With the price of wedding receptions soaring, many engaged
couples and their parents are looking for ways to defray expenses.
Below are ten ways to cut costs without sacrificing quality.
Use your imagination and creativity to come up with others.
- Consider making your own invitations/announcements. Blank
card stock and computers make it easy.
- Many engaged couples are choosing to take their own engagement
photo. Software programs and digital cameras give
professional quality to these do-it-yourself pictures.
- Forget the designer wedding gown. Some brides borrow a dress.
Others make the dress for their special day. The daughter of
a friend chose to wear her cousin's gown.
- Refreshments need not be expensive. To save money on the
wedding cake, typically the most expensive item, have a small
cake on display (for the newlywed couple to enjoy later), then
purchase or make a sheet cake to serve to guests.
- Ask attendants to wear dresses in colors to match your theme.
Chances are they will be relieved not to have another
bridesmaid dress cluttering their closet.
- Groomsmen need not wear tuxedos. At our son's wedding
reception, he asked his groomsmen to wear yellow shirts and
solid blue ties to coordinate with the bride's color scheme.
- Opt for simplicity in flower arrangements. An inexpensive and
elegant centerpiece is a glass bowl holding a single flower
floating inside. A mirrored square beneath the bowl completes
the look.
- Forget renting a formal reception hall. Some couples choose
to hold an open house in the home of the bride or the groom's
parents. If weather permits, consider holding an outdoors
reception at a park.
- Place inexpensive disposable cameras on the tables. Newlywed
couples delight in the candid shots that result. The cameras
also serve as entertainment for the guests.
- Don't be afraid to ask for help from family members and
friends. Do you need help in serving at the reception? Ask
a friend to pitch in and then offer to return the favor.
