What aspects of the wedding did/are you skimpin on?

No limos.

Found a graphic designer who is just starting her business out of seattle to design, print, and assemble my pocketfold invites for a great price.

BM dresses purchased off the rack at Lord and Taylor.

No need to spend $1500 on a DJ - We went with Vinny (High Volatage) for $600.

Made our save the dates.

RK Bridal for the dress - saved 400 ove the quote I got at Macys.

Honeymoon bargaining: Shopped around for the lowest prices on the internet, and then brought the figure back to the Travel Agent we wanted to work with and got over $400 knocked off the price.

Making all my own labels, tags, programs, menus, signs, etc...

1. Guest list- less than 100.

2. Date- Monday July 4th, dayt time same menu almost 1/3 the price of Saturday night at same hall.
My reception including food, flowers and entertainment is less than $10K total.

3. no limos- everything is at one place.

4. no favors- we made a donation to charity.

5. Whatever cake the hall provides at no charge.

6. A lot of DIY projects

7. Got my dress at Burtons.

8. no bridal party- saved on flowers, gifts, etc .

9. Vinny from high Voltage is our DJ... also using him for reception and cocktail hour.

10. Having a rehearsal brunch for $20 pp instead of a dinner

Skimping on:

-My aunt is a florist, getting them at cost <$1,000 for everything

-My mom is a dressmaker/patternmaker, she bought the materials so the dress was <$200 (I bought the embroidery)

-Getting married on a Friday and took a date that the hall had as someone's cancellatin, s it was cheaper than usual

-Designed and customized my own invites (<$500 for EVERYTHING, inclusding hand calligraphy)

-eBay for veil and tiara (<$100 for both)

Splurging on:

-DJ
-Photo and Video
-Reception (added OT, chocolate fountain, etc.)
-HM

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Posted by David'sbride

1. Guest list- less than 100.

2. Date- Monday July 4th, dayt time same menu almost 1/3 the price of Saturday night at same hall.
My reception including food, flowers and entertainment is less than $10K total.

3. no limos- everything is at one place.

4. no favors- we made a donation to charity.

5. Whatever cake the hall provides at no charge.

6. A lot of DIY projects

7. Got my dress at Burtons.

8. no bridal party- saved on flowers, gifts, etc .

9. Vinny from high Voltage is our DJ... also using him for reception and cocktail hour.

10. Having a rehearsal brunch for $20 pp instead of a dinner

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WOW! you're good! lol

I always wondered what would happen if a bride 2B called for limos and told the limo co. it was for transportation to a party. Obviously the cost would be A LOT Less. It’s so unfair!! Just because you’re wearing a wedding dress it’s twice the price!

Oh boy where to begin...

DIY invites
Inexpensive Favors
Jessica McClintock Dress (a VERY affordable one)
No Limos
For the honeymoon we chose to stay in a standard room, not a honeymoon suite (allowing us to take a way longer honeymoon)
Made my own veil
Found shoes on sale

I love a bargain so all of this stuff is exciting to me...plus we are trying to save up for a house in the near future. I'm a firm believer that you don't have to spend alot of money for the day to be beautiful.

I did my STDs on my own computer and I'll be doing the programs the same way.

I got 15% off my dress bc I went to a show they had a booth at.

I got a package from Wedding World which is def less expensive than getting all those things from different places.

I'm also planning on getting my veil and crown and possibly jewelry from the flea market, as well as my FG and jrBM dresses.

I may be making my own centerpieces since I don't think they're included.

Don't skimp on your pics and also don't skimp on your wedding bands, that's what you're going to take away from all this and have for the rest of your life!

I skimped on a ton of things. We had a house savings account, so I did not want to dip into that at all.

-David's Bridal for dress
-First Florist quote was 2K, I went nuts and completely cut that down. I think it cost me 350 in the end.
-no programs
-made cd favors and wrapped them myself
-did not have cocktail hour, instead OOT guests went back to my mother's house, hired 2 waitresses, and they just heated up food that we made and froze the week prior. Had tons of beer and wine there
-brother did video
-friend took pictures
-great DJ, 750.00 spent, no giveaways

Got my pricey dress at more than 50% off at a sample sale

DIY stds (and only for OOT guests)

honeymoon suite included in reception price

limited bar (most of our friends don't drink)

Renting package of veil, tiara, and earrings

FH's friend is helping out with flowers (making the bouquets, reception centerpieces)

Inexpensive favors

No valet

I pretty much cut corners on everything but music, photography and video. I feel that this is one area not to cut back on.

