How did you do it! Wedding planning tips... PLEASE!

[PumpedUp Paula]

OK! So my fiance and I are planning our wedding for September and we have a few hundred bucks saved btwn the 2 of us! Things are tight because neither one of our parents are contributing as much as we thought, so most of it is all on us which is totally fine, I am thankful for whatever help we get!

Ladies & Gents I need some ideas. What are some ways you saved BIG money on your wedding? Any advise would be rad, I have nothing.

[morgansd12]

OK! So my fiance and I are planning our wedding for September and we have a few hundred bucks saved btwn the 2 of us! Things are tight because neither one of our parents are contributing as much as we thought, so most of it is all on us which is totally fine, I am thankful for whatever help we get!

Ladies & Gents I need some ideas. What are some ways you saved BIG money on your wedding? Any advise would be rad, I have nothing.

Have a local restaurant cater with a party tray, buffet style. Caterer's will charge you 5-10x more for worse food.

Plasticware not silver or dishes.

Thats most of your cost right there. Better yet, wait till you have the money you need for the wedding you want, and realize this is just one day...you still need to finance the rest of your lives together.

[Mindi912]

OK! So my fiance and I are planning our wedding for September and we have a few hundred bucks saved btwn the 2 of us! Things are tight because neither one of our parents are contributing as much as we thought, so most of it is all on us which is totally fine, I am thankful for whatever help we get!

Ladies & Gents I need some ideas. What are some ways you saved BIG money on your wedding? Any advise would be rad, I have nothing.

Shop around firstly, you'll be amazed at what you can find.

My dress was made especially for a magazine and so the lady only charged me something like a $100 for it but it was made from the most expensive material ever. Long story but she used off cuts from another another dress to make the bodice.

Also the Hotel I contacted which I thought was going to be mega expensive actually wasn't as bad as I thought (this was for the reception), plus because we booked through them we got the honeymoon suite for free.

My mum's friend made the cake and this was her wedding present to us. That saved an expense there.

We did the same thing for the photographer and the video.

[morgansd12]

Shop around firstly, you'll be amazed at what you can find.

My dress was made especially for a magazine and so the lady only charged me something like a $100 for it but it was made from the most expensive material ever. Long story but she used off cuts from another another dress to make the bodice.

Also the Hotel I contacted which I thought was going to be mega expensive actually wasn't as bad as I thought (this was for the reception), plus because we booked through them we got the honeymoon suite for free.

My mum's friend made the cake and this was her wedding present to us. That saved an expense there.

We did the same thing for the photographer and the video.

Yeah, wedding photography is a total scam. You are better off BUYING a high end camera and giving it to a friend in exchange for them learning how to use it (not hard these days) and taking lots of pics at the wedding. Enough ppl are into photography that you should prolly be able tofind someone who would do it for free.

[Mindi912]

Yeah, wedding photography is a total scam. You are better off BUYING a high end camera and giving it to a friend in exchange for them learning how to use it (not hard these days) and taking lots of pics at the wedding. Enough ppl are into photography that you should prolly be able tofind someone who would do it for free.

Also a friend of mine bought loads of those disposable cameras and put one on each table and let the people at the reception take some.

[morgansd12]

Also a friend of mine bought loads of those disposable cameras and put one on each table and let the people at the reception take some.

We did that too. 90% of the photos were complete crap or of something unrecognizable. If you want good pics though they are really easy to take with a 9mp camera which can be had for $300.

[PumpedUp Paula]

Also a friend of mine bought loads of those disposable cameras and put one on each table and let the people at the reception take some.

That is a great idea! I seriously have been searching around for photographers and I am amazed with how much they actually charge! I found this one lady that does is there for 5 hrs, provides a DVD of all the pics and is only $550.00 that is the best deal I have come across!! But I think the disposable camera idea would be great!!

[Mindi912]

We did that too. 90% of the photos were complete crap or of something unrecognizable. If you want good pics though they are really easy to take with a 9mp camera which can be had for $300.

Really lol, I guess that's what happens when drunk people gets a hold of disposable cameras.

[Gracehbd]

I know it sounds mad and I don't know how well it works, but you can get a custom made weddding dress via eBay EXTREMELY cheaply.

[terracotta]

That is a great idea! I seriously have been searching around for photographers and I am amazed with how much they actually charge! I found this one lady that does is there for 5 hrs, provides a DVD of all the pics and is only $550.00 that is the best deal I have come across!! But I think the disposable camera idea would be great!!

