How to have a wedding of your dreams for less - Frugal Tip Friday

"How to have the wedding of your dreams for less" by guest writer Stefani Allegretti

In my experience, most weddings today cost about an average of 20K. But if you're on a budget, there are so many ways you can cut the cost of your wedding in half. Here are a few tips that really helped cut the cost.

First, it really slims your overall cost if you purchase your wedding dress at a place like David's Bridal. They have a beautiful selection of wedding dresses and if you do purchase with them, your bridesmaids, groomsmen, the groom and tons of other people in your wedding party benefit from discounts and coupons. David's Bridal is also affiliated with Men's Wearhouse and they not only offer deals for the groom and groomsmen, but match your colors as well!

The next tip is to make your own favors or check to see if you have an artist/crafty person in your family who already makes something that can be used as part of your favors. And of course, purchase in bulk! This really helps to save some money.

Although your photographer is a majorly important part of your wedding (and of course you want professional photographs for this really important day) shop around! You can find photographers who are very professional and creative that charge much less than you would think. Also, you can save a bundle by asking the photographer to photograph only the first three hours, and then ask a 'photography inclined' Friend or family member to take some photos during the reception. You can also leave cameras on each table for your guests to take some fun photos. Perfect Day Photography charges less than $1000 for 3 consecutive hours of coverage. Here is their
website: http://www.perfectdayphotography.com/about_us.htm
Another area where brides-to-be can save alot of money, is by having a rehearsal dinner BBQ instead of a formal dinner. My sister started this trend and we are following, because it not only saves money to make your own food and/or order something from a local restaurant or grocery store, but enables more of your guests to stop in and say hello. Just to give you an idea, if we had our rehearsal dinner at a restaurant in Cape May, it would have cost us about $50pp or about $1500.The rehearsal 'BBQ' will cost us less than $300. So that saves about $1200!!!!

As far as wedding invitations, I made my own, which basically only cost me the printing and materials. But that is because I am a freelance artist/graphic designer. So if you are looking for wedding invitations that are organically inspired, I design and print them for under $300. My website is http://www.lbibeachgreetings.com/ and I am working on getting some more wedding invites up. You can find my wedding invites here on my blog.

Finally, make your own centerpieces and bouquets!!! This can save hundreds of dollars. There are so many wholesale floral companies and many of them have pre-boxed wedding bouquets and flowers. They are much less expensive then hiring a florist, but opting for this budgetary choice all depends on how much time and creativity you or your maid of honor has. Visit Lola Blooms at www.lolablooms.com to find beautiful wholesale flowers for brides.

Happy Wedding Planning and Budgeting!!!!

Written by Stefani Allegretti