What are some ways to cut back on wedding costs?

Cut back by having friends and family help you with things. I saved over a grand by doing my own invites and place cards etc with my friends and they looked fabulous as the lady at the paper shop provided me with everything I needed. I also saved a heap of money by doing my own centerpieces. The DJ was fairly new and he had never done a wedding before so we tested him out at our engagement family and he was fantastic. We saved over $500.00 by doing it that way. Our photographer was a family friend who had offered to do our photos for free, in return he and his wife came to our wedding and we bought them a gift. Our celebrant was also a family friend and she offered her services as a wedding gift. We had our ceremony location and reception location in the same area, it was a 5 minute walk away so we did not need any special cars etc (as our venue was overlooking an estuary and in a beautiful park with islands around we had many options for different pictures)

We had a bar with a Tab on it which lasted the whole night but we had beer, wine and champagne only. The food was one place we did not save any money and it used over half of our budget but if we had, had a buffet we would have saved $30.00 per person.

Try and find a venue that will allow you to bring in your own food and drink. It is a lot cheaper to go out and buy beer, wine, soft drink etc in bulk to be served.

When shopping for your dress look at hiring it, if you do not want to hire it look on ebay or www.lightinthebox.com I used light in the box for my bridesmaids dresses and they were fantastic just make sure you give them plenty of time.

I know you dont want to hear this, but cutting your guest list is the only way to make a real dent in wedding costs.

Sure, you can go without a guest book, ring bearer pillow, no excessive flowers, etc. And you can DIY your centerpieces and this will all save you a bundle. But still, food and drink is the biggest expense of your wedding.

How many guests do you have and where is your venue?

100 guests is still a lot in my book. But it depends on where you are. You might be able to find a place that does a buffet for 35-40 per person, and that would be a bargain. I think most buffets are over 50 per person though. Dont have any alcohol, or just have a champagne toast and thats it. Dont have a candy bar, extravagant favors (or any favors at all), extra dessert table, etc -- in business terms, those do not add any value to your event. It is money wasted. All guests really want to have a good time is good food, and possibly drink if you have it. I would not skimp on the food or try to DIY that for 100 people.

The fact that your wedding is under 100 people will help greatly! Try checking out not so well known venues (government county places, organized clubs, etc) I am looking at venues as well and found some cheaper venues that are surprisingly beautiful just not well known. There are always the basic DIY tips. Making your unity candles, ring pillow, centerpieces, favors etc. The way I see it is focus on the main costs and try to keep those affordable, then focus on the rest.

Hi,

A good way to save money is making your own - invitations, Centre piece's, Name cards, Anything you can do yourself.

Another great way, Is your dress - Buy one what has just gone out of season,

Or on sale, Or if you are happy with a second hand one,

Even find a dress you like and find a dress maker you will save a lot of money

if someone could make it for you.

Hire the suits, Dont buy.

Instead of buying "bridesmaid dress's find a good dress shop and you will find a lot of evening gowns and going out dress's are just as nice and half the price.

If you know someone good with make up - ask them to do your hair/ make up.

A cheap venue ! Is also a big thing ! You will save a lot of money if you find a good venue.

And of course the smaller the wedding the cheaper it will be.

Just shop around for everything rather then settle for the first thing you can find.

Good, shop around for venues, write down some rates and then compare.

Other ways are cutting some of the guest list, as the answerer above me said. I don't blame you for not wanting to though.

Here's a website with a few good tips on how to save money.

http://www.cheap-wedding-solutions.com/

You can do a lot of small things like make your own center pieces, buy your favors at a dollar store, make your invitations, etc.

You purchase the bridal gown from ebay, if you dont mind used...you wont be able to try it on though. Some bridal boutiques have sales sometimes, like David's Bridal had a $99 dollar sale last week.

Google: "Ways to save money on your wedding"

This might save you a little, but you wont save tons.

Here's a wedding budget calculator that might help show you wear money is going and you can decide if you want to cut those parts out.

http://www.yourweddingcompany.com/templates/planni...

Good luck! :)

I understand your dilemma I've helped quite a few friends in your situation my advice is to DIY as much as you can even your food try to find a venue that allows you to cater your own food and serve it buffet style which will save you more money on the venue and your food bill. It will save money on the venue b/c places that want you to have their food usually charge you more money too. It shouldn't cost you that much to buy ingredients for 100 ppl or less and keep it simple don't get too extravagant with the menu a good website for nice wedding stuff that is really reasonable is Orientaltradingpost.com you can also request a free catalog. Congratulations and Good Luck!

I don't think the answers always revolve around cutting your guest list. I am having 200 guests for dinner (approximately) and I found a banquet hall that is doing a specialized menu for us. We will be paying about $3000 for dinner and drinks combined. Thats 60% of our budget. Personally, I think there are always ways to cut the budget.