Honestly I wouldn't skimp on photographs. We have TONS of pictures from our wedding, and pictures totally bring back the memories.. to me pictures were extremely important. At the very least, get the professional photographer, and I'd suggest getting one that gives you the pictures WITHOUT watermark on them. That way it is very cheap to print them off yourself. You can even hold off on printing them until you have money. Don't pay extra for albums.

When you are ordering or booking things, say it is for a party, not a wedding. Some places have "wedding pricing" ie. charge higher for weddings.

Make all your invitations yourself, decorate yourself, and search search search for deals, call around to lots of places asking prices, price shop.

I had my hair done special and it was expensive, but you could get it done much cheaper, some people don't get it done professionally at all. Just make sure you TRY out the style ahead of time at the hairdressers and take a picture of it. That way there won't be surprises.

For a wedding dress, some people even manage to find dresses that are formal but not strictly meant for weddings. Also consider a dress "off the rack", ie. one that doesn't have to be ordered. Mine was 50% cheaper because it was a gown for trying on. It was a size 10, I was a size 8, but tailoring it smaller was not near the amount I saved.

[Mindi912]

That is a great idea! I seriously have been searching around for photographers and I am amazed with how much they actually charge! I found this one lady that does is there for 5 hrs, provides a DVD of all the pics and is only $550.00 that is the best deal I have come across!! But I think the disposable camera idea would be great!!

Seriously with photographers read all the fine print because a lot of them keep the negatives and charge you each time you want reprints made.

If you have a friend that wouldn't mind doing it for free/as the present to you. Then opt for this.

[hopefulbee]

I am going through the exact same thing as yourself!!
The absolute easiest way to save money is to have a destination wedding!! We are getting married in Negril, Jamaica.
MY fiance has so many family members that our wedding would be huge!! That means paying for around 100 people to watch us get married, pay for their food and drinks... and for what? Most of them never see us on a regular basis and probably would never come to anything else we would ever host outside of a wedding. With a destination wedding we have only our close friends/family coming which is perfect! It's also a small vacation for everyone else. AND, we are already in Jamaica for our honeymoon, which means 2 less plane ticket costs!!
At first quite a bit of people were upset about it, but in the end, it's our wedding and our choice. We aren't getting any financial help at all, at least not that we know of yet, so we are on a beyond tight budget! So far we have 38 people going so we're pumped about it!! We even have the entire resort to ourselves for 3 days!! The deals you can find are crazy!!

Here's where we're going to get married, just to give you an idea. If you go to my thread, page 3, there are pics. I hear Mexico is a great place too (they do have extra rules on getting married there though, so I'd check into it)

Let me know if you want any more advice and Good Luck

[Mindi912]

Also I made the place cards myself.

I did something a little unusual but it stood out. I used apples, spray painted them silver and then used cards to create the leaf and that had the name on it.

My florist then used apples in the centre pieces.

You can do the same thing with pears.

[humblegenius]

In Oz we have Debutante balls (girls dress right up etc), my wife's wedding dress was one of these dresses (second hand) with some adjustments. Total cost including adjustments, Vail and tiara - $600.

Bouquets - run with artifical flowers. They cost 70% less, last forever and are a great gift for the bridesmaids as well. Start shopping around for these now (if you see some, buy them). My wife went with a fake red roses, no one knew the difference, and now they are in our living room as decoration.

Table settings - we did the camera thing, you can buy them off ebay in any colour (we went red, matched the girls). Also, we bought a heap of cheap little candles that came in shot glasses. You would believe it, but this $80 decoration added more than anyother.
Also, my Dad cuts flowers for markets, thats where we got out flowers for the table. Find a couple of people who have nice gardens, and ask them if you can raid them. Buy those cardboard boxes the florists use, some green "blocks" that hold water and away you go. Dont go big, it annoys guests if they cant see who is on the other side of the table.

Suits - Most places do suit deals that come with everything but underwear for $250. Go black, that way he also now has a suit he can wear to business functions, funerals and other peoples weddings.

Make your own place cards. Buy some nice paper and do your own invitations through a mail merge and word. No one cares, as long as they get one.

Family - If you dont like them, dont invite them. Why pay to feed someone you dont like. Its your day, not your mothers/fathers/uncles etc.

