Off-Peak Times:  Don’t chose a peak holiday weekend, or a peak day of the week.  Mid-week weddings are much cheaper and banquet halls will give you a huge discount if you book on an off-peak day of the week.  The same goes for the date. If you chose May-September for your wedding date, you may have to pay a higher price for your wedding hall.  Choose carefully, because the date matters, if you want to save money!

 

Don’t Hire a DJ!  Get a tech-savvy or musically inclined friend to set up his iPod or iTunes to the sound system at the banquet hall.  Or, if you have a friend that can DJ, get your friend to DJ.  We had a friend DJ our reception and we got to hear the music we liked. 

 

Skip the videographer.  Let’s be real– I’ve been married for 6 years and I’ve never watched the professional wedding video.  We did watch the videos taken by friends and family, however.

 

Limit guest list.  Big weddings are nice, but you honestly don’t remember much from your wedding day, especially if you have many people there.  Our wedding had over 500 people.  And in retrospect, I would have enjoyed it much better if it had been restricted to a few close friends. Invite people you think you”ll be in contact with 5-10 years down the road.

 

Do a cruise honeymoon or all inclusive resort honeymoon. You can take the hassle out of planning by taking a real vacation– one that’s already planned out by someone else.  All inclusive resort vacations offer good deals to honeymooners and there are many good deals out there these days. You can waste a lot of money on food and entertainment on your honeymoon.  At all inclusive honeymoons, all you have to do is lounge around. 

 Make your own invitations, or better yet, use online invitations! 

You can actually make your own invitations.  You don’t need to go out and hire a professional printer. I’ve used Printing Press before to make invitations. I ordered vellum paper online and bought some quality cardstock. The vellum paper goes on top, as an overlay, with the invitation card on the bottom.
Printing Press Software for Weddings

Make your own wedding favors and centerpieces. 

 

Make your own centerpieces, or shop around online for really cheap centerpieces.  Here’s a coupon to some unique centerpieces:  Enter coupon code SAVE5 to receive 5% off of your order.  Also, check out these deals on Clearance at The Knot Wedding Shop.

Related Resources

• Tight Budgets Need Love, Too (The Clever Bride)