Saving tips is to SHOP AROUND because great deals so exist, you just have to know what you want and research to death.

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9/4/09 11:02 A

We are mixing paper homemade flowers (martha stewart weddings) with ones we will buy at the local farmers market. Also, We are using glass jars for centerpieces. I will decorate the jars themselves with raffia and ribbon. I am making all the table linens, because its easy, and you can find a lot of great fabric for about a dollar a yard, and sometimes less.

the BEST advice so far that i have gotten/experienced is to do a LOT of shopping around so you know that you are getting the best deal

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9/4/09 10:10 A

We saved over $1,000 by using silk flowers instead of fresh ones.

I found a great site - www.wedideas.com

They custom design bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres, etc for you. It cost me $317 (with shipping) for 1 bridal bouquet, 4 bridesmaids bouquets, 6 corsages, and 16 boutonnieres. I also got a free toss bouquet for spending more than $250. They looked incredible and you couldn't tell, even up close or in any of our pictures. The local florists had quoted me anywhere from $1,300-$1,500 for fresh flowers and that is just for the bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres. We didn't get any flowers for the church as it was 2 weeks after Easter and all the Easter lilies were still decorating the church and the floral arrangements for the tables at our reception were part of our reception package, so we did have some fresh flowers that day and we did blue hydrangeas with a few ivory roses. Our colors were navy blue and ivory.

Edited by: DAISYGURL4 at: 9/4/2009 (10:16)

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9/4/09 7:47 A

we are just having a verry small wedding with close family that way we can afford the little luxurys and treat everyone to a 3 course meal and on the house drinks.We also got our rings off e-bay you can get some great deals on good stuff on there.

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9/2/09 9:33 A

Since I am an art teacher, and oh-so-creative lol, I am actually ordering silk flowers and making my own boquet along with my bridesmaids, groomsmen, and my hubby to be flowers. I am also making my centerpieces (AC Moore, Michaels) they are always giving out coupons, use them!!

If you aren't feeling the whole do it yourself thing, ask someone (or bridesmaids) to help you, it will be less stressful and more fun!

Ask around for photographers that also do video. If you don't want video (which I'm debating, because how many times are you actually going to watch your wedding video??) I may just have my brother or a friend of the family who is technelogical just to video tape certain parts of the reception (entrance, dances, cake cutting ,speaches) I really don't care to see a bunch of drunk people dancing for hours on my video! I can go to a bar with the same people and video it from my camera! haha.

hope this hellps a little!

Sunday weddings = cheapest
Saturday during the day = cheaper
Friday = cheap

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9/2/09 3:05 A

try and do the decorations etc your self. can get cheap things and make them look good. For the cake we are just getting 2 mud cakes(we dont like the original fruit ones) of different sizes and decorating them myself or can get somebody to do it. Try and get a package deal with the reception. or instead of presents get people to pay for their own meals. limit the tab on the bar.
Get a friend to do the music for ya. We are just setting up a laptop with a stereo. also with cars normal everyday cars look good with a wash and a polish. borrowing my sisters car and another friends car and just cleaning them and putting the ribbon on the front
We are actuall lucky cause my mum is a florist so she is doing the flowers for us for nothing and we are friends with a photographer so hes doing the photography for nothing just paying for the photo's themselves.
Hope this helps a bit.

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8/31/09 9:48 A

I checked out around 50 different venues before I found the one. Same with my dress. Make sure you get what you want, but you don't have to spend a lot of money on everything. Figure out what is most important to you and spend your money there. Pictures are really important to me so I am spending a lot of my money there, for other people it is music, flowers, food.. whatever it may be. Make a budget and stick to it. if you go over on one thing don't spend as much on another. Shop at consignment shops and yard sales, and borrow things!! Good luck and congratulations!

Posts: 66
8/29/09 11:57 A

Try to find a venue that will do the ceremony and reception at the same site. Often this can cut costs. Also, instead of a Saturday night, set your date for a Sunday, or a weekday. At our site, Saturday nights have a $7000 food min, while Sunday and weekdays have only a $3500 food min.

Silk flowers are also half price compared to real flowers, and much easier to deal with!

Make sure you look around and price EVERYTHING. I searched TONS of venues before settling on The Elms. It ends up, they provide all chairs, linens, plates, centerpieces (which are lovely), tulle, chair bows, twinkle lights, and DJ equipment. For all this, the outdoor ceremony, indoor 3 course reception, and a 4:30pm-12:00am time frame, is only costing us $4500.

