Wedding Budget: Little Ways to Save

are you insane to do your flowers on the day of the wedding~! Brides are the main event the day of . Do them 2 days in advance , they will last , use plants . Dont be fooled that greenery is cheaper! its NOT ,

And i bought them at the dollar store.

I am having a small destination wedding, and the hotel wanted $50-$200 a centerpiece. Instead I am bringing vases and sea shells to put my bridesmaids bouquets in as centerpieces on the tables. :)

lol TAPING the ceremony? lol…c'mon people it's 2010

Buffets are not always cheaper than a plated meal--try to remember that cost depends on the type of food served and the size of the buffet (larger buffet=more food=greater variety=happier guests, but will ultimately cost more for whoever's paying the bill). Definitely skip the Saturday evening wedding, though, if you're looking to save some money. We were a little concerned about having a Friday evening wedding (I really wanted an October wedding at a certain venue, but only Fridays were still available when we booked the venue in February), but everybody loved it. Local guests still had their weekends, and out-of-towners got a weekend to catch up with old friends. It worked out for the best, and my parents' saved a few thousand dollars too. Happy planning!

Buffets are not always cheaper than a plated meal--try to remember that cost depends on the type of food served and the size of the buffet (larger buffet=more food=greater variety=happier guests, but will ultimately cost more for whoever's paying the bill). Definitely skip the Saturday evening wedding, though, if you're looking to save some money. We were a little concerned about having a Friday evening wedding (I really wanted an October wedding at a certain venue, but only Fridays were still available when we booked the venue in February), but everybody loved it. Local guests still had their weekends, and out-of-towners got a weekend to catch up with old friends. It worked out for the best, and my parents' saved a few thousand dollars too. Happy planning!

We're skipping the photographer. We've got a few shutter-bug friends we're counting on, and my mom will be there every step of the way shooting pictures. We're moving that money over to the videographer though. Great stills can be taken from a video, but stills are just that.

Eliminate favors altogether. Take advantage of any perks your venue may offer, for instance, the historic inn in which we will marry and host our dinner and reception includes hurricanes and candles -- no need for floral centerpieces.

It could also be a fun idea to do postcards. I went to premiumpostcard.com and used a photo of our venue (the family farm) on the front and a map of Georgia on the back. You can write the details over the pictures and it is mailed for you- you never even have to lick a stamp!

We dida template in Microsoft Word of what we wanted the invitations to say and duplicated it on an 8x11 page. Then we simply took it to Kinkos and had it printed on their cardstock,which cost us about $15! Find a stamp you like and purchase ink in the colors of your wedding, you have have a totally expensive looking invitation...all for about $75(paper, invitations, envelopes, stamp and ink)!

We went to Michael's craft store. DIY invites are $40 for 30, BUT if you watch, they can go on sale for $25. They also give out coupons with every purchase, some of which include sale prices. We ended getting 3 boxes for $60

My fiance and I bought blank cards from Ollie's bargain store - 25 for $2.99, which ended up being about $15. Stamps and ink maybe cost us $25 max, then we're printing them ourselves. Add a little ribbon for 50 cents a spool, and even the cost of stamps to mail the invites...we'll be under $100 for invites. yes!

For the GBP equivalent of something like $70, my fiancé and I managed to get all the cardstock to print and put together our 120 invitations and RSVP cards. Granted, there are still a few supplies we need, and we'd like to find a place that will emboss the monograms on the front, but it really IS possible to do DIY invitations without huge monetary expense. Although, if spending the money is worth saving the time and effort, that's all up to you, we just happen to make our own cards for other things anyway, so this seemed like a good way to make the wedding more personal to us as a couple.

check out the magnet street for wedding invites. for 100 flat invites including envelops rsvp card and a guest information card and return labels that matched we payed 320 bucks. and you get to personalize them online and change the colors to match your wedding too. they shipped fast too and everyone loves ours. we even got to put a picture of us on the design we went with! and we had no problems with them at all!

If you're going to DIY your invitations, it's best to do your research. Supplies for our invitations are coming in at just under (by like $2) $200 - but it took me some time to find the right sources. I'm getting the majority of our supplies from www.cardsandpockets.com - much lower prices than www.paper-source.com on most items, especially pocket folders. For under $200 I'm getting supplies for 70 invitations incl. envelopes, pocket folders, layered invite, 3 inserts, and rsvp cards/envelopes.

I'm skipping the party favors and doing a photo booth instead from a local studio. Guests leave with a filmstrip from each time they go in. The best part is the booth attendant sticks a copy of each strip in a scrap booth and my guests get to sign. I will be making my own invitations which will cost me just under $300. That includes my save the date, invitation, invitation jacket, rsvp, and envelopes. If I where to make these for a client I would charge at least triple. Find a student graphic designer to design them and have them printed at gotprint.com and check out paperpresentation.com for fancy jackets.

I would recommend not making your own invitations unless you keep them simple. I made my own and through creeping elegance ended up with time-consuming invitations. The sheer volume of them is what is taking so long. Also, I spent a lot of money on the supplies to make them. Think simple if you want to do it! I could have saved if I had them made for us. Also, we had post card RSVPs, but for $20 for 100, we could have had envelopes and cards for that. Not a big deal, just not a huge savings in postage.

Instead of floral center pieces we're using small lanters from Ikea. It gives off a little more light that the typical candle center piece and adds to the ambiance. We're just decorating with a couple flowers instead of a full blown floral arrangement which is saving us a bundle!

A beautiful wedding dress isn't always a wedding dress! I've noticed that many bridesmaid's dresses come in white, and especially the floorlength sheath dresses look just like standard wedding dresses - but because they're technically a bridesmaid's dress, they're a lot cheaper! That's what I'm doing, and if you're really set on matching the style of your bridesmaids, it's perfect! Also, making the bouquets, boutonnieres, etc yourself from silk flowers saves a ton of money - some craft stores like Michael's and JoAnns have classes in it, and it can be a fun thing to do with your bridesmaids, or a good way to include other family members who aren't in the wedding party.

My mother, bridal party and I are doing almost all of the decorating ourselves. We are doing simple square vases in different heights with a single large bloom (like a hydrangea) in each with some sand or colored glass pebbles in the bottom for the tables. The best part? We got all of the items for this at Goodwill, second hand stores, and flea markets! We spent maybe $50 for what would have cost us much more to rent and have someone else do. If you have time I recommend these places for lots of your items. You would be amazed what you can find that is still new!