# Frugal Wedding Ideas



## Cal

I am sure that most of us will agree that a wedding can be the biggest rip off out there.

Just wondering how some of you saved some $$ on your big day.


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## Brad911

rookie888 said:


> Just wondering how some of you saved some $$ on your big day.


Getting married next September, but my strategy so far is to have a budget, stick to it and I have a fiancee who is great on a budget.


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## Spidey

Probably one of the biggest money savers would be to provide wine with dinner, but have a cash bar rather than an open bar. In my student days I worked as a waiter and noticed that I picked up quite a few more half empty glasses than usual for open bars.

On the other hand, don't cheap out too much. Its probably worth still having a nice dinner, flowers, etc. Its a once in a lifetime event (hopefully). I know that I originally complained a little about the costs but in the end found that it was worth it considering the significance of the day.

PS. Congratulations to both you and Brad911.


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## Kalynn12

*Its in the details*

Congrats!!!

I personally am not married (yet) but use to work as a wedding coordinator at a very popular wedding venue (over a 100 per year).

Venue: This is a massive one. Think about the little details not just the per plate cost. 
-Is it nicely decorated already? If so you will need a lot less decorations. 
-If they have nice chairs that means no expensive chair covers (3+ per chair). 
-How is their wedding coordinator and staff? Some are more helpful then others and this could mean the difference between hiring an "on the day" coordinator or not. I would lots of tips to my brides, help with other vendors, coordinate everything day of, help lay down menus, give aways, etc, etc. There is lots to do day of and you won't have time to deal with it.
-Do they include table linens? Most (not all ie cheaper ones) include them in the rental. If they are 60 inch rounds make sure they are either using 120 inch rounds (circular and will hit the ground) or doubling 90x90s (square but have cross they so they have 8 points hitting the ground). If linens are included just by a nice sheer overlay or table runner (much cheaper) or leave it white and use table decorations instead (much much cheaper)
-Do they include glassware/china in the venue rental? If not that can also add up quickly.
-Ask them what their F&B minimums are and if they change during the week. At our venue, you needed to spend $15,000 on food and beverage on a Friday or Saturday (May-September) but only $10,000 at any other time. Trust me, people will show up for your wedding no matter what day of the week it is. I saw numerous 200+ weddings, Sun-Thurs, including a 400 person wedding on a Tuesday. Think about it, how many of us actually work Mon-Fri anymore?
-Ask the venue if you can get a special event permit, this allows you to buy the liquor directly from the liquor store (and return the extra afterwards) therefore saving the venues mark up. You will be paying a corkage fee per guest but it still works out cheaper (especially if they are big drinkers). 
-Opt for just a host bar but just beer, wine and a special cocktail. Check to see if your venue charges you per shot or per open bottle. That means if they open a bottle but only one shot is gone, you are paying for the whole bottle, so limit the kinds of liquor on the bar.
-Have a reception style dinner instead, this can be much cheaper.
-Buffet is sometimes more expensive (then need to prepare more food). Consider the price of plated and you could be surprised.
-Don't dismiss the all inclusive packages that are offered by some venues, the number seems big but do the math and it could end up being a good deal (again with the big drinker weddings).

Wow that was long and there is much much more. Good luck and message me if you have questions.


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## OhGreatGuru

rookie888 said:


> I am sure that most of us will agree that a wedding can be the biggest rip off out there.
> 
> Just wondering how some of you saved some $$ on your big day.


Tip A: Sit down and figure out how much you could save on a mortgage with the $20-$30K people seem to think they need to spend on weddings these days.

Tip B: Get over yourself - you're not the Crown Prince and Princess. Get married at City hall, with 2 witnesses, and send all your friends and relatives an e-mail afterwards.

Tip C: There seems to be a trend to having your wedding in some Caribbean resort. Any "guests" who want to come have to pay their own way. It's cheaper than paying for a reception for 200.


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## Elbyron

I'm getting married in just 3 weeks, so most of the planning and purchasing has already been done. I'm a frugal person, and so I'd like to share some of the ways I saved money. Mostly, it just involves taking the time to shop around for good deals.

1) Start early, and start with the venues. This is especially important if you think you might invite 100+ guests. I started last September, but many of the places that had reasonable prices were already booked for most of the summer weekends. The sooner you start, the more options are available, and thus the easier it will be to find a good deal. 

2) Look for a photographer who is just starting out on their own. Make sure they have several years of experience shooting weddings, but are still new to the business aspect and thus have competitive pricing. They may not be easy to find, so expect a fair bit of research time. Try kijiji.ca, yellow pages, and maybe even a google search with "photographer" and your city name. A good photographer will have a website with a portfolio, or at least a photo blog. Look at their work and see if you like the style. Maybe get a friend or relative who knows about photography to evaluate the quality. Make sure they include a DVD with the full-resolution photos so you can get your own prints made - the photographer's packages of prints are rarely worth the price they charge. I keep all my photos on the computer anyway, and show them to people on my TV, so I'm only getting a few 8x10s for my parents and grandparents. I ended up going with a nice lady who charges $850 for a package that includes 2 photographers for the ceremony, formals, reception, and even includes an engagement session.

3) Make your own invitations. Search the internet for design ideas, but please don't replicate a copyright protected design. We saw a neat idea of using 1/4" ribbon, with one color forming a "V" coming down from the top and a second color of ribbon forming an inverted "V" from the bottom, loosely interlocked in the center. We used 3 layers of paper, sandwiching the ribbon ends between the middle and bottom layer. We bought nice high-quality paper and envelopes from a stationary store, and used the paper cutter at a Staples business center. We used our own laser printer, as the text was just plain black. Finally, rather than mailing out a whole bunch of stamped RSVP envelopes, we setup our own website and wrote a little php form that guests could use to RSVP for each family member (we're both computer programmers). You can easily get your own free wedding website: check out weddingwire.com or do a Google search.

4) Shop around for flowers. Costco has some very inexpensive rose bouquets and boutonniers. After we decided what kinds of flowers we wanted to order, I phoned about a dozen florists to get quotes. I was amazed at the range of prices! Several were between $650 - $750, but a nearby Grower's Direct quoted me $400. I later called another Grower's Direct location because the manager there supposedly specialized in weddings - this one was only $300! Her bouquets were only a little more than Costco's price, so we decided to go with her for the entire order. 

5) Who needs an expensive DJ? My fiancee and I don't like to dance, so it's really just for the guests. I was even considering going without one but I don't want all my friends and family to think I'm cheap (well I am, but most of my relatives don't know it). We found a guy who will play some oldies music for $550, plus $99 for setting up his audio equipment at the ceremony.


The only place I really did not want cheap out on is the rings. I let her pick out any ring she wanted, and was lucky that it was only $3000. My ring also has some small diamonds in it and cost $800. Her dress was also expensive, but her parents paid for it. But, a good way to cut costs is to rent a dress. Selection may not be as good, but if she's not picky then she'll find one that fits.