The best thing we cut corners on was on our guest list. We are only having 80 people and it's during the day, so we saved a lot $$$ doing this. Everything else, we bargained for. Luckily we have a friend of the family who's doing our flowers for under $500 !!! Between my limo and flowers we are only spending $900, which is awesome !!

i've been calling in favors to everyone i know!!

FH's friend is a landscaper for a florist so he hooked us up w/ a discount

FH is in the air national guard and the hall they have all their parties at gave us a GREAT price ($65/head includes 5.5 hour open bar, 1.5 cocktail hour w/ clam bar and 4 hr reception w/ so much food it's crazy!)

my MOH is making my CP's - silk flowers being used

invitations i got on line and signed up and rcvd 20% off

Limo's gave us a discount b/c FH is military. If anyone is Military i would definitely ask if the vednors will give discounts. 9 out of 10 will

This is what I saved on:

No limos (ceremony & reception are in the same place)
Invitations (I didn't do them myself, but I got simple, elegant ones that weren't too pricey compared to other options)
Addressed invitations myself
Dress (only $600 with tax)
Shoes (I would have paid more, but I found a perfect pair for $25 that are sooo comfortable)
Favors (will make them myself)
Stuff (no unity candles, pillow for ring bearer, arch for the ceremony, cake knife, champagne flutes, etc.)

It all evens out though, since we spent more on the photographer than we thought we would. They are way more expensive in this part of the country than most books hint at!

Let's see-Since I am paying for a majority of this wedding- my parents are doing a set amount and my FH who only has 40 guests on his side is giving a set amount too. That leaves me with more to come up with right now but at 35 I am not complaining, only looking to economize.

So these areas were skimped on:
Invitations- BUT I DO LOVE THEM
Programs and Menus- one co-worker is doing the art work, another is making them- paper cost $55
Flowers- making my own centerpieces
No bridal party- just a MOH and best man
No Pro-video
No limos - just a classic car for FH and myself
Dress- Got online at Netbride- love it and even with alterations, under 500
Veil-borrowed from a friend
Reception Hall- no sales tax as a govt. institution- not really a skimp just an added bonus to my hall
Photographer- Duet- no a skimp on purpose- I just think they are very reasonable and the style I wanted.
Splurges:
10 piece band- both FH and I really wanted this
Guest List- I invited anyone I wanted since I was paying for part of it and told my family and FH to do the same. Even then its only 159 guests on the invite list.
Wedding Band- didn't go crazy but got what I what I wanted

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Posted by bluesashbride

we skimped on programs, menus, placecards--i'm making all of these. we're not using a limo. i choose to spend more on a photographer than have video-video is not my thing. we invited however many people we wanted but kept the cost of the hall on the more reasonable side. i had my mother paint my aisle runner. i'm not doing church flowers-the chapel is stunning and doesn't need them. we are having a saber arch- no bubbles or anything like that.

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It helps that the cost of our hall is on the reasonable side! This place is great, hall twin!

I wonder how Laura's big day went!

Umm,, I didn't do a good job on 'skimpin' things for my wedding.

Seems like I got ripped me off on a lot of things!!

I did get a great deal on my limos and wedding bands. That's about it!

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Posted by ckgmwedding

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Posted by bluesashbride

we skimped on programs, menus, placecards--i'm making all of these. we're not using a limo. i choose to spend more on a photographer than have video-video is not my thing. we invited however many people we wanted but kept the cost of the hall on the more reasonable side. i had my mother paint my aisle runner. i'm not doing church flowers-the chapel is stunning and doesn't need them. we are having a saber arch- no bubbles or anything like that.

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It helps that the cost of our hall is on the reasonable side! This place is great, hall twin!

I wonder how Laura's big day went!

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i know i'm dying to know!

it really is a deal at melville. we also got a deal on our band because it my FBIL. i HIGHLY recommend him to anyone though because he works with budgets--and is GREAT at Italian American music!

We won't go crazy on our invites

Borrowing SIL's tiara/veil

Making own Menu cards

Won't go crazy with flowers/centerpieces

We have a small guest list. That will save the most money.

Our invites will be printed by a friend who owns his own printing company -- at cost.

I bought my veil and tiara online for less than $100 total.

We are mixing high and low cps to save a little money.

The ceremony and reception will be in the morning, rather than the evening. This alone saves thousands.

We are doing lottery ticket favors - the cost will be under $200. I'm going to use the placecards from the hall. We aren't doing cry packs/slipper baskets.

We painted our own initials for the cakes table for about $6.00.

Areas we are not saving on: photos, honeymoon

Luckily, we were able to save on a few things also. My Tiara was only $30.00 and I'm borrowing my FI's sister's veil and slip.
We also went with a florist who wasnt too pricy and also sells invitations on the side (she offers great discounts for both since she's new).
Every penny helps!