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our DJ was included in our venue. We hired a friend of the family thats a photographer. And my moms been making cakes since before i was born. Thats where we saved a TON of money. I'm makin the flower girl basket, and im doing something different with the ring bearers. We are doing DIY savethedates/invites. And we are putting together a really cheap candy buffet table.If any of this helps...great...if not...sorry i tried :) good luck tho!!!

well i saved money on the photographer, the cake, and everything but that's just because i have some very awesome friends lol. one's into photography the other is a baker, one's a dj, so i guess i'm lucky. and the wedding site is free, but we have to cut the grass and set everything up.

speaking from a vendors point of view I will say that you have to decide what part of your wedding is the most important to you. Is it photo's or decor, or perhaps your dress? I would make a list in order of importance. You then start cutting from the areas that don't matter so much for you. However I do feel the most important thing to have is someone (doesn't have to be a professional) who is not family or part of your wedding to take over the details of the wedding day itself. Making sure things go like you have planned them. It will be a huge stress reliever for you as well as your mother or maid of honor. Bets wishes and seriously, what is important to you is the highest priority, what isn't can be cut out or scaled back considerably.

Good topic! I feel like I am getting out of control and need to be brought back to reality! I am going to have to scale back on the centerpieces. I am going to have to forget about the table runners and uplighting...the DJ was a family friend so they gave me a great deal...photography is something that if you are not careful cutting back will hurt you. Same with a venue...I actually got 15% off at my venue's bridal show AND I am having my wedding in an off peak month. That helped save a lot of money. And we are getting married at the venue, that saved like $400 to $500

I have a family member and friend who love photography take the pictures. I am not doing the videography. A family member's band is performing. I am doing a very casual reception with picnic type food. Our venue is letting us supply the drinks. I not doing the formal wedding dress. I have a small wedding party. I agree with a day to remember in that you need to decide what is important to you.

Hi CamoBride,

I'm sure that there are many ways to cut cost. However, I will tell you two things that I really feel you should NOT forego hiring a professional...photography and videography. After all is said and done, your photographs and videos will help you recapture all of the important moments of your special day. I did not have a professional photographer or videographer. My husband and I will be celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary this month, and I would love the opportunity to sit one evening with him and our three daughters and re-live that day. Unfortunately, I am unable to do so. So again, although I understand the need to be watchful with your money, there are some things that need to be left to the professionals.

I wish you many blessings!

My FH and I decided to not have a DJ to save money, instead we are going to use my laptop. Honestly, I get worried sometime that ppl won't dance or have a good time, I think it'll work out though. Here's a post I made about my worries earlier and how ppl replied, maybe it can help you: http://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/worried-ppl-wont-dance/9ff3ee8318b93970.html Hopefully that link works. If you create a wedding website there's a section where you can let guests request music, I plan on using it so I know everyone will enjoy at least a couple of songs.

I think that you should decide what you can do yourself or what you need someone else to do (ex. can you make your own food? then skip the caterer, Do you have a family member who is a beautician, have them do your hair/makeup) Make sure that if there are things you can DIY then I would say DIY... Good luck!:)

I didn't mean for that to be rude, I just meant that I think you should try to cut back on things that you don't feel are necessary, thats the point I am trying to make..

I cut costs by going with the wedding/reception both at the church. I really didn't want to have it there, but when we weighed all the positives with the negatives, it just ended up that we couldn't justify a more expensive venue. Also by having an afternoon wedding instead of the evening one I'd wanted, I'm saving on food costs. We're doing coffee and dessert buffet instead of meal and alcohol.
Areas where I will not cut...my dress/accessories/professional hair & makeup. My first wedding was at a courthouse when I was 19. Although we had a small reception later, I didn't have a beautiful wedding dress of get to get all dolled up with fancy hair and makeup. Probably if you look at my budget, you'd laugh because 25% of it is going towards just me, but I don't care if it's silly. I have regretted not having a wedding dress for 13 years!

