Bride to be: Any tips on how i can save money on our wedding?

Question

Well i am now a bride to be :D! As far as money goes, we dont have alot. We are looking at a wedding budget of around $5,000. We wanna make the wedding last on memories, not the bills that follow after it.

Do you have ANY ideas on how to save money on any part of the wedding or reception? OR any cool ideas? We have about 9 months.

Its going to be winter. We are going with a winter theme, blue and silver. We live in Ohio and we have the place picked out for the wedding and reception.

Answer 1

Have a friend play as DJ; either rent a loud system or use whatever they have at the facility.



Go for finger foods, and buy wine, beer, and champagne in bulk instead of having a bar. People can serve themselves or you can have a friend serve.



Even if it's primarily dancing, drinks, and finger food, you'll still want tables where people can sit and socialize. Borrow plain white tablecloths from everyone you know who has them and make centerpieces yourself in your wedding colors to jazz the tables up.



TULLE- buy lots of it. It's fairly cheap (buy it from the cloth/craft store, not a wedding supply shop), and is an easy way to drape your wedding colors everywhere.



Christmas lights with white cords- the twinkle of white lights everywhere makes things magical if done right.



Now, for the ceremony- don't be afraid to get your dress at a consignment shop. It doesn't curse it in any way if another bride has used it before. I got a very nice beaded dress that would have otherwise cost me $800 for $200, including a veil. My husband spent more buying a suit. Your bridesmaids will buy their own dresses, but be sure not to pick something really expensive. Flowers? Buy them in bulk and have a creative friend do the arrangements the night before... of course they'll need a fridge big enough to hold them. Save on that bouquet by carrying a simple bundle of roses- too classic!

Answer 2

Well I thought you'd never ask:



There are so many shows on TV/Cable now that talk or show wedding on a budget,that is small or large. The possibilities are limitless. And if you prepay some things way before, then you will have a better chance to enjoy your wedding on a budget, but not having it look like it.



First: Go to the library, book store, etc, and find books on weddings. Save your money, don't buy these books, that is one expense you don't need or have to have.



Second: Find a place big enough for less, someones home, your church's basemen, or maybe someone can give this to you as a gift. Have your wedding upstair at church, and the reception downstair in the basement. Doesn't get any better than this. See if your pastor, rabbi, preacher etc. can give you a deal, especially if you are a parishioner.



Third: After you come up with your theme, or your decorations theme, make then yourself from the ceiling decorations to the napkins etc. Almost everything you need or want can be made or purchased for less. Believe me.



Fourth: Food, catered no way. Come up with a meal plan, and whether you want to serve people or go ala carte, and go for it. Buy the food and have a family member that is a great cook to make/prepare all of the food (you supply the food) as their gift to you. Place setting can be rented, chairs can be rented and covered. Drinks non-alcohol.



Fifth: Have a Family member, friend or co-worker take the pictures.

Blue and Silver sounds great. Just go for something that you will always remember, and make everyone think that you paid a mint for it. It can be done. If you dot you i's and cross you t's, you'll find that you'll out do your own expectations





I live in Ohio to, Cleveland............................



Good luck

Answer 3

The biggest saver is the guest count. If you are paying say, $20 per person, cutting 5 people saves $100!



I am also on a tight budget and am making my own bouquets and boutineers and debating on centerpieces. Believe it or not, you can actually get the look of a magazine with some friends and creativity. Look around at flea markets and garage sales for amazing containters. Florists charge top dollar to rent the holders for flowers! I am buying my flowers from an online wholesaler. I bought a test batch and they came perfect and lasted through my "wedding-day-trial." I am even getting hydrangeas and peonies for cheap but then again I am having my wedding in the spring when there are a lot of seasonal blooms available.



A limited bar always helps. Try wine/beer with a signature drink..maybe have hot cocoa spiked? Don't do a cash bar. It's tacky and rude.



See about parks in your area, or other city owned properties. They are usually cheap to rent!

Answer 4

Generally food and the venue are the most expensive portions of a wedding. In winter, depending on your geographic location, an outside location is probably out. So... look for indoor settings that are inexpensive. Will you get married in a church? Does the church have a social hall? You've saved a LOT because you could get that for free or a nominal amount. Ladies of most churches LOVE to serve weddings. The food might not be gourmet but as you stated you are making memories not bills. Trust me...your family and friends want to see you get married - the specifics of the party/reception don't really matter.



You can do a lot of things yourself. My daughter ordered invitations she loved but then saved a LOT of money by taking cardstock and printing her own RSVP cards and all the other inserts. She also did her own thank you notes with cardstock and stamping.



Centerpieces again can be do it yourself with supplies from your local craft store.



Keep the focus on the marriage - not a spectacular party.

