Scrimp on the Wedding. Spend on the Honeymoon

I had two months to plan my wedding. This would have been an impossible task were it not for help and advice from my mother. She spent quite a bit of time and money preparing for her wedding. She said it was simply beautiful--big wedding party, catered, grand wedding cake, lovely dress. But it lasted only one short day and was over far too quickly. If she had it to do over, she would have spent less money on her wedding and put it toward the honeymoon. This was her advice to me. With only a short amount of time to plan and book catering, venues, etc., it seemed like very good advice.

Like every girl I had the perfect dream of my dress and this was one thing I didn't want to scrimp on. I purchased my dress during the sale days at David's Bridal which saved me a good bit off of the purchase price. My friends at Corinthian Media Services graciously photographed and filmed the wedding for us. That alone saved us hundreds if not a thousand dollars. Friends made side dishes for the wedding and helped decorate. We purchased catered chicken from Sonny's Bar-b-q and more friends volunteered to serve the food at the wedding. My mom with the help of my sisters orchestrated almost every detail of my wedding. After taking the first two Wilton Cake decorating classes, my sister with the help of my mom baked my wedding cake. That meant more to me than having it made by a commercial service.

Something that was also important to me and was the most expensive part of my wedding was the venue. I wanted to be married somewhere beautiful and memorable. On the west side of the Indian River in Melbourne, Florida is an old officers club now named Front Street Park. There is a civic center-style building there that faces the Indian River and is surrounded by a small park with antique Oak trees. Thankfully we were able to reserve the building for one of the two days available that month. To save decorating costs, my mom and sisters made all of the decorations and centerpieces. To adorn the altar, my mom purchased silk Ficus trees and strung them with white Christmas lights. To dress up the bases, she wrapped them in white satin and chiffon. The effect was beautiful. We rented an arch from our florist and hung it with Ivy and more white lights. My husband and I decided to have a small wedding party consisting of my two sisters and his two best friends. This was a huge cost saver. I found bouquets that I liked and adjusted some of the more expensive flowers out of them to save money as well. The groomsmen and groom each had a single white Calla Lily as the boutonnieres.

Overall, that was how we saved the most money. My wedding was still beautiful and unique, but it didn't cost a fortune to do. Because of all the money we saved, my husband and I were able to spring for the lavish SandPearl Resort in Clearwater Beach for the first night of our honeymoon. It was well worth the effort of saving the money. We traveled 700 miles on our honeymoon all over Florida and had a blast and didn't have to worry about spending too much money. "Save on the wedding and spend on the honeymoon"--The best advice I received for my wedding.