Cost Saving Ideas

[Lemonhead]

Hi there,
My DF of 5 years and I are finally getting married next November (2010) and I thought I would ask you all about how you managed to save money...

I am currently doing the following to cut corners:
- Making all the stationary myself
- Making centrepieces and bombonniere myself
- Having a friend who is a qualified beautician do hair/makeup
- Removing dessert from the menu and just using our cake as dessert
- Hiring bridesmaids dresses and the suits instead of purchasing them.

I was thinking of advertising for a student or aspiring photographer who shows some talent and promise instead of paying the $1400 I have been quoted.

I am hoping for an elaborate and elegant day and do not mind spending $25,000 but no more. Any ideas would be appreciated :flowerz:. TIA

[MummaFug]

We had a professional photographer at our wedding - it cost almost as much as dinner and drinks for 85 people :eek:. While he DID get GREAT photos, a few other things we did were just as good

*Do you have a shy friend that will be attending alone ?? We had one - so we aarmed him with a camera and off he went. He chatted to everyone and tooke HEAPS of great photos (some that looked VERY similar to the professional ones). It worked for everyone - he probably would have stood in the corner alone all night otherwise.

*Hand out a few disposible cameras - this gets different shots

[SuperGranny]

hi rebekahleigh, other ideas, cut the number of guests as much as you can, limit your bar tab. offer only beer wine and softdrink if you can. or set up if un open bottles can be returned. make your bouquets with whatever flowers will be in season at that time, dont have too large a bouquet. If you do go with a less experienced photographer, make sure you have a list of who you want photos of, and that you do or do not want traditional photos. investgate options for music. sometimes just a good dj works very well, or if there is any talent among your friends and famliy. limit the time of the reception, wedding and reception will be only x hours long, so this is how much it should cost in food and drink. best wishes, Marie.

[Issey]

Sounds like you are on the right track.

With the bridesmaid dresses it does pay to shop around if you don't have to have a particular colour. I actually wanted red but we ended up getting blue as when I went shopping with my bridesmaids we found gorgeous dresses for $70 each that were blue and the girls were happy with as they could wear them again as they weren't over the top.

I made chocolate hearts using moulds and bagged two in each bag for the gift for everyone on the tables in their glass.

I had a cheap photographer and it was no problem.

Limit guests to who you are definately going to be seeing and socialising with again in the future.

good luck

[wocket]

Have film and TV students video it for you. They need the experince/folio work and don't charge as much.
:)

We didn't have a traditional wedding. We went to the registry and then spend three days at the parent in laws property with friends and family camping out in a big marquee under a giant fig. Don't get bogged down in the should haves, think about what it is that you really want to get out of the day and have some fun.

[quaver]

hey congratulations!
-Keeping numbers down is a big one
- keeping flowers to in season ones. flowers for the table i found cost a fortune! opt for more candles.
- you could always have your wedding on a sunday?
- choose your reception venue carefully. check what is included etc. sometimes a package can seem a lot. but the extras all add up if you try to do it budget yourself, it does not always work out to save you.
-instead of having a dj- having a rocking playlist set up through your ipod and having someone keep an eye on it.

i think the most important thing is to work out what is important to you. and spend money there. to me photos (they last forever) were important, rings as you will wear them everyday for the rest of your life and people. were the most important for me. i think you can have a top wedding for that much!

[MillipedesMummy]

Our venue had a stereo system thing that we plugged the mp3 player into.

We had friends take the photos (but they are both photographers) as their present to us.

I made my own veil. About a metre of tule, stiched around the edge, folded over, and hand stiched to a comb - was about $10, my friend spent $300 on hers and said to me after that she should have made hers too.

We only invited close friends and family - I didn't particulary care about offending cousins I haven't seen in 5 years, but that's just me.

I didn't buy my stationary stuff from wedding shops, just found some nice cardboard, paper, dimantes, ribbon and evelopes at the newsagency and a cheap shop.

[dormouse]

Get married on a weekday! Saves heaps of money & everyone loves the extra day off!

[Opinionated]

Elope.

We did. We hired a great amateur photographer who was just starting out. She came recommended.

We hired the suit, a limo and bought my dress, veil. From the pics (around 300 of them), it looks like we had a huge wedding. We spent $5k for everything including the honeymoon and the massive barbeque for our friends and family when we got back.

It was great, not stressful and I would do it again that way if I had my time over.

One tip, when ordering the cake, order an anniversary cake. When you say wedding, they say ka-ching $$$

If you want more traditional, you can have a friday night wedding and save big $$. A winery near me does them, couples don't have a sit down meal, but have fingerfoods, dancing and drinks and it is much cheaper.

[JasmineLouise]

make the bridesmaids pay for their own dresses... :devil6:

it is "tradition" ;)

Good luck with the planning.. i will be keeping my eyes on this thread and taking notes :yes:

[hakuna matata]

Wow 25k, to me that is lots! lol

I am getting married in Hamilton Island, invited about 50 guests, whole thing will cost around 10k :yes:

Plus everyone gets a holiday!!

I think I will ask my bridesmaids to pay for dresses, is this rude?

I am also not fussed about their hair. If they want it done they can pay for it, otherwise I think they can do it themselves. This often looks better anyway!

[sweetseven]

I opted for no bar tab because I didn't want people getting ratfaced at my reception. We did still have one guest that drank too much, but I believe there would've been many more if we had footed the bill.

The side effect was one less thing to pay for.