How did you save money on your wedding?

I already have some plans on how to save, less flowers, single flowers or candles for center pieces at the reception, my moms wedding dress or one that is on sale, small number of people in attendence, only one bridesmaid, that sort of thing. How did you all save money on your wedding to keep it from being way too expensive? Any tips?|||My wife and I got married in January. We didnt have lots of money for a wedding and neither did the parents. We settled on a budget of $1,500.00 and actually came UNDER. We also had over 200 guests!





We where able too get a wedding dress on sale at Davids Bridal for around $600.00. That was the most expencive item, I think it was a waste of money but she wanted too look amazing, and she did. She had her two bridesmaids get their dresses online, i think they paid around $30.00 for each of them. There is no need too spend a couple hundred bucks from a store when you can shop online!





We found a free venue. It was the clubhouse of a gated retirement community that one of our family friends lived it, this is a HUGE cost if book a venue plan on spending between 1,000 and 3,000 depending on where you have it and IF you want ANY food, including a cake they usually charge you more because they have too get a licence too have it on property. So think hard, and do research, you can find very cheap too free places too have the event and using the next tip, you can dress the place up too look exactly like you want it for cheap!





Go too your local Dollar Store, we used Dollar Tree (see link). They also have bulk prices if you are buying in quantity. From them you can get all of your glass vases, fake crystal rocks, candles, fake flowers, table cloths and everything for very cheep.





The centerpieces we hand made using items from Dollar Tree~!


Lets say you want a glass vase/candle holder with decorative glass rocks on bottom and a floating candle in it on each table. That would cost less than $3.00 per center piece, if you had 20 tables all youve spent is $60.00 and it takes just a few minnutes too put them together!


We based ours off of websites where you ordered them, those websites charged around $50.00 per center for basically the exact same thing that we did ourselves for $3.00!





We had my aunt do the pictures, with digital cameras these days you can go buy a brand new camera if you need too for a coupel hundred bucks and not pay a photographer several hundred if not thousands of dollars too do what you could do on your own! I think our pictures cost us under $100.00 with all the prints! Once again, they look like a pro did them!





ummmm what else.....


We where able too get a DJ for very cheap, and where able too afford it due too all the other saveings.





The guy who married us was a family friend, so no charge





FOOD/CAKE


You can get a custom cake from a grocery store with a bakery for under $50.00. There is no need for a multi tier wedding cake, they all taste the same!


We also did not pay for a caterer, we had a potluck type thing, and it turned out great!





Invites,


Dont pay some invite printer too do custom jobs, shop around and maybe do them yourself. We found very classy looking blank invites at wallmart that came with the gold embossed borders and everything, we just took them too Staples and had them printed!





The other thing we did was find friends who had recently had weddings who had purchaced all the stuff and then threw it in a box in the garage, we got all kinds of lights, and linens that we used for FREE





Looking back we are SO glad we didnt drop the average cost of a wedding, I think it is like 10K. We where in a daze the whole time and would not have known the differance!|||stick to small centerpieces and buying flowers from a supermarket is a good way to save money.You can go to a linen store and make your own table linens. Make your own invites you can go to any office max or staples and they have printable wedding invites. And sometimes people have an all Hors d'艙uvres for the food to save money.


http://www.save-on-crafts.com/makbouqand鈥?/a>





http://www.wedding-ideas-and-details.com鈥?/a>





http://www.stressawaybridal.com/





Good luck with your planning|||We first found a venue where we could have both the ceremony and reception, and they included a lot in the package ( tent, tables, chairs, linens, china, glassware, some decorations, a suite for 2 nights, etc.) and they also cater, so we chose the cheapest option they offered and just spruced it up a bit.





We *tried* to keep the guest list down.





We are buying flowers in bulk and doing our own centerpieces and bouquets. I bought glass bowls from the dollar store for centerpieces.





Made my own invites and all other stationary.





Made a strict budget for my dress and didn't even look at dresses that were more $. Bought my veil for $20 at a craft store.





FMIL is making the cake.|||I found a company online that sells bulk flowers. I was able to make centerpieces with a lot of flowers in them for pretty cheap. I picked a few of the cheaper varieties and had them shipped so that they arrived a day before the wedding. My bridesmaid and mom helped me make simple arrangements in cheap vases we found at a craft store.





Veils are really expensive in bridal stores, so i bought mine on e-bay for $17.