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## flayto

OhGreatGuru said:


> Tip A: Sit down and figure out how much you could save on a mortgage with the $20-$30K people seem to think they need to spend on weddings these days.
> 
> Tip B: Get over yourself - you're not the Crown Prince and Princess. Get married at City hall, with 2 witnesses, and send all your friends and relatives an e-mail afterwards.
> 
> Tip C: There seems to be a trend to having your wedding in some Caribbean resort. Any "guests" who want to come have to pay their own way. It's cheaper than paying for a reception for 200.


Amen to that!

My wife and I got married at City Hall last October with only our parents in attendance. With the money we didn't spend on a huge wedding, we were easily able to afford a honeymoon in Hawaii (although the 7K price tag of that felt painful too, but not as painful as it would have been after a 30K wedding).

This weekend we are throwing a wedding "reception" in our backyard - BBQ and booze for everyone. We have requested that people dress in casual (e.g. summer bbq) clothes and not bring gifts. Total cost of our bbq: $1000 for food, liquor, table/chair rental, etc. Plus, we actually get to enjoy being with our friends and family and enjoy our own celebration instead of worry about every single little detail going well so that our big day doesn't get ruined.

The thing that shocks me most about weddings is how much people actually buy into the fact that it "has" to be just like everyone else's - i.e. flowers, fancy dinner, tux/dress, DJ, etc. 

The most enjoyable wedding I have ever attended was one that had no official ceremony - just friends & family in the couple's backyard. Everyone was relaxed and comfortable. No expectations. And it was truly a celebration rather than a show.

Sorry if I sound cynical or resentful about weddings (because I AM). What a waste of money and setting yourselves up for years of financial stress trying to pay for it afterwards.

In this once-in-a-generation recession/depression, I can think of many better ways to spend 20-30K.


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## Cal

I saved a few $ on the ring, as I bought the diamond from a wholesaler (w certificate) and had the ring made....ended up paying about 15% of the appraised value.

In general there are some good cash deals out there, perhaps b/c of the recession businesses are a little hungrier for business.


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## bpither

The other day my wife and I were on top of Grouse Mountain overlooking Vancouver - a popular wedding location. I can understand the choice but as we stood under the rented section of the lounge/outdoor patio I could see the musicians, servers and guests somewhat agitated by the bugs - on a cloudy day there are more than if it were sunny.

Ah yes ... those small details (pardon the pun)

When we married (frugally) it was on a beach during a cool, windy and cloudy late May day. We couldn't change the date as it was all prearranged BUT right at the very end of the ceremony - I swear this was true - a beautiful rainbow suddenly appeared right behind us. Fancy that.


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## MoneyGal

I got married in my sister's house, standing on a platform covering her hot tub (drained and turned off for this event!). 

We had 34 guests, a caterered tea beforehand, and a buffet dinner afterwards. I didn't wear a wedding dress, I didn't have flowers, and I don't have a diamond ring. We took everybody for a horse-drawn sleigh ride (it was a beautiful snowy December 23). The catering was the biggest expense, at $3500 (we had some fancy food, peeps). 

Then for our honeymoon we went hiking in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas mountains for nearly a month. That cost more than the wedding, but not much!


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## brad

If you have friends who are musicians, see if they will consider providing the music as their wedding gift to you.

If you're getting married in summer, collect your own flowers (or have friends collect them for you) from wildflowers growng alongside roads. There are plenty of beautiful roadside flowers, and most of them are alien species and not endangered (which would more likely be the case if you collect them in the woods or other natural areas).

I've been to several weddings that were potluck affairs, with people bringing their own food. It didn't feel cheap - the food was fantastic and the effort that people put into making the food felt like a real gift and a show of love. 

Forego engagement rings. I know lots of married couples who didn't bother with an engagement ring and even a couple who didn't bother with wedding bands either. Rings are expensive and can be easily lost; some people even buy insurance for their rings, which over their married life ends up costing as much or more than the rings themselves.

I think the degree of frugality you can bring to your wedding depends in large part on how traditional/conventional you are and also the expectations of your respective families and the importance of tradition to them. Some people would prefer to have a simple wedding but end up spending a lot of money to placate their parents and extended families who are expecting a traditional wedding. Everyone's situation is different. I've been married twice and both times we spent less than $1,000 total on our weddings. But we were unconventional and our families didn't mind. Not everyone has that kind of freedom.


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## Spidey

I would just like to add, that considering the occasion, it is very important that you both be on board for a frugal low cost wedding. If you both are in agreement on a simple low-cost wedding, great. In my case, my wife wanted specific things - a church wedding, a nice dress, flowers, a nice cake, a good photographer, and a nice reception. We did cut costs on some items - a friend did the videotaping and we had a cash bar (but supplied wine with dinner). We also didn't go overboard on the cost of rings, but I did replace the diamond in my wife's ring years latter. 

I would have been just as happy with a more simple affair, but I knew it was important to my wife and in the end I was glad we did it. (In fact, if I had it to do over again, I may have even splurged on the cash bar.) My wife is typically very very frugal (often more so than me) and this type of spending was out of character, so I knew that it must be extremely important to her. 

Just a few things to keep in mind.


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## Jon_Snow

Well, my wife and I managed to pull off a very nice wedding a week ago, and today, after tallying up the numbers, our net worth only took a .27% hit this month. 

We utilized my parents Gulf Island property so we didn't have to rent a hall... just some good sized tents. My folks and I split the costs down the middle: booze, catering, etc. 

People who came to the wedding had to pay for accomodations at resorts and B&B's so we told the guests that we didn't expects gifts from them. Most abided by that rule, but not all... We also had a cab company on call all night so we didn't have to worry about people who had been drinking trying to negotiate unfamilar and winding roads.

We just go back from our honeymoon yesterday, and managed to spend over $2000 in three days in the Parksville area of Vancouver Island. So any frugality pretty much went out the window at that point. 

Back to savings mode starting tomorrow!!!!!!!


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## Reformed Spender

It seems I have a whole different idea of what expensive is! I was getting stressed out at the cost of our wedding in my hometown (500$ DJ, 1300$ dinner, etc) so we moved it to my fiancé's hometown where he has a big family (DJ=free by his uncle who has a side business, dinner = his mother and her sisters catering, etc). We had a budding photographer who was charging us 200$ lined up and that's the only part I was sad to see go because she was really good. Still, we managed to get that for free too. A good friend ours is a hobby photographer and very talented. 

Picking flowers for free is a great idea, but I wouldn't go this route for the corsages and boutonnieres. Florists know what they're doing and have an eye for this stuff. However, I only want a very simple bouquet, so I've ordered roses from the grocery store and bought florist wire from Michael's to tie them myself. I might pick some wildflowers for the decor though! Must be careful for bugs though. I tried to pick some dasies for the house, but they were infested!


