15 responses so far ↓

• 1 Cathryn Kelton // Sep 21, 2009 at 8:04 pm

  Go to Vegas!

• 2 Oleg // Sep 21, 2009 at 8:08 pm

  Ok, but this is only for people who is serving cheese . Don’t envite me.

• 3 Ginger // Sep 21, 2009 at 9:17 pm

  My best tip: skip about a third of the stuff that the wedding industry thinks is mandatory. Save the date cards? A second reception dress? Favors that will get thrown away? None of these are necessary!

  The REAL necessities? A bride, a groom, a marriage license, and someone to perform the ceremony. My own necessities? The people that I really love there and fabulous photos to remember my day!

• 4 Taylor Luther // Sep 21, 2009 at 9:31 pm

  If you’re a person who wants to have beautiful bouquets and beauiful centerpieces but can’t afford to do both, reuse the bouquets!!! Have your florist make bouquets that can both fit well for bouquets but also for centerpieces. As soon as the post-ceremony pictures are done, have the florist grab every bridesmaids bouquets and book it to the reception. Florist’s are magical (as are photographers) and you’d be surprised how different the centerpieces look from the bouquets. No one will even know that’s what you did unless you tell them. Obviously, this works best if you are having a reception that can be closed off prior to the florist’s arrival.

  This “trick” allows you to have amazing bouquets and centerpieces.

  Personal experience: I did this, and not only were my bouquets and centerpieces everything that I could have possibly wanted and more, but we saved at least $1000. Now you have more money for the honeymoon…or one of the other 5 million things that you have to spend money on for a wedding!!!!!

• 5 Melly // Sep 22, 2009 at 8:32 am

  Get married on a Friday or Sunday…it’s amazing how it opens up a million dates, and the price drops hundreds of dollars!

  Also…have a smaller cake on the table (2 or 3 tiers as opposed to 5 or 6), and make up the difference with plain sheet cakes that will be sliced and served from the kitchen.

• 6 Allie H // Sep 22, 2009 at 11:17 am

  Ask friends or friends of friends or friends of your mom’s to “repurpose” something from another wedding.

  At my sister’s wedding, we were able to use glass fishbowls that someone else had used at another wedding as the centerpieces. A friend of a friend put together arrangements of silk orchids in the bowls.

  When my sister was done, she passed the bowls on to someone else.

  We also repurposed the pew bows from another wedding.

  Overall – I think silk flowers have come such a long way, and can be a good option, especially for decoration vs. live flowers.

  If you’re having your wedding off-season, or want a flower that isn’t easily available in your area at the time of your wedding (my sister wanted white tulips, in FL, in November!), think about silk!

• 7 Vikki // Sep 22, 2009 at 11:49 am

  1. If you are getting married in a church and they have flowers, use them.

  2. Don’t have the bridesmaids get matching shoes if the dresses are long

  3. Consider family style for the reception. That was a big hit at our wedding.

• 8 Louisa Carpenter // Sep 22, 2009 at 12:32 pm

  We got married in Las Vegas. We are in CA and it’s a 4 hour drive. We got married on a Friday and had about 30 people total. We still had a lunch reception in the hotel we got married in. Many people enjoy going to Vegas and still had the weekend to do what they wanted. Many hotels have packages ranging in prices, it all depends on what you want. Having a big fancy wedding was not important to either of us…the honeymoon was more important!

• 9 Mary // Sep 22, 2009 at 12:56 pm

  Consider a dessert reception! You can have fabulous food, at a fraction of the cost, because you are only serving dessert. Also, getting married earlier in the day, and having a brunch instead of dinner. : )

• 10 Melly // Sep 23, 2009 at 8:15 am

  Dang…Mary, you are a woman after my and Amber’s heart! LOL

• 11 Kitty // Sep 23, 2009 at 3:08 pm

  How about a “destination wedding”? It may cut down a bit on your guest list, and many locations are actually less expensive than the usual “local” locations most couples plan on. You can pick somewhere that is meaningful to you and your Prince Charming, and your honeymoon will start before the ceremony is even over. Some places (like Walt Disney World!) even have a registry. You can get your guests to help pay for special honeymoon extras in lieu of gifts.

• 12 Michele // Sep 23, 2009 at 3:08 pm

  Spend the extra money for a good photographer! If nothing else, you want some really good photos to help you remember a day that is going to fly by. And, if you can afford it, have the photographer around as much of the day as possible. He/she will be able to catch the things you will be miss being too preoccupied being a bride!

  And definitely go digital!!

• 13 k8 // Sep 24, 2009 at 9:08 am

  Don’t do a cocktail hour…..our guy pointed out that people would either eat at the cocktail hour and not eat dinner, or not eat at the cocktail hour so they could have dinner….we save money and could upgrade our entree to boot!

  k8

• 14 David Goodman // Sep 25, 2009 at 10:45 am

  Elope!

• 15 Joey // Sep 25, 2009 at 9:03 pm

  Call Walmart and tell them you want to get married in a Walmart commercial.

Leave a Comment