There are so many ways to save money on your wedding. I found that planning books, bridal magazines, craft books, and a wedding website helped me find my creative side. They also provided me with so many ideas that I never would have found or thought of on my own. They also saved me so much money.
Everything capable of being made, except the dresses, we made. The only reason the dresses were not made was because we wanted an informal wedding, and I found the perfect dress for $40. My daughter was the flowergirl and by some twist of fate, she already had a dress identical to the one I had found for myself.
We printed our own invitations and reply cards. They looked just as good as if professionals had done them. Our invitations with postage ended up costing approximately $80. We mailed out 80 invitations with 80 reply cards. This is one way for you to save money. Either see about printing your own, or if you know someone who enjoys doing that sort of thing, see if they would print the invitations for a reasonable fee.
We also printed the programs and the announcements for less than $25 total. We made a rough draft of what we wanted and went to work with Microsoft Word to design them. We bought ivory linen paper at Wal-Mart for less than $6 for 80 sheets and printed them on there. They looked beautiful and professional.
We found an individual from a flyer in our bank to make our cake. For a 3-tier, white cake, with butter cream frosting in a design that we had found in a bridal magazine, she charged us $73. Her prices were so much better than any bakery we had contacted. And she was able to give us the personal attention we needed.
I made my bouquet and my maid of honor’s bouquet as well. I found a couple of bouquets I really adored. So I hit the stores buying silk flowers, ribbon, rhinestones, and other accessories. For the two bouquets, I spent approximately $25. They were even more beautiful because I made them myself. It will be something that I will treasure for my whole life.
My veil was handmade also. I bought a plastic headband, strands of beads, and some tulle. I hand-sewed the beads to the edge of the tulle and glued the tulle to the headband. Then I glued strands of beads across the headband to cover the tulle on it. This cost me about $10. I also glued rhinestones at the bottom of the veil to spell out “I DO”.
There are so many bridal and wedding craft books out there that will give step by step instructions on how to make things, from bouquets and veils to favors and ribbons. I had help from people that I knew was creative and who could do so much more than me. My mom made my throw bouquet and decorated the site for me.
We cooked the food for the reception, saving several hundred dollars. We had 3 different pasta salads, sliced roast, sliced ham, a vegetable tray, and a fruit tray. We spent about $150 on food for the reception, and it was delicious. Some people even asked if we had it catered and were impressed to hear we had done it ourselves (with the help of my mother-in-law and my husbands aunt).
So it is definitely possible to have a beautiful wedding without going in debt. We ended up spending less than $1500. Even if we had went more formal, buying a formal wedding gown and getting the guys tuxedos, we still would not have spent more than $2500. And I love the fact that we had the wedding of our dreams and will not be paying for it 5 or even 10 years from now. And I hope this helps you to see it can be done. I also hope you find suggestions and ideas that will help you have the wedding you want on a tight budget.
-- Jeanette
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