Handy Wedding Budget Tips

Wedding Budget Tips give you the opportunity to save money as you begin your journey into the world of wedding planning. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Wedding Budget Tips for Stationery:

• make your own invitations, or have a friend or family member make them for you on a computer. You can check out wedding clipart.com for clipart and templates.


• instead of including response card with the invitations, you can save postage and include an e-mail address and/or phone numbers for responses.


• why not buy your invitations online. There is more selection online, which means it is easier to find invitations to fit your budget. In many cases you buy direct from online sources, so you cut out the middleman and the markup.

Wedding Budget Tips for Attire:

• if you don't mind not having a fancy designer gown, consider renting a wedding dress or buying one secondhand. There are often wedding dresses, some never worn, advertised in the classified section of the newspapers.


• why not buy a dress online. Sites such as eBay can offer significant savings on wedding dresses, both secondhand and brand-new. Sites can offer warehouse prices on new wedding dresses.


• if you have a friend or family member, who is an accomplished seamstress, why not ask them if they can sew your dress.


• you can consider buying a discontinued dress from outlet bridal stores. Sometimes last year's fashions can save you considerable dollars and no one will know the difference.


• if you are planning a casual wedding, check out the dresses that area department stores.


• go here to find for more tips on finding wedding dresses on a budget.


• perhaps the guys don't really need tuxedos, suits would do just fine.


• if you are into crafts, you can make your own veil and headpiece. I did this myself and it turned out wonderful. Just the length and style I was looking for. Materials are plentiful at craft and fabric stores, and instructions are available on the Internet and in books.


• if you're gown is long, no one will see your shoes anyway, so why not save some money by buying inexpensive shoes. As I mentioned before, wearing a pair of satin ballet slippers, which can be purchased from a dance studio for a reasonable price, will save your feet as well as money.


• you could borrow a friend's crinoline or in some places you could even rent them. Again check your sources online, such as eBay.


• purchase bridesmaid's dresses from a department store.


• do you really need six bridesmaids, a maid of honor, six ushers, and a best man? By limiting your attendants to a maid of honor and a best man, you can save considerably on clothing costs, as well as gifts and flowers.


• do your own hair and makeup. If you're not quite sure about this choice, why not source out hair design schools, which may offer better prices for wedding hair. I found when I got married, that department store makeup counters, such as Clinique and Estée Lauder offer wedding makeup for bride and bridal parties gratis. Of course they're hoping that you will buy some product as well, but it wasn't obligatory.

Wedding Budget Tips for Flowers:

• if you use flowers that are in season, your bill will usually be lower. Try to use plenty of greenery in the bouquets for filler.


• why not pick out some pretty garden bouquets from the local grocery store, a flower wholesaler, or greenhouse instead of going to a florist.


• have the floral arrangements brought from the ceremony to the reception instead of buying separate ones.

Wedding Budget Tips for Centerpieces:

• use floating candles instead of floral centerpieces.


• you can place a single flower in a bud vase or float a single flower in a bowl of water instead of using the full arrangement.


• how about using potted plants instead of cut flowers for centerpiece.

Wedding Budget Tips for Decor:

• using lots of balloons in colors that complement your wedding theme or colors are great alternative to more expensive decorations.


• go to your fabric or craft store, buy some tulle and twinkle lights, and decorate the venue yourself.

Wedding Budget Tips for Favors:

• dollar stores can be great sources for favors such as candles and other knickknacks, and they certainly would have fun stuff for your child guests.

Wedding Budget Tips for Transportation:

• why not rent a fun car such as a Volkswagen beetle or convertible Ford Thunderbird with a friend playing chauffeur, instead of renting a limo.


• if you or a friend or family member has an antique car, why not ask to use that to transport you from the ceremony to the reception.

Wedding Budget Tips for Rehearsal Dinner:

• consider a more casual dinner, such as Chinese food, pizza, backyard barbecue or why not cook it yourself for that personal touch.

Wedding Budget Tips for Venues:

• the reception is the largest expense of your wedding. Concentrate your money-saving powers here.


• have your wedding during the off-season months. Please see the wedding reception planning guide for these times.


• you could get married on a Friday night or on a Sunday. Once again, please see the wedding reception planning guide for all the pros and cons of these dates.


• if you book for Christmas time wedding, chances are the venue will already be decorated, thus saving you the money and trouble.


• if you hold the ceremony and reception at the same location, you're likely to have a lower total rental fee and you'll save money on transportation and decorations.


