Do you have champagne and caviar taste…on a kool-aide budget? Never fear! You can STILL have your dream wedding, on your own dime, and have it look fantastic! Remember…you don’t have to do what everyone else is doing…be creative. Think fun. Think gorgeous, and then create. Here are our top 7 tips to make your wedding look like a million bucks without breaking the bank. And hey – use your imagination (after all – it’s free!)
1.Choose a site that has nature built into it: Have you ever thought about an outdoor wedding? There are several beautiful beaches, parks, and gardens in San Diego. With weather like Southern California is really is hard to go wrong. These options are usually inexpensive because you just pay for a permit to rent the space. You can also call up that family member with the big back yard!
2. The Cake & The Food: Check private bakeries for discounts. Search for at-home cake baking specialists. Ask a friend who is a good baker to bake your wedding cake as a gift to you and your husband (or wife). The food is always the most expensive part of the wedding. Perhaps you have a skill that the food vendor can use and you can WORK for trade.
3. D-I-Y Wedding Invitations: One place that you can really save a good deal of money is on the invitations. Instead of having them professionally printed, why not recruit some help from your friends & family and design them on your computer? You can easily save money by creating and printing your own. It is also a great opportunity to personalize the invitations. You can also go green and save money by sending out customized email invitations and skip the printing all together. You can also customize a wedding website, , like www.mywedding.com or www.ewedding.com. These portals can have as much or as little info on them as you’d like.
4. Flowers: Are you creative? Arrange your wedding flowers yourself or invest in the help of friends. You don’t have to buy already-cut flowers. Use flowering potted plants with ribbons & raffia. You can also use less flowers and add assorted fruits. Reuse flowers from the ceremony as reception centerpieces. Palm fronds or any inexpensive potted palm plants make great ceremony pieces for that tropical look too.
5. The Wedding Dress: Beg, borrow, (but don’t steal!) Ask friends about their old wedding gowns. Browse thrift & antique shops. Rent instead of buy. Call around to other stores in the country. Your dream wedding dress could be on sale!
6. Change the Day of the Week: Why are there just not enough Saturday nights in the week!? Try planning you wedding on a different day of the week – Maybe Friday night or a Sunday brunch? How about a Thursday night or Saturday afternoon? Some vendors are willing to give discounts for off season/ non-peak day rates. Religious obligations may steer you in one direction or another, but moving away from a weekend affair will put extra money in your pocket so you can splurge on an awesome honeymoon.
7. Learn to say No: This is hard. Your mother might cry. His father will insist that 2nd cousin twice removed so-and-so be included. You are going to pay a caterer based on a per person charge. Fifty people is a lot cheaper than 300! Share your day with those nearest and dearest to you only. After all, It will be more meaningful and intimate for you and your guests.
Using some of these frugal ideas, we guarantee you’ll have a wedding that will be a inexpensive, stylish and a happy occasion. Now go get inspired!
