Advice on Cutting Costs for the Wedding and Reception

If you're planning on getting married, a big "Congratulations!" is in order! If you're looking at this page, you're probably trying to find out how to have a wedding while adhering to a budget. If you're anything like me, you roll your eyes every time you hear about couples that spends thousands upon thousands of dollars on a wedding, or even on just the dress. Your eyes may roll so much that you even begin seeing your very own retinas. Well, you're frugal, you're in love, and you want to get married. Spending your life savings on a single day to enjoy for a few hours sounds and is absolutely crazy. You're smart. You'd rather put that extra money down on a new home than waste it on a $3,000 Vera Wang dress. Smart move.

First, decide how much money you would like to spend on the wedding. Then find out how many people you would like to attend the wedding. Try to keep the amount of people attending pretty small. A smaller wedding turnout makes for a more intimate and personal affair. At my wedding, maybe 30 people showed up...but everyone had a great time and they were comfortable with the atmosphere.

Look for places in your area where you would like to have the wedding itself. Remember to keep your budget in mind. You can even have your wedding at a friend's home, and if you have a friend that happens to be an authorized officiate, you can have them perform the ceremony. My marriage took place at a small, local chapel in San Antonio. The marriage packages can get kind of expensive, so it's best to choose your own settings and your own options, than buying a package that someone else customizes for you at a higher price. Don't forget to get your marriage license. The laws concerning marriage licenses vary per state. To learn more about marriage licenses, go to www.theknot.com, and go to the In Your Area tab. Then find your city and state, and then under Planning and Prep, you'll see a License Office link.

For the woman, the first thing to do is find the perfect wedding dress and accessories. To be honest with you, my wedding dress was less than $20 on FashionBug.com. It was a beautiful, knee-length white dress with a cute sash around the waist. Frequent malls and find the dresses that are on sale. If you are a seamstress, you can even make your own wedding dress, or have someone make it for you. You may be able to find a beautiful, used dress on EBay.com. You can have it altered if you please. At Wal-Mart, I know they sell very cheap veils that could end up being beautiful when worn with a dress. They also have reasonably priced tiaras which are simple, yet elegant. Accessories can be borrowed, or bought for a very low price at Dollar Stores or discounts at malls.

The wedding rings would work well if you bought them in sterling silver. When searching for wedding rings, have your fingers sized to make sure that the fit is perfect. There are options where you can buy sterling silver rings coated with gold or platinum. These aren't very expensive either. For the woman, stay away from diamonds. Diamonds really aren't a woman's best friend...her husband should be. I have always hated that expression because it puts more emphasis on the rock than the true matter - which is everlasting happiness with the one you love.

As for the reception, you have two choices. You can either have a cake and punch reception right after the wedding, or you can have an "all out" reception with food, music, and dancing. Plan out where the location for the reception is going to be. And, I'm sure as for music goes, you're not going to rent a string quartet! You can compose a CD out of music that you love, and designate someone to be in control of the music or just have it play on the repeat setting in a CD player. Have people bring food to the reception, so that everyone can eat without using a lot of money. For the centerpieces, it's possible to pick wild flowers and arrange them in beautiful vases that you can obtain at the Dollar Store. Very inexpensive table linen can be purchased through www.orientaltrading.com. In regards to the bridal bouquet, you can easily make one of those yourself using plastic flowers and a stem holder with some ribbon that can be purchased at Wal-Mart. And how can we forget about the wedding cake? You can simply make one yourself, or have your famous aunt fabricate one for you!

To me, one of the most important parts of a wedding is the photography. Pictures capture the day so that you may treasure them for the rest of your life. What you can do on your wedding day is put disposable cameras on each of the table, and have guests snap random pictures. Or you can designate someone as the photographer, but make sure to switch people out because unless the person is a professional photographer, they don't want to be stuck taking pictures throughout the whole wedding and reception! A nice little touch when you go to a wedding is the wedding favors. Wedding favors are given to guests to thank them for coming, and to give them a little reminder of you day. Wedding favors can be relatively easy to make. You can purchase tulle in bulk for a low price, as well as candies and ribbons. You simply put the candies on a sheet of tulle, and bring the ends up to tie in a ribbon. When you're done with your wedding favors, put one on the table in front of each seat where your guests are to be seated.

Of course, we can't forget about the invitations. My husband and I bought an invitation kit at Wal-Mart. These are very easy to use as long as you have a computer with a printer. The Wal-Mart invitation kit enables you to print your own invitations from the comfort of your home, and for a fraction of the price it would have cost you to purchase them from a retailer. If you don't have access to a computer or printer, you can always hand-write the invitations. Remember not to send them too far in advance, or people may forget or misplace the invitations. You can always purchase embellishments to decorate the invitations with, as well as ribbons, stamps, and sparkles. Your local scrap booking shop might offer a wealth of crafty ideas for you to decorate your invitations with. If you're confused as to the wording for the invitation, you can always consult the internet. With so many different types of families, situations, and circumstances, it's hard to have just one wedding wording invitation format!

Saving a lot of money on your wedding day is completely worth it. With these tips, you'll not only be money savvy, but you'll also be a great host! At weddings, no one remembers the $5,000 dress or the exotic flowers from India that cost a small fortune. Your guests will remember how much fun they had when they attended your wedding, and how beautiful and happy the couples seemed! If you decide to take the route of having a budget wedding, I must say that I really respect that. It shows that you have decided to put more emphasis on your friends, family and love rather than on material objects that lose worth over time. Congratulations on your wedding, and have fun!