Making your own invitations is also a good idea if you have the time and don't have too many guests. I got a cool stamp and embossing powder to make my invitations look fancier.|||I've never been married but I know several people who did courthouse/City Hall weddings and then had a low key reception. Don't take this the wrong way but I've never been the least bit interested in listening to the bride and groom make their vows; they are only of interest to the people making them anyway. Most people only go to weddings for the reception anyway.|||I saved a LOT of money by making my own invitations. It took some time to design them and put them together, but I ended up with invites that I absolutely love for a fraction of the price.|||I saved money on my bridal jewelry and bridesmaid jewelry by going to http://www.glamforless.com/. You may want to check them out.|||my parents got people to bring a plate of food to the reception and they also made some of the food themselves|||http://www.culturalindia.net/weddings/index.html|||Get people you know to take care of taking photo's video, and etc.|||We're still working on how to save money but we're going away to get married so different circumstances I guess.





My sister got married at home and did lots of little things to try to save money...





She didn't hire cars for the bridal party etc. They found a couple of friends who had real nice cars and they agreed to let them use them for the wedding...and friends agreed to drive for them! I think this literally saved them a few hundred pounds - although the obviously paid for petrol and bought the car owners/drivers a thank-you gift!





She made the centre-peices for the tables at the reception herself. She bought some of those pillar candles from a cheap shop and collected sand, pebbles and shells from the beach and arrnaged them on the tables - it looked lovely, really natural and not over-the -top!





They made their own invitations, orders of service and thank-you cards. It took a long time, but they convinced some friends and family to help out and it was good fun! I spent many saturday nights making invitations etc!





She didn't have a wedding cake - they had a tier of cupcakes instead - one of each guest which they were given when tea and coffee was served after the meal. Obviously this meant the whole 'cutting the cake' traditional was absent but it was a nice, quirky touch! A lot cheaper than a cake although my mother hasn't baked cup-cakes since! I know other people who have got a friend to bake the cake as a wedding gift which has saved money.





Also, a know a lot of people feel they need to provide a bottle of red wine and a bottle of white wine of each table at the reception. This can end up costing a fortune and 9 times out of 10 it doesnt get drunk by your guests. Figure out what wine would go best with the meal and put one bottle on each table. If your not sure about wines, speak to someoen from the hotel where your having the reception and they'll be able to advise you!





There's lots of ways to save money on your wedding, I guess it's just a case of working out what is important to you and what isn't important and doing without, or cutting back, on the things that aren't important.|||My wedding is on September 6, 2009 so I am in the end stages and figuring out all the little details right now. Mainly, my fiance and I saved money just by looking around stores' wedding sections when we just happened to be there and weren't necessarily looking to do wedding shopping. Look for sales and clearance items in store or coupons in the paper. You also need to look around a lot before you pick the venue to have the reception at because that is probably going to be a big portion of the money spent. You can also save money by having the ceremony and reception in the same place, like we are doing. Another thing to look for when picking a reception location is package deals. Originally, we were looking at having the reception at a community center, but with the cost of everything that won't be included at a community center, it would end up being more expensive for a less pretty venue. We chose a hotel that requires you to meet a certain a food minimum for your guests and, once that is met, there is no actual fee for the space rental. We are also getting tables, chairs, linens, flatware, dishes, a suite for the night, set-up and take-down all included in that price as well. Something we would have not got if we had gone with a community center. Really, I feel we have gotten very lucky. Many of the things we knew we really wanted to have we were afraid we wouldn't be able to afford, but somehow we figured most of it out, of course we didn't get everything we would like. But, I would say, just don't stress about the little details all at once (examples: centerpieces, thank you cards, guest book, ring bearer pillow, etc.) if you just look around and keep your eyes open you will probably happen to find a good deal you wouldn't have found if you would have went out and bought everything at once. Also, you need to be willing to compromise. Like with us, I wanted a fish-bowl style bowl for the centerpieces with colored glass beads and floating candles in it for the centerpieces. The prices in the stores for fish bowls were very expensive, but we found someone on craigslist selling fish bowls and hurricane vases, so we will have them alternating at the tables. Not having flowers for the centerpieces is going to save us a lot of money so I would agree with you to try to have less flowers. And, with all this saving, if you find something you really really like and it's a bit more than you anticipated paying then you shouldn't feel guilty to give into one thing. I was thinking of having a small amount of people in attendance in order to save money too, but I think celebrating it with friends and family, and your families friends too, is a very important part of a wedding so that's something me and my fiance ruled out. That's all I can think of! Hope this helped! Best of luck with your planning!