What can I do to save money on my wedding in today's economy?

Lets start out with saying there are a few components to a successful Wedding, A nice place to have your wedding, good Food, great Entertainment and a great Video or Photographer for long lasting memories. Everything else you may be able to cut corners on.

1. The Location- instead of the most elaborate location you may find that some Golf Resorts or even some community centers have excellent accomodations and if you hire a good caterer you will not have a huge overhead with a more elaborate place and sometimes work out better for pictures.

2. Disc Jockey- Find a good DJ preferrably one that has the experience of coordinating events for you and does detailed planning of your event requests and music selections. This is the person that will be making sure everything flows for you during your event. You don't have to go with the most expensive DJ, always check references especially do an online search to see what other people are saying about a particular company. I definitely would not go with the cheapest either as this area is a crucial part of your event, but I would definitley go with a DJ that does it full time.

3. Flowers- are a beautiful way to accent your Wedding and you may decide to just have a boquet and flowers for your bridesmaids instead of every table. This may save some money and not break your budget.

4. Photogaphy or Video- you may decide to have both, this is where you will have to decided if you are happy with just one or the other. A lot of times people cut out video and wish they would of had it later. You may find a company that has discounts like a DJ and Video or a Photo and Video. It is always good to make sure you are hiring a professional unless you know one of your family memebers that you can trust to take pictures or do video for you, the only thing is they are there for your wedding and it is not their normal job and may definitley miss some important parts of your event that you would like to remember.

5. Buffet or Sitdown- a lot of times buffet turns out to be much more cost effective and guests are usually happier with being able to serve themselves.

6. Wedding Dress- this is usually one of the areas that is hard to cut corners on because it usually involves trying the right one on, but if you have the courage there are many resale wedding dress shops as well as Ebay and Amazon that have wedding dresses for sale and if they don't fit you can always go to a taylor or seamstress that will alter the dress to your specifications which a lot of times can work out much cheaper than buying the expensive ones you may find.

7. Open bar- If you are at a place that allows you to bring your own in that may be a very cost effective way to go, if you decide on a location where you cannot you may be able to have open bar for a select period of time which a lot of the time works out much cheaper. You may also have just Beer, Wine and softdrinks and anything else there would be a cost involved and is very cost effective as well.

8. Makeup- Hire a person that does Makeup and hair. Most of this time this will actually save money in the longrun, they normally will have their own supplies as well as do a professional job on the bride as well as the bridesmaids, this can be money well spent as they also save you time, headache and it works out to about the same amount you would spend on supplies and items that you would need to do it yourself.

9. Party Favors- This can be one of the biggest pitfalls that people that are getting married overpay for. I have found that you can find inexpensive favors on Ebay or Amazon and get them engraved or stenciled for a very minimal cost, you may be able to have the favors and have printed cards attached to whatever it is you decide on. A very cost effective ways to save money.

10. Cake- a lot of times someone's grandmother is an excellent chef and is an unknown resource you may have and most of the times they are excited to do this for you, there is also an option of your local grocery store or bakery may have wedding cakes they will make at a very inexpensive price, but the downfall is they may have to be picked up and delivered by one of the guests or you, but it may be worth the savings you receive.

These 10 items I have mentioned are some of the most important parts of a successful wedding and it may be hard to cut corners on some items, the most important things not to cut corners on are the things you will remember such as the entertainment if you and your guests had a great time at your wedding, the food, if everyone was leaving early because the food was inedible and your precious memories of your big day afterwards, the Photography and or Video.