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## kirk

My wife and I decided not to have a cake. With paying for the cake itself and the cutting fees ($2-4$ per guest) you can save a lot of money. Plus, none of your guests will care or even realize you didn't a cake. We had been to a wedding before ours where they B&G faked their "cutting the cake" photos before the guests arrived, and then the staff cut the cake in the kitchen later in the evening. What's the point of that? Another couple that got married had a little cake at their rehearsal dinner instead of at the wedding reception. 

Reusable center pieces. I just sold our center pieces for $100. If you buy them from someone else, you should be able to resell them yourself after the wedding and get your money back. Check out kijiji, craigslist, usedottawa, etc for reusable ideas.

We had a decorator that set up and tore down our reception decorations for about $300. This was well worth it and a great stress remover. This decorator also had stuff we could rent from her (giftbox, chair covers, etc) if needed. She even sold wedding dresses.

I would recommend an open bar though. I don't drink, so at first I was against it. I was considering having a $2 price for all drinks with the money going to charity, but instead went with open bar. Even if you close the open bar at midnight or 11:30, that would be fine. The reason to have an open bar is that you are having the guests there to celebrate with you, so asking them to cough up extra cash for drinks just seems impolite. These guests are going to be giving you gifts (many will be just cash or checks), so don't focus so much on what the open bar will cost you. We ended up depositing $8000 in checks in the bank the next day. We hadn't even considered that we would get half that.

Be careful with who you choose for a photographer. We went high end photographer. We had friends that went towards the lower end and are now ashamed to show their photos because they are that bad. We probably spent $5000 compared to their sub $1000 but it was important to us to have great photos. This is who we went with http://www.martinphotography.ca

The best advice I can give is to choose what is important to you. You can't have the best of everything, so don't try to. Figure out where you can cut back, but don't try to cut back on everything. Consider where you are trying to save as well. We had our invitations done by a graphic designer for around $600. Sure, we could have done them by ourselves, but it would have still cost us $200 as well as hours and hours of frustration. Pick your spots!


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## terryrules

I am planning on having a garden wedding come December of this year because this is my fiancee's lifelong dream, any advices? Would greatly appreciate it, thanks in advance!


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## flayto

terryrules said:


> I am planning on having a garden wedding come December of this year because this is my fiancee's lifelong dream, any advices? Would greatly appreciate it, thanks in advance!


-Depending on whether there will be a specific dinner time for everyone, make sure to get enough tables and chairs to accommodate everyone. If it's going to be casual and buffet-style, then you can probably get away with fewer tables and chairs since some people will be standing around/mingling while others sit and eat. If you have a van/truck, opt to pick up tables & chairs yourself (we don't have a van, and the delivery charge accounted for nearly half the total rental cost!)
-Hire a waiter/waitress at your local coffee shop/restaurant who would be thrilled to work for $15-$20 an hour. We paid a student $80 to be at our party for about 4 hours and make sure everyone always had a drink, utensils, napkins, and could direct them to a garbage or washroom if necessary. This saved us a lot of headaches since we were already really busy and didn't have time to manage these things for everyone.


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## heyjude

Maybe no savings here, but have you seen Jill and Kevin's wedding dance? I love it! It's just so joyful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0


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## kel

We pulled it off by caring about being married, not the wedding itself.

The "engagement ring" was new sheets for our bed ($100ish). We had a forest wedding with a burgers and beer reception for our families where everyone was asked to bring either a salad or dessert. Pictures were taken by ourselves and our guests.

For 80 or so people, the whole thing ran us about $1,500 (food, clothing, etc). And since people didn't seem to want to skip the gift and just bring food as requested, we actually turned a profit of $1,000 or so on the event.

There's no trick per se, we just didn't want the big wedding experience so it was easy to skip most expensive things. Many of them we learned about while reading on ways to save, we never would have thought of buying flowers, for one thing.

Almost a year later, neither of us has any regrets. It was a great day and it's thankfully over now!


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## FrugalTrader

heyjude said:


> Maybe no savings here, but have you seen Jill and Kevin's wedding dance? I love it! It's just so joyful!
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0


That put a smile on my face! Awesome!


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## lb71

Get married in the off season. Avoid the May-October wedding season. Not only will prices be lower, but most services will be available at a shorter notice. You take a bigger chance with the weather, but most of the venues are indoors anyway. Plus, it is easier to manage the number of guests since the acceptance rate should be higher (less chance people will have prior commitments).


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## Serviss

Last year I attended a wedding and the bride and groom decided to go cheap on the food... it was fantastic food but it was buffet style not a sit down/served. In lue of more cost effective food they allocated most of the budget to a solid DJ. This guy was amazing, from 7pm until 11 he was on fire! He had music and games throughout the program and had people on their feet, in masks, rock and roll wigs and there was never that typical lull once the dancing was going on for a bit. He brought a tickle trunk full of masks so there was tons of entertainment just in the whole dance floor looking like a set off of Starwars. I think his name was DJ haymaker - Kelowna.


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## Alexandra

heyjude said:


> Maybe no savings here, but have you seen Jill and Kevin's wedding dance? I love it! It's just so joyful!
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0


If you thought this was great, see their Divorce dance here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbr2ao86ww0&NR=1

Worth a good chuckle or two - but you have to see the original wedding dance to "get" it.


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## Canadian CC

I have saved a lot of money on flowers by going to a florist school and pick a talented student. She was fully motivated to work for me and it cost 50% less than with a real florist... In the end, nobody saw the difference ;-)

We also found a place where they provide the room and the meal. Since we bought 125 meal courses, we got the room for free ;-)


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## tom_ford

very great ideas on how to save money on a wedding. a friend of mine got married two weeks ago, it wasn't extravagant but everything was charming and lovely. they designed and printed the invitations themselves, a bride and her friends did the souvenir give-aways as well as the center-pieces for the reception tables, and the groom's brother and his bandmates took care of the music.


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## iherald

The most fun wedding I ever went to involved a serious wedding, which people were invited too, and then the couple rented out a bar/club and had a 70's theme reception. Everyone came in costume, they had 70's cover bands and it was super fun. 

It wasn't open bar, but it was discounted, and there were lots of snack type food around. 

I don't know the cost of it, but out of all the sit down weddings I have been too, this is the most memorable by far.


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## WednesdaysChild

Basically, when it comes to saving money on your wedding it becomes a question of how much time you have to spare or how much you are willing to dedicate to doing yourself instead of paying someone else to do it for you.

We were married last February and obtained a 15-20% discount on the hall costs (food and drink) because it was an off-season party.

Because we were getting married in the dead of winter, all of the vendors who were the most reasonably priced for their quality services (photog, DJ etc) were totally available.

We bought our flowers through Costco and made our own boutonnieres, corsages and bouquets. Bear in mind this takes a lot of time, and some basic knowledge about handling flowers and preparing arrangements. What would have cost us 400+ dollars ended up costing us about 200.

We made our own centrepieces and take-home gifts. This took hours and hours to do as it required a lot of assembly and hand-decoration. You could opt for something simpler and less time consuming.

