Do you have champagne taste and caviar dreams but are on a white bread and soda pop budget?  Don’t worry, you can still have a beautiful but inexpensive wedding. Check out these great ways to cut costs and save money.

1. Trim you Guest List

Each time you add a name to your invitation list, you’re significantly increasing your budget. It’s not just the catering costs, but also the extra centerpieces, favors, rentals, etc.   Set ground rules and goals to keep your guest list to a minimum and on budget.

• Don’t invite anyone you haven’t talked to in five years.
• Don’t feel obligated to let single people bring a date.
• Avoid feeling pressured to invite all your work colleagues.
• Don’t let your friends bring their children.
• Decide to eliminate categories like “relatives more distant than first cousins” or “friends from volunteer work.” By not inviting anyone from that group, you’ll help avoid hurt feelings.

2.  Save postage on your wedding invitations.

Ask to disclude the inner envelope and blotter paper.  These are leftover relics from times when ink needed time to dry and people wanted a pristine envelope.  Rather than having a reply card, ask guests to reply online or by the telephone.  Not only will you save money from the printer bill, it should also reduce your postage expense.

3.  Shop Sample Sales and the internet for Cheap Wedding Dresses

If you wear a 6, 8, or 10, check out sample sales, which happen generally once a year.  It’s a great opportunity to get a designer dress at dirt bottom prices.  You can also look on EBay and other internet sites for deals on used wedding dresses.

Remember that cleaning the delicate fabric of a wedding dress may cost up to $250, so a cheap dress with the filthy hem may not be the best way to go.  Many cities have a shop where you can rent a wedding dress which could save you hundreds of dollars.

4. Change the day of your wedding

Have your wedding on a weeknight or a Sunday. There is less demand for these dates so venues will often be willing to give you a better rate.

5.  Save money on Church decorations

For religious weddings consider having your wedding near a major holiday.  The church will already be decorated which may save you a lot of money on flowers.  On other days, look for simplicity.  A candlelit ceremony can be romantic, gorgeous, and inexpensive.

6.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help

If you want to have a cheap wedding, bring all your friends and families resources together.  Bring your family and friends together for brainstorming session.  Think of musicians you know, well-spoken friends who could be your officiant, and crafty people who can help you assemble things.  They will generally be honored to be a special part of your big day.

7.  Get Crafty!  Do it yourself

Invite your friends to be a special part of your wedding by helping you assemble favors, make invitations, centerpieces, and other homemade inexpensive touches.  Be sure to put out delicious snacks and have inspiring tunes on the stereo, so that your friends feel like they’re at a party, not just part of an assembly line.

8.  Inexpensive wedding food and drink

Be honest with your caterer about your need to save money.  Ask them which are the least expensive entrees and whether a buffet is cheaper than a seated dinner.  See if they’ll let you provide your own liquor, or if serving only wine and beer will be cheaper than a full bar.  Also consider only having the bar open during your cocktail hour, then serving an inexpensive wine with dinner.  If you and your fiance don’t drink, consider having a dry wedding.

9.  eBay!

Ebay, Ebay, Ebay. It’s a great source for everything from second-hand dresses and even new dresses, flowers to wedding favors, cake toppers, ring pillows and more. Be sure to allow ample time for the auction to end, and for shipping.  Look for trusted sellers whose feedback indicates they have accurately represented what they have sold.  Look at the location of the seller to so you can estimate delivery time.  Don’t be afraid to offer a “best offer” on a fixed price or store item.

10. Inexpensive wedding invitations

Don’t go for the engraving, regular printed invites work just as well. There are a variety of cheap wedding invitations available on the internet.  For a casual wedding, consider printing your own invites from your home computer.  Stationery stores now sell printed paper meant to use in a home printer as inexpensive wedding invitations

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Authored By Bridebug.com

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.  We hope you have the most beautiful wedding ever! Let Bridebug.com accentuate your event with our innovative, fashionable and unique accessories!  Our extensive selection of Wedding & Life Event products feature many exclusive designs, inspired and manufactured by the most talented supply base in the industry.