HERE IS THE DEAL BREAKING NEWS
Think of all the weddings you have been to. The only thing that guests remember is the following;
- If the bride looked pretty
- If it was raining or hot
- If the bridesmaids had a hideous dress on
- If the bar tab was shut off early
- If the food was bad (they dont remember the good food).

Cover your bases on the top (except the weather of course) and you will have a memorable day. People will notice the smile on your faces more than a table decoration. A frowning bride because the decorations "werent good enough" draws more attention than a champane fountain.

And the key to day - You just have to remind your, you are planning for a marriage. A Wedding is one day. Dont stress about one day, when you get to have so many more better ones after it.

[BabyJan3]

I know it sounds mad and I don't know how well it works, but you can get a custom made weddding dress via eBay EXTREMELY cheaply.

My sister paid 100 bucks for her dress, got it off ebay

[PumpedUp Paula]

I know it sounds mad and I don't know how well it works, but you can get a custom made weddding dress via eBay EXTREMELY cheaply.

That is different! I will have to look into that!

[GoutDeMiel]

My uncle just got married this past summer on a SHOESTRING budget - literally like $500. It was a freaking BLAST though.

He invited less than 40 people and had the ceremony in Love Park in Philadelphia - the reception was in my backyard. He literally payed for a tent, chairs and tables. His wife (my aunt) got flowers at a discount flower shop (like a little mexican produce place) and placed them in random vases that she already had (looked really good, actually) and then had friends bring some alcohol and a dish for dinner instead of gifts. They made a mix on their ipod for music.

His friends brought some of the most incredible food I've ever seen - a lot of them are foreign or from other cultures so he had them bring their favorite ethnic dish.

The party fit him and her perfectly and it was a blast. If you need some other ideas dont be afraid to PM me since I was the unofficial planner hahha

[PumpedUp Paula]

Also I made the place cards myself.

I did something a little unusual but it stood out. I used apples, spray painted them silver and then used cards to create the leaf and that had the name on it.

My florist then used apples in the centre pieces.

You can do the same thing with pears.

That is the CUTEST idea EVER! I will have to keep this one on the top of my list!!

[Mindi912]

That is the CUTEST idea EVER! I will have to keep this one on the top of my list!!

Thanks I got it from a mag.

[PumpedUp Paula]

In Oz we have Debutante balls (girls dress right up etc), my wife's wedding dress was one of these dresses (second hand) with some adjustments. Total cost including adjustments, Vail and tiara - $600.

Bouquets - run with artifical flowers. They cost 70% less, last forever and are a great gift for the bridesmaids as well. Start shopping around for these now (if you see some, buy them). My wife went with a fake red roses, no one knew the difference, and now they are in our living room as decoration.

Table settings - we did the camera thing, you can buy them off ebay in any colour (we went red, matched the girls). Also, we bought a heap of cheap little candles that came in shot glasses. You would believe it, but this $80 decoration added more than anyother.
Also, my Dad cuts flowers for markets, thats where we got out flowers for the table. Find a couple of people who have nice gardens, and ask them if you can raid them. Buy those cardboard boxes the florists use, some green "blocks" that hold water and away you go. Dont go big, it annoys guests if they cant see who is on the other side of the table.

Suits - Most places do suit deals that come with everything but underwear for $250. Go black, that way he also now has a suit he can wear to business functions, funerals and other peoples weddings.

Make your own place cards. Buy some nice paper and do your own invitations through a mail merge and word. No one cares, as long as they get one.

Family - If you dont like them, dont invite them. Why pay to feed someone you dont like. Its your day, not your mothers/fathers/uncles etc.

HERE IS THE DEAL BREAKING NEWS
Think of all the weddings you have been to. The only thing that guests remember is the following;
- If the bride looked pretty
- If it was raining or hot
- If the bridesmaids had a hideous dress on
- If the bar tab was shut off early
- If the food was bad (they dont remember the good food).

Cover your bases on the top (except the weather of course) and you will have a memorable day. People will notice the smile on your faces more than a table decoration. A frowning bride because the decorations "werent good enough" draws more attention than a champane fountain.

And the key to day - You just have to remind your, you are planning for a marriage. A Wedding is one day. Dont stress about one day, when you get to have so many more better ones after it.

WOW! I am not sure what to say about this advice, I would have to say it is the best advice I have heard! I totally agree that its all about the marraige and my fiance and I, I dont want to stress on that day and I know when I am stressed he is stressed!