We made our own wedding invitations. Again...HOURS. Actually several days. We made ours from scratch, but you could easily pick up one of those all-included box kits from a craft store like Michaels.

We skipped the limos. We felt they were not necessary.

I bought my dress from a store that was selling their floor models. My dress was originally 1800 dollars and I paid 600 for it (no tax). I also did not require alterations which is important as this can be costly. I bought my veil from a woman who was selling hers from her marriage 5 years ago. What would have cost me 150 dollars cost me only 40.

We didn't cheap out on the food, as it was important to us to spoil our guests and so the hall and catering services were the most expensive. We did, however, save money by having our wedding in the off-season as stated. The winter backdrop provided for some incredibly original and stunning wedding photos!


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## Dr_V

My wife and I had a nice, simple, but affordable wedding. Chiefly, we saved some money by keeping it fairly small, but splurged in other parts that we felt were more important. We went ...

- cheap on the car (we had no limo) and photographer

- expensive on the food, location, and entertainment

- cheap overall by keeping the guest list < 70, opting for an afternoon reception with no dancing, and getting married in January


What we saved by foregoing a dance we more than enjoyed over the next two weeks as we toured three islands in Hawaii


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## osc

Here is the best idea: don't do it. It's a total waste of time and money. With the money saved go into a long and interesting honeymoon.


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## brad

osc said:


> Here is the best idea: don't do it. It's a total waste of time and money. With the money saved go into a long and interesting honeymoon.


that's exactly what my brother and his wife did: they got married in a city office building by a justice of the peace, with myself and one other person as witnesses. Then we went back to their house for a party with about 20-30 friends, and took off the following week for a round-the-world trip as their honeymoon. I always admired them for that.


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## Dr_V

osc said:


> Here is the best idea: don't do it. It's a total waste of time and money.


It's not a waste of time or money if you, your wife, and friends have a good time that you can talk about and remember fondly, forever. 

It's largely a matter of striking the right balance between "nice" and "overboard".


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## osc

Dr_V said:


> It's not a waste of time or money if you, your wife, and friends have a good time that you can talk about and remember fondly, forever.


Odds are you'll not, considering how many marriages end up in divorce.


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## brad

osc said:


> Odds are you'll not, considering how many marriages end up in divorce.


Yeah, but you don't want to go into a marriage with that frame of mind. A wedding is all about possibilities, joy, and a bright future. I've been married and divorced twice, and while I don't intend to get married again (I live with someone and we're both perfectly content to remain common-law), if I did I wouldn't sabotage it by assuming we were doomed from the start. 

I think it's important to celebrate a marriage in a way that feels comfortable to you and is in line with your values. For some people that could involve spending $50,000 on an enormous fancy bash; for others it could mean spending $200 for a small private homegrown ceremony. The only part I feel strongly about is that you should think about what *you* want as opposed to what you think is expected of you or what is dictated by tradition. It's your wedding, not your parents' or friends' wedding, and you should feel free to do it the way you want. Of course you have to be sensitive to others, but if you bow to everyone else's wishes pretty soon it's no longer your day but some vast committee-designed mess.


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## cmackie

For our wedding, as a lower cost option we had pizza and doughnuts as a midnight snack. It was a big hit!


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## specialk

Well here's what we ended up doing. We reserved a cabin/camping type area near Buffalo Lake (Alberta). My wife's parents paid for almost everything so I don't know the final bill, but somewhere along the line I heard a couple hundred for the weekend, plus whatever they paid for a simple buffet. Relatives came and camped in tents and RVs as well as the few mini cabins that were available (mostly reserved for the elderly). It was very similar to a typical family reunion. The whole family pitched in with minor decorations etc, and the ceremony was outside under an arch thing that some relatives put together from surrounding flowers and trees. As for her dress.....well a few months before the wedding, we were walking through the Sears and she spotted a white dress (we are guessing it was originally a prom dress) that was on clearance because of a tiny stain that you couldn't even really see, and I think it was about 20 bucks, so she was like "hey this is perfect" and wanted to grab it right then. She and her friend made some sewing alterations and budda bing...a wedding dress. (don't worry, I didn't see the final product until the wedding day). We weren't going to have a honeymoon, but when we counted up some of the cash that was given as wedding gifts, we decided to book into a hotel for a night in Red Deer, on our way home to Calgary...and I think we went bowling too. We both just have matching rings (less than $1000 total). Luckily, neither of us have expensive tastes, one of the reasons we are a match. Thank god I was not marrying bride-zilla. I understand some of you ladies dream of this day and it has to be special and all, and that's great....but my lord, some people are absolutely NUTS!! What matters is the union between 2 human beings...period.

p.s. I paid a friend who used to be a DJ $50 to spin the hits for the night, combined with a karaoke setup. A lot of people thought the karaoke thing would be a mistake, but it was a huge success. Especially when a male cousin starts singing "I feel like a woman" by Shania Twain as a dare. Good times.


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## specialk

osc said:


> Odds are you'll not, considering how many marriages end up in divorce.


Man you are one depressing dude. Chin up. What's wrong?

By the way, did you know that over half of marriages end up in success?


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## Berubeland

If you really want to save money on our wedding... stay single that way when you decide to eat peanut butter on crackers for a week to save money to invest more no one will kill you (funerals are expensive too). 

I may tie the knot myself soon one day and considering my family I think it is best to head to Vegas and get married on the Bridge of the Enterprise. No one will even notice that my mother is purple.


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## specialk

Berubeland said:


> If you really want to save money on our wedding... stay single that way when you decide to eat peanut butter on crackers for a week to save money to invest more no one will kill you (funerals are expensive too).
> 
> I may tie the knot myself soon one day and considering my family I think it is best to head to Vegas and get married on the Bridge of the Enterprise. No one will even notice that my mother is purple.


or marry someone that will eat them with you, like I did.


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## Berubeland

specialk said:


> or marry someone that will eat them with you, like I did.


Too sweet


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## specialk

Berubeland said:


> Too sweet


Ya...we get fat and unhealthy together...adorable.


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## Oldroe

Get your wedding cake from Orono Bakery.


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## Cal

Anyone here have a wedding at their home to save a few bucks?


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## Jungle

Sorry, I was not married at home, but since you brought this thread up from the dead, I'll add some things; I was recently married. 

I sold my "wearing out" car to buy the engagement ring. 
We kept out invited guest list under 100. 
We shopped around venues, oddly, the nicest place turned out the cheapest!
We did have open bar, as we want to have a good party and have fun. 
Wedding dress was just over $700 with alterations. 
We got a 20% off bridal show discount on a small wedding cake and favors. 
Got an ok deal on invites, just over $200.
Got a photographer from work referral for half price including free printed photos. I overpaid for Tuxes for four males, $744 but its my fault I didn't shop around. 
For the honey moon I got three nights free from SPG points and bought westjet credits under face value off kijiji. 

