ISO: advice, tips, ideas to save money on my wedding! :)

[KristiaMarie]

EDIT: The reception site is not booked yet, I'm looking for other [cheaper] options.

Hi! I would so appreciate any advice, tips, ideas you can give me on how to cut costs on my wedding this fall. We are paying for everything ourselves and on top of a mortgage, his truck payment, my tuition, his student loans, etc. money is a bit tight. This is what I have done so far to save money:

> Wedding is on a Friday instead of Saturday.
> Our reception site is a historic train station so the only decor we need is centerpieces.
> I bought the 24" ceramic hurricane vases for centerpieces at a discount store for $1.49/ea. and plan to put tree branches in them [maybe painted?] for super cheap but cool centerpieces.
> We 'won' out photographer at an auction paying a fraction of the price and getting photos on CD instead of prints. :)
> I'm a graphic designer so I'll be doing all the stationary design [save-the-dates, invites, escort cards, menus, etc.] but I still need to have them printed.

My colors are black and white with accents of silver and cobalt. It is loosely themed 'old Hollywood glamour'. I'm going for a sophisticated feel but not stuffy.

Thanks in advance for any tips you may have!!!

[chitownmelli]

Maybe you could barter your services with a printer. If they do not have a graphic designer on staff, maybe you could offer to do some of their DTP and color separating or something for awhile in exchange for a discount, or free print work???

ETA: That silver ink is gonna cost you (I worked in printing for a good number of years, so that's how I know) so if you maybe found silver envelopes and did your printing in a mix of cobalt and black maybe on a nice white stock, that would be one way to save money. Then again, it would just depend on what the printer is going to charge you extra for that can of silver ink, and weather or not you have a place to get silver envies from. Just a suggestion :)

[lostinthemission]

Seeing as you have done a lot already I'm not sure how much this will help. I love these two books I got from the Library "How to have a big wedding on a small budget", and "Bridal Bargains".

[KristiaMarie]

Bumping for more help :)

[marrelam]

If you are getting married in a Catholic church, do it the same weekend they celebrate 1st Communion for the kids. The alter will be completely decorated with flowers and thus, you have to buy none! (I did this)

[anaj06]

Are you doing the food yourself or having it catered? We did the food ourselves for my wedding and it was such a savings. My aunts, grandmother, cousin and Mom all spent the day before getting everything ready. We bought a second fridge off Craigslist to store all the finished trays in and then sold the fridge for more than we bought it for.

We did shrimp (most costly item) but made the table, ham biscuits/roll things, veggie tray (done real fancy like the pics online), fruit tray (the same way...fancy), cucumber salad, chocolate covered strawberries, pasta salad, and several other things I can't remember. It was heavy ordorves but needed forks.

2 of my mothers friends who had known me from birth voluteered to "work" the reception. They refilled trays when the food got low, kept everything stocked, and rinsed the dishes as everyone placed them on the counter. It was really nice of them. (For my SIL's wedding though, they hired a couple of college students to do this for $50 each which is a good idea too).

We yardsaled the year before the wedding and bought all the serving bowls etc in a crystal (or probably fake crystal) but they were all really nice and blended well together. (Again I think we sold them for more than we paid when we finished). Then we rented the plates, coffee cups, and forks.

We had a fix-your-own open bar that we had stocked with the normal liquors and mixers as well as wine. Mom bought a bottle or 2 when she went shopping the year before the wedding so as not to do it all at one time. For glasses we bought glass wine glasses at yardsales for next to nothing...they didn't match but I think they all blended and looked nice...we had our reception in an old log home, so rustic was the key anyway.

My FIL built our arch and my MIL decorated it with live flowers and we rented a piano (large keyboard with stand). Since we had it outside on the side of a mountain this was all we really needed.

Our wedding was very low cost and I think it was lovely. I wouldn't change a thing looking back on it now. It was truly a spectacular day! You can have a really nice wedding on a budget.

Also, if you do it all yourself, you can maximize rebates out there since a lot of the items are very normal rebate items (I don't know what state you are in so this could be a great idea or not depending).

[TBEventer2002]

How about transportation? I went in and talked to a local Hummer dealer manager, telling him that my gift to my hubby was that he wanted to drive away in a black Hummer. One thing led to another, and next thing I knew the owner of the company emailed me and said they would DONATE a day's worth of driving/use (with a driver, too!) of a black Hummer! My hubby was sooooo surprised and enjoyed it so much!

We also made all our own centerpieces and decorations. MUCH cheaper to buy than rent!

I tried to find people to barter with rather than pay outright for things such as catering, hair/makeup, etc. If you're an average size, you can usually buy a dress right off the rack -- I spent my money in a little local mom-and-pop shop and it cost a fraction!!!

The only thing we did not skimp on: our cake. I was soooooo happy with our wedding cake!!! And when you thaw it out a year later, the quality will definately be evident, so we decided we would not hold back on our cake. Our DJ should have been our priority -- our DJ completely SUCKED!!! :( So embarassing that he messed up EVERYONE's names and even poked fun at my maiden last name!

