10 Ways to Hold a Budget Wedding

A wedding can be one of the most exciting events in a person’s life. It can also be one of the most expensive ones. Weddings can be very costly particularly when they are large with lots of guests. The cost can do a lot to throw cold water on the entire event. That’s why if your last name isn’t Gates or Rockefeller there are still ways to have a great wedding at a fraction of the cost.

1. Check into local resources: A website that you need to check into is called A Grand Wedding. This site gives you a list of vendors that have something for weddings for a cost of a thousand dollars. They also have a section where couples can find each other for buying, borrowing or sharing wedding items.
2. Use the talent of your friends and family: Let your friends and family help if they offer it. If they have some useable talent such as photography, baking or cooking, by all means, let them assist you.
3. Buy or borrow used decorations: The decorations for your wedding aren’t required to be brand new. You can save a lot of money with well-maintained used ones.
4. Buy a bridesmaid dress to use as your gown: Before you turn up your nose at that idea, consider bridesmaids dresses. Many of them are beautiful and would work perfectly as a wedding gown.
5. Forego traditional registration items for money: This is a great way to pay for your wedding. If you request money in lieu of actual physical gifts, you can get a lot of help in paying for things.
6. Have a limited guest list: This may be difficult but if you limit your guest list, you can save lots of money. You and your partner need to go over this together to avoid conflicts.
7. Don’t hire a caterer to do everything: Get a couple of larger dishes catered and let the guests serve themselves. Get some friends to help set up, replenish, and clean up afterwards. When you choose to do this, you can serve your own alcohol.
8. Prepare your own flower arrangements: It doesn’t take major talent to pick some beautiful flowers and put together your own flower arrangements. If you can find a flower farm, they only charge by the bucket. Used vases can be found for rock bottom prices at yard sales and estate sales. Get your wedding party to help with this.
9. Limit yourself to only the “Must Have” things rather than “Want to Have” things. Think of how many times you’ve gone to weddings that you’ve even noticed the party favors or extra table decorations.
10. Give yourself plenty of time to plan: The longer you have to plan, the more innovative you can be with your budget wedding planning. If you’re rushed, you may be tempted to spend more money.

There are some other areas that you can save some money such as making your own invitations, but these are the top 10 tips that will get you off to a great start.