I could go on and on..
It wasn't the cheapest wedding on record, but we did not break the bank either.


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## Cal

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...e-comes-the-bride-who-budgets/article1646468/


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## chaudi

Okay we meet a year or two ago, lets start a business! This business is a bit unusual, what ever money you have and what ever money i have we'll put it together in one bank account. Then in a year or two if things aren't going the way someone had planned we'll take both our piles of money and divide them in half, then you take half and i take half and we go out separate ways. Or not who knows?

How could one save on this wedding? Sign a prenuptial.


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## MoneyGal

That is not how the division of property upon the breakdown of a marriage works. 

But anyways. I got married at my sister's home! It was a really magical day. Yeah, it was cheap - that's not what stands out for me.


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## Berubeland

When my sister got married, my dad paid for the open bar and party at the local inn. There was free drinks for everyone who came. It's a small town about 500 people so a lot of people showed up for the free drinks but it was still cheaper than renting a hall. If there was a hall. 

The next day there was a barge ride for anyone who wanted to come. We all went to a beach and ate some food. 

I'm not sure you could spend $20,000 bucks on a wedding in Temagami. 

Her dress and bridesmaid dresses were found here in Toronto on Spadina. Dress was $400 and our dresses were $100 each. We weren't trying to be frugal either, those were the ones that looked the best on us. 

I'm not sure how much the whole thing cost but they're just as married as the guy who spends $50,000. 

On the scary side of stuff, I had a friend who got married and invited anyone she'd ever met, her focus was to make money on her wedding. Ugggh. 

My other sister also got married she's mentally and physically disabled. My dad was willing to pay for everything. He was told everything was under control except for the wedding cake. We got one for about $500. Some lady said she was going to provide the food. The morning of the wedding she showed up with ONE small tray of cooked spring rolls for 50 people. The event was held in the building party room for free. 

We did the best we could on 2 hours notice! Cases of pop, bags of chips and we bought out 2 groceries stores premade meat tray and cheese tray selections. We barely made it to the wedding. Other than the last minute panic it was nice. 

They are also just as married as the guy who spent $50,000.


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## Cal

MoneyGal said:


> I got married at my sister's home! It was a really magical day. Yeah, it was cheap - that's not what stands out for me.


What a great way to put it!


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## Addy

I bought my dress at a consignment shop, my husband wore his uniform, we had an open bar, live music, about 60 guests, buffet style meal that was very very yummy, wine x 2 at every table all for well under 3K including the honeymoon


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## wheel

MoneyGal said:


> That is not how the division of property upon the breakdown of a marriage works.
> 
> But anyways. I got married at my sister's home! It was a really magical day. Yeah, it was cheap - that's not what stands out for me.


THIS!

We had a relatively inexpensive wedding because we were poor when we got married, just didn't have the money to do anything extravagant. Yet decades later, our friends still laugh and remember our wedding - it was a heck of a party. Good food, some good music, everyone got together and had a good time. Nobody remembers the ceremony or the centerpieces. Heck, I don't even remember the centerpieces!

In retrospect, probably the best way to save money is to change one's attitude from 'it's a ceremony' to 'we're having a party with friends and family'. So you're having a party. Where's the venue - someplace fun, not neccessarily expensive. Food? Good stuff, doesn't need to be $50 a plate stupid. Decorations etc? Who spends thousands on decorations when they're having a party for friends and family - nobody. And so on.


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## wheel

More specifically, my wife found a dress for $400. Her identical twin sister and bridesmaid found a $20 dress at winners that was every bit as nasty looking as any $500 bridesmaid dress. My best man and I bought dark blue suits, as we could wear them again later. This worked well since that was the extent of our wedding party.

I forget exactly what the centerpieces were, but I think my wife and her friends made them out of something inexpensive. Flowers she shopped around at, got a minimal deal for like $89 which eventually became $200. 

120 guests, buffet dinner at a nice restaurant (one we still eat at regularly). Open bar and DJ. 

Honeymoon at my brother in law's cottage on lake mazinaw, which was free. 

And as MoneyGal noted, and I'll concur, decades later we remember the party and the friends. We have no recollection of lacking anything, even though we did scrimp. After the wedding (and for most people attending the wedding) it's not about everything being perfect or even how much you spend or what you spend it on. It's about a celebration with friends and family. I think if you treat it like a magical day for the bride then things can get expensive .

The real icing on the cake though is my wedding band. My father in law took us to this great place in the US called Walmart. I'd never heard of this store at the time, but they had a jewellery counter with dirt cheap prices. Now that's one scrimp that's still around after all this time - I've got a walmart wedding band I paid less than $100 for. And it looks like a $100 wedding band. And you know what? No intention of changing it. It's the band I got married with and all these years later the fact that it's a $99 ring I bought from Walmart adds to the value, doesn't detract from it .


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## MoneyGal

OldRoe! I was in Orono two times this weekend. Did not buy any cake though.


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## wheel

This wedding thread reminds me of a yard sale we had a couple years ago. Our entire town has one big yard sale every May, and one of my wife's friends brought a bunch of stuff over for us to put out. 

So I'm standing there and this guy is staring at this suit. Staring and staring, not saying anything, not picking it up. Eventually I go over and say hi. He looks at me, points at the suit and says "That's my wedding suit". 

How do you come back from that? (His wife had cleaned out their closet at home without telling him, then given all the stuff to her sister to put in the yard sale...her sister was my wife's friend so now I'm looking at the guy with no good answer as to why I'm selling his wedding suit)


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## humble_pie

is there something special about cakes from orono ?
do we perhaps smell a recipe coming on ?

i once contributed every last flower from my garden (it only looked denuded for a few days) for a wedding for the daughter of an acquaintance. So did several other gardeners. The effect, in the church and at the reception, was dazzling. You wouldn't have known that a professional florist hadn't done it all.

the mother had volunteered all her life in that church, which happened to be a magnificent antique stone quasi-cathedral with a popular and progressive youngish priest who married the couple. The mothers of the bride and groom catered the buffet wedding luncheon themselves, which was held in the rent-free (for a special volunteer) church hall.

that had to be the most cost-saving wedding of all time.


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## Oldroe

Members of my family have bought wedding/anniversary cake from the bakery in Orono. After getting quotes from other cake makers check out the bakery in Orono.


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## humble_pie

poor chelsea. Marc looked like he'd been crying.


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## HaroldCrump

humble_pie said:


> Marc looked like he'd been crying.


With a mother-in-law like that, so would I.


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## bean438

OhGreatGuru said:


> Tip A: Sit down and figure out how much you could save on a mortgage with the $20-$30K people seem to think they need to spend on weddings these days.
> 
> Tip B: Get over yourself - you're not the Crown Prince and Princess. Get married at City hall, with 2 witnesses, and send all your friends and relatives an e-mail afterwards.
> 
> Tip C: There seems to be a trend to having your wedding in some Caribbean resort. Any "guests" who want to come have to pay their own way. It's cheaper than paying for a reception for 200.