We are making our own invitations, we are doing our own flowers (ordering wholesale and decorating ourselves) and we are using as many resources as we can.

Good Luck and it is possible!

Put cupcakes you make in a nice stand as centerpieces. With this you have the centerpiece AND cake out of the way.

Keep the flowers at a minimum.

Invite only immediate family say at 7 for dinner and invite the rest of your family say at 8 for the dance.

You can have mexican food.

Get a ballroom that comes with everything included.

Do a sandwich bar instead of chickens or steaks.

if you was to slice the guest list in half that would save you. The place I'm having my wedding is charging us $1800 for 65 people to eat....thats just food. We might change our location idk. But if you done you're centerpieces and bouquets yourself that would help alot with the expenses. I would just focus on the major factors when it comes to ur wedding....dresses hair tuxes flowers. I mean you can keep it simple but I mean it's every little girls fantasy when it comes to the wedding. Just make sures it's something that will make you and your groom happy

I'm in the same boat as you are. I want to be married in June of next summer. I have alot of great advice. I've been doing wedding research for months now. I want a beautiful wedding on a small budget. It's very possible for me to have the wedding of my dreams without it looking taky. I'm someone that doesn't always follow the crowd. For my wedding day I want it to be unique. I plan on having a beautiful wedding on a small budget... way less than $10,000 dollars. Here is what I plan on doing:

I plan on having 100 or so people. For your wedding you could even do the same thing. Have as many guest as you want! Most people think that $3,000 and having 100 guest at the wedding isn't possible but to be quite honest, it is very possible. If you plan things correctly and you budget your money you will have that nice wedding, without having to give up certain things... like cutting back on your guest. I truly think it's very possible to have a DIY wedding! I want to prove to the wedding industry that I can do this! Here is the website that inspired me to have a not so stressful wedding on a budget: http://2000dollarwedding.com/

I've already found a wedding reception hall that is way under $1,000 and the place is beautiful. So I would suggest to you to find a hall that doesn't just cater to weddings. Most halls can provide you with tables, chairs, utensils, kitchen, etc. That's what my beautiful hall comes with. You will save money! Most wedding venues are expensive. So choose a hall instead that doesn't just cater to weddings. The reception hall I want to use will provide us with tables and chairs. I don't have to rent a dance floor. I might have to rent chair covers and table cloths. (Which I don't mind.) The reception hall will also provide us with plates and few other kitchen items.

I think I'm going to recruit a lot of my family members and friends to help me out with the wedding. I want a family oriented wedding where my friends can feel as if their apart of my family. I don't want a huge expensive show. That's why I'm choosing to have a DIY wedding reception that looks expensive. Everyone I know is pretty creative. I'm a very crafty person so I plan on making all the wedding favors, wedding programs, boutonnieres, decorations, wedding invites, wedding pillow, etc. Making these things will be so much fun... I love being crafty. I found a beautiful brand new scrapbook in my room that I plan on using for my wedding as a guestbook. The cost: Free! I've got beautiful picture frames in my room of my fiance and I. Those pictures will be used at my reception. I even might have my finance and I grow our own flowers for the wedding. The more things that I can make by hand for our wedding, the more money my fiance and I will be saving. Which I believe to be true!

I found a restaurant that caters on great budget. I don't plan on getting a fancy wedding cake from a bakery. I might just get myself a store bought wedding cake. My moms friend owns a dress shop and she can get me a great deal on a simple wedding dress. I might hire my aunt who takes professional looking pictures in her spare time to be my photographer for the wedding. I also know other people who too are good at photography. I will hire a DJ because my fiance and I love music so much. I think that I will be buying my own liquor for the wedding and having a family member of mine who doesn't much like to dance be a bartender.

I'm so excited to be planning my wedding with my fiance. I think he's going to be excited too. Were both crafty people. So we plan on using our imagination for this wedding. I love my fiance so much and I can't wait for our special day that will occur sometime next summer. Wedding planning for me has been very exciting because I don't feel so stressed out. My wedding is just one day and it's day that I want to remember but I also want my family and friends to remember the day as well. When I first started doing wedding research I felt overwhelmed. Now I don't feel that way thanks to the 2000 wedding budget website!!

When planning your wedding do stick to your budget. You will be so amazed how many cost effective things you can do at your wedding that won't look cheap. People think that weddings that are inexpensive end up looking cheap. That is not true at all! Your wedding doesn't have to cost a whole lot for it to be a beautiful wedding.

My bestfriend bought me this binder that is awesome. It's called "Your Perfect Wedding Planner" by Cathy Bouchard. The binder is full 100 pages worth of information on how to plan for your wedding. She has check lists, places to store business cards, folders, etc. all inside this binder. It's a great binder! It will keep you well organized for your wedding! So not only can I have the wedding of my dreams but I will also be well organized!