Wedding Ideas On A Budget

Your wedding should be one of the happiest days of your life.  Certainly there is no reason for your wedding to be financially stressful.  There are hundreds of things you can do to make your wedding inexpensive and personal.   The old rules of wedding planning have flown out the window.  The rigid formal wedding is no longer the norm.  Good riddance, I think!   Make your wedding uniquely yours.

Find a comfortable chair, a tablet and a pen.  See yourself on your wedding day. Imagine exactly how you want things to be.  Then start making notes.  Set a budget and stick to it.  Then make a list of 50 unique inexpensive things you can do to make your wedding special.  

And as you are thinking about your wedding day, review these ideas to get your creativity flowing.  And congratulations!  Remember to enjoy this special season from beginning to end.

Contact local hotels for super group rates for your family and close friends.  Ask about a hospitality room.  Very often, hospitality rooms are free if you have enough guests with reserved rooms. Ask if you can bring in food. 

If all your aunts and cousins bring a pick-up snack, you can spread a beautiful table!  Keep the decorations simple.  In this photo, you can see our use of tri-fold boards.  This board was created by the bride -- and was filled with photos of the wedding party.  Everyone enjoyed the board and the memories of those precious friendships.  (The board also served to help relatives remember names of wedding party friends!)

You will also see in this photograph a memory plate.  This plate is used again and again for family celebrations.  You can erase the message and add a new one.  Change the ribbon to match your decor!  

Another good idea -- buy a bag of smooth rocks at your local hobby shop.  Have guests write a note to the bride and groom on a rock.  After the wedding, the rocks are piled into a large glass vase - beautiful decorative item and filled with good wishes and great memories!

One of the most fun additions to your wedding can be a team mascot.  Contact your local university.  Some will even send the mascot to your reception for a simple donation or at a low cost. 

The University of South Carolina mascot, Cocky, was a big surprise for our daughter and son-in-law.  Cocky led dances, posed for photos with guests, and in general set the tone for the entire reception.  What great fun!

Do shop around for your wedding cake.  You do not need the fanciest cake ever made.  You need to be able to feed your guests each a slice of cake.  And of course, you want it to be pretty.  This is one spot where brides often get carried away.  Be reasonable here.  Prices for wedding cakes can vary hundreds of dollars. 

Make yourself a wedding cake list.  At top of the list write yourself a note.

Be Reasonable and Practical!

When you are shopping for wedding cakes, take your notebook with you.  When you turn to the wedding cake page, you will be reminded of your determination to be practical.