Cheap Wedding Ideas........?

Question

Need some good ideas to cut the costs of the wedding. My bride decided she was going to do it all herself. But, I think it is eally stressing her out. I was going to try to help her. But 2 problems, 1. I have no clue where to start. 2. I have no clue how to make a wedding cheap yet still look nice. I would really rather just hire a planner and give her a break but she says they are too expensive when she can do it herself. Any ideas...... I need a coach! Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Sorry, we are getting married on 7-7-7! So, we are going to have a casino theme! Cute huh? And she decided to give out little cards with $1 lottery tickets in them. That read we feel really lucky to have you with us on this special day. P.S. All proceeds get split with the bride and groom!

It was a joke about splitting the proceeds!! Geez are you people always so serious?

Answer 1

I work for free as a wedding planner..............if you want my help, email me at
[e-mail]

Answer 2

Find a hall that doesn't have a liquor license. It's much cheaper to bring in your own, typically they mark up liquor 100%. Also, to really save money, only serve beer and wine and soft drinks. A buffet is usually cheaper than a sit down dinner and it's nicer. Everyone can pick what they want to eat instead of getting whatever shows up on the plate. I usually starve at sit down dinners, because they're usually something I won't eat.

Don't let the florist talk you into $50 centerpieces. Not necessary, there are lots of centerpieces that can be done for less than $10. Go to your local arts and crafts store, buy a glass bowl, fill part way with water and float some blooms in the water. Much less than a typical florist arrangement. If the bowl is shallow enough you can also put a pillar candle in it. Check out the neat centerpieces they did on Design on a Dime wedding, link below.l

Don't buy a four figure wedding gown. I have seen a $5000 gown up close and personal and I'm here to tell you, it doesn't look that much better than a $500 gown from Davids. You can't tell the difference at all in the pictures or on the video.

Don't rent limos or any other kind of transport, they're a very expensive, waste of money. I went to my wedding in my dad's pickup (it looked nice, not a beater). We left the church in my mom's car, she has a nice Cadillac.

I will say that you should spend as much as you can on a photographer. This is the only part of your wedding that is permanent. Go with the best person you can afford.

Don't buy really expensive invitations, no one but you and maybe your mom, will keep them. I ordered mine from one of the companies that advertises in the wedding magazines. Send away for all those catalogs and order from one that you like.

Order a small tiered wedding cake to cut, instead of a cake that will serve everyone, and have sheet cakes in the back that the caterer can serve to guests. Also, a good place to get a cake that's not too expensive is a grocery store with a good bakery.

Skip favors all together or go with something simple and inexpensive. Wrap up some Hershey kisses in tulle and your good to go.

I hope this was helpful, have a good wedding. Also, something to think about is a destination wedding, you won't have as many guests but it's alot cheaper, especially if you go to an all inclusive place.

Answer 3

everyone thinks weddings need everything to be fresh new and expensive. It really doesn't have to be. For flowers- keep it simple and never underestimate the use of plastic for ornaments. such as table decorations and the wall decorations. Also it might be easier to buy the brides and bridesmaids bouquets separately and put them together yourself. Meaning go to the store or a local place that sell flowers singly. Make the bouquet the way you want. Plane table clothes are also the way to go and never let anyone tell you that you cant cut out a pies of fabric and through it over a table cuz guess what you can. The simpler you keep it the better it would be.
Also think of things you have common tastes you have like food and music. divide everything that needs to be done into two groups. The things that you have in common you do all the research and accounting for and let her handle the things she knows she defiantly wants. with these things out of the way you can work on whats left over. This allows her to have some stress relief and you can feel confidant that you know what you are doing.

Answer 4

Why don't you ask the family instead of wedding gifts help you with the wedding. You must have a nice park by you. Have it there in a nice shady spot. Have everyone make something to eat for afterwards and have it set up there as well or in one of your relatives house. You must have a cake. Have your local grocery store's bakery make you a nice simple wedding cake.They can make a small one. Are you gonna wear a dress? Believe it or not you can sometimes find a nice one in your local thrift store. Alot of people go to the local pawn shop for their rings. just be creative. ask other family members opinions and ideas. Also sometimes if you have one of those boat tours there, you can have your wedding on that. What else would be prettier han the water in the background? Again family members can help with that as a gift. My sister did that and it was surprisingly cheap! And beautiful! Oh yea, and sometimes the captain has the legal right to marry you and will include it with the price of the boat rental. GoodLuck and Congradulations!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

Some ideas, these saved me costs..
1- have a friend or family member make the reception their gift to you, my sister in law made the reception her families gift to me, that covered the cake-which can get pretty pricey and it was homemade which made it taste even better then store bought.

