Planning a Wedding on a Budget

Every bride needs a theme for her wedding; it is the biggest day of her life so far and deserves a premise that stands for something significant in the bride's mind. Some of the most popular wedding plans for modern brides during 2009 have included beach, garden, winter wonderland, rustic, country, vintage glamour, and shimmering diamond themes. It probably comes as no surprise, but pulling a wedding together can be expensive. By selecting a theme early on in the wedding-planning-process, you can help alleviate some pre-wedding stress, come up with creative, inexpensive ideas and expedite the decision making process when it comes to choosing invitations, decorations, reception food and party favors. No matter your theme, there are always ways to trim down the wedding expenditures, particularly when it comes to the sending invitations, having a sign-in book, and a memorable wedding cake.

Selecting the wedding announcement can be, without a doubt, one of the most difficult decisions during the engagement period. One of the great things about living in the 21st century, however, is that we have access to the Internet. Use the Web and its resources to cut some of your costs. Before you mail your invitations, send a "Save the Date" e-vite. There are all sorts of sites online that offer free invitation services. You can customize your "Save the Date" e-vite to contain an engagement picture or make it match your wedding invitation. When it comes to the actual creation of your invitations, consider cutting costs by mailing out modern invitations as opposed to the more expensive, traditional, cardstock announcements with raised-ink, gold-foil envelopes, a 5X7 photo and vellum overlay. There are many companies and individuals today that specialize in custom wedding announcements at a fraction of the cost when compared to most paper supply companies. When you send your invitations, instead of including a pre-stamped envelope for the RSVP information, request the guests RSVP through a free Web site that you and your future spouse created together. There are many Web sites that offer free RSVP services.

A creative idea for a sign-in book at your wedding is to use a scrapbook of photos with lots of empty space for guests to sign. By leaving a lot of room on the pages, your guests can also leave words of wisdom. You and your honey can treasure this book for years because it will not only have your wedding attendee's names, but also their most valuable pieces of advice for your new marriage. Specialized photo-books can either be made by you with some scrapbooking materials, or you can upload photos to an online photo store where you can create a scrapbook designed in whatever colors or theme you like. For less than $20, you can create a customized photo book that can be used as a guest sign-in book at the online Web site for the Walmart Photo Center.

Every bride loves to imagine her wedding cake as a huge display piece that everyone will remember her wedding by. Unfortunately, a beautiful cake made by a cakery or custom cake maker can cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Most wedding cake costs are calculated on a per-serving basis, which means if you anticipate 300 people at your wedding, and the price per slice of cake is $2 each—very conservative price—you are looking at a $600 cake. For the financially conscious, a money-saving idea is to have a cupcake cake. Cupcake cake stands are available in stores for purchase or rent for a fairly decent price or can even be made at home. The cupcakes themselves cost less than $13 per 36 cupcakes at wholesale membership clubs, like Sams. These cupcakes taste great and you can select the type of cake (white or chocolate) as well as the color of butter cream frosting you want. The top of the cupcake cake can still be the traditional small wedding cake top, complete with the bride and groom figurine. This is a great way to appeal to the little children at the wedding and keeps the messes and necessity of plate purchases to a minimum.

Weddings are one of the most special occasions, but they do not have to cause you to go into debt! Make your wedding, or your son's or daughter's, into a fabulous event no one will soon forget by embracing creative, custom and contemporary wedding ideas that will save you money and make for a memorable day.