Please visit our store for wedding flowers, bouquets and wedding accessories.

for the bride’s out there who are in the process of planning their special day, i wanted to share a little bit of advice!

consider planning for a “first look”!

“what is a first look”, you ask?

a “first look” is a brief portrait session before the ceremony on your wedding day.

now, i know what you’re going to say “but, it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding!!”

to that, i will respond with a brief history lesson! back in the day (hundreds of years ago!), marriage was more of a business transaction than the uniting of two lovers. (and the bride was the legal tender) fathers would, in essence, sell their daughters in an attempt to gain land, or favor with another father of the groom-to-be. so, as added insurance that the groom-to-be wouldn’t flee from the alter, the bride was kept hidden from him…just in case he didn’t like what he saw. this insurance policy turned into tradition, and then superstition.

well, times they have changed! people marry for love!

the benefits of a “first look”…

more time
with the bride and groom portraits out of the way, you can go directly to your cocktail hour or reception immediately after the ceremony!

less stress
by seeing each other before the ceremony, you’ll feel calmer, and more relaxed. which will reduce any stress or anxiety you may have 110%!

better light
if you’re planning an evening wedding, by the time the ceremony is over the available natural light may be limited, or worse, non existent! and natural light is by FAR the MOST flattering!

so, i know what you’re thinking “wow! this sounds awesome! but, how does it work?”

well, i’m glad you asked! the goal is to keep all the built up excitement and suspense by getting ready in separate locations. then, before the ceremony, when you are both dressed and looking FAB-U-LOUS, you’ll meet and get your FIRST LOOK! my job will then be to capture those smiles, tears, giggles, hugs, and kisses! (things you wouldn’t necessarily be able to do if your first look was at the alter in front of everyone.) once we’re done with the first look, and relaxed bride/groom portraits, we’ll get the bridal party and family/group shots out of the way, and you’re off to the alter! then onto your reception to PAR-TAY!

your wedding day should be spent with your new spouse, friends, and family! and that’s why i recommend a first look!

happy planning!

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hi! my name is marcia tumminaro, and i’m a wedding photographer. i photograph the real, emotional, and sometimes hilarious moments of gorgeous couples on one of the most important days of their life. i also photograph engagements, portraits, families, and whatever else peaks my creative interests.

if you’re interested in hearing more from me, please visit my blog:
marciatumminaro.blogspot.com

you can also check out my website for galleries, bio, and pricing info: marciatumminaro.com

Today we’re launching a great new feature: advanced invitation and RSVP tracking for your MomentVille wedding website!  With each MomentVille website you can create invitations and track responses for different occasions.  This lets you invite and track guests for events such as the rehearsal dinner, the ceremony, the reception, or any other occasion of your choosing.

We’d like to introduce a few basic concepts that will help you to use these great new planning tools for your wedding website.  The first is the idea of an occasion.  Weddings and other special events often have one or more particular occasions around them, such as bachelor parties, showers and of course the wedding itself!  You can track each of these occasions using the same wedding website.

For each occasion you can create an invite.  Once you are ready the invite is sent in a stylish email to your guests.

Guest names and emails can be imported from online email accounts like Hotmail and GMail to make adding guests fast and simple.  You can even arrange guests into groups, so you can have a bridal party group, a family group, or any other group you choose.

You can also associate an invite with an RSVP.  Not all invites need to have an RSVP. For example, you may want to send a ‘Save The Date’ email out to your guest, but may not want to track their responses quite yet.

If you add an RSVP to an invite, the response of the invitees will be tracked, and displayed nicely for you to make your planning even easier.  You can request your guests to give you their mailing addresses and ask custom questions in your RSVP too.  This is a great option for tracking meal choices or any other burning questions you need to ask your guests.

Finally, in the admin area of your website, you can view and export all the responses into a spreadsheet file that will let you do things on your local computer such as mail merges, etc.

For a full description of these tools and how to use them, see our How To section for both RSVPs and Invites.

Happy planning!

- The MomentVille Team

Let’s face it. If you want to be the footstomping bridezilla center of attention you can be.

On the other hand, if you would sincerely like to have a wonderful wedding where love is the theme and serenity and fun are the emotions of the day, you CAN have it!