ALL of you guys have great ideas and I want to thank you! KEEP EM COMING!

[BabyJan3]

Also I made the place cards myself.

I did something a little unusual but it stood out. I used apples, spray painted them silver and then used cards to create the leaf and that had the name on it.

My florist then used apples in the centre pieces.

You can do the same thing with pears.

CUTE. Thanks for the idea...

[red_hot_tamale]

Figure out what is going to be most important to you and put your money towards those things. Here's where we splurged:

Invitations- around $150
Catered Food- $1000 (Deli trays, finger sandwiches, fruit trays, veggie trays, meatballs, water, coffee, punch)
Real Flowers- $300
Dress & Accessories: $750

We only invited people who we knew would want to attend (about 75)
Alcohol is so expensive so we skipped it completely. I saved up quite a bit myself and paid for the dress, invitations, cake ($100ish), custom napkins ($30 for a ton of them), and paid all the church fees to the organist, pastor and ushers. Luckily, my husband's mom wanted to help out a lot so she covered the reception and flowers. And at the time, her husband was an amateur photographer and took our photos for free! As far as a DJ, we just made three mix CDs and brought our own stereo to the clubhouse we rented.

Wedding planning is so much fun!!! Have a good time with it and do lots of compartive shopping online

[PumpedUp Paula]

Figure out what is going to be most important to you and put your money towards those things. Here's where we splurged:

Invitations- around $150
Catered Food- $1000 (Deli trays, finger sandwiches, fruit trays, veggie trays, meatballs, water, coffee, punch)
Real Flowers- $300
Dress & Accessories: $750

We only invited people who we knew would want to attend (about 75)
Alcohol is so expensive so we skipped it completely. I saved up quite a bit myself and paid for the dress, invitations, cake ($100ish), custom napkins ($30 for a ton of them), and paid all the church fees to the organist, pastor and ushers. Luckily, my husband's mom wanted to help out a lot so she covered the reception and flowers. And at the time, her husband was an amateur photographer and took our photos for free! As far as a DJ, we just made three mix CDs and brought our own stereo to the clubhouse we rented.

Wedding planning is so much fun!!! Have a good time with it and do lots of compartive shopping online

Thank you for the ideas! I am having so much fun, and the day that I get to splurge on my diet is the day we go CAKE tasting! LOL

I think the one area we really want to splurge is the photographer because they do last a life time, but I am sure I can find a very reasonable price somewhere!

[Katie_McD]

So many great ideas here! I am also planning a wedding on a shoestring budget and here are a couple of my plans:

-No flowers for ceremony or reception. I am going to carry a single stem orchid, as will my 2 bridesmaids. However, I must add that my church is very simple and thus can be left plain. And my reception is at a restaurant that is already decorated.

-We are only inviting about 40 people to the wedding and reception.

-I am looking to buy my dress on either Ebay or Craigslist.

-I bought invitations and a few other necessary items at Target.

-We decided not to have a DJ, and only a few bottles of champagne for toasts.

-The only thing we are going to splurge on is the photography, but even then we are just ordering the high-res CD with the rights, no albums or prints.

[humblegenius]

Thank you for the ideas! I am having so much fun, and the day that I get to splurge on my diet is the day we go CAKE tasting! LOL

I think the one area we really want to splurge is the photographer because they do last a life time, but I am sure I can find a very reasonable price somewhere!

We picked our photgrapher because we knew she was really good, but didnt do it professionally.

We paid her $250 for the work, and we gave her another $250 because we were so happy with the work she did.

she now charges $2,000 to do a wedding. Go to the local education centre that runs the professional photography courses and see if you can snag someone there.

[CTB]

We picked our photgrapher because we knew she was really good, but didnt do it professionally.

We paid her $250 for the work, and we gave her another $250 because we were so happy with the work she did.

she now charges $2,000 to do a wedding. Go to the local education centre that runs the professional photography courses and see if you can snag someone there.

If you have friends who are married, look at their photos and ask for recommendations. My sister went with someone who was fairly inexpensive but had seen her photos in another album, her wedding album is nothing short of spectacular. Some incredible black and whites (not the conventional type, quite grainy) of her and my dad standing at the doorway waiting to go into the church, they are just incredible. If I can get copies of them once my sister makes me a CD I'll email them to you so you can take them to a photographer if you like them and ask if they can take that kind of photo.