Talk with local friends, or go through a church directory to find people who bake wedding cakes on the sides for fun. This can cut the price of your cake in half!

Visit a craft store and make your own invitations, or buy "print at home" kits. Once again, this can cut the normal price in half.

I hope this ideas help! I am a total bride on a budget. We are splitting the wedding 50/50 with the parents, and trying to keep it all under $7,000 for 150+ guests, the wedding dress, photography, and anything else!

Posts: 1,096
8/26/09 3:28 P

Definitely try to keep down the number. My main expense is the food/drinks for all of my guests. I chose to have my wedding and reception at a country club, where I have to choose from packages they offer. The food and drink will be at least half of the total cost, as it's a sit down dinner and open bar. You can consider an evening wedding rather than dinner time and get away with just serving appetizers/small snacks rather than a whole meal. For drinks, consider serving only certain beverages (i.e. beer and wine only) to really cut down on costs. Less guests will always come out to less money.

I am doing my own makeup because I enjoy it, but will be getting my hair done. I'm going to my regular salon rather than paying more to have someone come out on location. I shopped around a lot before finding good deals and good quality for my photographer and dj. I went by referral for both of them. For flowers, I'm saving a lot of money by only buying bouquets, since the location already has many poinsettias out during the holidays (my wedding is right after Christmas). I'll also be purchasing my cake from a regular grocery store. My store has beautiful and very delicious cakes, for much cheaper than a smaller bakery. I am saving on most areas and putting most in for the food and drink since my family loves eating and drinking most :)

Posts: 156
8/21/09 6:02 P

If you can, no joke, keep it small & do a destination!

You can get a package at an all-inclusive resort in Cabo for $2000 that includes a dinner reception for 20 people, 1 hour cocktail hour, cake, champagne for toasting, photos, your hair & make-up, flowers...

You can build your honeymoon around and you can also take care of your marriage license before or after the trip to save yourself some headache (and it's almost like having 2 weddings ).

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8/21/09 1:46 P

Im currently planning my wedding and we're trying to keep it as cheap as possible because we're looking to buy a house around the same time as the wedding. Some call me a fool but I'm spending 2 years planning my wedding. A couple of things that I have found helpful and cheap is... I found centre pieces that I love so I bought the same items and taught myself how to make them myself. We also hired a photographer who just has a small business on the side to do our wedding and she's cheap but does amazing work. Student Photographers are great too because they don't charge alot but do great shots as well. I am making my own invitations with a girl at work. ALSO we're having our wedding outdoors in a friends backyard who lives on the water. It's a great spot and the water is a gorgeous backdrop and its FREEE.
I have also been finding that there are still places out there that let you have the bar at the venue so if you can do that it quickly adds up.
We'll be having our jack and jill at a venue that allows you to have the bar as well as the reception venue for the wedding.

Hope this helps someone! Its stressful and a lot of work but extremely fun!!

Posts: 2
8/15/09 8:47 A

The key really is keeping the guest list down and keeping the # in the bridal party down (which I am painfully learning now after we have already chosen 7 bridesmaids/groomsmen).

I am doing a lot of the decor myself, including the florals. In addition, I have done the favors, the programs, the wedding wands (to wave instead of throwing flowers at us), the thank you cards, the envelope liners, and lots of other things. I only had a six month engagement, so it's definitely manageable if you stay organized and focused on getting these things done. The savings add up!

I also used some vendors who are just starting out,but ones that I trust implicitly. They're a good bit cheaper.

I chose NOT to skimp on the catering, though, because that's an area where someone with little experience could really screw everything up!

We are inviting 185 people,with an estimated guest count of 125.

Posts: 27
8/15/09 12:32 A

The way I'm looking at my wedding is the same as the sweet 16b its just a B I G P A R T Y ..........I have to live after it so I'm doing alot of the planning,printing and cooking myself

If you put your mind to it we can do anything ourselves.

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7/28/09 5:34 P

We are going to get married at one of the town's parks that is beside a lake, which will cost us nothing. It has bathroom facilities and a covered pavillion and bird watching gazebo, fire rings and wood stove, picnic tables, and play ground for the kids. I will pick up some invetations from the local craft store and run them through my printer.

I found my dress for more than 1/2 off. My shoes were regularlly $110 and found them for $20.00!! I have been looking every where I go for bargans.

