PW Guide Article: 10 Ways to Cut your Budget

We're DIY-ing lots of things.

I have made our invitations, envelope labels, drink bottle stickers, programs & thank you postcards by scanning some printed craft fabric from our bunting & using that as the background, our RSVP's are on-line thanks to our free wedding website.

I'm making bunting & napkins out of discount craft fabric. Also making my own wedding dress & fascinator($550) & my partners 3 kids outfits( $250), our witnesses are wearing their own outfits. I'm splurging on made to measure shoes $275 from Shoes of Prey.

My Father-in-law to be is painting some chalk boards, mdf cutouts & Ikea picture frames for signs & decorations. Our vases are old jam jars with ribbon & flowers from a wholesaler that we are preparing the day before. My bouquet will be a posy purchased from our local florist on the morning of the wedding for $40.

We're not having cars as we are getting ready at a cottage at the venue. Ipod music for the reception with a couple of my past school students singing at the ceremony.

BBQ dinner, ice cream for dessert & an Eiffel Tower gingerbreak 'cake' made by a friend for $90. Homemade lemonade for the kids.

You just need to plan ahead & start early, so you're not stressing out the week before.

I found my $1,970 wedding dress for only $400 !!! Seriously ......the trick is being open to discontinued designers and dresses. Boutiques don't want to keep these dresses as most brides want the latest designs. So i asked for dresses on sale and discontinued & that's how I saved almost $1,600 and got an amazing Aire Barcelona dress...then I'll post it on ebay and get my money back!!!

I found my dress online for $225 at Lightinthebox.com. We, ok I, am doing a lot of DIY projects like the favors, the cake, my veil, decorations, and flowers. I am having so much more fun with my October halloween themed wedding than when our was in January. Good luck everyone.

Well! My stylist/seamstress insisted on making my wedding gown and "party dress" for me so all I had to get was the fabric and appliques. All that was under $400 so that beats the $1,200+ price tag on the pretty lace mermaid gown I tried and liked (not loved) at a wedding boutique.  I found this gorgeous idea for our invitations as well (pockets with info cards to insert). My fiance has offered to print the cards so that all we need to order are the pockets and envelopes. MORE SAVING! Yaayy!

Favors? Totally unnecessary! Do your guests really need a $5-$10 trinket that can add $1-2,000 to your budget? Or a donation to your favorite charity? What is the point? This recent "tradition" comes from the same people who provide "goody bags" at childrens' birthday parties. Your guests come to the event to share and celebrate your joy. You provide fun, food, refreshments and entertainment - no crappy token gifts needed - spend the money on something USEFUL. 

Good tips! Thanks for sharing!

I got my dress for $200, the exact same kind can be found at Davids bridal for over $900, with with exception of the neck line, sweet hear vs straight across. I flew down to So Cal, specifically shopped in Westminister and Garden Grove where there is a bridal store every four blocks. As you can imagine, competition is HUGE where there are 30 bridal stores in a two mile radius. I also got amazing wedding shoes for really cheap too. Saving $700 on a dress I had my mnd set on was worth the airfare.

I got my dress for 399 on sale at David's Bridal and it looks so much like this designer gown I wanted!  My DJ wasn't bad. He cost 300 bucks and he is going to record the reception for free!  My wedding shoes were an awesome find at DSW for $39.00.  I also am doing the centerpieces myself and decided to use candles instead of flowers.

We used our wedding website as an RSVP tool-  very easy to set up! I bought some cute tiny shabby chic cards(plain inside) with matching envelopes from micheals for $2.00, used our printer to give them the wedding wedsite address.  You save bigtime on postage and time!.

On the favors---I bought these really pretty thin starfish from Bealls $5 dollars for a pack of six, for our guest so they can remeber our day at the beach , where our venue will be.

Awesome tips, but one mistake. Where is there a DJ for a few hundred dollars?! They START at over a thoussand.