Saving for a Wedding

“A penny saved is a dollar earned”. Nowadays people are becoming more and more money minded and with the shortage in well-paying jobs, they are turning to other strategies to earn money. If they do not still succeed to earn some bucks, they try to save them. They are not misers – but that is what the hour demands. Marriages are one of the means by which the priorities and personality of the couple can be grasped. The normal cost of a wedding shoots up to more than $20,000. One’s wedding is the time where he/she becomes intimate with the partner with a promise of keeping together – and only for this purpose, can one spend more than 20,000 bucks?? Well, there are many strategies by which one can cut down the cost of the wedding by a quite good amount.

Firstly, trim up the entries in the guest list. With every single name of a guest that goes down into the list, one keeps increasing the budget of the marriage by a considerable amount. One keeps adding to the catering cost by trying to be generous. One also adds up to the rental expenses and other costs by calling people who never even remember you. Call only the well-wishers, colleagues, near and dear ones. Secondly, hold the marriage on a Sunday as the demand for a church on a Sunday is much less than the other days of the week! Also, avoid Saturdays as well. Next, for the sake of vanity, do not hold the reception and marriage in different places as that will add to the transportation fee as well as rentals and all that. Traveling during marriages can make one tired and worn out.

Next, try cutting down the expenditure on the marriage outfit. Do not purchase them from a very renowned and an expensive store. Try notching up deals at websites like eBay and Craigslist. One can also try shopping during the sale and discount time in shops. One can even refer to his/her local newspaper for classified ads that can rent the marriage dress. Try renting bigger tables as you can entertain all your guests at once and also, it reduces the number of table cloth needed and the other décor rentals by a satisfactory amount. Talking about the decors, one can cut down the décor cost by using more greenery and sticking to one kind of flowers. Also, try using the other items like a lantern, lamps and hangings.

One can reduce the cost of printing the invitations by printing the cards in home. Yes, this is possible. Engraving on cards and printing on handmade papers can eat away a great deal of money. Try the Microsoft Office’s Publisher which comes with many default templates of invitation cards and there are a whole range to choose from. One can ask a DJ or a local band to cover up for both the reception and the marriage. Also, an amateur photographer or a family photographer usually charges lesser fees than a professional photographer. These methods can ensure that the wedding cost is cut down by a considerable amount and that means less stress for you.

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Planning a wedding can be extremely tedious and a stressful task. It requires lots of homework and money. Most of them would like to have a grand wedding done but would also like to stay with their budget. For those who think it’s not possible, they are wrong. You can still have your dream wedding endeavour done within the budget. There are many ways where you can plan your wedding with less stress on finance and have the remaining for you and your spouse new life. Here are the top ten ways to have a budget yet grand wedding:
1. General: The first step to keep your wedding under financial control is to plan your wedding budget correctly. First decide on the important things that are required or mandatory for the wedding and plan your cost for those. Try to decide on things way before the wedding so that you will have ample time in getting what you require. Last minute purchases are always hectic and will force you to go for it as options will be less.

2. Clothes: If you are not so particular about getting a new wedding dress there is always second had dresses available in the nearby consignment shops or in online purchases like EBAY. You can also ask your family members if they have a dress that you can wear. This will make it more memorable and sentimental too and thereby helps you to save money. You can also rent a new wedding dress for a day instead of going for a new one. You can also go for sample sales as most of the bridal shops would sell off their remaining stocks of the year. You may think it’s cheap but you can get a good deal of business done if you can plan this early. You can also get a designer wear for a cheap price too.

3. Accessories and Makeup: The best way of saving hefty chunk of money is by having your own accessories. Try to make use of the existing ornaments and try making your own fancier veils. Try to get a wedding ring that suits your budget. Make sure that it is liked by your spouse. You can save a lot of money by styling your own hair and giving your own makeup. If you feel you can’t do it perfectly as your neighbours or family members help.