Answer 5

I don't know how formal its going to be - I had a more casual wedding and used seal-and-send invites. They were so much cheaper because you didn't need all the envelopes and postage (google seal-and-send to look at websites for the invites). Also, we got a smaller tiered cake that was beautiful to set out and feed about 100, but ordered a sheet cake to actually feed the rest of our guests (about 200). I got the nice cake without breaking the budget! One more idea that would be cheap - I am from New Mexico and luminarias are big in the winter here and they might look nice for decorations. They are just paper bags (you could use white paper bags) with a sand and a candle in the bottom. They give a nice glow and if you to go martha stewart weddings website, there are guides to make them to look lacy for a wedding - its hard to describe but take a look if you want. I know a paper bag doesn't sound like a nice decoration, but they do look nice especially at night!

Answer 6

Remember my mantra for life: K.I.S.S., which stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid (or Silly, depending on my mood)!



There are basically 2 ways to save money on the wedding--do as much as you can yourself, and invite fewer people. The biggest cost by far is almost always food--if you invite fewer people, you'll need less food to feed them all. Also, don't feel you HAVE to serve a meal--have your reception at a non-meal time, and people won't be expecting it.



There are many things you can do yourself, with a little ingenuity and a glue gun. Yes, you can make your own floral arrangements, veil, bouquets, etc. Make certain your wedding gown fits you fairly well, alterations run the cost up fast--if you can find one that fits you pretty much off the rack, you won't spend the cost of another wedding gown getting it altered. Don't have an entire busload of wedding attendants, the more bridesmaids and groomsmen you have, the more you have to spend on their gifts--keep it to 1 or 2 each.



Another biggie--eliminate alcohol. Alcohol is probably the 2nd biggest expense. Regardless of what some people here will tell you, you do NOT have to serve alcohol at your wedding--we didn't, and got along just fine.



Also, check out www.theknot.com for articles on great money saving tips as well.



Good luck as you plan your wedding, and best wishes to you and your future hubby!

Answer 7

Just remember that your wedding is a very very special memory and it should be all that you want it to be. This means that if you are trying not to blow your budget plan out your expenses. You should plan to splurge on one thing, and then save on another. In example, you could get a pretty pricey dress, but then get cheaper (but of course not crappy) accessories. Obviously not everything has to be top of the line. Just think of what costs the most, like the wedding cake, and don't be discouraged from searching around for better prices on caterers etc. Good luck! : )

Answer 8

Congrats on your engagement. You can have an absolutely beautiful wedding that is easy on the budget. I just got married in October of 2007 and we spent $4,900 (includes my dress and his tux) The trick is to do as much of it as you can. Make your center pieces and favors, limit the bar or don't have one, one choice of meat should you choose to have a meal at the reception, ( pasta goes along way for cheap) print your own invitations and RSVP cards (Wilson has nice packages) find someone to DJ or pick out lots of CD's and put them on shuffle in a multi disc CD player and have 1 CD set aside with your songs on it and have somebody introduce you and set it up..... have a small cake ( I made mine ) and have sheet cakes for the guests, should you go with a photographer see if the offer a CD copyright package it is usually cheaper to get all your photos on a CD so you don't have to pick and choose your prints and then you can print them at you own convenience at a much cheaper price though somewhere like snapfish.com or another site. Little things like this will make a huge difference on your budget but most importantly Keep it simple and keep in as small as possible, don't invite your mothers best friend from high school and your grandfathers fishing buddies, things like that! good luck hope this was helpful....... Also always look for coupons to the craft stores.

Answer 9

Print your own invites with an invitation kit, same with programs. Everyone except you and your parents will throw them out. Do edible favors (like Hershey kisses wrapped in tulle) or skip the favors all together. Have a friend who is good with hair do your girls' hair as a gift. You could also have a champagne and cake reception. You can have a small cake and have servers cut a sheet cake in the back in the same flavor(s).



Those are some ideas. :-) Best of luck on your big day!

Answer 10

Get you guidance from Miss Manners and Emily Post, not from The Wedding Industry. TWI will out and out LIE to trick brides into spending more money. It is NOT incorrect to invite single people as singles. TWI simply LIES when it tells you that singles must be allowed to bring "&guest" to wine and dine at YOUR expense. It is NOT incorrect to invite a few children you know and care about, and no other other children. TWI is LYING when it tells you that if you invite your favorite neice you must invite every child of every guest.



Please read the "Weddings" section of Miss Manners' Guide to Excrutiatingly Correct Behavior. She give you a great outline of what is necessary and what is just frills. Examples:



Handwritten invitations are even MORE formal and correct that invitations from the printer.

It is an honor second only to being a member of the wedding party to be asked "to pour", that is to serve punch or coffee or to help pass slices of cake.

And so on.



Remember that RSVP cards are NOT mandatory, and if you do decide to use them (personally, I think RSVP by phone is easier and smarter) you are not required to supply the postage.



Try to avoid putting your bridesmaids to great expense. Encourage them to choose something that they can wear again and again. Don't ask them to host hen nights or showers for you. If they are not put to great expense and trouble, then they will be more than happy with a very modest gift from you.



Congrats and best wishes!

