Barbara Cameron - 101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding

101 WAYS TO
SAVE MONEY
on Your
WEDDING

Barbara Cameron

Copyright 2009 by F+W Media, Inc.
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the
publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

Contains material adapted and abridged from The Everything Weddings on a Budget Book,
2nd Edition, by Barbara Cameron, copyright 2007 by F+W Publications, Inc.,
ISBN 10: 1-59869-418-9, ISBN 13: 978-1-59869-418-5.

Published by
Adams Media, an F+W Media Company
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN 10: 1-60550-632-X
ISBN 13: 978-1-60550-632-6
eISBN: 978-1-44052-059-4

Printed in the United States of America.

J I H G F E D C B A

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is available from the publisher.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

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Contents

Introduction

C ongratulations on your engagement! Youre about to enter the exciting time of planning your dream wedding, and you may already have some of your biggest wedding wishes in mind. You might also be concerned about what this wedding is going to cost. Youve heard the statistics. The average wedding costs over $25,000, and thats just the average wedding! Friends and family who have planned their own weddings recently may have struggled with their budgets, stressed about money, and perhaps even wound up eliminating some of their dream wedding elements. But this doesnt have to happen to you!

You might not be aware that there are many, many ways that you can plan your dream wedding for less money than youd expect. All it takes is some insider information from the wedding industry, and you have that insider information right here in your hands! So youre going to find out how to make choices that can save you 50 percent to 70 percent off your purchases. Youre going to find out where to search for the perfect wedding gown, sites, photographers, videographers, entertainers, and more. And youll find out exactly how to time your searches to earn even bigger discounts.

When you follow the tips in this book, you may be able to get your dream wedding for half the price or get twice the wedding for your available budget! You wont have to sacrifice quality or the most important parts of your day, and youll soon find that looking for bargains is actually fun... and can become a group activity when your friends and family help you find the perfect resources.

In the end, youll achieve your dream wedding without any of your guests knowing where you cut corners, where you got creative, and where you made better choices for your budget. And most importantly, youll be among the brides and grooms who enjoy their wedding planning process, because you wont be frightened or stressed about making expensive mistakes with your wedding planning. Warnings are included here to save you from the most common budget missteps.

Ready to start planning for less? Lets get started.

PART I
Your First Decisions

CHAPTER 1
Making a Budget

W hich comes first, the wedding vision or the budget? Thats entirely up to you! When building a wedding budget, as overwhelming as that can be, start with a vision of your dream wedding, and then make the financial decisions based on how to achieve that vision. You might want to look first at your available money, and then decide on the elements of the wedding based on what you can comfortably afford. When youre just starting out on your wedding plans, you will most likely find that wedding expenses are way more costly than you expected, and you mayat firstconsider cutting some of your most wished-for wedding elements out of your big day. You would have loved to have a designer gown, for instance, but how could you possibly get one on such a modest budget? Before you make any decisions or rule any plan out of your wedding dream, start first with the big decisions that are going to shape your wedding planning experience. You may find that you have more money to work with than you thoughtsuch as with parents contributionsor that your partner agrees with you on not wanting a $5,000 wedding cake... so you can certainly afford that designer gown now! These first few steps are designed to get you talking about your financial constraints and freedoms, your priorities, and whos going to help you bring your wedding dream to life.

1. Envision Your Wedding

Knowing what each of you wants is the first step in planning your wedding. Do you envision a big, formal wedding with a sea of roses, a five-course dinner, and an orchestra, or a more modest, informal outdoor wedding with you in a sundress holding a bouquet of wildflowers? Does your fianc want a small wedding with just family? Or does he want to take the family off to Hawaii for a tropical fantasy wedding? Before you can make any wedding plans, and start to talk about paying for them, be sure youre united in your vision for the big day, or that you have mapped out where each of you will compromise your expectations to suit the others wishes.

These steps will determine how and where you spend your money. Imagine what a relief it would be if both of you want an under-fifty-person guest list! Imagine how thrilling it would be when you both say, Sit-down dinners arent really what I have in mind and realize that you can save 70 percent off the reception by planning a brunch or luncheon. Its only through discussing your wedding wishes that you can start the process off with big victories for your budget. You might begin thousands of dollars ahead of the game! That is, if you can agree on your wedding vision. Be prepared for wedding planning to require communication and compromise. Its a genuine team effort. So have a detailed discussion of how big a wedding you want, how formal, and any wished-for wedding elements, so that you can find beautiful ways to get those things for less.

Your smartest first step is to sit down together in front of your home computer and surf the Internet, visiting your favorite wedding websites and the sites for your favorite bridal magazines. Grooms say they enjoy looking at photos with their brides, and this initial evening of idea-hunting often turns into a few dozen printouts of reception styles, menu plans, wedding cake images, and other wedding visiondefining graphics. While looking at these photos and printing them out to show to your future vendors, take notes on what you want, what you dont want, where you can use an idea thats a no for him in another party such as your bridal shower, and also talk about what you saw and experienced at other weddings that you do or dont want for your own Big Day. Again, establish right now that you dont want the things other couples spend thousands of dollars on, like a sit-down dinner with lobster tails, filet mignon, and endless sushi bar, and a raw bar to rival most Oscars parties. No, thats so not for me! will free you from the high-end menu and youll also find out your partner agrees. Thats the best way to start forming your realistic budget.