Trade for services

I can't see your wedding date, but why not extend your engagement and save up? If you guys each put $20 away each week for the next year that'd give you an extra $2,080. If you had an 18 month engagement that'd give you an extra $3,120. Everyone here has bills and expenses to pay, and no one else is trying to haggle their way into a $1,500 budget. Either save up or have the wedding you can actually afford.

I agree with JaKLyn, have the wedding you can afford, and if you can't afford it now - push back your date and wait until you can.

When I was catering, we joined a bartering club, and I have to say that every transaction was a giant pain in the ass. I did find my wonderful accountant through them, but everything else was a bust.

I don't think it's a horrible idea (go figure....) but it's tough to police.

I'd start saving; 1500.00 will basically get you a nice little wedding for 20 guests. If that's what you have in mind, then problem solved.

I'm not sure how this would work for a wedding- My fiance is an electrician, so we often do service trades, but usually only between trades. Like plumbing work for electrical work. It works well, but usually only because he is in the trades and knows the guys from other trades.

Do you need a professional? What about a freelance photographer, or a student looking to expand their portfolio? What about asking family, or a friend with a nice camera to do some shots.

Believe it or not, I actually know someone whose parents bartered for quite a few things at her older sister's wedding. Looking at the photos, it looked like any other Long Island wedding I'd been to. However, this was probably 12 years ago and the parents owned a deli and did professional catering. The venue agreed to some kind of catering deal with them in exchange for the use of the space, and there were a few other vendors who were okay exchanging their services for catering services at whatever big event they were planning in the next year or two. I'd never barter (I'd be afraid that when it came time to cash in the barter, the original company might be out of business because they weren't actually earning enough to pay for my services in the first place. Sorry, no offense intended -- I'm just a "what's the worst possible thing that could happen if I do this" type of person).

How many guests are you planning to invite to your wedding?

I honestly dont think its a bad idea as long as your fiance's work and parts are warranted. Mechanical work is iffy to me. But I think Pinterest has given people a false sense of capability when it comes to these bartered weddings with their "How to throw a 250 guest wedding for under $5000" pins. When you read them, you realize that the bride is in the bridal hair industry and did the hair for her caterer's daughter's wedding or something like that and got a huge discount in return. Unless you KNOW people in the wedding industry personally who trust you, it will be hard to trade services since trading is so highly based on trust.

I don't know about bartering for trade but we live in Fort Lauderdale and we got an awesome internet special from

http://www.theintimateportfolio.com/. They're lowest wedding package is $650.00 and it includes engagement pictures. Our engagement pictures are awesome. Maybe postpone the wedding to save some more money.

The only thing that worries me about this is expensive barter...Example: your fh barters with a photographer...the job on photographer car needs done now...your wedding is in 2 months..your fh works on car and fixes it..so he thinks.. but the photographer is being a pita.. and is not happy with the services your husband offered... Do your photos come out? does he show up?

I think like the other posters have suggested, either save up, or barter smaller jobs..like 4 oil changes, tire rotations, brake jobs for cake, flowers, etc good luck

100% agree that bartering is still out there but you have to be reasonable about it. I went for a free photoshoot for this photographer that is highly well known around the country, and he told us his dentist bartered with him to take some business photos. In exchange, his dentist would provide him a free service. So he got braces.

In that case, the price of each are about equal. Also, this was the photographer's dentist, so he wasn't going with a complete stranger. He already knew the quality he would get from him. I don't know how much one could make as a mechanic, but I would hope that those in the wedding profession take good care of their car or have something reliable since it is their source of getting from one meeting to another. But for the small things, it may work. I suppose it doesn't hurt to try.

I don't think it's a bad idea. I would suggest Google "trade association Miami." In New Orleans, there is a trade association my FH belongs to. He does work in exchange for trade assoc credits/points. The trade assoc has a "credit card" and each business sets out points for services. There are very reputable companies mixed with newbies. We purchased our liquor through a trade merchant for our engagement party! We could have done catering, but I decided to cook myself. We will likely use points at a restaurant for our rehearsal dinner and floral.

My FFIL trades his services as a lawyer all the time. Unfortunately, I don't think he'd ever do a wedding trade since he's a divorce lawyer... the beginner photographers or other vendors who use services like Thumbtack might be more open to it, or paying a partial fee with the cost offset by a trade?