Wedding Budget

Cutting cost with little sacrifice!

CHINATOWN.  IT's the best place to pick up table decorations.  I got peacock feathers five for a dollar.  but thats not the only thing you can get.  there's candles and mirrors for the tables, vases, flowers, ribbons...  a tonne of stuff!!!!

hmmm.. best tip i can give is shop around, you will be amazed at what nice things you can find at the dollar store for a buck or 2, also places like walmart & homesense

you can cut expenses on alot of things like random stuff for the weding garter set, cake topper, cake server all of these will only be used once
I picked up my card box for$10 at walmart,place cards for $2,

center pieces I made my own each one cost 10 bucks and they are beautiful

Flowers is a big one for me i didnt want to spend so much on them cause they die even dh agreed while shopping adifferent dollar stores i found beautiful foam white roses 8 to a bunch for a $1 i got a whole box for $22 with them I have made my boutonniere, crosages, toss bouquet & will be making my own bouquet

I think my best purchase has been my dress another tip and i got this one fro another bride on here  look around for bridal shops/stores that are closing they tend to have amazing deals on dresses.I happen to walk by one saw a huge sign that said 50-70% off and found my beautiful dress for only $112

DIY projects are not only fun but save so much, if you have family & friends that can help even better

the one thing that we are not skimping out on is our invitations lol! dh wants scroll invites they are very pretty and make a beautiful keepsake so im fine with that

last tips shop early when u are under stress you tend to buy more expensive  when you are running around months b4 the wedding and last dont use the word Wedding alot while shopping this tend to jack up the price higher on certain things.

I'm not married yet but we definitely cut costs on the invites. I got a kit from Michaels and ordered the main invite from Vistaprint. They really turned out lovely for a cheap price. Putting them together was a bit of a pain, but well worth it.

We skimped on favours. My FSIL is making chocolates for everyone. Amazing chocolates for free!

I skimped on my dress. I bought it used for $500 from the Bride's Project in Toronto which is a non-profit organization that gives all it's proceeds to cancer charities.

We are having cupcakes instead of cake and it's cheaper.

My flower budget is extremely low. We are doing candle lanterns as centerpieces instead and I bought my flowers from a lady that owns her own home business. Because she doesn't have to pay for an actual shop, she can charge ridiculously low prices.

Things we went all out on: food, drinks, and photography.

Thanks, ladies, for your comments!

Cam, I didn't know you were a peacock bride! We want to use peacock feathers too!

I agree with fairytale that shopping around is helpful and also remembering that many things will only be used one time.

Also though, she reminds us that these tips will be very personal, because everyone has different priorities for their wedding. For a fairytale wedding, scroll invites are a super cool idea!

macbride, GOOD CALL on the food, drinks and photography! That's probably where most of our budget will go, too!

For us I definitely saved on invitations and my dress and accessories so far. I designed and am making my own invitations completely by hand. I'm spending less than $2 per invitation including postage and all my envelopes will be done with hand calligraphy! I had a budget of $1500 for my dress and ended up spending $550 for THE DRESS and I made my own bracelet for $15 rather than buying it for $125. So I think the total for my dress and accessories will end up being about $750.

We definitely splurged on our photography though. I was definitely not going to cut that. About a third of our budget is going to our photographer.

The thing that I did not want to skimp on is the food,  and the liquor.  I did not want to skimp on these items because that is what I look forward to when I am invited to a wedding. It is kind of what most people expect. That would have been the thing that was for my husband and I but also  for my guest (You ARE NOT JUST PLEASING YOURSELF WHEN YOU PLAN A WEDDING...YOUR PLEASING OTHERS THAT YOU WANT AT YOUR WEDDING)  for my own pleasure I did not want to skimp on photography... because that is what I would have in my house. And most of all I would not skimp on the party atmosphere... what makes this wedding click!!!!!!  I wanted something that had Q and my personality mixed in and what I know about us is that we love to have fun... I would not have wanted a stiff, stuffy wedding.  I have to say and I never thought that I would admit this BUT.... I am more happy now than when I first eloped because I was feeling like I robbed myself with the things that I wanted..... Truth be told we are not out of a bunch of money that the only thing that we would have to show for it is are wedding photos... Weddings are a big expense ladies so be smart, be creative, but best of all dont go broke!!!!!   Enjoy!