We have a butcher in town and will order hot dogs and hamburgers to cook on the BBQ and make some salads and have a great big BBQ with the families.

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Posts: 176
7/25/09 10:03 P

I'm making my own invitations. Envelopper.com has some awesome ideas and paper.

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Posts: 209
7/23/09 6:54 P

When we got married I had over 500 people at our wedding and did a full course meal for under $7,000. We got everything at costco as far as the reception and got mexican food... it was $2.00 a head and everyone loved it. Chips and salsa for an appetizer and our friend made our cake. We found our centerpieces in LA at the garmet district.

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Posts: 24
7/23/09 1:31 P

Hey, I got married in April and I also had about 100 guests. My fiance and I were both students so we were on a really tight budget.
You have to determine which parts of the wedding are important to you and which ones you can do without. If hand painting placecards for 100 seems daunting, have them printed at kinko's. you can fit at least four per page on colored cardstock in a pretty script, it will cost you about $10. we didn't have favors, most people don't really care. Don't skimp on the photographer! But if you do, don't worry too much because all of your friends and family will have their cameras there too, and they are more than happy to give you all of their pictures. You'll get multiple perspectives and definitely be able to peice together some really beautiful albums. Sorry this is long, I have a million suggestions, and I saved a ton of money on our wedding. If you want to know any more, just message me, I guess

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7/9/09 5:01 P

I made all our Save The Dates at http://www.vistaprint.com on free postcards! All I had to do was pay shipping. I also made our favors (magnets) and just paid shipping. It is a GREAT site!



Edited by: FAIRWIND06 at: 7/9/2009 (17:03)

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Posts: 31
7/2/09 6:43 A

Our venue has the linen and chair covers in with the price so i havent got to worry about that.Im making all of the Save the Date Cards and Invitations myself.My fiances nan is making our cake. Were making a Cupcake tower iced with our initials. Instead of havinbg flkowers as cventerpieces we are going to but nice candle holders for the tables.

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7/1/09 1:37 P

Some awesome ideas so far! I'm making all the invitations myself to save money, and I lucked out to have a reception site that's mostly inclusive and pre-decorated, so I don't have to spend a lot of money on that. We also arranged to purchase/bring all of our own alcohol to cut down on costs--and we're going to have a wine/beer reception with a single signature cocktail.I'm ordering my flowers wholesale and having an "arranging party" a day or so before the wedding with my BMs. I also decided to skip on favors, because half of the time people forget them or don't use them. Hope some of that helps--but it really just depends on what you have in mind for your wedding!

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Posts: 31
6/30/09 1:47 P

Kept the guest list very small. I had 50 people at my wedding.

Posts: 2
6/29/09 7:48 P

I have become addicted to wedding sites because alot of them have for sale boards where brides can post their things for sale. I bought my tiara and veil on one site and saves over 100 dollars. We bought our aisle runner, and vases for the centerpieces from another bride and our antique iron birdcage money holder from another. I figure Im going to use this stuff once so why buy it brand new when you can buy one thats only been used once. I have seriously probably saved almost 600 dollars so far. That 600 I put towards my photographer who is super expensive but oh sooooo worth it!

When we started we decided what was really important to us and decided to scrimp on other things to make sure we got the things we truly wanted.

At the end of the day noone will ever know you used vases for your centerpieces that weren't new.

Posts: 407
6/26/09 1:33 P

I went to a welcome wagon bridal show and won a few prizes there (a sweater, free DJ for the wedding and a patio set worth about $600). If there is one in your area, check it out. I went with a friend and we had fun making fun of some of the ugly dresses (there was one that was grey, not silver, but grey wedding dress, ewwwww), she won a starbucks prize package.

I got potted plants at $3.99 each, got 6 of them. A lot cheaper than centerpieces, I also gave them away at the end of the night. I had only 45 people at the wedding. So, not too many tables needed for us.

We got married at a museum ($2000 for the wedding and reception). They had a list of restaurants that were familuar with the layout of the museum, but it wasn't for us, so we had Boston Pizza deliver, we ended up paying $400, including a $50 tip for 18 pizzas, we were able to take home leftovers for the next month afterwards. The other places would have been double the price or more, and no leftovers.

