Wedding on a budget

How to Have a Wedding on a Budget

Lavish weddings may have always been a dream for you but in this practical world of bills, bills, bills, those weddings may put a strong damper on the future plans of you and your spouse. The average wedding today can cost around $20,000. If you're a young couple just starting out, this could be about half of your earned income for a year! Some parents help with wedding costs but asking them to pay such a substantial amount may be too much for them also.

Saving costs on your wedding in the areas of dresses, favors, reception food and flowers can allow you to have more money to put towards other desired wedding items, your honeymoon, or on your future household budget. Try not to use credit cards for your wedding; you don't need to pay compounded interest charges on top of the incurred debt. Who wants to start out in a fresh marriage with looming debt? Did you know that most arguments in marriages are about finances? With planning and help from friends and family, you can have an elegant and smart wedding.

Here are some money-saving tips:

-Look for wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses online (e.g. Ebay), in your local classifieds, outlet stores, or even friends may loan your their dresses or sell them for a fraction of the cost of retail stores. Remember that alterations can be quite costly. Try to get the dress within a size or two of your body measurements.

-Fantastic engagement rings and wedding bands can be found at Sam's Club. For even tighter budgets, again, try the classifieds or even pawn shops. Have a ring budget in mind when you start out and know what to look for! Look carefully at the settings-are there weak spots in the setting or the band? Are there noticeable flaws on or in the stone?

-You can buy bulk wedding announcements various places online. Buying online can actually save you more money than trying to buy blank announcements and envelopes and printing them at home on your computer. You can, however, buy address labels at office supply stores or stores such as Wal-mart and print those out on your own.

-Do your own flowers, bouquet, boutonnières, and corsages.

Beautiful , realistic-looking, artificial flowers can be bought at any craft or hobby store. For a really inexpensive place to find these materials and supplies, you can look at your local dollar stores.

-Make your own cake (or have a friend do it). A popular and really cute idea is making a cupcake cake in which decorated cupcakes are used instead of a traditional tiered cake.

-Get hair, makeup, nails and facials done for your big day at the beauty school for a fraction of the cost! For example, facials average about $10, manicures about $8. You should make extra time when planning on going though because the beauty school students (with teacher supervision) do the work but can take their time.

-Receptions can be cheaper (even free!) if held in your church's activity hall.

-Double wedding favors and gifts. For example, print stickers on the computer with the bride and groom's names and wedding date. Stick them on candles and put them on the reception tables as decorations and as gifts for guests.

-Elegant gourmet reception foods can be bought at outlet stores (such as Sam's or Cosco) and heated or thawed. Place the foods on platters-which can be rented at party supply stores. Decorate the tables with inexpensive tablecloths, vases and/or glass bowls filled with water, artificial flowers, glass marbles, or candles which can be bought at dollar stores.

Decide on those things you really, really want and be flexible on everything else. Stick with the basics to have a fun, elegant wedding and reception. Be practical, be creative and have great time!

Hint: the majority of the budget should be spent on what the Bride and Groom feel is most important. Let's say there's a budget of $5,000 and the Bride and Groom have a strong desire to have all their friends at their wedding reception and have a band. Well it's obvious that the largest portion of their wedding budget will need to go towards the reception, because that is what is important to them.

Wedding Fact:

According to Fairchild Bridal Infobank, publisher of Modern Bride only 6 percent of Weddings today are financed entirely by the parents of the bride and groom. Almost 60 percent of the couples getting married are paying for a portion of the wedding cost and 27 percent are paying for their wedding entirely.

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How to Have a Wedding on a Budget

Wedding Fact:

Gourmet Wedding Gift Baskets

Selecting your Gown

Choosing the perfect location

Wedding Traditions

The Wedding Cake

Wedding Stories