4. Ceremony: Try to limit your guest list for the wedding. Plan your wedding in midweek ad not in weekends as it saves costs. Be creating in choosing with the location of your wedding. If you are so traditional you can have a simple one in church too. That’s the best way of saving wedding cost. Flower decoration can be done by getting flowers that are cheap and easily available.

5. Invitation, Music and food: You can send invitations through online emails or even through telephone rather than post cards which saves a lot of cost. Instead of arranging for a music band you can make you own music cd and play it. When it comes to food you can save money by having a buffet for your wedding, as it reduces the furniture and wait staff cost. Try choosing the food menu in such a way that it fits your allocated budget.

A wedding is a occasion for celebration and remembrance. You can still have a grand wedding done if you can plan the above things correctly. The basic idea is to make this special day look even more special, not expensive. If you can strike a balance between your budget and wedding then it will be the best day that you will always cherish in your life.

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When trying to organize a wedding on a budget it can be tricky. Organizing a wedding is never easy you will have questions such as where the guest book and place cards will be located? Are you going to hire musicians and if so are you going to tell people about this on place cards? If you make your own place cards then it can save a lot of money than getting them printed at a shop. The other good benefit of making your own place cards is that you can include enough information and personalize them to your own taste.

Depending on the guests that will be coming to your wedding you can create the place cards designed for them. Supposing you wanted a chocolate theme then you could design cards with a chocolate theme. Cards could be made to look like a chocolate covered Oreo. There could even be chocolate edible menus.

Place cards, place card holders and frames can all be generated with inexpensive material. If you need to design cost effective yet sophisticated wedding favors then personalize coasters or place mats with photographs. By being creative and displaying your talent then guests will have more interest and visual excitement.

Making basic yet sophisticated homemade place cards is easy. If you need to provide favors then you could make home made fudge, chocolates and candy. Many married couples need to save money on their wedding so you are not alone. You can save cash by assembling your own guest gift bags or boxes.

By inserting place cards in small frames or silver holders it makes them look a lot more professional. If you are having a Christmas wedding then you could make your own Christmas card invitations. Christmas cards are also good to use for place mats as they are cheap yet effective.

Making your own place cards enables you to place your memories of the wedding date and place on place cards. Try decorating place cards and napkins with lilac and silver butterflies as these look very pretty. Collect confetti and use this to decorate tables in your theme. Grow small plants for wedding favors to save extra money.

Creating your own beautiful place cards is not difficult and if you are having a Christmas wedding you could use Christmas tree ornaments with each person’s name on. Many craft shops have a separate section that specializes in card making helping you with wedding place cards. You could even get children involved with helping.

Children love picking wild flowers and arranging them in vases. You could make wild flower bundles to give away as wedding favors. Also you could press wild flowers to make place cards. Romantic homemade place cards can be made from scrapbooks.

If you need to raise funds for the wedding you could ask everyone in the group that is involved with organizing the wedding to bring in homemade baked goods to sell. It is possible to have a more cost efficient wedding with just a little thought and consideration. Explore and have fun trying new things. Be creative and think out of the box. With do it yourself wedding ideas it is possible to have a lot of fun organizing a wedding at lower cost.

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That last thing you want to do when planning your wedding is to max out your credit cards. For many people, it is more important to use their money more wisely, on other things. You and your fiancé will save loads of money by doing a lot of the preparations yourselves. You can also ask your friends to help you. For instance, instead of catering the reception, why not ask some friends who are good cooks? You might know a chef, or you may have a friend who is a caterer. Your friend might do you this favor for free or at a discounted price.

Your wedding gown doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars. You can purchase a prom gown or an evening gown and make a head piece to go with it, if you want one. You can find lots of evening gowns on sale at your local mall from time to time. You can also find some great deals on the Internet. Do you want a nice head piece? Take some netting and attach it to a fancy headband. You can find some white lacy headbands at Target; they are where the earrings and bracelets are located.

