What are some ways to save money on a wedding?

I am starting to plan my wedding and am wondering what are some good ways to save money? If you have any ideas that would help me please share! Or if you know of websites and such that might have some hints. Thanks!|||1. reception at your house or parents house


2. DIY on everything and anything


3. Have your wedding off season


4. Order a cake just big enough for you and your hubby, and have the guests be able to eat a homemade cupcakes or sheet cake. that will cut your cost for the cake down aton


5. have a small guest list


6. make everything more casual. the more elegant, the more expensive is the way it usualy goes.


7. Consider a night othe rthan sunday. even thursday can cut costs.


8. stay in the season when choosing flowers and foods


9. choose large blooms for your flowers, rather than many little ones. choosing just one or two large flowers, such as peonies, orchids or even sunflowers will cut your costs.


10. take ceremony flowers to the reception site.


11. Do a mingle reception, you will save money on seating and be able to have just snacks and a bar rather than a sit down meal


12. rather than a bar, serve wine in passed glasses.


13. ask the dj to cut back on special effects, like lighting.


14. hire students from local universities who are in photography to do your wedding pictures. or even hire a local student band.


15. see if stationers will give youa discount for ordering all your stationary from them. i.e. thnak you cards, invitations, place cards, etc.


16. by a top of the line bridemaids dress- in white. while it may not look as extravagant as a bridal gown, you can probably find one for under 500 dollars.|||a) do it at the house you live at or a parents house.


b) have people you know make the cake, and do self catering for the dinner for the reception.


c) get those disposable cameras, only for half or less of the people youplan to invite. you don't want too many pictures. there are cameras out that have phrases on the bottom after they develop.





hope this helps|||im starting to plan my wedding as well...for starters david's bridal always has those $99 dollar gown sales...i would use those not only for you dress but for your bridesmaids as well. usually tux rental places have good deals if you rent like three tuxes the groom's is free...instead of buying centerpieces and trinkets already made, go to micheal's or a craft store and make them yourself! way cheaper. try and have a more open pot luck kind of thing going on...its cheaper and maybe have like a sign up sheet to bring food. i hope that helps you somewhat : /|||You can make your own invitations %26amp; programs


Do your own flowers/decorations


Borrow your viel, or any other items for you to wear|||Best way to save money.





A--- day, if you get married on a sat it will b pricy. think about a off day like a sunday.


B--find a cheaper place to make a cake.also when you have hypothetically speaking say 200 ppl have them bake a 20 person cake and then just make sheet cake and give them that much cheaper.


C--- find a place that does invitations online much cheaper.


D--- Place depends if you dont want pricy maybe a family members house or cheap hall.


|||I was going to do a place that did it all in one, wich alot of people say is good, but they wanted 3500 dollars for it. At first it wasn't so bad because it included for 100 guests, te cake, catering, tents, clean up, and some decorations.. but it was 3500 for JUST that, nothhing else.





BUT after asking our church to do it, they said it would be 275(you get 100 back, but we're donating it to them), the reception would be about 400-600, and the cake would be 150(3 teired from walmart). We could decide to have the reception at the church basement which is remodeled, for 100 extra, but it may be too small since we've invited over a hundered guests(all close family/friends), but I don't expect everyone to show.


Alot of stuff I'm looking at is from walmart like the pillow, basket, ect.. AND I'm buying some stuff from a person who got married before me, with colors similar to mine(decorations, bouquet, and bridesmaid dresses)


My dress was 99.00 at beautiful brides and more(everybody keeps guessing like a thousand). Plus davids bridal 99.00 gowns were VERY plain or didn't match my form(look around)


We're probably buying our own video cam and asking someone to volunteer to do it like my fiance's nephew(he's like 17). We might get the smallest photo package for the key photos and then place disposable cams at the tables at the reception for any volunteering guests to take, we'lll ave a drop box for them.


and We're getting our wedding rings at walmart(my set's like 700 bucks, but you can't tell the difference from it and a set that costed 2000)





I would say just look around, compare prices of places and you will come to good deals and what not, and don't be afraid to go ebay-ing either ^_~





Ebay has a beautiful (personalized) glass/oil unity candle set(tapers are wax, but the main candle is glass/oil)|||I like the idea of the disposable cameras at the tables. I develop pics for Target and I always suggest to brides (when they bring in a bunch of cameras) is to get all the film developed and put straight to cds- it's much cheaper than developing the film and having prints made.





