Getting Married on a Budget? - Affordable Ideas for Today's Weddings

This year is a big year for weddings, (7/7/07). If you are having a wedding this year you certainly know how expensive your special day can be. Before you know it, you have spent your retirment, or your child's college fund! I was married three years ago, and while planning my wedding, I had only 7,000 dollars to spend, not much at all, but I made it work and ended up with a beautiful wedding that you would never have known how affordable it was. All it takes is patience and hard work. This article should help you plan your wedding if you are on a budget and need ideas on cheap and creative ways of decorating and also, ideas and ways to keep the wedding at a more affordable price.

As you know, usually the first thing a bride thinks of doing is picking out her wedding dress. This was the first thing that I did for my wedding. Wedding dresses can be very expensive. All of us women have ideas of what we want our beautiful gown to look like, but sometimes, it is defintaley a good idea to realize what you will be able to afford and what you won't. For me, I stopped by my local wedding dress shop and luckily found my dress on sale. I bought my wedding dress for 99 dollars! I kept my dress more affordable because the first thing I did was ask for the dresses that were on sale. You might be surprised at how many beautiful dresses you will find on sale, your "dream dress" might not be on those racks, but just keep in mind the less you spend on your dress, the more you can spend on your reception. So, for the first budget idea: find your wedding dress on the "sale" rack.

Next for me was figuring out what date I wanted to get married. You must keep in mind wherever you live, the weather and time of year you want to get hitched. Such as, if you live in an area that snows, a christmas wedding may be beautiful, but it must be inside or all your guests will freeze! Also, if you live where it gets hot in the summer, such as Florida, if you have your special day outside it can become miserable with the heat and humidity and bugs. Just remember to keep the weather in mind. Not only should you keep the weather in mind, you should also keep the day of the week in mind. The cheapest days of the week to get married are any of the days during the week. Fridays will be more expensive and Saturday's are going to be the most expensive. I had my wedding on a Sunday, which was much cheaper than Friday or Saturday. Actually it saved me about 1,000 dollars booking the hall on a Sunday. So remember, for the second budget saver idea: keep the day of the week in mind for the wedding.

The next thing to do while planning your wedding is finding the right place to get married. If you are part of a church the church would be a great place to have the wedding and possibly the reception, but those who do not attend church may have a harder time finding a place to get married. This was me, my husand and I did not belong to a church, so findig an affordable place to get married was somewhat difficult. Every single weekend my husband and I would drive around to different places, such as hotels and reception halls to get prices. At this point in planning, you must do your homework. It's time to get the calculator out and figure out how much the food and drinks and everything will cost. Remember, the more people you invite to your wedding, the more it will cost. Keeping your invitation list minimal will not only keep your wedding more intimate, but it will also keep the price of food down. In my searchings, I found that booking a place where I could have my ceremony and reception was more affordable than having them in two different places. Also, remember, it does not hurt to try to negotiate the price, the only thing that they can say is no. So, for the third budget saver idea: book your ceremony and reception in the same place and negotiate the price!

As for the rest of the wedding, you know; the flowers, the decorations, the invitations, etc... I kept these prices down my making everything myself. When it came down to the flowers, I did my research online and got many flower arrangment ideas, if you are new at this, keep the arrangments simple. Simple flower arrangments can be beautiful and affordable. Decorations are the same, keep them simple and make them your selves. Everyone probably has some sort of a creative idea in them somewhere, as long as you are willing to work, and make things yourself, your wedding will be not only affordable, but also beautiful.