It's all about prioritizing what is important to you. Some brides really want a beautiful location and are willing to have a small guest list to get it. Other brides could care less about the location - they just want to make sure they can have everyone they know there. Some brides want to feed their guests well, but don't care about the decorations. Other brides are happy with just cake & punch, as long as the DJ is great and everyone has fun dancing. Some brides have to have the wedding on a Saturday Night, others are willing to do a Sunday morning brunch. Decide what is most important to you - budget those items first, and then go from there.

we cut way down on flowers. the decor was already beautiful and there were other ways to add to it that were much more dramatic than a ton of expensive flowers everywhere. My venue also had HIDEOUS chairs, and as much as we wanted to rent covers or different chairs, it just wasn't an expense I thought was worth it. It worked out fine. I also did my own hair and makeup which I'm sure saved quite a bit. But I would have done that no matter what. There were lots of things we cut out after assessing the budget: limo, ice sculpture, etc....but I don't think you should ever cut money from food, entertainment, and video/photo....

There are lots of things that you can DIY that will help cut costs back. Flowers are a big cost that some people really don't need. I'm not a big flower person so a lot of our centerpiece flowers will just be silk and we are going to be creating the look ourselves to save. Another great way to cut back is the cake. You could have a 2 tier cake and then serve sheet cakes and no one would ever know the difference. Another great place to cut back is on the favors that you choose, if you are doing them that is. For example, using tulle and ribbon is a lot cheaper than buying the favor boxes or even the favor tins. To cut back we are going to wait until after X-mas sales and buy the little silver gift bags, the really tiny ones, to use as our favor containers. Also DO NOT settle for the first price that you hear. Make sure that you shop around and try to find the best price that you can. Also there are some venues out there that will give you one price to cover everything. The venue for

our reception covers our catering, alcohol (we get to take home w/e is left over), D.J, table lines, chair covers and sashes, the cake, and we get 150 dollars toward rental items like stuff for the centerpieces and stuff like that. There are also tons of websites out there that have great ideas on ways to cut back on costs and yet not look tacky..Good luck!

I don't think you should cut any one thing but cut the price down on each.
Get a smaller photo package but make sure you get the digital files.
Get a smaller "wedding style" cake and then get sheet cakes or have a desert bar made by friends. You honestly don't need as much cake as the bakers say you can cut it by like 20 or 30 servings maybe even 50 and still have enough just ask your cake cutter to cut smaller pieces.
For the catering go with a buffet vs a sit down meal. Do a non hosted bar (aka pay bar) so your friends that want to get sloshed can but not on your dime.
For the venue have your wedding Friday night or Sunday morning/afternoon, the prices are less than Sat. For flowers go to your local farmers market and talk to the flower vendors. They can tell you what is in season for your wedding date and also will give you a good deal on whole sale and have a friend put them together for you.

Contd...

... Everyone is struggling in this economy, even your vendors! So don't be scared to tell them you can only afford so much and see if they can give you a discount or do a custom package for you. The only thing I paid full price for was my cake but she was also the cheapest in town and didn't have room to budge on her price. Don't just go for the cheapest though because you often get what you pay for. (Not the case with my cake but it can be)

One more thing... I noticed that your name is Camo. If this has anything to do with the military you could always get married on base and save tons!

my venue includes all food,liens,open bar,dj and place for ceremony. I am having 150 guests and I paid $1700.
I am cutting the cost by not having a photographer for the whole day. I am doing alter ego photos before to put on display at the reception. I am only going to have a photographer to take pics of the wedding paty. I am making my own candy buffet. and my aunt is going to make my programs,invitations,and favors
oh and i am using my own choc fondue machine and I will be going to the farmers market to buy the fruits and sams club to get the graham crackers, marshmellows etc.

Here's a pie chart I made that can help. If you cut back from one area, you can add the the next area. The percentages are "typical" for an average American wedding ($20,000).

You need to put your priorities were they are most important for you and your wishes for the day. Obviously, if you have a budget of $5000, these values will have to be adjusted to fit.

When I did my own wedding, I did LOTS of home work and cut costs across the board. I made my own cake that everyone thought was store bought... but I spent two days of hard work to do it... That's the reality of doing it yourself. Pick and choose what is important to you.

Do you want or need flowers... can you do it yourself and how hard is it? Do you want an iPod, and do you have someone to run it and watch it for you? Do you need an MC or will you expect the dance floor to be full with an iPod? Can you make your own invitations and do you have a quality printer to pull it off?