Q:

I would like to save some money on my June wedding. I want it to be wonderful but everything costs so much. The bridesmaid dresses are $300. I have 4 bridesmaids- that’s way too much. I also found that cakes cost so much.One piece to the cake will cost $150.00. That piece is a water fountain to be placed in the center of the cake. Once again I can not afford something that expensive.

A:

The diva in me wants to tell you that you’ve answered your own question. When people can’t afford something; they either go without it, or go into debt because of it. I’m going to advise that you take the first option. However I also have some other suggestions.
1) If you are trying to save money, June is not the best month to get married. I don’t know what type of facility you plan on using, but plan on paying good money for it, unless you opt for something simple like a VFW hall; but it doesn’t sound like that would float your boat.

2) Why do you need a water fountain in the middle of your cake? Once again, if it costs too much then go without it or find a different type of cake. There are plenty of beautiful cake styles that don’t have elaborate decorations in the center.
3)Unless the couple is wealthy, or very generous, it’s common for bridesmaids to pay for their own dresses. However, if $300 is pricey for you, it’s probably pricey for them. Why don’t you talk to your friends and ask what price range they would be comfortable with. If you don’t want to do that then ask yourself how much would you want to pay if it wasn’t your wedding.

All in all it seems like you haven’t done much looking around for alternatives that suit your budget. I feel a “I have to have this and nothing else!” type of attitude. Honey, you can have a beautiful wedding and not break the bank, you just have to be flexible and put time into finding alternatives.

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I think people confuse getting married with having a wedding.

Sad women cry, “We love each other so much but we can’t afford to get married! We want to though. ”

Think again sister because what you can’t afford is a wedding, but I am quite sure that you could afford to get married.

Now I am not one of those people that says “if you really wanted to get married you’d haul your butt to J.O.P.”, but my response is similar. However, I understand that because of how we are conditioned, some of the “pretty stuff” does matter…a dress you like, photos to cherish, having people you are close sharing in the occasion… but you can have all of that without breaking that bank if you changed your point of view to thinking about how to build a marriage instead of how to have a lavish wedding.

I’ll end this post before I start ranting on the clever marketing ploys that are used to ….*stops*… but before I go, here’s some great suggestions on how to have a small wedding a.k.a. elopements.

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Some people don’t like the word cheap so let me change my wording…

If you are looking for discount, low cost, or inexpensive wedding invitations I have a few suggestions for you.

Anns Bridal Bargains is a site that’s always mentioned on the wedding forums as a place to check out. The have
some very affordable invites starting at around $60 for 100.

Another site that’s mentioned is Invitations By Dawn I don’t know much about the company except that a lot of brides on the wedding forums seem to ask about experiences with them. Either they’ve piqued a lot of people’s interest, or they have one heck of an Internet marketing campaign going on. The prices are comparable to Anns Bridal Bargains.

And being that I use this company for everything…from business cards for my multiple ventures, to postcards, to magnets…and yes, even invitations. Good old VistaPrint. I was a little nervous, because I trusted their quality in terms of business materials, but I wasn’t quite sure if it would be classy enough for wedding invitations.

F.Y.I .you have a choice of using your own template or using one of their designs. I chose to modify one of their designs and I was pleased with the result. If you are wondering about envelopes and R.S.V.P.’s- their invitations come with plain envelopes, or you can get nicely designed ones for an extra cost (that’s what I did). As for the R.S.V.P., I always planned on offering 2 options- phone and via our website so it worked out great that I could just design a business card that matched the invite and use that to distribute the R.S.V.P. information.

As for the quality, if you decide to go this route I recommend you upgrade and get glossy paper for everything. I don’t think they would have come out as nicely if I had used matte.

_{Have you ever thought about buying jewelry online? You can find beautiful diamond engagement rings as well as traditional wedding rings and an assortment of other fine diamond jewelry. We have the best quality jewelry on the Internet.}

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This is from a blog that appears to be composed by a child novice. The post wasn’t well written which bothered me; but the most irritating thing was the following sentences:

“If we learned anything from Seinfeld’s George Costanza, it’s not to skimp on wedding invitations…Don’t forget, it’s become standard to send “Save the Date” cards before you send the invitations.”

I’m not saying you have to be cheap when it comes to invitations; but before you spend $1,000 of your $7,000 budget on invites please keep in mind that most of them will end up in the trash. Yes it’s cute to look at photos, vellum, fancy fonts, lovely paper, and tons of envelopes stuffed in a nice package; but it’s not necessary. If you can afford- then go ahead and enjoy; but if you can’t- you don’t have to feel as if you are less than any other bride.

Secondly, Save the Date cards are not required, and in fact most people have never heard of them. (I was surprised when I learned that but it’s true) The only people who really need Save The Dates (a.k.a. STD’s) are those that have a lot of out of town guests coming to their wedding. This could be if you are having an exotic destination wedding; or if most of your guests just happen to live out of state. STD’s aide in helping people plan time off and make travel arrangements. If you and your future husband (or wife) are getting married right down the street then you don’t need Save The Dates…it might be fun to have them, but they are by no means required.

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