Basically we charge a dollar a roll and whatever the cost per cd is (we squeeze as many rolls as we can- which is usually 8 rolls). Not all the pics are going to come out, so why pay for printing them? You can take the cd and upload them to your computer, or just use the photo kiosk in the store to edit and pic your pictures you like the best! Plus all your memories are backed up onto cd.|||How DIY handy are you and have you set a budget yet? Do tou have a theme? Decorate the church with candles, greenery, and bows This is not even terrible expensive if done by florist. U add potted plants from discount stores at side of aisle every few pews. You could try make your own bouquets, afloral.com has good videos on how to. You can buy flowers in bulk at, americanfloraldistributors.com, growersbox.com,globalrose.com, rosesource.com. delivered to your door. First two offer "bridal box" offers. Use seal and send invites, annsbridalbargains.com this saves on postage and printing. Use finger food buffet and get trays from local grocery/deli make some of the reception foods yourself. You make coffee/punch. Use paper or polycarbonate plates webrestaurant.com has great selection and case pricing. Sheets for table cloths( always usable later) or table rolls, and predone skirting for buffet table, again webrestaurant.com. Check out and order orientaltrading.com for wedding catalog. Get a wilton wedding cake catalog wilton.com. Make your own cake (not that hard! Really!!) Stumpsprom.com for bulk fabrics and decor ideas( their bulk fabrics could also help with tables). Weighted Helium Balloons,tea lights on mirrors for reception centerpieces, or go to dollar stores for container ideas. Hope this starts you thinking. Ebay for gown/veil and accessories..|||Do your flowers yourself. It's very simple to go to a farmer's market and pick out flowers, tie ribbon around the stems, and voila. Saves SO MUCH MONEY. Have a trusted friend or family member do your hair and make-up. Have a "stock the bar" party where your invites bring a bottle of wine for you and a bottle to share at the party, then use the wine at the rehearsal dinner. SHOP eBay for center pieces (so many brides just want a LITTLE money back, so you can find things that look great and cost way less on there!). My mother was very smart with our wedding and we saved THOUSANDS of dollars. We are considering writing a book! It's unbelievably easy.|||get a big empty water jug. Throw all your change and $1s in. You will ahve a good chunk in a small amount of time





have money transered directly monthyly or weekly from your accoutn to a savings





skip certain spedings like morening coffee and put that money aside |||Proably the biggest expenses are around entertaining your guests. If you want 300 people for a sit-down dinner, that's just going to cost a ton of money even if you cut corners other places.





The biggest money saving decisions we made was not to serve a meal. We had a 2pm wedding and had a buffet table with heavy appetizers (cheese tray, fruit tray, stuffed mushrooms, chicken satay, etc.) and only had 100 guests. Our total wedding was less than $8,000.





Just look at sample wedding budgets and look at the big ticket items and decide if that's important to you. If dancing isn't important, skip the DJ and plug an ipod into a speaker. If drinking doesn't matter, skip it.





Good luck and congrats!|||1. negotiate prices with your vendors. no vendor price is set in stone.


2. decorate with items other than flowers ... think candles and items you can get at michael's like river rocks, glass jars, etc. or use potted plants as decor.


3. make your own invitations - michael's has packages that you print on your computer - they have all the accessories like the liner paper, envelopes, etc. but you save a TON of $$ my printing them yourself.


4. ask your reception location if you can bring your own liquor instead of buying it from them - if you can buy your liquor from costco or sam's club.|||There are a few things:





a) Get your family to help you with your decorations


b) Make your own invitations


c) You don't need to have a multi layered cake but rather you can have a simple single cake.


d) and importantly liaise with your suppliers as they would sooner supply you with a cheaper version of what they want to supply you for the day than lose the business all together.


|||PWPOnline.com has a lot of great wedding decorations and wedding favors that can help you save money on your reception :-)





http://www.pwponline.com





Plus, their blog also has a lot of great wedding planning suggestions!





http://blog.pwponline.com





A few other great ways to save money would be to have the wedding in a backyard or at a family member's home, trimming your guest list, buying flowers wholesale, using an iPod instead of a DJ, and printing your invitations yourself.





Hope this helps!