I think in all, including the photographer, food, caterer, decorations, location, EVERYTHING came to between $5000 and $6000. We had about 75 guests. My biggest piece of advice is to try to stay local with all your vendors. Typically in this day & age they will try their best to get business over the big wig companies, so they are usually more willing to work with you and your budget. :) Good luck!

[momto8kiddos]

Buy your dress used - craigslist, thrift store, ebay - or buy a prom dress on sale after prom season or a bridesmaid dress from a department store. Somebody I read about wore a Vera Wang bridesmade dress that she got for just $160! If you want a tiarra or other non-traditional headpiece, barter with people on Etsy.com.

You could consider doing a potluck wedding reception. When you send your invitations you say in lieu of a wedding present, please bring an elegant dish to share. Of course, it's helpful to know in advance what they will bring.

Have your reception in the middle of the afternoon or the middle of the morning so that you don't have to serve a full meal.

Have a nice but small decorated wedding cake. In the kitchen have a sheet cake or two to augment the amount of cake. Much cheaper.

These two are too late for you but maybe someone in the future will benefit from them:
*When you book your reception hall, do not tell them the reception is for a wedding. They charge 25 to 75% higher for a wedding than they do for a family gathering. This is also true for caterers.
*Buy your wedding dress around Christmas time. The stores have lots of inventory at that time but not many people looking to buy wedding dresses at that time of year, so you can find bargains and may even be able to negotiate on price.

Here are some other ideas from my "frugal wedding file":
Honeymoon: stay close, drive and spend your money on fun not food. My husband and I cooked 7 out of the 8 nights on our honeymoon (Canada). This made it possible to rent bikes, go horse back riding, visit hot springs, etc.

Catering: call up your favorite FAMILY owned BBQ. these guys always do it right...or the Family owned Italian Restaurant. Key thing is family owned, these businesses are always honored to do a wedding and their prices show this. When all else fails do a finger food reception.

We let all invitees know that we didn't want any wedding gifts but if they wanted to volunteer to help with the wedding in some way, we'd love it! One friend volunteered to provide the candles for the ceremony, several others volunteered to help decorate, one provided the bridal bouquet and flowers, another baked the wedding cake. A groups of friends volunteered to organize a 'potluck' reception. I rented tables, dishes, a champagne font and provided the champagne. My friends each brought an elegant desert or finger food for the reception. One sister photographed the wedding. Another babysat all the small children. My brother sang. Different friends were invited to do the readings during the wedding. I asked my two attendants if they had a fancy dress they'd like to use for the wedding. One was burgundy. The other was mint green. So that's how we decided on the color scheme for wedding decor. Invitations were done on my computer as was the Wedding Program. You get the picture. Everyone commented that it was the neatest wedding they had ever attended ... and it was ... because they all
had a part in making it happen.

Check out various florists for prices or use silks (much cheaper). Try smaller florists or a florist that works out of a market. They may be a lot cheaper.

Your bridemaids can carry a single rose in the color that matches. (This is very elegant) The men can also have a single sweetheart rose bouteneer to match w/ just a little baby's breath.

Bridal bouquet: Go silk! You can get the base at a place like Walmart, and most Dollar stores or Big Lots have silk flowers. You can add things like pearl sprigs etc. which you will pay a little more for at Walmart, but it makes your less expensive base flowers look nicer. Plus, if you have pre-bridal picts. taken, you can use your actual bouquet in these picts., since it will not wilt.

On RSVP you can also put a phone # on it instead of buying stanps for all of them. Let your answering maching pick up for them to leave a message, & write that on the RSVP.

Unless you have a DJ for free, save money by just playing soft background music on a stereo, unless you want a dance, then if you have the music, there is always someone in the crowd (ask ahead) that want to flip a tape or CD.

Some people have gone to caterers and asked if they would be interested in doing the wedding for free in exchange for advertising. In other words, they would cater and you'd make sure that you advertised for them. One couple I read about did the whole wedding this way. From rings, clothes, honeymoon. Everything. They advertised, by handing out cards that included all the vendors and what they provided.

If you need a caterer, try a local service organization. i.e. Kiwanis or the church ladies for good, less expensive food and service. If you need servers, then get a teen group (with adult supervision) to serve and clean up. Local groups are always looking for some way to make money.

Don't serve liquor.

If you have a local college that has a music program, some kid would love the experience and a little cash to play an instrument or sing for you in church. They're much cheaper than pro's, and always extremely talented. hire hotel/restaurant students to serve cake and champagne, set out the food, and clean up.

Be a frequent shopper at Michael’s! they offer 40% off coupons good on one item nearly every week. They carry silk flowers, card stock for invitations, wedding supplies.

Watch the weight of your finished mailing so you only need one stamp to mail out the invitations, response cards, etc. With including a stamp on response envelope, the postage was more than the stationery.

Pick colors based on holidays and get stuff during after holiday sales. For example, red and white you will find good stuff at after-Christmas and after-Valentine’s Day sales.