Ways to Cut Wedding and Reception Costs

If your like most brides, you haven't recently won the lottery. You'll have to find a way to cut expenses somewhere for your wedding and reception. Consider these following tips that can save you big bucks.

Off Season - June/July and September/October are the busiest seasons for weddings. Consider a winter wedding or early spring wedding. You will find it much easier to negotiate pricing when it comes to reception locations, catering and other services if you plan your nuptials when these vendors need the commerce.

Bridal Attendants - The larger the bridal party, the larger the budget. Think smaller here. If you have six bridesmaids, you have to buy six bridesmaids favors. The same goes for groomsmen. By reducing the bridal party to three instead of six, or two instead of four etc., you can shorten your budget for wedding favors in half. Don't leave out someone that ought to be in your wedding, but it's a good idea to not put people in your wedding that you haven't seen in five or ten years.

Wedding Photographers - Think about having a friend who is into photography and has a nice camera take your formal shots at the ceremony. Use caution here. You should really have faith in this individual. If this is not a choice for you, employ a professional to shoot pictures only at the ceremony. This can shorten your photography bill in half! Place disposable cameras on each table at the reception for your guests to take pictures. It's amazing how often I hear that these shots, taken by friends and family, are the most prized.

Entertainment - In place of hiring a live band at $1000+ or a DJ at $500+ to entertain your guests, dust off that CD heap of yours (and your friends) and burn your own customized music selection. This way, you are sure to have every song that's a must, played at the time you want it. Make various CDs with different song types and mark them accordingly (dance, slow, background, father/daughter, etc).

Now here's the tricky part. Find a friend you have faith in to pop in the correct CDs when needed. Create a short outline of what type of music to play and approximately when to play it and give it to your friend. Don't make this too complicated. If you have a reception hall for 3 hours, divide the music schedule into 30 minute chunks or whatever works best for you. If you have to pay your friend $25-$50 to make sure they keep an eye on the CD schedule, do it! In the end, your guests will enjoy themselves and you will have saved yourself some large bucks!

Confections - It's become commonplace to have a groomsmen cake at receptions today. In fact, one of the latest fashions in weddings is to have a dessert buffet, also known as a Viennese Table. Save your cash and do without these extra sweets. Let your wedding cake be what it was meant to be. Dessert. Your only dessert! It's worked well on its own for two hundred years and it will work just fine for your nuptials.

In summary, don't be scared to think outside the box. When it comes to preparing your wedding day, there are no written rules that you have to follow. For weddings on a budget, don't let the pressure of keeping up with the Joneses govern your decisions. Let common sense prescribe your choices.