Answer 11

make things your self. if you can do large things like flowers or skip the limo (maybe you have a friend with a nice old car)



think outside the box and don't be too picky about what you want. you can still follow a general them or color but don't be afriaid to add another accent color, or just multiple shades of your colors.



you could have a snow flake making party and hang them form the ceiling or decorate christmas ornaments in your colors.



you could use cotton batting and buy some giltter spray paint and put bunches of it all around, on the tables, maybe even on the floor in some places, to look like snow



but the thing thats going to save you the most money is dyi

Answer 12

I know how you feel a wedding is a ton of money. Try using fake flowers for the girls it will save you some money. And I dont know how big your wedding is but you could just do an all dessert recption. Just sit down with your hubby -to-be and make a list of what is really important to you guys and make those your top priortys. And try making your favors yourself buying online is over priced, plus you have to pay for s&h.

Answer 13

You have been given some great money saving ideas but from experience food is a real budget breaker. Plan the ceremony at a time that you can serve cake , punch and coffee.Maybe early afternoon.Most people don't mind and is a real money saver.

Answer 14

You can save a lot on the dress by having someone you know make one. Also you can buy craft paper or whatever and make your own decorations. Also... make your own food and dont get a dj- play mixed cd's or have a friend/cousin handle the music.. Dont scimp out on the liquor though... thats important for a good time... hahaha.

Answer 15

Save 300$ per paycheck(both of you) for the next 9 months..

Work over time whenever you can, this is the prob the only way you can achieve 5 grand.



Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Answer 16

What part of Ohio? jsut curious i live in toledo.

but we are making our own center pieces, invations, found a photographer who does good pics, for like 500 bucks. probally gonna make my own boquets. but i also worked at a floral place, gonna check them out to see what kind of discount i can get.

Answer 17

Well I am a bride to be myself (and congrats to you, btw!!!) and I'm looking at doing similar things myself. I'll tell you some of the things I'm doing...



I am doing pretty much EVERYTHING myself, lol... I found a reception room for $75 and I'm looking at about $10 a person for dinner. I am undecided if I'm going to have an actual dinner or not yet, only cuz my fiancee has been out of work (he finally got a job, yay!) but I have been unable to save ANY money for the wedding because of this, and my wedding is 7 months away, so I'm thinking of just having dinner for our immediate families and attendants and having a later reception for everyone else to attend to have cake and drinks. As for drinks, I'm going to pay for soda (*maybe* beer, if the budget allows at that time) and have a cash bar for anything alcoholic (mixed drinks). My fiancee and I don't drink ourselves, so for us to just have soda is fine, however I know others will want alcohol, so I think this is the best thing to do. As long as you remember to put this on your invites that there will be a cash bar available, that way they are prepared and there are no suprises.



My cake... I actually found a girl in town that makes cakes out of her house, which is great, I'm getting a cake that feeds 114 people for about $200 which I think is pretty good. However you may want to check with your reception site, cuz I know that a lot of places around here will only accept a cake brought in from a licensed baker, which my girl is not. Walmart is relatively inexpensive for cakes as well, and I'd check with other local grocery store bakeries, I've seen some lovely cakes from my local grocery stores as well!!!



If you're not too picky about having a fancy invitation, you can do your own. You can buy kits at Michael's or Hobby Lobby or Office Max or Walmart or wherever... but since I'm having a fall wedding (oct 25th!) I just got some pretty stationery from Office Max that has autumn leaves on it, and some nice postcards (for RSVP cards) and some plain off-white envelopes to match. For me, I didn't need anything formal since we are having an informal/casual wedding. Plus it cost me about $40-50 for everything, in comparison to spending $100 or MORE for invites... then you gotta buy stamps yet, eek! Which is why I went for postcards for RSVP cards rather than actual cards with envelopes cuz the postage is only 26 cents for a postcard.



I'm not entirely sure about getting a dress anymore (I wanted to have mine ordered by Jan 1st but since my honey was still out of work it didn't happen so I'm going to wear my bridesmaid's dress from my friend's wedding a couple years ago as my dress) but I was going to get my dress at http://www.bridalonlinestore.com/ I know someone who got their dress off of there and the dress was AWESOME! I'm actually going to have my bridemaids still get their dresses from this site. I highly recommend them!!!!! Excellent customer service as well... they are great!!!!! :)



I'm also doing my own flowers (nothing overboard, I'm having VERY simple bouquets and boutonnieres) and my own centerpieces (small globe-like candle holders and putting small pillars in them with little stones in it for color and a ribbon around the neck of the holder).



I'm also doing my own favors. I got some tulle real cheap (check around!!) and I'm making what's called "Spoonful of kisses" You take a plastic spoon and put a few hershey's kisses (I'm going to use 4-5 for each) with it, wrap it in the tulle and tie it off with a ribbon, and then the little tag says "A Spoonful Of Kisses from the Mr. and Mrs." and then has our names and wedding date on the tag as well.





Hope this helps you!!! Good luck to you!!!! :)





oops, also check out http://www.orientaltrading.com/ for other items, you can get their wedding catalog and they have nice stuff for relatively inexpensive. I'm getting my guest book and toasting flutes from there, along with some other decorative stuff...



Good luck!!!