• tried choosing a venue that needs little adornment such as a garden or decorated facility.


• instead of posting your reception in an expensive country club or wedding hall, consider free or low fee options, such as city gardens and Arboretum's.


• consider hosting a reception at a restaurant. Most charge less than a hotel or country club, a class, restaurants don't have the room fees that many facilities do.


• check facilities in other areas. If you live in an expensive urban center, a nearby village were small town may be able to offer less expensive reception sites.


• providing food and drink at weddings is a costly business. Most caterers, venue kitchens, and restaurants charge per person, so invite only the people you really want to be there.


• check out some of the local business hotels see if they offer all services from beverages and meals to entertainment and clean up. Most of them are quiet on the weekends and could be willing to give you a good price.

Wedding Budget Tips for Food:

• serve appetizers on a buffet or table instead of having servers circulate them.


• ask friends or family or yourself to make the appetizers and desserts.


• consider having a cocktail reception instead of a sitdown meal.


• a brunch or lunch reception or buffet will be less expensive than a plated sit down meal.


• have a potluck reception.


• many venues require you to use their catering staff, but if you're allowed to bring your own food, then having family or friends or an inexpensive caterer prepare your meals, can save you money.


• since everyone will be stuffed anyway, why not use the wedding cake as the desert.


• look to borrow seldom used items such as the punch bowl and cake knife instead of purchasing them.

Wedding Budget Tips for the Wedding Cake:

• how about ordering a fancy cake from a bakery, such as a cheesecake, instead of having a wedding cake.


• you can decorate the top of your cake with fresh flowers or fruit instead of the traditional cake topper.


• wedding cakes can cost you anywhere from a couple hundred to several thousand dollars. You can save money by making inquiries at a nearby pastry school. Sometimes nearly or recently graduated students can make you a gorgeous cake at a fraction of what a wedding cake baker would charge. And they might even come up with some unusual ideas too.


• consider using a display cake. What's a display cake you ask? A display cake is one that looks the part, but is actually inedible. The advantage of one of these imposters is that they can look sumptuous and ornate, but at a fraction of the cost of a real wedding cake. Later, your caterer kitchen staff can serve guests slices of sheet cakes, which cost a fraction of the cost of a beautifully iced wedding cake. If you still want to take you and your groom can actually cut, have a talented friend or family member make you a small wedding cake to cut, but then serve guests slices of precut sheet cake.

Wedding Budget Tips for Alcohol:

• you can have an open bar, but why not limit the selection of beverages to wine, beer, wine coolers, and soft drinks instead of offering hard liquor and mixed drinks.


• if you can find a venue where you can supply your own alcohol, you'll be way ahead of the game.


• make your own wine and beer at a do it yourself place. You can even print your own labels for that personal touch


• you could offer poured service rather than leaving the wine bottles on the tables.


• don't bother with the added expense of having champagne for the toast. Your guests can toast with whatever they are drinking.

Wedding Budget Tips for Music:

• higher one musician to play at both the ceremony and the reception.


• instead of hiring a DJ, create your own CD compilations or use an MP3 and have either you or a friend play them through the reception.


• that being said, DJs are generally cheaper than live bands, unless you happen to be friends with a bunch of musicians.


• if you have your heart set on a band or musicians, consider contacting your local music school for references. You may get a lovely string Quartet of students for very little money.

Wedding Budget Tips for Photography/Videography:

• have a professional shoot the standard shots, and opt for the basic package. For all the other photos, provide guests with with disposable cameras or ask friends and family to bring their cameras.


• call a local university or college to find out about any talented student photographers that shoot weddings.
• call your local newspaper to find out if any of the photojournalists do weddings.


• instead of hiring a professional, have a friend videotaped the service.

The Internet is a great source for providing general planning information such as this website and cutting wedding costs.

Couples find they can save hundreds and even thousands of dollars by surfing. Everything from wedding invitations to dresses to photographers can be found online nowadays.

I've tried to find the best deals out there for you and placed links to them conveniently on my website. If I find out about super good deals for a limited time, I will post them to my Blog. Feel like saying more? Then visit our Wedding Surveys and Polls page.

Make sure that you stay on top of all things good in the World of Weddings by subscribing to my FREE Newsletter! Just fill in the form here...

Top of Wedding Budget Tips

Back To the Wedding Budget Planner

Return to My Wedding Reception Planning Home Page