For the Penny-Pinching Brides

My thoughts....decide exactly what you want and list your priorities. Decide what your budget is and allocate each area a certain percentage of the budget.

Next, do your research and clip coupons. Check out Vistaprint for everything. Tap in to the creative side and DIY everything you can.

Dollar Tree, Christmas Tree Shop and Walmart can be a budget bride's best friend. Buy only what you need and keep all receipts.

Check out the wedding classifieds on Wedding Bee and Project Wedding. There is nothing wrong with slightly worn items. Also, check Ebay and Craigs List before buying anything new.

Never shop at Michaels for supplies without a coupon.

Save your change! FH and I managed to save $300 in one year just by dumping our change into a jar. That is $300 that we now have to get a couples massage on our honeymoon.

Good luck!

My colors are yellow and charcoal gray. For my centerpieces I'm planning on using fresh flower arrangements on half of the tables. To cut costs, on every other one, I'm planning to use lemons and gray ribbon in thrift store vases. So far, the most I've spend on a vase was $4.00 - it's kind of a fun little game for me too.

I plan on putting votives around both types of centerpieces.

Can't wait to here everyone else's ideas!!

Oops...I forgot to add....check out vistaprint and zazzle on Black Friday. The bargains and freebies were unbelievable. If you can reserve some of your purchases at Michaels, etc until that day, you will also save .

Wedding classifieds! I'm getting elegant linens, plates, flatware for half the cost and I'll be able to sell afterwards to another bride looking for nice at a good price.

Www.dollartree.com search weddings and you will be very surprised. I was totally blown away by what a dollar will get you. We use them for all types of events both personally and professionally. They also have a very extensive idea and suggestion area. You will be able to accomplish what you set out to do because classy and sophisticated isn't about how much you spend it is about how well you put it together.

Good tips Carole!

I agree with the coupons one and definitely DIY!

Shop around before you buy something, whether it is online or not.

Check places like TJMaxx, Marshalls and Burlington Coat Factory for things like glass. I bought my candy bar jars from TJMaxx and spent $10 on each vs. $80 for the same type of jar at Michaels/ Hobby Lobby; even with a 40% off coupon I would've spent about $45 on each.

Keep a close eye on your budget so you can make changes if you anticipate going over. Also compromise, if you absolutely have to have something cut from somewhere else if it's not in the budget.

Do your research. See what everything you want normally costs. That is one of the most important things. If you don't know how much something costs, you'll have no idea if it's a deal or not.

Use your creative side as much as possible, if you don't have one it may be worth asking crafty friends and family to fulfill your vision.

Yard sales are your friends. Everything doesn't need to be brand new, especially vases and things of the sort.

Craft stores are great, but try couponing and try finding things on sale or even clearance. You can find very nice invites and DIY projects that way.

However ONLY buy DIY projects if you KNOW you will do it. If not that just takes money out of your pocket you could have used for the wedding!

Wish you the best of luck!

Simplify everything! From the cake, to the centerpieces, decorations, etc. The more elaborate and more detail comes more expense and really, that's not what people are going to remember.

Thank You for making this thread.@John thank you for putting up the link for dollar tree found my vases that I have been looking from dollar tree stores

Shop around.... Call around... SHOP AROUND!

Ebay is where i've gotten a lot of deals. (tablecloths, veil- $14, petticoat $26, FG jewelry, etc.)

I go to the Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby every week. Don't ever pay full price at Hobby Lobby- either use a coupon or wait for it to go on sale!

Don't rule out buying something used. No one knows your dress is used. No one knows those tablecloths aren't brand new. No one knows that the table runners have been in other weddings.

Use a popular color scheme so you can shop outside wedding items for decor. For example, my centerpieces were red candle holders I bought at Dollar General. They were on clearance and I got them for $1.80 each.

Look at what you really want and what's really important to you. Also, what matters to guests. Pintuck linens are pretty- but pricey. And your guests could care less. Invitations with pockets and 30 inserts, with ribbons that sing love songs are you open them are cool- but will still end up in the trash.

At the end of the day, you're still married! Regardless of a back yard ceremony with a bbq or an elaborate, elegant $50,000 wedding- you're still married. It doesn't make you any more or any less likely to have a successful marriage!

Love dollar tree vases and colored water!

borrow from family members - veil, tiara, jewelry, cake knife....

Save on flowers... nice bouquet for you, single flowers for the girls.

Use venues that are naturally beautiful so you don't spend a fortune trying to dress them up.

Candles are a much cheaper centerpiece than flowers.

DIY is good.

Borrowing from family is even better! See if your venue has cake cutting utensils that you can use. Borrow candlesticks and holders from your parents/grandparents for the unity candle.

Things don't have to be monogramed to be elegant. And they are easier to reuse or sell if they aren't branded with your initials.

Amazon, dollar tree, target. Look for things that you can use for your wedding but without the word "wedding" in the search. Often you can find great stuff that looks amazing under different categories.

If you're having an evening/night wedding, lighting is an inexpensive and classy way to decorate. And if there are some not so nice features to your venue, lighting up the focal points is a lot less expensive, and works better, than trying to cover up the bad spots.

Get ahold of friends or anyone you know and see what kind of decor they have. My mom has some friends who have daughters get married in the past few years. They have offered to let me use any of their decorations that I would like.

Consider a Friday or Sunday wedding... with our venue Mon-Fri the reception hall (lodge) was free and Sunday's was half off... Saturdays were $1200 (They will only allow you to use their caterer regardless of the day) But because we had our wedding on a Friday we saved $1200. when buying wine or champagne wait for BevMo's 5 cent sale ... we saved a huge amount on our champagne. As for wine.. my mother in law bought it for us as they went on sale so it was a couple of different brands. I just made personalized labels and no one knew. The wine was fine , no one complained and many of our guest requested the left over bottles as favors.. also check out Oriental Trading.com I also completely agree with finding a venue you love... we didn't do much for decoration other than for the gazebo, kissing balls for the aisle, and a few candles on tables outside .. inside we just did centerpieces.. but I loved the look of my venue from the moment I saw it.

Thanks ladies! I am jotting down some ideas I didn't think of.

Victoria...Great idea on the personalized labels for the wine. FH was so worried about serving the right wine. A label would have been helpful.

If you own your own business, offer a service or have a special talent, use it to barter for other services! I did this with a few of my vendors and it's working it awesome! They get something they need and I get something I need. We just make sure the services exchanged are of equivalent value.

For example, I have a vendor who wanted to take salsa lessons. Since I'm a professional dancer/teacher, I offered to give him 5 lessons valued at $XX price and he agreed to give me $XX off the package price for his service. And... voila.... we're both happy campers!

@ Carole..It worked great for us.. we aren't wine ppl so it didn't matter to me what was bought.. I know some ppl swear they can tell good from bad, I'm not one of them , I know what I like but that means nothing! LOL

These are awesome ideas ladies! Like I am seriously writing these things down because I just didn't know WHAT I was going to do! I can't wait for my FH to get done with Air Force Basic Training so we can talk about these things!! <3