OMG...Weddings are expensive!

My sister got married for less than a thousand dollars. A friend of hers made the cakes as a wedding present in lieu of a gift. If you have someone who is kitchen inclined, instead of a gift, have them bake you a cake. My sister's bride cake turned out wonderful. It was 3 layers. Or if it comes down to it, Kroger and Wal-Mart make terrific sheet cakes for about $15 each. You can get the bakery employees to write something wedding like on the cake and I doubt anyone will care if it's not a 3 layered tier cake with fake roses and silk draping over it. Can you borrow the chairs from a church or a school? We had borrowed chairs from a local school my sister's friend taught at plus chairs from their church for the reception/wedding. All in all, there were about 70 chairs set out for guests. If you're worried about paying rent to a church, consider getting married outdoors or maybe at your home or a parent's/friend's house. My sister's wedding was at her inlaws house in the backyard. The inlaws got a pool fountain that sprayed water up in the air, plus put floating candles in the pool and got some tiki torches for ambient lighting. Have friends and family take photographs. Those little disposable cameras can be bought *cheaply* on eBay in bulk of 20-50 or more for little to no money. Everyone has gone digital so it's easy to get those cameras cheap. Have some out on the tables and give more to your friends/family and have everyone take photographs from their POV. It makes for a great photo album and you get shots that you or a professional photographer would not have thought to get. Professionals are focused on the bride/groom and the wedding party. Rarely do they focus on the "innocent" moments such as a child reaching up to touch the wedding cake or a nosy guest shaking the presents. Go to a second hand thrift store for your wedding dress or shop online on eBay or browse the newspapers for sales on dresses. At least here, the wedding shops such as David's Bridal runs specials every now and again with select dresses under $100. Or you can go to JC Penny's or Macy's and find a nice, white gown there for next to nothing. My sister got hers through David's Bridal. It was a returned dress that didn't fit right and it fit my sister perfect. The dress was originally $500 and my sister got hers for about $100. Congrats on the wedding (again) and good luck!

I don't really know. We had our reception as a dinner, no dancing, and at a restaurant, which really cut costs down, because we didn't have to rent any equipment or hire anyone. We booked one floor of the place, and used their group rates menu, which was really good - there was so much food. (it actually worked really well for the kids, too, because the restaurant had crayons, cute cups, and kids' menus for them, and they didn't even charge for the kids' food.)

Flowers - Use silk and make the arangements your self. Its really not that hard. Silk flowers are less expensive and you can do them way a head of time. Decorations - Use your silk flowers for center peices. Go to wal mart and get some twin size sheets cut them in strips and lay them down the middle of the table it will dress it up and not cost too much. Favors - Go to orientialtradingclub.com they have tuns of favors really cheap. Or make some thing your self. We made napkin holders for each set of silver ware and that was our favor. It was perfect because it was a decoration and a favor. Food - If you are going to do a sit down dinner Chicken is the least expensive. You could do chicken salad and rice for pretty cheap. And if you have family that would cook for you even better. I went to one wedding where they did "a taste of pasta" they had like 6 different pastas and 4 sauces. You picked what you wanted. That along with salad (and a pasta salad) and bread. The bride a very good friend of mine said it was really cheap to do it. Dress - Remember you are only going to wear it once so no need to spend a lot on it. Think location if you have a beach wedding you could find a dress anywhere it could even be a pale color. If you have a back yard wedding you could have a simple sleek dress. Now if I had to do it all again I would do things very unconvential. Jeans and a white tee of course a pair of white heels lol. I would have it in my back yard. And for decorations I would have buckets of ice and Budweiser on the table with a couple roses sticking out. I would carry 1 flower down the isle. There would be fried chicken potato salad and coleslaw to eat. (kcf could cater) Remember the wedding is for friends and family the only part that is truly for you ... is the part where you say I DO! Good luck and CONGRATS!

seriously, if i had to do it again, i would so elope! but ya i know thats not going to help you! try and make favours if you can, get cozy with a church, some will let you borrow their chairs, see if you can get married on someone's (that you know) property??!!

The cost of wedding in my country also is very high fot the youngers. If one couple planned to marry,they maybe strunggle for the house,car and so on.The price of the house is so high that a common person should spend about 20 years or more to earn it. For me,20 years is not enough for me just by my recent job.IN my country,we just have two part:the poor and the wealthy one.The house is just fot the second part and the price of the house is also increasing without break.