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Wedding Planning Guide
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My Wedding Planning Saving Tips Discover 99 Little Ways to save Big Bucks! PLANNER #1 Pick a planner Invest in wedding planners for ideas. Then, weigh out the necessity of hiring a consultant. If you are disorganized or short on time a good consultant can actually save you money in the long run. #2 Checklist Don't waste your time and money to look for a checklist. Download it now and keep it always with you! PICK A DATE #3 Extended Engagement Longer planning period gives you a better chance to get the best vendors in your price range. #4 Avoid Saturday night You will get cheaper rates and better availability for Friday or Sunday Wedding #5 Off-Season Prime party times are from May to October. If you instead plan your winter wedding in January, you will find better deals everywhere! #6 Stay away from holidays If you plan your wedding around the holidays expect 50% extra charge. GUEST LIST #7 Limit your attendants Save hundreds on boutonnieres and bouquets and gifts. #8 Limit your guests Less guests not only means less food and beverage, but it also means less centerpieces and less chair covers, less tablecloth, less china to rent, smaller cake etc... GOWN & TUX #9 Shop strategically When searching for a gown, avoid luxe materials. Instead, go for textured fabric, which look and feel more expensive then they are. #10 Internet Find the dress online for half the price! Use e-bay! #11 Accessories If you want to save big order all you accessories from discounted webstores. #12 Sales Rack In every gown store there is a sales rack! Check it out! #13 Last Year Who said the dresses last year weren't beautiful? Check out last season's models. #14 Bridesmaids Dresses Have you seen lately the evening gowns and bridesmaids dresses? Order it in white. You will be amazed how much you can save! #16 Browse sample sales! Twice a year many bridal salons sell samples of the dresses they carry a significant discount. You could land a bargain. #17 Formal Wear Wear basic black non designer tuxes. Encourage all the groomsmen to rent from the same place -- often that means the groom's tux will be free. If your wedding is semiformal, wear a nice suit that you already own. WEDDING GOWN PRESERVATION #18 Pinch a penny Try my long trusted company, I warmly suggest to you. They make it easy and much cheaper than any other gown preservation companies. I searched for a good one for a long time and I found one. Send me an email and I will send you the information. WEDDING RING #19 Everlasting... Strong and durable Purchase a ring that is 14k gold rather than one with a higher gold composition. True, it is less gold, but the lower the gold content, the harder the metal will be. A 14k band will be stronger and more durable than an 18k or 24k ring. #20 Buy it used Shop at pawn shops or antique stores. It will be a used ring, but you can find some unique and unusual rings at a fraction of the cost. Have a jeweler size and polish the ring to look like new. #21 Order Online Look at online retailers. You could find closeouts and other discounts by eliminating the middleman by purchasing online. #22 E-bay Check out the online auctions. In the unfortunate event that a wedding got canceled, the couple would like to sell their rings. You could get the rings at a good discount so that the couple can recoup some of their expenses. #23 Diamond is not a must! Shop for synthetics or other stones. If a diamond is not in your budget, you could shop for stones that are a diamond synthetic. You will be able to get a diamond look for a fraction of the cost. Or look into buying a ring that has a different precious stone and is only accented by diamonds. Is your favorite stone a sapphire? Look for a beautiful sapphire ring. #24 Comparison shop Look at different retailers. Many of the chain jewelry stores carry rings that are similar. Find a style that you wish to purchase and shop clearance and closeout sales. #25 Cut Cut it different If it is diamond, different cuts are different price! #26 Clarity Nobody ever will notice if the diamond is flawless -or not. WEBSITE #27 Free website Many wedding websites offers the first few weeks their basic service for free. Take advantage of that! ANNOUNCEMENT #28 Newspaper It is outdated and nobody does it anymore. So why would you spend money on something it is completely unnecessary? VENUE #29 Inquire about freebies Some sites include cake, chair covers, flowers or a honeymoon suite in their wedding package. #30 Pick a multipurpose venue Use sites for ceremony and reception, save on fees and transportation. If you wed in a hotel you can get unbelievable group rates for your guests. #31 Be choosy For a destination wedding select a hotel with an on site wedding planner so you don't have to pay for an independent wedding planner. Also, choosing an all-inclusive resort can save you cash; if there is a reception fee it tends to be small. #32 Select a well dressed site A venues affordability depends on how much decorating it requires. A grand historic site may only need minimal flowers and decor, so in the end this venue might actually cost less than a reception hall. Outdoor weddings require always the least decorations and flowers. #33 Everybody lives near beautiful places