We went to the dollarama for quite a few things, there were 3 kids there, so I got them toys for each of them to play with during the reception. Must be boring otherwise for young kids. Got a bucket to hold the items, colouring books, crayons, stickers, dolls, play-dough, etc. $10 each, they had so much fun. It was great.

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Posts: 232
6/24/09 2:57 P

An excellent book is:

Your Beautiful Wedding on Any Budget by Todd Outcalt.
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10:1402217889
ISBN - 13:9781402217883

I had some ideas that were fleshed out better after reading his book.

One of his best pieces of advice was to avoid buying items tagged as "wedding" - for example, I was looking at bubbles and the 'party' bubbles cost $2 less than the ones labelled 'wedding' bubbles.

His message is that a marriage that doesn't start in debt is stronger. I guess it has to do with priorities etc. I know that's why I am waiting to save up for our wedding.

Good luck!!

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6/18/09 2:47 P

I know this isn't much to add, but I won a free cake topper at Infacity.com. They also run ads for other discounts on all services you can think of.

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6/13/09 1:02 P

You could earn your bridal jewelry for free. Have a Lia Sophia jewelry party. You earn lots of free and discounted jewelry when you host a party. You could earn your bridesmaids gifts for free! Let me know if you would be interested. It's agreat option for free jewelry.

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Posts: 246
6/8/09 4:10 P

We are keeping the wedding small (mostly family) and done decorations, flowers, invites, programs, favors, etc all ourself to cut costs. Paper, ribbon and flowers are NOT expensive. Watch for 50% off sales at craft stores like HOBBY LOBBY. Start EARLY so you have TIME to figure out what you want to do, how to do it and get it done too. We skipped the traditional aisle runner and went with ON SALE ROSE petals to frame our aisle. We skipped the cake topper and are having our cake lady do the top with icing flowers to match our decor. I ordered my wedding dress in WHITE with detail and beading but ordered it off the bridesmaid line of dresses and saved 50% or more. Skipped the GUEST book and made my own guest book page and put it into 8.5 x 11 WHITE scrapbook which I can use later. With few guests we only needed a page or two for guest signatures. Lots of little things you can do to save $. Ask yourself what WILL matter when you look back on the day in a year or even 5 years. Determine what is important and make decisions based on that. For us photos were important. Spend your $ on what matters. If you need cost effective ideas for SPECIFIC things...research it....or keep asking here. We are all here to HELP !!

Good luck !

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6/8/09 1:06 P

We're doing a lot ourselves. My dress was only $100, his attire won't be too much. We're printing and making the invitations and programs. We got flowers from a place called the Flower Factory. It's a huge craft store that is priced really affordably. A friend of ours has connections with a jewelry store owner, so our rings will probably cost less. We're hoping that there won't be more than 100 people at the wedding, so that'll help. We're only inviting around 120 to start with, and probably 20 of them won't be able to come. I just hope it all works out!

Edited by: PIROGOETH at: 6/8/2009 (13:07)

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6/7/09 10:15 A

One great way to save money is to figure out what is important to you and cut the rest. I know that doesn't always fit into everyone's (or everyone's parent's) idea of a wedding, but it's shaving thousands of dollars off of mine. Sit down with your groom and figure out what you want to get out of the event. What are your top 3 or 4 overall goals (be honest!), and if something doesn't fit into those goals, cut it or downsize it! This also helps if you're short on time. Good luck!

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6/6/09 4:07 P

Thanks for the ideas!! I do have a couple questions though...

How big is your wedding going to be? And how much time do you have left until the big day?

I ask these because I think I will probably have around 100 guests, and it just seems like a lot of work to do everything myself. While I would love to, I'm not sure if I have the time or manpower to complete such a daunting task.

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6/6/09 4:01 P

I am a price checker on everything. I discovered that you can get great deals on ebay esp. when it comes to fake petals and confetti. Even fake flowers to decorate with. I am doing pretty much a lot by myself making centerpieces and invites. All I have really discovered though is that it is all about price checking when it comes to buying decorations. Oriental trading is another great place to get a lot for little. We also aren't fancy and not having a huge formal wedding. We are saving by only doing a hors de overs reception instead of a sitdown meal. I am probably only spending $5,000 on the whole thing and 1,000 of that is the ceremony site. Well good luck

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6/6/09 3:25 P

So I've perused through some books and magazines...heard some stuff in the news...but I wanted to pose the question here and hear from you all:

What are you planning to do/have already done to help cut the cost of the wedding?

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