Do Your Research - A wedding is expensive no matter how you look at it. So, during a time when you are making major purchases...be sure you really LOVE your vendors for their skill and personality. If you don't, find someone else. Looking back, my favorite vendors were the ones whose personalities meshed well with mine...the ones who really cared about what they do for a living and would go beyond what you expect of them.
Choose your Venue Carefully - Find a venue that has a lot of character on its own, without having to spend a fortune on flowers and other decor for the room. In our case, the owners were really relaxed and let us bring in our own alcohol which was a HUGE money saver. Plus, the space had a character and decor that completely matched my own style...so I didn't have to put a ton of effort in transforming it.
Do-It-Yourself Projects are Key - We made our own table linens as opposed to renting them. We also brought in framed family portraits, some old, some new, to decorate the space. Since the wedding, we've used most of our projects in our home.....the linens were used for tablecloths for our dining table, a tree skirt for our Christmas tree, and soon to be reconfigured into curtains for our guest room.
Purchase The Decor Items Yourself - Most florists will happily rent additional decor elements for you. But, it's expensive. We bought Japanese lanterns for about $10 each, a handful of birch vases from small stump that our florist incorporated, even a great vintage cake stand that was used instead of a rental. Again, we will probably re-use all of these things in our home at one point or another.
Don't Be Afraid to Ditch Tradition - We skipped the favors for our guests and no one missed them a bit!
Opt For Heavy Hor' Dourves - This saved us money in many ways. For one, we didn't have to foot the bill for a huge dinner. We also only had to rent one set of medium sized plates and we only used forks. This cut down on our rental fees quite a bit. Plus, the bonus was that having easy-to-eat food got the guests up and on the dance floor fast!
Only Purchase One Cake - If we had ordered a grooms cake and a wedding cake, we would have ordered twice as much. Our cake lady let us know that people usually have a slice of each, rather than choosing one. So, you end up spending more than you really need to on extra cake.
One final tip from Katie....if you are doing the wedding planning and concept design on your own, give yourself permission to change your mind on things. If you find something great, or see an idea that you can't live without and it's nearly wedding time, go with your gut. If you've picked the right vendors, they will know exactly how to handle the change. I completely changed the maids' flowers, the cake colors and the cake design just a few weeks before our wedding. I was nervous that our vendors would freak out. But, they didn't at all. Our cake lady actually hugged me and told me that she was so happy I had found what I really wanted.
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