Our first step to our wedding planning was to decide how much we would spend and to create a budget for every cost we needed to account for. Our biggest success is that we stuck to that budget like glue, no matter what.
My suggestion for couples about to marry is to prioritize what is important to you and what you think you can spend less on without affecting the type of wedding you want to have. Spend on those aspects that are important and everywhere else, scrimp as much as you can.
We used our mom and sister as our free wedding planners...they had experience in party planning and did a lot of the leg work for us when it came to researching things like the flowers, photographer and videographer. A wedding planner looks like an added expense, but a good one can actually end up saving you money in the end because they know a good deal when they see one, and they can sometimes even get a better price as a "vendor" than a person off the street. They also save you a lot of time - and time is money ;-).
I saved a ton of money by ordering my wedding invitations online. You send for a free catalog in the mail, you pick several that you think are nice and they send free samples of the styles you like along with samples of the fonts and the ink colours you want to choose from. Once you make your selection, they send you the copy for approval before they print. My invitations were a third of the cost of the place up the street. And they were nicer...they added a lined envelope and tissue to protect the inserts for free.
I chose a DJ over a band - a big money-saver.
I also saved money by re-doing my sister's wedding dress (removing the sleeves entirely and re-shaping the skirt) instead of buying a new one. You would never in a million years know it was the same dress (besides, I think they all look about the same anyways), but I know this would not be palatable for many brides.
We used both airline and hotel points for our honeymoon, so that was free.
We DID NOT skimp on the venue, food or alcohol. The most important thing for me was that my guests would have a wonderful time at our wedding. I never regretted any of the sacrifices I made to splurge on those aspects of the day we thought made our wedding great.
My suggestion for couples about to marry is to prioritize what is important to you and what you think you can spend less on without affecting the type of wedding you want to have. Spend on those aspects that are important and everywhere else, scrimp as much as you can.
We used our mom and sister as our free wedding planners...they had experience in party planning and did a lot of the leg work for us when it came to researching things like the flowers, photographer and videographer. A wedding planner looks like an added expense, but a good one can actually end up saving you money in the end because they know a good deal when they see one, and they can sometimes even get a better price as a "vendor" than a person off the street. They also save you a lot of time - and time is money ;-).
I saved a ton of money by ordering my wedding invitations online. You send for a free catalog in the mail, you pick several that you think are nice and they send free samples of the styles you like along with samples of the fonts and the ink colours you want to choose from. Once you make your selection, they send you the copy for approval before they print. My invitations were a third of the cost of the place up the street. And they were nicer...they added a lined envelope and tissue to protect the inserts for free.
I chose a DJ over a band - a big money-saver.
I also saved money by re-doing my sister's wedding dress (removing the sleeves entirely and re-shaping the skirt) instead of buying a new one. You would never in a million years know it was the same dress (besides, I think they all look about the same anyways), but I know this would not be palatable for many brides.
We used both airline and hotel points for our honeymoon, so that was free.
We DID NOT skimp on the venue, food or alcohol. The most important thing for me was that my guests would have a wonderful time at our wedding. I never regretted any of the sacrifices I made to splurge on those aspects of the day we thought made our wedding great.