Ideas for spending less money on a wedding!
By ctrymuziklvr
@ctrymuziklvr (11057)
United States
March 24, 2008 8:11am CST
My son and his girlfriend have been engaged for almost 3 years and are starting to plan their wedding for next year...hopefully! She of course wants an extravaganze and as much as I would love to see it neither one of them can afford it and her mother and I are both on Social Security so obviously we're not going to be much help 
. Her father is a drug addict and nobody knows where he is and my son hasn't had anything to do with his father in years so again...no help there. We've come up with a couple of ideas where they can save some money on the wedding but it's still adding up to way more than they can afford.
What are your ideas for a wedding and reception that wouldn't cost thousands of dollars?
. Her father is a drug addict and nobody knows where he is and my son hasn't had anything to do with his father in years so again...no help there. We've come up with a couple of ideas where they can save some money on the wedding but it's still adding up to way more than they can afford.
What are your ideas for a wedding and reception that wouldn't cost thousands of dollars?7 people like this
9 responses
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
24 Mar 08
Best idea for saving on a wedding is call on all friends and family you can for help - I was engaged a few years back (ended up breaking it off and am glad I did) but was in the middle of 'wedding plans'. I was doing all the flowers - got silk ones on sale 50% off, with doing them myself over $600 worth of flowers cost me less than $100. Friend of a friend was doing my $5000 dress for $300 (material and labor), another friend was going to do my $400 cake as her wedding gift to me... What I did was find pictures (and prices) of what I 'wanted' and then searched for ways to save.
@ctrymuziklvr (11057)
• United States
25 Mar 08
I suggest most of the same thing to her and since I was married to a florist many years ago I mentioned the silk flowers to her. I don't know how well that sat with her but it is an idea.
@ladyluna (7004)
• United States
24 Mar 08
Hello Ctry,
Forgive me for approaching this in other than a direct manner, but ...
I believe that the best suggestion I can make is for you and the Bride-to-be's mother to talk the future bride into a very simple ceremony now, with the goal of re-newing their vows in say five or ten years.
This way, the future bride won't get all wrapped up into thinking that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. She can spend the next five to ten years saving and planning for the 'shindig' that she cannot reasonably afford now.
I just think that presenting her with the option to make her dream wedding a reality, in the future as opposed to now, will work out better than cutting corners here, and skimping there. Which, will perhaps make you all feel like this is a compromise, rather than a celebration.
Am I making any sense?
2 people like this
@ctrymuziklvr (11057)
• United States
25 Mar 08
That makes a lot of sense! That will give them years to save up and I'm going to mention it to them tomorrow. Thanks for the idea. 
2 people like this
@ladyluna (7004)
• United States
26 Mar 08
Hello Ctry,
I hope this idea fits for your son and future D.I.L.
Our daughter and S.I.L. made this same decision. They had offers from Hubby & I, as well as both sets of grandparents to pitch in to pay for their wedding. But, they wanted to do it on their own.
So, they were married in a very simple, private ceremony and plan their big shin-dig for a for a future anniversary.
Our daughter says that this saved her a world of stress from planning, and allowed she and her now husband to focus on taking the biggest step of their lives, instead of focusing on party details. Plus, it gives them something to look forward to.
After the private ceremony, they sent out a very nice note to announce their nuptuals. In it, they explained that they didn't intend to slight anyone. That instead the celebratory party would come at a later date, after they were able to dispel any heartfelt concerns that they were too young to get married. And, that they were instead going to put their noses to the grindstone to save their pennies to purchase a home.
Hubby & I are really proud of them & their decision. Particularly, since they are now only in their early twenties. We thought (and still think) that this demonstrated very sound judgement.
As a result of their decision, they were able to use their savings which they would have spent on the formal wedding, as well as the congratulatory gifts they received, and what they could add to it as a downpayment for their home, just a little over a year after they were married.
So, at least for them, it would seem that this was the right decision.
@havfaith (174)
• United States
24 Mar 08
I got married in 2005. I think I had a pretty nice wedding. I made all my favors and centerpeices and what ever else I could make my self right down to the wishing well for my cards. My wedding came to $2000.00, My dress was the most exspensive thing and it was on sale for $300. My family and my husbands family made all the food, which was very nice.
havfaith
1 person likes this
@terilee79720 (3621)
• United States
24 Mar 08
Hi ctrymuziklvr,
I added a discussion just for this subject several days ago. It's full of great ideas for spending less money on a wedding.
You can check it out here
http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/1434472.aspx
I hope it give you some ideas.
2 people like this
@reejane (293)
• Philippines
2 Apr 08
Well based on my experience, in order to shortened the expenses a lot of people are into DYI (do-it-yourself) stuff.
Some people create souvenirs or invitations out of DYI. Others make DYI to be used in the reception. There are actually a lot of ideas on the internet for DYI. You can try checking Martha Stewart website or The Knot for some inspirations :)
@misslady007 (83)
• United States
25 Mar 08
Have a courthouse wedding and bake their wedding cake.spend less save money.
@Aurone (4755)
• United States
25 Mar 08
Some of the things I did to cut cost of my wedding a couple years ago was to print my own invitations. You can get these box sets from Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Joanns or any other craft store (plus you can get them or sale or use a coupon that those stores are always handing out). Do your own centerpieces, we did baskets with candles wrapped in tulle for my center pieces (which were on sale spring baskets from a craft store). You can also do your own other favors such as candy in tulle or other such cute things. We had bubbles with labels with our name and date on them--got the stuff for that at the craft store too. Bought our rings from Sams. They are just simple bands.
For my brothers wedding/reception we had it at a local state park, decorated it ourselves and made the snack foods for the reception. That saved a lot of $$. And had a friend of his do the music using my vast collection off my ipod.
Plus my brother was ordained by an internet church and he preformed my ceremony and I became ordained for his and preformed his ceremony therefore we didn't have any money in an officiant.
And the cake, I think we both had that made, but if you had a friend who had taken a cake decorating class or if you or your daughter wanted to take the class, they offer them at many craft stores, then you could make your own cake. My friend make the cake for my wedding shower and for a baby shower that we put together for a friend. She does an excellent job because she took a class several years ago.
Hope this helps.
@julievy (593)
• United States
25 Mar 08
My son got married in our yard last summer. Her parents said that they couldn't afford to provide her with a wedding. We knew about it a couple of months in advance to when I planted flowers last spring I planted everything in the colors they had chosen for their wedding. For the bride's boquet we used cut flowers from our yard and borrowed some from our neighbor's beautiful garden (she was thrilled that we had asked). One of their friends had just taken a cake decorating class, so she made their cake as a wedding gift. I made a simple meal for the guests. Instead of spending money on a formal wedding dress, she shopped around and found a lovely off white dress on sale at a department store.
Of course, the brides parents (who said they could not afford a wedding) showed up for the ceremony in a brand spanking new BMW....
@rstuck2003 (43)
•
25 Mar 08
When I got married we did everything ourselves except for the invitations and the cake and our expenses were low. We did all the food (did a buffet), did all of our flowers and decorations) and my dress was bought at a resale shop. The dollar stores (Dollar Tree especially) has some cute decorations).
Renee