2- Pictures- find a friend who has and knows how to use a digital camera, see it they will take the pics, or someone on there the other day had contacted a college student that was in the photography dept, with a digital camera you see what you are getting before hand, they way if someones eyes were closed you can re-do. I've had quite a few friends go pro on the pics and have gotten shafted..one friend's pics were so blurry that you couldn't see who was who, my niece went pro had the pics were taken from a balcony and everyone was so tiny or looking up and you could see up their noses, and both people had to pay and get pics they were unhappy with.

3- hair, nails and makeup-have her and her ladies do this on their own, they do it on a daily basis anyway, this also saves costs at a salon.
4- go to David's Bridal- they have good sales.

That's about it I guess, I'm sure she will appreciate the help and will be more special if she has your help.

Answer 6

Okay...FIRST THINGS FIRST!
You need to invest in the BEST GIFT you can possibly give her...a day of relaxation!
Get her a paid trip to either the beauty parlor or get her an appointment to get a body massage.
The more you make her relaxed, the smoother the whole thing will be. TRUST ME!!!! It's a girl thing.
AND YES! When everything is said and done, you can come out financially better if you do majority of the stuff yourself.
How about planning to have a casual wedding at a park?
Friends and family could bring a covered dish to the receiption with the recipes so that you and your beloved could "recreate them later on." ; )
Another new fashionable idea that has come around my area is making your own invitations. Check out the local craft stores to see how easy they are. I'm still amazed on how wonderful they can turn out. I'm more amazed on how much someone gets paid just to sit, clip and paste paper together.
You might also want to check out sites that pertain to the environment. You can get soooo many cost cutting ideas that are "environmentally safe."
So in actuallity, by being Earth friendly, you actually come out "Wallet Friendly."
There are some things that you may not want to go cheapy on...say like the preacher....lol.
If I find more helpful hints that you may or may not use, I'll pass them on.
In the meantime...CONGRADS!

Answer 7

Cool, I'm having my wedding on 7-7-7 too. The way to make the wedding cheaper is to have a afternoon or lunch reception or banquet. It is almost half the price of dinner reception or banquet. Ask if you can bring your own alcohol (wine, chapagne, etc.). If you can, go to wholesaler or Costo, Sams Club, etc and buy by the bulks. If you do go with a wedding planner, they usually charge by the percentage of your budget. Somewhere around 15-25%. (example: if you budget is $20000 they charge 15%. It would leave $17000 for your wedding stuff.) If you are going to decorate the place yourself. Here is a site for really cheap stuff with different kind of theme to decorate parties. They
have the cards slip to put the lottery ticket in too. For other decorations, if flowers are to expensive. Go with balloons, lots of balloons or paper laterns.

Congratulation on the same day I'm getting marry on too.

Answer 8

Try these websites:
http://www.cheap-chic-weddings.com
http://www.westchester-weddings.com/cheap_wedding_ideas.asp
http://cheapweddingideas.com
http://www.americanbridal.com

I hope some of these help!

my husband and my wedding only cost about $5000. We had his cousing do the flower arrangment (she did this cheap) and we had a friend be a DJ, however he was a professional. I love the card idea. My husband and I bought shot glasses from a dollar store (like 2/$1.00) and put some hersheys kisses in it and had a saying An Ounce of Kisses from the new mr. and mrs.! Another thing you could do is hand out little travel casino games or even have decks of cards made up with your wedding date printed on it.

Best of Luck and good man for wanting to help!!!

Answer 9

Don't hire a wedding planner if you aren't going to pay less than $3000. I heard the best thing is to let the bride to be and her mom handle it. This gives them time together and makes for a great photo album. If Moms lives far away pay for the ticket and get her up there quick!!!!! Take pictures tons of pictures of all the preparations, Scrap booking is all the rage now and eventually she probably will do it too.

Answer 10

You weddign is not a bingo night. There should not be a lottery fundraiser that splits with the couple-- that is totally offensive.

So my first suggestion to cut costs would be to eliminate those lottery tickets being printed.

You can also cut the reception costs dramatically by having a luncheon or finger food reception or dessert-only reception, rather than dinner.

Also have her consider buying a bridesmaid's dress in white or cream rather than an official bridal gown-- saves a ton.

Answer 11

We had our wedding in a local park with a beautiful gazebo. We only had about 30 guests, hired a string quartet, caterer & photographer. We did the wedding dress, tux thing, had a maid of honor & best man, flower girl & ring bearer. that's it. I think we spent under $2000 for the whole day and it was beautiful and really didn't involve too much planning. Good luck!