Points A and B are valid. If you chose C you should pay for the guests. I have been invited to these and found it rude.

Not to piss on your day but you will probably divorce at some point and think to your self "what a waste of money".

ALso you should plan your finances as if you are going to divorce, i.e if you have a pension and your spouse doesnt then be sure to contribute to a spousal RSP. They keep the spousal and you keep the pension.

Weddings are one of the biggest rackets out there. All kinds of people prey upon emotions.


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## MoneyGal

Oh, bean! Glad you were not one of the 34 (count 'em) people at my wedding.  I'm not sure you would have made out of there alive if you'd raised a glass and predicted our impending divorce.


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## brad

bean438 said:


> Not to piss on your day but you will probably divorce at some point and think to your self "what a waste of money".


Even worse, someday you will die and you'll think to yourself, "why did I do any of the things I did in my life if I was just going to die anyway?" 

Weddings are all about love and hope and possibility, three things that are in short supply in our world, and you might as well embrace them and celebrate them for all they're worth.


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## canabiz

bean438 said:


> Points A and B are valid. If you chose C you should pay for the guests. I have been invited to these and found it rude.
> 
> Not to piss on your day but you will probably divorce at some point and think to your self "what a waste of money".
> 
> ALso you should plan your finances as if you are going to divorce, i.e if you have a pension and your spouse doesnt then be sure to contribute to a spousal RSP. They keep the spousal and you keep the pension.
> 
> Weddings are one of the biggest rackets out there. All kinds of people prey upon emotions.


Regarding OhGreatGuru's Tip B: Not sure if sending out the emails is good etiquette. What happens to the good old-fashioned wedding announcements via regular mail with perhaps a a home-made card if you choose to be frugal...

Maybe it's just me but there are things better done the old-fashioned way than emails.


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## Riff Raff

We got married just under 1 year ago ... here are some things we did:

** we were trying to be as green and local as we could

1) wedding e-vites. less trees cut down, both for our invites, and the cash needed to buy the invites! (not to mention the receipt!). We had 5 printed invites - for grandparents and parents only.
2) our mom's made my wife's wedding dress. Both moms are accomplished seamstresses and have made clothing in the past. We saved a bundle here and people (including the photographer and officiant) were in awe at the beauty of the dress.
3) my mom altered the bridesmaids dresses, and made their shawls
4) my mom made the guys pocket chief things and ties
5) we BOUGHT our suits instead of wasting $$ on rentals. The guys all appreciated getting a new suit for about $50 more than it would have cost them to rent. At the time Moore's had a 2 for 1 deal, so the 5 of us got brown suits, and I picked up a black one as I needed one for weddings/funerals. About $200 each.
6) we stayed with family the night before the wedding instead of paying for another night on location
7) we car pooled to the wedding
8) we used fake flowers, yes FAKE. The nicer fake ones look pretty convincing until you touch them. We passed these flowers on to another couple to use (green green re-use re-use)
9) the resort bought about 75% of the food from local suppliers where they got good rates due to buying so much yearly. We had a wonderful harvest supper.
10) no open bar
11) my (now) brother-in-law did the design for our "e-vites". Instead of buying a guest book we had a large copy of the design (my wife and I holding hands, walking away from the photographer) put up and people signed that instead
12) we had 1 photographer. My family has a number of skilled amateur photographers who took pics all day/night. We have soooo many great pics from numerous sources we had no reason to hire 2 photographers
13) DJ instead of band. Goes w/o saying ... the DJ was super helpful too.
14) we asked for no gifts - our house is full already. People were asked to give a donation to a charity instead. Many did, and most all donated to us too!
15) bridesmaids dresses were re-used from somewhere. It's not like bridesmaids actually want to keep the dress anyhow ... they saved a lot of $$
16) one of my wives childhood friends plays cello, so we got our ceremony music very cheap (pretty much free unless you count the plate of food she ate!)
17) invite only the CORE people. We had 68 people. We had 12 regrets we had hoped could make it. People who were not in relationships were given 1 invite - no ++ guest. I'm not feeding someone who doesn't know/care about us!

Yes, our wedding was frugal, but most everyone who in attendances, whenever we see them, tells us how lovely our wedding was - one of the best they'd ever been to. That the wedding matches our personalities that don't like to waste, try to stay green and we're simply not "flashy" people. Many have said a big trumped up wedding would have made us look like fish out of water.


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## Brad911

So got married on September 4th and here was we did to save some $$ and be frugal:

- Bought our own wine from a small winery in NOTL for a few dollars under the retail price per bottle.
- Paid a little extra for a better DJ who kept people dancing all night. This actually helped reduce the bar bill because while people were intoxicated no one was busy drinking because the wedding was boring
- Had really good food; people drink less when the food is amazing
- Rented two Lincoln Navigators instead of a stretch limo
- Made our own candleholders for centrepieces
- Used an up & coming decorator who was a fraction of the price of a larger company because they wanted the exposure
- Rented a hall who allowed us to bring in our own liquor license and caterer
- Went to roast beef instead of prime rib (RB was just as good!)
- Helped decorating the hall (putting our own chair covers on) which saved $2.50/chair
- Had cupcakes instead of a huge wedding cake & set them up ourselves (no leftovers)

I'm sure there was more, but certainly if anyone wants a budget breakdown I might write a post about it on the blog with numbers.


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## HaroldCrump

Congratulations Brad!


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## Four Pillars

Congrats Brad.


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## dogcom

Brad911 I think the things people remember is all the funny stuff, neat and cute stuff that happened at a wedding. So if you managed to make your wedding memorable regardless of the money spent then you truly had a great wedding.

I find it funny that people will spend huge amounts of money to make a wedding perfect that no one will find memorable. So they miss the true point of making a wedding memorable and that is all the funny and interesting stories. 

So congratulations brad I hope your wedding was truly memorable and you can stick it to the people who have to spend a ton with no memories to show for it.


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## Riff Raff

Brad911 said:


> - Had cupcakes instead of a huge wedding cake & set them up ourselves (no leftovers)


#18 - we did the same!


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## Jungle

My condolences brad. I mean, congrats! LOL


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## Cal

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...ive-ways-to-cut-wedding-costs/article2354242/


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## financialnoob

Vegas baby, Vegas!


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## Earth and Money

Probably the best way to be frugal for a wedding is to get friends and family to help with as much as possible - i.e. ask for their services in lieu of gifts. Have a friend who loves to bake? Ask him/her to make your wedding cake. Have a friend that's a great amateur photographer/videographer? Ask them if they'll cover the wedding. In some cases, you might not even have to ask. I'm getting married this summer, and we have found that many of our friends/relatives are eager to help us with these kinds of things - cake, flowers, photography are all being done at no cost to us by friends and we didn't ask for any of it, all of it was offered to us unsolicited. 