[CATRACCOM]

Our wedding cost about $1000. I designed and made my own dress. The guys wore whatever tux style they wanted and the girls wore whatever flower dress they had. I wanted everyone to be there to have fun and not spend lots of money doing it. We had our wedding at a one room school house. The lady that ran it helps with the planning. Everyone donated stuff for it...flowers, cake, dj, photography/video, music. I gave general guidelines of stuff we like and let everyone pick what to do. I told them I wanted white cake with strawberry and they could design whatever they wanted. Our friend was the dj and he already knew what we liked...no 'wedding' music. My mom's friends from church picked out all of the songs they would sing. No wedding march song and they played some beautiful violins. We didn't go all out on the bar but did have some beer and wine. I didn't want people to have to pay for a beverage but we weren't all there to get loaded either. For food, we had a local Italian restaurant cater. I figured Italian food would be cheaper than steaks. I got our invitations from the hallmark store. I picked something cute and reasonable. One of our family friends was the minister. It was a very relaxed and comfortable wedding. People still talk about it...14 years later. I think because so many people helped and had a part in it, made it that much more memorable.

[BittyMonkey]

I planned our wedding myself, no coordinator. You don't need one if you are organized. Here are some of the decisions I made as to where to put our money.

Things to not bother spending tons of cash on:

- Invitations (get thrown in the garbage -- no one keeps them, except you and the moms)
-Saturday or Friday night (pick a different day of the week for cheaper)***this is probably the most important one because all your vendors will be cheaper.
- Open bar all night (Cocktail hour plus two refilled glasses of wine were sufficient)
- His clothes (Mr. Bitty had a tux already, we just bought a new vest)
- Having it on a holiday weekend or anyplace near Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, or winter/Christmas corporate parties
- Designer dress (I used a seamstress and we designed it together)

Things to spend your money on:

-Food
-Music
-Transportation or a site where you can have both ceremony and reception; don't forget elderly guests
-A site that is already decorated or fancy so you don't have to do that or pay for lots of flowers

Flowers and nice centerpieces if you have money left over. Men commented how beautiful our flowers were -- they were definitely noticed by all. People practically stole them.

MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL CONTRACTS!

[IzzieUpNorth]

I got married in October we had 220 people and spent under 3 grand. I will say it was a great fun party but not for everyone (I wasn't in for a big white church wedding) My main key to saving money was not to use any actual wedding vendors. We had the wedding at an old fashioned carousel on a beach near my parents house. Since October is off season the venue was cheap.

My dress was $65 on sale at David Bridal, wasn't perfect so I spent sometime altering and embellishing it.

We carried feather fans and centerpieces were made from origami.

The food and bar were really the only place that we spent hard money on. We had an open but limited bar, we had beer, wine, soda and juice but no hard liquor. Food was a huge hit, we found a guy at the county fair who did bbq in this big smoker trailer thing. Since we were serving so many people (I think we had 2 dressed cattle, a dozen chickens and a whole pig) he threw in our sides for free. So we had bbq meat, salads and cornbread.

We didn't do a traditional wedding cake but cupcakes, pies and cookies from a local bakery.

Photo and DJ's are another thing people spend a lot of money on, luckily we got both for free. I am a techie at the community theatre and our sound guy did the music as a present to us. Photos were done by family, my dad is a photographer (really cool I even got to develop some of our prints) and while he was busy I had cousins manning digital shoots.

Very casual but very fun party.

[mean-green]

That is a great idea! I seriously have been searching around for photographers and I am amazed with how much they actually charge! I found this one lady that does is there for 5 hrs, provides a DVD of all the pics and is only $550.00 that is the best deal I have come across!! But I think the disposable camera idea would be great!!

Be very careful!! If you only go with disposable cameras you might have 5 good photos from the whole lot. Try going to a local college and find someone who is in their 3rd year of an Art degree who has taken a few photography classes. They should be better than any of your family and most student will do things for cheap especailly if they are trying to build a portfolio.

Also, have your wedding and reception in the same room. That way you get more deco for your $$ since your not trying to decorate two different places. Also, depending on where you live you can waive the wedding license fee by taking a pre-martial class. Which, is very good to do anyways...most churchs do this for free.


Make you own invatations. I bought mine and it was $300 for 25 invites. I made the menus, place cards, and thank you notes for less than $50.

I just got married so I'm a source....