I am getting married at the end of the year and the bills seem to be piling up quicker than I ever expected.

I would be very grateful if you could pass on some cost saving tips you used for your wedding or heard/saw of others using.

Much Appreciated,
Gareth

The biggest money saver that I used was I went to our local college and found a few photo students who had samples of their work handy and picked the one I liked best . . . It cost us only $200 compared to the $2500 that the professionals wanted! The pictures came out great and it left us more money for our honeymoon! And go to marthastewart.com she has great wedding ideas you can make yourself! Good luck and congratulations!

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16 Responses

  1. suedetteuk

    2010 Mar 30 1

    http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/wedding/money-saving-wedding-tips.asp

    I found this site that may be helpful! Congrats
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  2. Butterfly

    2010 Mar 30 2

    When I got married, some members of my familly pitched in for some expenses. Maybe you can say gently that the best wedding gift will be for your familly to help out with the expenses.
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  3. James B

    2010 Mar 30 3

    Just giver her the house now and save the wedding and divorce costs and all the heartache in between
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  4. Manda

    2010 Mar 30 4

    The biggest money saver that I used was I went to our local college and found a few photo students who had samples of their work handy and picked the one I liked best . . . It cost us only $200 compared to the $2500 that the professionals wanted! The pictures came out great and it left us more money for our honeymoon! And go to marthastewart.com she has great wedding ideas you can make yourself! Good luck and congratulations!
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  5. missy*

    2010 Mar 30 5

    theres lots of ways to save money..it just depends how much you have done so far. you can make your own wedding invites for a fraction of the cost. have a buffet at the reception instead of a sit down meal. go on ebay to get decorations..its alot cheaper. get a family memeber to make the cake. pick up on family and friends skills and use them!
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  6. always right

    2010 Mar 30 6

    If you are doing an evening buffet only cater for 60-70% of the total amount of people you have invited. Its not that they wont turn up, but those who are arriving for the evening are usually well fed before leaving the house. Most people just get too drunk to notice the buffet by the end of the night.
    My inlaws insisted on paying £18 a head for the evening buffet for 120 guests, I said only pay for 75 to save £810. There was so much food left over it was such a waste,
    Still, its the best day of your life so even if it costs a lot, make sure you enjoy every moment.
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  7. layla-h

    2010 Mar 30 7

    We didn’t have a huge budget for our wedding so decided to save on some things and splash out on others.
    We made our own favours by buying netting, beads, ribbons and sugared almonds individually and then putting them together with hand-written tags. Luckily my husband has lovely writing but you could see if a relative or friend could help. We also bought our invitations from a card shop and again hubby wrote them out.
    I came up with the idea for our cake. We bought white iced cakes (2 fruit and 1 sponge) in different sizes from asda (most supermarkets do them though). We put them together with the pillars we had bought and scattered rose petals (in the appropriate colour) and silver horse-shoes between each layer and bought a lovely cake topper for a fiver. In total we spent £35 on our 3 tiered cake and our guests thought it cost a fortune!! My sister-in-law who had married 6 months earlier commented that we had the sort of cake she wanted and she’d spent £250 on her 2 tier cake!!
    Oh and we bought our flower girls their dresses and shoes in asda too and they looked stunning. Bhs is good for bridal accessories as well.
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    My wedding!!

  8. Shanti MT

    2010 Mar 30 8

    Some of these tips are for the groom, most are for the bride:
    -Search your address book; you’ve got friends, what do they do for a living? Maybe some can donate services as a wedding gift. It beats another place setting of china you’ll never use.
    -Shop your closet and jewelry box; no need to spend a fortune on jewelry you’ll never wear again.
    -Two words, potluck reception.
    -Hunt for bridesmaids dresses in discount department stores’ clearance sections; get long dresses 6 sizes too big and have the hems tweaked into trains by a tailor. Or have them buy their own dresses in the same colors, but their own styles.
    -Speaking of tailors; try one that doesn’t specialize in tuxedos and bridal attire. They often cost a fraction of what that seamstress is asking for.Sometimes some of your better tailors will have tuxedos or suits for sale, cheaper than the rental fee at a tux shop.
    -Hunt thrift shops for unusual decorations and attendants’ gifts.
    -Start a separate bank account; have a small amount automatically from every paycheck to your new wedding fund. Some banks will even put a little in your account in exchange for opening with them.
    -Drink lots of water; imagine what you’ll save on facials!
    -No smoking(if you do); same reason.
    -Try your local drugstore for makeup; you don’t have to have the most expensive brand to be beautiful.
    -Get familiar with your local massage school; monthly massages for a low, low price can relieve a world of stress.
    -Search online for print-it-yourself invitation kits.
    -Read a book called, "The Anti-Bride Guide"; it’s got enough good ideas to make it worth reading, especially if you get it cheap on eBay. I got a copy at TJ Maxx for $3.
    -It’ll be difficult, but try to stick to paying cash for as much as possible; keep those credit card bills down!