What about invitations to your wedding and reception? You can ask a computer savvy friend to make you some beautiful invitations on his/her computer. You will need to buy card stock paper which is 8 and ½ by 11 inches, and you will also want to buy some sheer decorative paper and some decorative brads. You can purchase some pretty silver white or silver ribbon, some glue and a small paper whole puncher.

Go to your Microsoft Word program or whatever word processing program you have. Set your orientation to landscape. You should make your invitation on regular typing paper, but first choose a column format so that you can make two cards on one sheet of paper. Choose the font you want; most people like a script font, but times new roman in italics is very pretty too. The size of your text should be at least 14 points; you may want it a little larger, depending on how much text you have. Once you have the text done on one side of the card, copy and paste it to the other column. When you have this much done, take your card stock paper to a copy shop to have your text copied to the card stock paper. If you have a paper cutter of your own, you are all set, but the copy shop may have cutting services there.

Now after your cards are made place a sheet of sheer decorative paper over the card. Glue the top of the paper to the card stock paper. Once it is set, punch a hole in the top center part of the card and paper. Now make a small bow with the ribbon and place the brad through it and the card and fasten it. Professionally made invitations can cost a couple of hundred dollars, so you can save a chunk of money by making them yourself, or having a creative friend do them for you.

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When planning a wedding, it becomes immediately apparent that the budget gets consumed by the “big ticket” items. These will include, among others, the bridal gown, reception dinner, wedding cake, photographer and/or videographer, along with a myriad of rental and service charges. Sometimes, there is less money to devote to the niceties that guests will see and remember – centerpieces and favors, to name but two. The easiest way to save money when planning a wedding is to find ways and means of doing things yourself. It is unnecessary (and sometimes wasteful) to engage the services of professional decorators when, with forethought and perhaps a little help from family and friends, many beautiful ideas can be accomplished quite simply. Here are a few suggestions:

- Use inexpensive candles to bathe your wedding in its best light:

Whether a wedding reception is taking place at the beach or in the most formal hall, candles are one of the easiest and most romantic choices for table centerpieces. From a dollar or thrift store, purchase a good supply of thin white taper candles. Then, choose containers that will reflect and support the theme of the wedding, e.g., clay pots for an outdoor or beach theme, clear glass vases, boxes or bowls for a more elegant look. Fill the containers with sand and then push clusters of taper candles, one by one, deeply into the sand to give them stability. Place the containers in even rows the length of each table or group several in the center of round tables.

An alternate, yet equally economical, candle centerpiece can be created with plain white floating candles and citrus fruit (lovely for a summer reception). Choose large glass bowls and fill them with water to within an inch or two of the rim. Cut oranges, lemons and limes into neat, thin slices and float a mixture of the slices, along with the floating candles, at the surface of each water bowl.

- Guests enjoy food favors:

Offer a cute, eye-pleasing update to the traditional Jordan almonds wrapped in netting. Purchase a supply of pretty yet inexpensive cupcake liners. These need not only be paper liners – they are also available in metallics which will complement many wedding themes. Select some coordinating ribbon and a supply of either the Jordan almonds or other favorite small candies. Some people enjoy chocolate kisses for these favors. Cut a length of ribbon and lay it on a flat surface. Place a cupcake liner at the mid-point of the ribbon and fill it with candy. Bring up the ribbon ends and tie a bow atop the candies. Using some plain, heavier-weight card stock, create small gift tags with the couple’s names or their married initial and the date. Attach a card to each favor bow.

If the bride or someone in the family makes jams or chutneys, these can also be excellent favors. Creatively incorporate them into the reception. For example, serve small thumbprint cookies, filled with the same jam, during the late-night coffee service and offer pretty decorated jars alongside for each guest to take home. Chutneys can be worked into the hors d’oeuvres or appetizers and also offered in decorated jars.

The key to saving money when it comes to wedding planning is to first take stock of one’s talents and also those of family members or attendants that have expressed willingness to help. Putting everyone’s creativity to work can substantially ease the bottom line and start the bride and groom off on a healthier financial footing.

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