Look around. Save on hotel room, transportation and time to choose a venue close to your house! INVITATION & STANTIONARY #34 Be Choosy If you prefer to order your invitations, consider getting them thermo graphed instead of engraved. Order your invitations online and save! #35 Keep it to one card If you can fit all of your reception information on the wedding invitation, you will save on materials, printing and postage. #36 Skip the inner envelope It's tradition but certainly not a necessity. It costs more and add to the invite's postage. #37 Use your printer-DIY Make your own invitations utilizing the software programs and wedding invitation paper available. #38 Call upon a friend To free up founds for other areas of your wedding, have friends with neat handwriting address all of your invitations. #39 Save the trees Send your Save the Date via email! FOOD & BEVERAGE #40 Through a Brunch (lunch) bash Save on food; breakfast and lunch entrees are cheaper #41 Preorder Avoid the "tableside service" You can ask your guests ahead what the would like to eat and let the caterer know, instead having a menu and ordering it at the table. #42 BYOB- Bring Your Own Bar If your site allows, it is cheaper to buy liquor at the warehouse style store and pay your site for a bartender. If you buy in bulk, you can return the unopened bottles. Or you can use the leftovers to stack your home bar. You save big here, especially if your guests are big drinkers. Click here to get my BYOB checklist. #43 Stick with the standards Nix premium-brand liquors and instead serve more economical house brands. In mixed drinks it will be difficult to tell the difference. #44 Cash, host or open? Cash bar is tacky. Host only if your guests don't drink! Open tends to be the best way not to go over your budget. #45 Bartender fee? Tell your caterer, you don't want the bar being open during dinner. Have it close while food is served. Nobody goes to the bar anyway while eating! #46 Drink your drink How about a cocktail, named after you? Pick your favorite drink, give it a name get a special price from your caterer and serve it as the drink of the night. Everybody is going to drink your signature cocktail instead the top shelf liquors. #47 Limit the liquor Serve only beer and wine. You can offer a few different signature cocktails. #48 Alter the champagne toast Sites usually charge extra for toasting bubbly, but you can decrease the coast if you substitute prosecco or a sparkling white wine for the French original. Or skip the champagne service entirely. No one will notice it's missing- they will simply raise the glass of whatever they are drinking. FLOWERS & DECORATION #49 Use non-Floral fillers Mix fruit with flowers and ask for extra greenery to fill arrangements for half the price. #50 Pare down ceremony decor Guests will see these flowers for only an hour or two, so stick with the basics. Consider stick one or two big arrangements in the front, and leaving the rest of the room decorated very simply. #51 Authorize market buys Instead of specifying the blooms you want for your wedding, ask your florist to choose the bargains available in your color scheme on your wedding day. #52 Have dual-function flowers Certain types of bouquets, most notably pomanders and nosegays, can surreptitiously be used twice. After your bridesmaids carry them down the aisle, they can be placed in vases to grace guest's tables. #53 Handy Friends Keep your flower arrangements and decor simple. Recruit friends who have an artistic flair to help with the flowers and decorations #54 Be a minimalist Instead of carrying a big lush bouquet, opt for just a few dramatic flowers like sun flower or calla-lilies tied with ribbon. You will get a chic look for a lot lower price #55 Farmers Market Get the freshest seasonal flowers from your local market or whole sale nursery, while supporting the local economy. #56 Order in bulk Do the arrangements on your own! Get ideas and tips from magazines! There is always a friend around, who loves to do crafty things. Ask for her help. It is trendy to plan a green wedding. Why not to order cheap organics? www.ECOflowers.com #57 Uplight, the new style... Decorate with Christmas lights and buy them after the holidays. Rent lights and stand them along the wall and in the corners. Rent the ones you can put colored plastic (make sure the are not flammable) and you can create a chic style for a couple of bucks. TRANSPORTATION #58 Limited Limo Hire only one car to transport you and your groom from and to the ceremony, and than an other for the end of the night. Often you will end up paying less for two cars then for one limo with overtime charges. #59 Skip the limo You can rent brand-new full sized cars and decorate with bows and fresh flowers. Have you thought about a carriage? Does somebody have a vintage car or convertible? Find an alternative. It can be more romantic... BEAUTY #60 Be Your Own Beauty Pro You can save a lot by doing your own hair or make up. Get ideas and tips beforehand from magazines and make-up counters and ask friends to help you on the big day. PHOTO and VIDEOGRAPHY #61 Be frugal With photography in mind seems priced beyond your reach, you may still be able to hire him without going over the budget. Ask this pro to provide proofs only, than craft your own album out of those. You don't have to settle