What would have you did differently?

Well my friend is doing everything extremely lavishly but she's being rather silly. I have noticed how silly she is over frills and trappings and when I do it myself the only thing I will splurge on will be making sure I get to be wed in my family church. I would buy a cheap dress from ebay or in the january sales and pretty much get my friends and family to use their talents to help me wherever they can. The important thing is the vows, not a huge dress and massive cake!

First, I do not regret this but is a good tip to save money. Call up a good art school nearby and ask for a recommendation for a photo student. Some of these college students have great talent and are professional. Look at their portfolio and you could hire a great budding photographer for less than half the price!

I would have spent less on party favors. I went a little over board and got the 4 piece box of godiva for everyone... the 2 piece would have done the job at a lower price.

I also would have spent less on some of the food. I had a carving station, pasta station, etc, etc... it was too much, and I had a ton of untouched passed heur derves. I suggest you stick with 3-4 passed, and a cheese station. And for the meal, have 2 stations, a salad and a vegetarian option.

I would have spent more on my cake. I loved my cake, but should have scaled it up a bit. It was beautiful but small compared to my reception.

As for flowers... I went with a red and a white rose on each table in a small vase with a sprig of baby's breath and a small piece of ivy. I loved this and would not change it. I would however, not have had as large bouquets for myself or my attendants. Single roses would have been just as beautiful.

I'm not married yet, but we made it very clear to ourselves that we didn't want to pay a single cent for anything you didn't think would be useful, or add more fun for our guests.

Therefore, we cut floral centerpieces, a DJ and favors. Technically, we're having our candy bar serve as favors, and we purchased mini chinese take-out boxes, which also served as place cards, which ended up being a LOT cheapter. We're using candles instead of floral centerpieces, and we're hooking up our iPod for music.

Things we knew we wanted to splurge on: Photography and the location. Photography, by far, is the biggest splurge because we wanted to have amazing photos, since they last forever. So we hired one of the best. Because we wanted to get married on our home state, but not in either of our towns, we wanted to pick a destination that people would WANT to travel to, so, while cost was a factor, we weren't stingy, and we're so happy with our decision.

Everything else is very middle of the road in terms of cost. Flowers are super cheap (only bouquets and boutonniers, and we got super small bouquets - I like the way they look when they're small anyway), was probably the smallest major cost.

Don't skimp on the photography! We didn't, but several of our friends didn't follow our lead on that and they were really disappointed.

Don't go overboard on the TONS of little things like favors, programs, placecards, invitations. I am the only daughter so mine was the only wedding my mom really got to get involved with so we over-did a lot of things like that.

If you're crafty and/or handy with a computer, make your own programs, save the date, or placecards. Order your invitations online from a printer (much cheaper than a store). Design and make your own centerpieces and favors. We lucked out that we got married on December 22nd and the historic mansion we had the wedding at was fully decked out for the holidays at no cost to us!

If you're not set on having your wedding at a church, look for places that allow you to have the ceremony and reception there - it saves on booking both places plus makes it less hectic with guests travelling from one place to another (a huge bonus if you have a lot of out-of-towners).

Pick an "off" month to have your wedding since off-peak seasons are much cheaper! Try picking an off-peak time as well - some places will offer exceptional deals on brunch-time weddings!

If possible, see if you have any friends that can dj or do video for you...or just queue up an ipod with your favorite mixes!

Keeping things inexpensive doesn't have to make it completely lacking in personality or personal touches. My sister-in-law and her now-hubby scanned tons of family and friend photos of them both through the years and had a slideshow going on a computer screen throughout the reception...it was a huge hit!

Do little things like name your tables (instead of just using numbers) after something you and your fiance share (favorite movies, bands, etc.) and it makes a HUGE difference!

Best of luck!

We omitted pretty much everything, and were very happy with it. Went with an informal wedding amongst family and friends. The biggest expense was our honeymoon cruise, and we loved it. Wouldn't have changed a thing (except maybe taking a longer cruise!)

One of the biggest things your guests are going to remember is the food. So make sure it is good.

We skipped the favors because if they aren't edible, most people just throw them away anyway. However we did buy some popcorn from a local company for people to snack on later in the evening.

I was having the hardest time finding a photographer that would give us what we wanted ( no printed pic, just a CD with all the negatives) for a reasonable price. Then my moms friend mentioned to me that one of her friends does photography on the side, just for fun. We met with her and she is giving us exactly what wanted for a fee of 250 dollars + 1 dollar/picture (200 pictures = 200 dollars).

I guess my best advice to you would be shop around and utilize your friends and family for their talents.

Would have had a band - instead of, or in addition to, a dj. There's nothing better than live music for dancing!

elope!