How can I save money on my wedding so I can buy a house?

I'm 22 %26amp; my fiance is 23. We've decided to skimp on the wedding as much as possible because we want to get a house. We're estimating 150 guests. We're not getting married in a church so it's either outdoors or where the reception is going to be. The reception will be at a fire hall %26amp; we're having food made in sternos so we don't have to hire a caterer. I'll pay some of my brother's friends to help at the reception. I'm not having a traditional expensive wedding cake %26amp; for the flowers I'll get silk ones or get real ones from a cheap store %26amp; have someone I know make the bouquets. No limo. Instead of a photographer, I plan on ordering the disposable wedding cameras %26amp; putting them on the tables for the guests to take pictures. I'll buy invitations %26amp; print them on my computer. We've estimated $3500 total.





Does anyone have any ideas on other things we can do to save ourselves money? We live in the Philadelphia (PA) area. Thanks!

How can I save money on my wedding so I can buy a house?
You've got a great start on things!





I do, however, still have a couple tips for you that might help you keep to your budget:





1: when picking or designing invitations, choose something in a normal letter size with as few inserts as possible. Anything significantly bigger or smaller than a normal letter, heavier than a normal letter, or with envelopes oriented oddly will cost you extra postage, and that adds up surprisingly quickly





2: unless they're edible, half of all wedding favors get left behind, wasting money and leaving more cleanup for you. If you decide to give favors, make them a popular edible such as chocolate...but favors are something that can be ignored with impunity. Just don't mention them and most of your guests won't even notice they weren't there, and three-quarters of those who do will breathe a sigh of relief at not having to figure out what to do with another plastic swan or personalized wine glass.





3: Don't fear non-traditional sources. Dollar stores, thrift stores and garage sales can be surprisingly helpful resources for decorations and attractive tableware, etc. Try these before you pay full price on anything.





4: If it says wedding on it, you can get it cheaper elsewhere.





5: Before you buy a guestbook and ask someone to watch over it, consider whether you'll ever open it after the wedding. I got mine on sale for two bucks, and it was still a waste of money. In fourteen years, the only time I've looked at it was to wonder what the heck I was thinking when I bought it.





6: There are two things that really make or break a wedding, and neither one of them costs a dime: a thoughtful ceremony that reflects the couple, and a happy, relaxed, gracious bridal couple. Put care into working out your wedding ceremony. Whether you choose something very traditional or completely personalized, make sure it says something about who you are and what you believe. Do whatever you need to in order to be rested, and as relaxed as possible on your big day. Make sure you at least greet every one of your guests.





If you aren't present in your own wedding, it will sound hollow. If you aren't interacting with your guests, they'll wonder if what you really wanted was more the honor of their presents than their presence. That's the one sure-fire way to make a wedding miserable for all involved.





But if your ceremony says something about you, and you're having a good time at your own party, and you make time to say hello to everyone at least once during the event, guests won't notice what you didn't have or didn't spend, and they'll still go home beaming.





From the sound of things, you're well on the right track. You have your priorities worked out nicely, are emphasizing things that will make the day special for the people you're inviting, and you're clearly willing to put in some of your own elbow grease. That's always a good sign to me.





I have a feeling yours will be one wedding fondly remembered for years to come.





Best of luck and all happiness to you and your fiance.
Reply:There is a really good site if you are looking for cheap flowers. I ordered them for my wedding and they were gorgeous. www.theflowerexchange.com
Reply:Skip the wedding and spend the money on something that's going to last. Ask the people that you were going to invite to your wedding to give you money towards your house and see how many of them care enough about you to give you something that is really going to mean something. You just may find out that the people you are inviting and therefore spending YOUR money on entertaining for a few hours of one day aren't even worth your time or effort.





Go have a private ceremony that will be special to the two of you and immediate family and use your money one your house.
Reply:Elope to someplace and only have immediate family there. You can have a nice dress and nice flowers and a nice photographer.... but not have to feed and entertain 150 people!!!