for a different vendor - you can always order more prints or a polished album later. #62 Ask for a rough cut Scale back on videography costs by asking your pro to give you just the very basic edit. You will get footage you were looking for, in the style you wanted and you can always save up to have him edit it further later. #63 The Digital Age Find a photographer who shoots digital as opposed to film.It's easier, faster and less costly. Some digital photographers will give you a CD with the files of every shot they took, which means you can choose to make your own prints. #64 Ceremony Only Another option to decrease the photographer's fee is to hire them only for the ceremony, not he reception. you want to go one step further, take your wedding party to the photographer's studio for posed portraits only. #65 Amateur Night If you choose to forgo the professional and leave the picture taking to someone who'll do it for free (or in exchange for open bar privileges), make sure to choose the right individual for the job. Has a friend of a friend taken a photography class? Is your uncle the official family paparazzi? Try to find someone with the right skills and enthusiasm to capture the magic of your wedding. #66 Do It Disposable Regardless of whether or not you've got a paid photographer at your party, set a disposable camera at each table in your reception venue and ask the guests to click away. When you collect the cameras at the end of the night, you'll have a variety of unique perspectives of your special night captured on film. Getting all the cameras developing will cost a bit of money, but it'll still be cheaper than the official photographer's fee and your pictures are guaranteed to be entertaining and personal. #67 One man job Hire a one-camera video package and request little or no editing. #68 Skip it Don't hire a videographer, Ask a friend with a camera to videotape the wedding, and give her a list of moments to film at the the ceremony and reception. MUSIC #69 Minimize the musicians For the ceremony just hire a pianist or vocalist instead of booking a string quartet - you will still get the great music you'd envisioned but a greatly reduced cost. #70 Bypass a live band Most top DJs charge a lot less than top bands. An added benefit is that a DJ can act as an all-in-one entertainer; he can play the tunes for your ceremony, switch to background music for the cocktail hour, than take the remainder of the party into a high gear. FAVORS #71 Forgo the favors Your guests will hardly notice that they are missing. Another option: give one favor to each couple instead of one per guest, in order to pay half the price. #72 Craft items by hand If you have time for this budget-friendly DIY project , make your own favors! (Enlist friends or relatives to help). A bonus: since homemade treats are more personal and unique, they are always a hit among the guests. #73 Order Online Save money if you order favors from an online store. CAKE #74 Keep the cake simple The cake itself is available in many varieties. Usually each cake is cut into several layers and filled with icing or a filling. Get the simple white or chocolate one! #75 Cover the Cake The icing - butter cream is the most traditional and the cheapest; comes in a wide range of flavors, from chocolate and lemon to liquor-flavored. #76 Fine fillings The filling can be any of the above frostings, custard (vanilla, chocolate, lemon curd), preserves (apricot, orange, berry), and/or fresh fruit. They all have different prices! #77 Decor Decorations can be simple or elaborate: Simple fresh flowers (make sure they are edible!) can simply cut the price! #78 Cater a Cake Check with your caterer and local baker first. Usually these are less expensive alternatives. Bakers who aren't wedding cake specialists usually cost less, and home bakers who don't have the overhead of a bakery often cost the least. #79 Cake form the Corner Ask at your favorite restaurant if its pastry chef would consider baking your cake. Again, double-check the price, but I've heard from many brides that they went this route and saved money while getting an artistic confection that they cherished. #80 Grocery Cake If your local grocery store has a bakery, get a price quote from it. Oftentimes a supermarket can offer exceptional cakes for much less than a traditional bakery. #81 Let's bake the cake Investigate prices at a culinary school near you. If students are baking and decorating wedding cakes as part of their curriculum, the per person charge may be greatly reduced. #82 Wedding present Keep the cake simple and avoid labor-intensive decorations. Provide your own cake or ask a friend or relative to buy you one as a present. If you choose a basic cake style instead of one with multiple flavors, icings, fillings, and decorations, the price will be reflective. #83 Put it on pillar Skip having multiple tiers with fancy pillars. Either do without and have the cake layers stacked, borrow pillars if your baker provides this service, or have the baker use disposable pillars instead of the costly crystal ones. Also check with your local rental company to see if it has any available. #84 Top of the Cake Consider asking for a cake topper as a present. Often friends or relatives will ask what you want or need for a shower and/or wedding present. Let them know what style