    That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Good luck, and try not to sweat it all. It causes frown lines. 😉
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  9. marzncody

    2010 Mar 30 9

    Depends on how much you’ve done already and how much time you are willing to spend.

    As favours, I bought a chocolate mould off ebay for $10 and paid $7.95 per kg for choc melts and am making my own. Then I am going to wrap them nicely in cellophane and attached a name tag.
    Do it yourself invites: print them off on your computer (nobody I know has nice handwriting).

    Table scatters can be expensive, so I bought nice cardboard and shaped hole punches (total of $8) and made 2300 table scatters in the colours I wanted.

    For the reception (I had my heart set on a sit down dinner) we opted for the 2 course meal which was soup and main, it was cheaper than entree and main because the entrees had seafood in them.
    Then for dessert, we are having the wedding cake (choc mud)
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  10. WESLEY L

    2010 Mar 30 10

    Make two lists;
    "the bare bones" and

    "the extras".

    In the first list goes just three things;
    the church or registry office costs.
    The bride, groom and witnesses.
    a few special freinds.

    Everything else is "extra" and will soon be forgotten;
    Wedding dress
    grooms suits
    cake
    photographs,
    honeymoon,
    stag and hen night,
    reception,
    disco,
    movie,
    cars,
    flowers,
    etc.

    Now set an unmovable budget for the "extras" and only have what you can afford.

    Women unfortunatly get carried away with the "extras". You read on here of girls worrying them selves to death over which shade of cerise the balloons need to be.

    Remember there is only two persons in a wedding, you and her. Don’t let the details of the "event" overshadow the significance of the core ceremony, when you both day "I do". Thats what its all about. Nothing elso is really important in comparison.

    .
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  11. helen a

    2010 Mar 30 11

    you have just started the year get your second jobs between you and your partner set yourselves a budget and do not exceed the budget also start buying some of the things b it by bit and use the internet ebay very useful you should also look at gmtv this weeks one on the web this couple spent 1500 on their checkout the gmtv website.
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  12. beckybab3

    2010 Mar 30 12

    I am getting married in July and I have managed to save alot of money using family and ebay.

    My mum is doing my flowers nothing fancy just simple orchids, helping with the bridesmaids hair and decorating the reception, My fiance anti is doing our cake, and i saved loads on suits and bridesmaid dresses by going to BHS. I got my balloons from ebay i have a 3ft personalized one for £23 and 100 pink and ivory balloons for £20 i also got my shoes and underwear all brand new with tags on ebay too.

    Hope this helps i know how expensice weddings can be.
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  13. HELEND

    2010 Mar 30 13

    use ebay for table decoarations, and favours
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  14. welsh dragon

    2010 Mar 30 14

    First you have a naturist wedding so you will save £2000 on a wedding dress and bridesmaid cloths etc. Then you get married in a Registry office telling every one to be there at a certain time( no cars or travelling expenses); then you go to the local pub for the reception and do a seal with the pub landlord to cut you in on the bar prices. Make it clear that everyone buys there own drinks. Make sure that all wedding presents are cash.

    There you are, you are now being payed to get married, what more do you want? you should give me a cut.
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  15. willowbee

    2010 Mar 30 15

    My best friends and brother are getting married and they are on a really tight budget. I am doing the decorations for a wedding present and I am making really simple floral (fake) arrangements for the tables (three roses with a ribbon bow) and I am buying some pull bows from ebay and putting them on the edge of the tables with somereally cheap material (but nice) that I picked up at a pound shop.

    I am also doing the cake. We are buying the cake and I will be decorating it. Again as a wedding gift.

    She has asked a friend who is pretty good with a camera to take the photos of the day and we will then take them to Asda to get printed in the sizes we want.

    She is buyign her dream dress from Ebay, the bridesmaids dresses and flowers. She has gone for fake flowers because they are so much cheaper.

    My brother is going to a suit shop with his best man to be measured up and then buying his suit from ebay.

    You may have got the idea that we are using Ebay as much as possible but the things are so much cheaper on there. Her dress costs £900 in the shops and that was the cheapest we could find. On Ebay, the exact same dress is costing £120 and is made to measure.

    Basically, my suggestion is to use your friends and their skills. Do you have someone who is really good with computer graphics who can do your order of service? Or your invitations?
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  16. ChocLover

    2010 Mar 30 16

    Buy silk flowers instead of fresh – you will save a fortune and also you will be able to keep them forever.
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