Here’s how:

1. Acknowledge that weddings (like real life) can’t be scripted and rarely run entirely as planned.
2. Put away micromanagement. You simply can’t FORCE all the details to come together under some master plan you imagine “should work.”
3. Trust your planner, helper or property site point person. The actually DO know what they can manage to pull off and what won’t work or is unreasonable to ask. They are not being bitchy, they are being realistic. So, don’t expect potted plants in a small town where there are none to rent, blue skies during the wetest spring in history or expect your wacko aunt to behave “just this once.” None of this is going to happen.

This doesn’t mean lower your expectations. It means first of all rent a location which understands all this. And most of all understands that turmoil on such a wonderful day is just plain ridiculous.

Communicate your needs, choose your helpers and planners, vendors and lenders wisely then enjoy all the pampering you will recieve on your special day–while the chosen ones make your wedding happen. The most important thing you can do is TRUST them. They are your friends, right??

In addition, choose the ingredients wisely. Going over budget is another source of stress. Few can afford that fairytale coach with 10 white horses. Won’t a white limo do?

From the start, pick your colors, your theme, your time of day and who will stand up with you wisely. Bridesmaids and ushers are there to do a job–wait on the bride and move guests around. Attendants with no function are simply party animals waiting to make trouble. Forget it. Reduce the number. Honor all your “best friends” with special toasts or put on a very special “girl friends luncheon” instead. They’ll thank you for this later. Trust me.

Be open about your budget to those helping plan this event. Money IS at the root of all stress, all evil and all joy. A beautiful event can be creative without being expensive. Let those who know how to do it help you.

Lastly, consider a destination wedding. There is no easier way to get rid of the dead weight of the people you “think” you have to invite than moving ghe wedding hundreds of miles out of town. And, hey, when you get back, those girl friends can put on one heck of a ‘wedding party” for you…. more fun and less stress.

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Authored By: Judy Hotchkiss, innkeeper and weddng coordinator

I designed and built a special wedding room for special events which we call The Pavilion Room and Gallery (foyer). We have a patio and a wedding garden with a mountain view. Our historic inn (c.1889) was a country home. it’s grand style lent itself to a B&B with five luxury rooms with private baths, many with fireplaces and whirlpool tubs. We make a great honeymoon location as well as a destination wedidng site.

Over the years I’ve become adept at planning the producing “smaller” size weddings. “Smaller” to me means under 65 guests. We also do a dozen Elopements for Two each year ( no guests).

Prospect Hill  www.prospect-hill.com

Making up a guest list can often times be quite stressful.  Here are a few tips that may help to make that job easier.

Decide on a budget.  Knowing how much you can spend and how much the caterer will charge per person will determine the number of people that you’re able to invite.  It is perfectly proper to invite some guests to the wedding without inviting them to the reception.  You’ll need to order separate reception cards and include these cards only in the invitations of those who are invited to the reception.  Omit this card from those who are not invited to the reception.

Split the guest list 50/50.  Unless one of you has far fewer relatives and friends, it usually works best to allow the bride’s family to make up half of the guest list and the groom’s family to do the same.

Although you are never required to invite children, you should always be sure to include the ’significant other’ of any guest that is invited.  It is not required to invite ‘dates’ for single guests.

If you need to cut down on the number of people you invite, try omitting children.  This is accomplished by simply not putting the childrens’ names on the invitation.  But make your ‘no children’ policy known to those who may be asked, such as your parents, attendants, etc.  You can also omit business associates or coworkers from your guest list unless they are very good friends.  Distant relatives are another omission possibility.

If you are receiving many regrets from your first mailing of invitations, it is perfectly acceptable to do a second mailing.  Be sure you are giving your invited guests ample time to respond.

The reception is when your wedding favors will be handed out to your guests.  Be sure you have ordered enough to give to everyone who has been invited to attend this part of your special day.  It is not required to give wedding favors to those who have not been invited to the reception.

 
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Authored By Diane Thompson

Diane Thompson is the owner of Wedding Favor Reflections, a website which offers the complete line of Kate Aspen wedding favors for your special day.