wedding topper you prefer. #85 Dummy Cake Consider have a "dummy" cake as a centerpiece on the cake table. Rent or buy a Styrofoam show-cake from your local baker, and have the caterer serve your guests from sheet cakes that are plated in the back kitchen. Or have a small-decorated cake for your cake cutting, and then serve the pre-plated sheet cake. #86 Decorate it yourself - DIY Buy a multi-tiered cake, but decorate it yourself or have the florist do it for you. Not having extensive decorations on your cake will save the baker time and you money. #87 Be different Skip the cake altogether and serve a nontraditional dessert, such as tartlets, cheesecake, or a dessert buffet. OUT OF TOWN GUESTS #88 Hotel room instead your house When money can buy sanity... Any hotel will give you a great discount if you block at least 10 rooms with them. Make sure the hotel will not hold you responsible if the rooms will be not reserved. If you plan a big wedding and more than 30 rooms gets reserved you should get a free night. #89 Gift bags It is a costume to give a welcome bag to your out-of-towners. Fill it with inexpensive things, like bottled water, chips and chocolate. They will love it! If you prepare them yourself, it will cost a lot more than you let a company to do it. You can prepare it as soon as you have the number of the rooms. HONEYMOON #90 Postpone your honeymoon Consider delaying the trip to your dream destination until the off-season, when the rates will be lower. If you can't be this flexible try to schedule your depart and return on Monday or Tuesday to secure better airfares. #91 Sign up with a Honeymoon Registry It's customary for couples to register for wedding gifts. Join a honeymoon registry, and you create a wish list of vacation items - hotel nights, candlelight dinners, excursions. When guests purchase those as gifts, some or even all of the honeymoon gets paid for by others. After you register, ask your maid of honor and best man to spread the word. Do read the small print: Some registries take a big chunk out of gift dollars. #92 Budget before you buy Before you try to figure out how to save money on your honeymoon, know how much you have to spend. It's necessary to have an amount in mind in order to start pricing flights and lodgings #93 Travel Close to Home Transportation is often the biggest expense in a honeymoon. If you can minimize those costs you'll have more to spend on lodging, and perhaps afford to add another day or more to the honeymoon. Since airfares can be steep, consider saving money on your honeymoon by making it a driving vacation. #94 Go Off-Season Regardless of the month you plan to take your honeymoon; it's always low season (a cheaper time to visit) somewhere. For instance, instead of paying top dollar at a ski resort after a December wedding, you can get bargain rates - and find plenty to do on the slopes - in July. If you're beach lovers, don't let the words "hurricane season" completely scare you off of visiting Florida or the Caribbean between June and November. Plenty of people live in those places year-round, and more often than not showers are brief and the sun soon emerges. #95 Enjoy a Quickie Not every honeymoon involves a grand tour of Europe and lasts two weeks or more. You can pack a lot of lovin' into a long weekend, especially if you don't travel far from home. Look into romance packages at local hotels and weekend getaway deals. #96 Take a Cruise Cruises are cost-efficient vacations, especially if you leave from your home port rather than flying to meet the ship. They're all-inclusive for the most part. And the shorter the cruise, the less you'll have to pay. There are even overnight "cruises to nowhere #97 Discover the New Bargain Brands There's a lot of competition in the travel industry, and you're the beneficiary. When you travel, you no longer have to pay top dollar for airlines or hotels. Discover which brands consistently offer the most value at the lowest price, and where you can get more for less! Avoid booking fees, book online! #98 Bid on a Travel Auction Going... going... gone! That can be you, if you bid on and win a travel auction. Thanks to the transparency of prices on the Web, couples who put in the time to research beforehand can be savvy about what cruises and vacations cost. That enables them to bid on a travel auction without paying more than something is actually worth. #99 Check into a Casino Casinos tend to lowball room prices to lure in gamblers. But how about going to a casino and not gambling? Then you have the pleasure of a nice room, good restaurants, shows by well-known entertainers, and facilities that usually include swimming pools and spas. If you're disciplined enough to do this - or are able to set aside a small budget for gambling losses - a casino stay can help you spend less money on your honeymoon. #99+1 Win a Free Honeymoon Speaking of trying your luck, why not enter vacation travel contests to try to win a free honeymoon? I link to ones sponsored by legitimate companies, so the worst that could happen is that you give up some personal information when you fill out an entry and get some spam. And the best that could happen is that you win an all-expenses-paid trip to someplace truly great - the ultimate way to save money on a honeymoon! |
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