Second easiest way - cut down your guest list. Every person on your guest list has a cost associated with them. The more people, the more expensive.
Other ways
- Like a previous poster suggested, we bought the wine ourselves directly from a vineyard in Niagara-on-the-Lake - its local and organic too.
- Use email/internet based invitations instead of expensive paper ones that require mailing.
- Probably the most controversial thing we are doing to save money is having a potluck wedding. We have asked for no gifts - instead, we are asking our guests to bring enough food to feed themselves. If everyone does that, we will have enough food for everyone. Inevitably, people always bring more food than they would need to fill themselves, so there should be lots of food, and a varied selection of homecooked food at that (what better food is there?).


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## realist

bean438 said:


> Points A and B are valid. If you chose C [destination wedding] you should pay for the guests. I have been invited to these and found it rude.


The reason *most* people are choosing a destination wedding is to save money for the bride and groom. Paying for guests to attend would defeat the point. If you have your wedding at home, would you pay for guests to come in from out of town? I think were it gets harder is when someone you really want to have come can not afford to, but that is the risk you take when you decide for a destination wedding.


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## realist

Decide what is important to YOU, not everyone else. 
Realize that nobody remembers the small details that you are stressing out over. Unless they are particularly important to you personally, almost no one remembers, the cutlery, and table cloths, and décor etc. unless they are particularly amazing or particularly horrible.

For my wife and I it was important to have decent (but not extravagant) food, excellent photos (that is what you will remember and have long after the fact), and good drinks (we are beer and wine enthusiasts, as are many of our friends), and we wanted to be as “green” as we could, where possible.

Ways we splurged:
-	We got what many people would consider an expensive photo package (>$2000 for a two photographer deal). It seems like a lot of money , but you will have these far far longer than any of the smaller touches at the wedding. Be sure you like the “style” of the photographer you are choosing. 
-	We had “premium” beer and liquor at the bar
-	Spent the wedding night in a fancy hotel (we could have just gone home)
-	We paid a small premium for “eco-friendly” flowers that were in season to Ontario rather than flown in from somewhere

Ways we saved:
-	Total guest list was under 70 people, which conveniently about how many we wanted. We were paying, and were lucky enough not to have the crazyness “But my parents really want to invite these 12 people you have never met” 
-	Our venue did not provide alcohol. We got a “special occasion permit” and bought from the LCBO, and we got a donated keg from my ex-employer. I wanted Ontario wine so we sampled a bunch to find one we liked that was also reasonably priced, and environmentally friendly.
-	The SOP meant that we were able to return a lot of the wine to the LCBO, turns out it was more of a beer crowd
-	Took a taxi home. We wanted a classic car, but the ratio of cost to enjoyment (for us) was too high.
-	My sister is a graphic designer who did our invitations for us quite cheaply.
-	We did e-RSVPs for most of our friends, only sending “reply cards” to the older folks (which saved us return postage and printing costs, and saved a lot of paper waste)
-	We put most of the wedding info on a website rather than printing off lot of maps and hotel info
-	We got married on the Sunday of a long weekend which was a few hundred dollars cheaper than the same venue on a Saturday. 

Ways we could have saved:
-	Cash bar/partial cash bar. If this is the item that is breaking the bank for you most guests are cool with that as long they know in ADVANCE. One partial solution is to provide drinks at dinner, or provide tickets for a certain number of drinks to each guest. As a friend put it once “I am willing to pay for you to drink and have fun at my wedding. I don’t really feel like paying for you to get S#!+faced.”
- If we were to do it over again I might go with an electronic invitation, more for the paper waste than the cost. This can be great if you (or someone you know) have the ability to put some effort into it beyond a simple email or E-Vite.
-	Cut the guest list even more. This is the simplest way to keep costs down. If a family member wants to invite someone that you don't, they should pay for them to attend since they are their guest, not yours. (Obviously this is harder to do if someone else is already paying for the wedding...)


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## swoop_ds

I'm a wedding photographer, so I just thought that I'd mention something.
There are very few things you get to keep after the wedding:
-Rings
-Dress
-Suits(if they aren't rentals)
-A small chunk of cake
-memories (PHOTOS)

If you cheap out on the photographer you may walk away with great photos, or you may walk away with crappy photos of something that happens once in a lifetime... If you're going with "some guy on Kijiji" just make sure it's not his first wedding and that he can provide references, otherwise you're gambling. If you're going with a relative who is 'a good photographer' you're also gambling unless they have done weddings in the past. Taking pictures of pets/family/random travel photos is a world different than wedding photography.

Finally, it's great if you can get the photos on DVD but I urge you to makes prints/an album. In 20 years your kids will look at you with glazed over expressions when you pull an antique DVD out. You can get pretty good albums/prints made for quite cheap. You can do this yourself but likely the photographer's stuff will be a little better, depending on their printing skills. I do recommend you get the help of a professional if you are getting a print larger than 20" made however.

-Dave


----------



## Guigz

swoop_ds said:


> If you cheap out on the photographer you may walk away with great photos, or you may walk away with crappy photos of something that happens once in a lifetime...


I am not really one for "made up" pictures and I actually prefer the candidness of non-professional photographers. Either way, with today's camera technology, even a monkey would take great pictures with a DSLR camera. throw a few camera nuts on your invite list and you are golden. 

I don't agree about the album thing, get digital pictures and put them on whatever medium you appreciate. Even better, you can make your own (i.e., through a dedicated service) after the wedding for a fraction of the photographer cost.


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## swoop_ds

Guigz said:


> I am not really one for "made up" pictures and I actually prefer the candidness of non-professional photographers. Either way, with today's camera technology, even a monkey would take great pictures with a DSLR camera. throw a few camera nuts on your invite list and you are golden.
> 
> I don't agree about the album thing, get digital pictures and put them on whatever medium you appreciate. Even better, you can make your own (i.e., through a dedicated service) after the wedding for a fraction of the photographer cost.


Your mileage may vary. . . 

Also, I didn't realize the zoo was churning out creative professionals?

All I'm saying is that you take a risk by cheaping out on your photographer. It is certainly an option though if you either want to take the risk or don't really care about your photographs. Personally, and I'm a BIT biased, there are better places to cheap out. (cake that is destroyed, transportation, etc)

-Dave


----------



## Guigz

Sorry, I did not mean to offend your profession by that.

I do think that there are frugal options for having professional photographs as well if you appreciate it (i.e., a photography student).


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## realist

Guigz said:


> I do think that there are frugal options for having professional photographs as well if you appreciate it (i.e., a photography student).


I think the point that swoop_ds and I are trying to make is that if photography is an area you want to save money on you should put in some work to evaluate the person you are asking/hiring to do it. Actually, this applies no matter how much you are paying them really, since for example there are some great wedding photographers I looked at who's forte is a style that I personally did not care for.



Guigz said:


> "Either way, with today's camera technology, even a monkey would take great pictures with a DSLR camera."