As a side note - the disposable camera thing rarely works... either no one uses it - or you get 500 photos of someones butt, their ear, perverted pics, really bad angles, or 50 pics of the same exact thing.
Reply:Just do a civil ceremony, they'll understand.
Reply:I agree with Valerie on the cameras, I've had several friends that tried that and were very unhappy afterwards. See if you have a reliable friend with either a camcorder or digital camera and ask them to take pics of everyone. Also to get pics of all the important things, the ceremony etc. Also those disposable cameras are expensive by the time you have them developed. You don't say anything about music, a DJ is always cheaper than a band just make sure he has the music you want to hear.





Other than that sounds like you pretty much have it covered.
Reply:Sounds like you have it under control. You might consider going to your local supermarket and looking at their catalog of wedding cakes. They can make them for a fraction of what a fancy bakery would charge and in my opinion they taste better too. I did this for my sister's wedding and I got numerous compliments on it. If you are going to have music and dancing see if a friend or family member can DJ also you might as if any friend or family is good at photography so you can have a few "professional looking" photos to display. You could also go to a photography studio, even one like Penney's or Wal-Mart in your wedding attire and get a portrait package, they are usually less than $20 and include either an 11x14 or a couple of 8x10 and they are very inexpensive to order extras for any family that want to purchase large ones.
Reply:For music instead of hiring a dj, you can use somebodys ipod and have them play songs on a computer. You can hook speakers up that sound good and it is a HUGE money saver.





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Reply:Everything sounds like good idea's except the disposable camera thing!! The pictures from them generally suck!! Maybe for pictures you have a friend or family member that has a good camera that could take some pictures for you. I've taken wedding pictures for friends before and they are far better than any disposable can do.
Reply:Hey,


disposable cameras are expensive but theres a seller on ebay who sells the disposable cameras for cheap! http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll...


I got my cameras in 3 days! Also to save money you could do some fall centerpieces with pinecones and little pumpkins! Just dont do favors or if u decide to do something inexpensive like hershey chocolates in tulle! Also i posted and ad on craigslist for my DJ i got 55 responses the ad stated i could not go over 500.00 budget and everyone was able to meet my budgt some of them had websites where they charged 800.00 to 950.00 but still would give me a deal!! Good Luck!! Also I dont know what your colors are going to be but be on the lookout after thanksgiving for linens to go on clearance that way you wont have to rent any!!
Reply:I just got married 2 months ago... do you have craigslist.org in your area? Check it out!!! Use other people's things. This can save you a ton! I bought a bunch of candles for the tables from the dollar store and my vases from Wal-mart. My mom made the table runners and flower girls' dresses. USE PEOPLE FOR THINGS!!! If someone has a talent, USE IT (if they're offering). A guy my husband works with plays the guitar. He offered to play for the ceremony when people were being seated as a wedding gift. SOLD!!! It added a lovely personal touch and sounded great! Good luck..





Check out CraigsList.org
Reply:l came up with everything you did, good job. and congratulations.
Reply:The best way to save money is to keep your guest list as small as possible. You may want to revisit it and see if you can get it smaller than 150 people (if you can't, that's fine, but doing so will save you even more money).





Public parks are often very cheap to rent for 30-60 minutes for a ceremony. Have a backup location on hand in case of rain ... you could get married in the reception hall.





For 150 people, you may want to rethink not hiring a caterer. It's a big job to cook for that many people. Consider talking to a few restaurants and delis in your area, which may not charge all that much to cater. Paying a few extra bucks might be worth the time and the peace of mind (and you won't have to get loved ones to do the work for you).





Supermarket and farmer's market flowers are generally very cheap - often as cheap as fake flowers. And if there's not going to be a significant savings, I personally think you should opt for fresh flowers. They usually look better, and can add a lot of elegance to a simple wedding. If you don't use the right fake flowers, it can really make the wedding look cheap and tacky.





Nixing the limo is a good idea - if you have transportation already, limos are totally unnecessary. If someone has a cool car (Beetle, Mini Cooper, convertible, towncar, classic car, etc.) maybe that'd be a fun option and a cool photo op.





The self-printed invites are also a good idea ... but price out a few professionally printed ones as well before you commit to doing it yourself. Sometimes, it's the same price, and not having to go through that stress (and buy a bunch of expensive ink cartridges for your computer) is worth it. Try eBay and americanweddingalbum.com, for example.