Frankly this is not true, particularly at weddings. You are right in that having enough people with cameras will ensure at least a few good pictures, perhaps some great ones but I have photos from my wedding that as even a serious amateur I know I could not have taken with my DSLR simply because my equipment could not have handled the lighting conditions etc. Again, it depends how important the results are to you.


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## Guigz

I agree that you should evaluate the services provided before you commit to buying. This goes for everything, not just the photographer.

Personally, we were not looking for perfect pictures, we were looking for genuine pictures, which we got. 

Quite frankly, many people stress over pictures but then how many times do you actually sit down to look at them? I can count the number of times we looked at our wedding pictures on the fingers of one hand.


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## rd_aaron

swoop_ds said:


> I'm a wedding photographer, so I just thought that I'd mention something.
> There are very few things you get to keep after the wedding:
> -Rings
> -Dress
> -Suits(if they aren't rentals)
> -A small chunk of cake
> -memories (PHOTOS)
> 
> If you cheap out on the photographer you may walk away with great photos, or you may walk away with crappy photos of something that happens once in a lifetime... If you're going with "some guy on Kijiji" just make sure it's not his first wedding and that he can provide references, otherwise you're gambling. If you're going with a relative who is 'a good photographer' you're also gambling unless they have done weddings in the past. Taking pictures of pets/family/random travel photos is a world different than wedding photography.
> 
> Finally, it's great if you can get the photos on DVD but I urge you to makes prints/an album. In 20 years your kids will look at you with glazed over expressions when you pull an antique DVD out. You can get pretty good albums/prints made for quite cheap. You can do this yourself but likely the photographer's stuff will be a little better, depending on their printing skills. I do recommend you get the help of a professional if you are getting a print larger than 20" made however.
> 
> -Dave


Totally agree. Amateur photographers may come up with some decent pictures, but they won't be nearly as good at finding opportunities to take pictures with the right lighting, angles, backdrop, etc.

We're spending about $3k on a photographer which is apparently about average. This was after looking at at least 25 different photographers and finally coming to a decision. You can REALLY tell the difference in quality from a $1500 photographer to a $5000 photographer. I would've loved to have been able to spend more as the quality at the top end is great but we had to set a budget.


----------



## ghayoor

MoneyGal said:


> I got married in my sister's house, standing on a platform covering her hot tub (drained and turned off for this event!).
> 
> We had 34 guests, a caterered tea beforehand, and a buffet dinner afterwards. I didn't wear a wedding dress, I didn't have flowers, and I don't have a diamond ring.
> 
> 
> 
> We took everybody for a horse-drawn sleigh ride (it was a beautiful snowy December 23)
> 
> 
> 
> . The catering was the biggest expense, at $3500 (we had some fancy food, peeps).
> 
> Then for our honeymoon we went hiking in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas mountains for nearly a month. That cost more than the wedding, but not much!
Click to expand...

That is very true people must enjoy that hmmmmmmmmm
:encouragement::chuncky:


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## Earth and Money

Guigz said:


> Either way, with today's camera technology, even a monkey would take great pictures with a DSLR camera. throw a few camera nuts on your invite list and you are golden.


This is very much not true. I am an amateur, hobby photographer and I have a lot of friends who are also into photography. A DSLR does not make a good photographer. Gear is gear, you can slap a $10,000 camera into the hands of a novice and they will still take snapshots. You can put a $100 point and shoot in the hands of a good photographer, and the results will astound you. 

That said, we are personally going with a friend who is a hobbyist and occasional freelance commercial photographer. This is after I searched high and low for a professional wedding photographer who would fit our budget. In the end, I finally found one photographer who had a terrific portfolio and rates in the $1200 range, but when that makes up 1/3 of your entire wedding budget, it just doesn't make sense. We are taking our chances and know what the risks are. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. I think wedding photography is a little overrated anyways. How many photos of one afternoon do you really need. My fiancee's parents have 1 photo from their entire wedding. Its a nice photo and they don't really need anything more than that.


----------



## Guigz

Earth and Money said:


> Gear is gear, you can slap a $10,000 camera into the hands of a novice and they will still take snapshots. You can put a $100 point and shoot in the hands of a good photographer, and the results will astound you.


Maybe I exagerrated a little bit. If you take this same novice and you give him a disposable camera and a DSLR, there is no way in hell that the disposable camera's pictures will be better than the DSLR's. Hence at a set skill level better gear > worse gear.

One would hope that amateurs that invest $10K in their camera gear would know how to use it in the least. I think common sense would apply and, as mentioned by other posters, you get to assess quality before you hire a random stranger with a cool camera.


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## kaede77

Got married just over a year ago and here is how I saved $$$


1) Dress was bought at a sample sale-original price 1200 got it for $150, cost another $100 to have it drycleaned 

2) Bottled and labeled our own wine 30bottles of red and 30 bottles of white which doubled as gifts for guests and came to under $400 (The Wine Castle)

3) Ordered 3 gorgeous cakes (mango, green tea, white chocolate and rasberry) instead of a traditional wedding cake, plus mini cupcakes for table centerpieces and it came to $200 from St Germain Bakery

4) Learned how to make bouquet on youtube and bought roses from a wholesaler and made myself

5) Made my own invitation cards

6) Brother is a DJ so he provided the music

7) Im a hairstylist so I did my own hair and makeup

8) Most of our friends are married w kids so we decided we didnt want to have attendees, saved us loads of money and drama!

9) We had a cash bar on the boat but also provided champagne and wine with dinner



Things to NOT cheap out on...

1) Wedding photography-I found them online (gucio photography) they were amazing, got exactly what I was looking for, bit pricey at 3g but was totally worth it!

2) The venue! We had our wedding on a glass boat cruise in Vancouver, everyone loved the view overlooking the city and the dance floor down below deck

3) The food-The cruise company catered the food but we also brought in our own sushi for everyone to enjoy!

Try to NOT mention "wedding" if you can avoid it, it just adds to the cost...instead, say its for a party-that goes for hair/makeup/catering/flowers etc...All in for 45 guests, our bill came to just under 10 grand, everything was booked online-including our seat sale flights from Ireland where were currently living!


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## Earth and Money

Guigz said:


> One would hope that amateurs that invest $10K in their camera gear would know how to use it in the least. I think common sense would apply and, as mentioned by other posters, you get to assess quality before you hire a random stranger with a cool camera.


One WOULD hope that's the case, lol. Unfortunately, I've met too many people for whom that is not the case...
Absolutely, you should never hire a photographer without reviewing their portfolio beforehand, and if possible, even do a preview shoot with them first (such as an engagement shoot) to make sure you are comfortable with the photographer and they can deliver as promised.


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## Guigz

Somewhat related, but completetely anecdotal. Some friends of ours got married a little over two years ago and had paid a professional photographer 2,500$ for a complete package. 

We just spoke with those friends and *they still haven't received their wedding pictures yet!* The guy is _still_ working on them...


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