I'd really, REALLY urge you to rethink not hiring a photographer. Photos are the only part of your wedding that will last a lifetime ... and when your memory starts to fade, you may appreciate having them around. It's also something to show your kids and grandkids. And having cheap photos taken can make even the nicest wedding look crappy.





I know photographers are expensive, but there are ways to get around that. Call some local newspapers and ask if their photographers are for hire - they are likely to be cheaper than a "traditional" wedding photographer, especially if you live in a small town. Or check craigslist.org for an up-and-coming photographer - many of them advertise there because it's free and they don't have the money yet to build their own Web site.





Another option is to contact a local college with a photography department, and ask the chairperson if they know a promising student. College kids are usually pretty eager to build up their portfolio and/or earn some spending money (which you may already know! :P), so maybe someone will do it for you just for the cost of film. Offer them that and maybe a free meal and drinks, and see what they say. Even if they're not so great, it'll likely be 10 times better than disposable cameras.





If you're going to "splurge" on anything, make it the photography. Cut out other stuff if you need to, but please reconsider having your guests take the photos. (Plus, so many people have digital cameras and camera phones nowadays, that buying disposables might be a waste regardless.)





As far as your outfits ... try buying a dress off the rack. White House/Black Market and J. Crew have gorgeous white dresses for cheap. Or check the formalwear/prom sections at department stores like Macy's. Even Target has wedding gowns on their Web site now. If your fiance already has a suit, he can wear that. For the bridal party, have the guys wear their own suits (or shirts and ties and dress slacks), and tell the bridesmaids to wear black dresses they already own.
Reply:make your own invitations on the computer there is nice ones and probably cheaper. what about having your reception at a family members house. you can get tent covers in case it rains cheaper than a hall. maybe instead of gifts tell people you rather have money towrds your savings for a house.you can allways have a house warming party to get gifts for the house.
Reply:Been there, done that, still married after 25 years together. We put together our wedding in 2 weeks flat, on a low budget. We'd just bought our house, and my other half was in graduate school.





You're doing pretty well, so far. Keep your focus on the event: a celebration of your commitment. We invited only those people truly invested in our relationship, which kept the guest list down to about 50. As you're finding out, this sort of party has a lot of its cost in per-person amenities. How many of these people are really a strong part of your upbringing and relationship? Leave out the second cousins you're inviting just because you haven't seen them for seven years. Leave out people you're inviting *only* because they're chummy with your parents (unless the parents are footing the bill here).





Also, as an earlier poster suggested, leave out the cameras. Instead, modify your invitations: ask people with cameras, people who *know* how to use them, to donate their time in taking reasonable photos in lieu of a wrapped gift. We contacted three of our potential guests, one of whom (the part-time professional photographer) jumped at the chance to take photos for us. Every ten minutes or so, I'd hear his voice say "Hey! Catch!" and another roll would fly my way. We have pretty good shots, no interruption of the festivities, and all for the cost of developing and printing (plus his dinner, of course).





The important thing is to have the right people there for the right reasons. Everything else is fluff and memories. if you get the first part right, they'll generally make sure the second happens by itself. We had a wonderful day ... despite the bride's stress-induced fatigue, one guest splitting his pants open as he left the church, one set of parents getting lost on the way to the church, Mom's finger slammed in the car door ... on the whole, it was a great day, one we're still celebrating with great gusto.





Best wishes.
Reply:I commend your efforts in saving money. However, my concerns about your plan are the food and the photography. With no caterer (I assume friends or relatives are making the food?) and food heated in sternos, I'm concerned about food safety. How will you ensure that food safety precautions are taken? These include proper handwashing, no cross contamination of cutting boards and other food surfaces, proper preparation and holding temperatures?





My other concern is no photographer. Someday, you might want to view decent pictures of this event, and disposable camera pics won't cut it. Also, their "job" is to enjoy the wedding, not be photographers.





More ideas: music from someone's ipod, no wedding attendents, borrowed or previously owned wedding dress, groom wears his own suit.
Reply:Go to the court house or elope. Have fewer guests. Don 't have flowers. Make a wedding gown yourself or buy a dress you can wear again.