2 heads are always better than one. We have some money saving tips but know that we haven't covered everything.

What money saving tips can you share where wedding products and services are concerned?

Some past answers from babblers

My future FIL has his own printing business...so he will do my invitations for no cost. He will also do my programs in the shape of a fan. So that is hundreds of $$ saved.

My future MIL has been making wedding cakes for years...she will do mine for no cost.

Choose a few details that are most important to you and don't obsess over the other stuff, everything will come together in the end!

We saved a lot of money through the following ways:
-moved our wedding outside of Toronto: the location was beautiful (in Niagara), we had our ceremony outside as well as the dancing, the whole dinner with alcohol for 120 people was $4400
-use the talents of your friends. When they offer to do things for you for free, take them up on it! We had friends who were DJs, photographers, sound guys etc. All of them worked at our wedding for free and we just provided them with dinner!
-have your dress made instead of buying it at a bridal salon (a dress I wanted that was $1000 I had copied for $350 including material)
-consider having your reception in a cultural centre; we used a Slovenian Hall which was pretty laid back but still somewhat formal. There were no added costs for anything. We paid per person, which included a three course dinner plus the rental of the entire grounds. We had our ceremony and whole reception there.

We're saving a lot by asking talented friends and family to help out. Which, it turns out, we have A LOT of!
1. Mom is making my dress, her dress, my veil, my purse, all of the bridesmaid's dresses, my dad's vest, and my brother's vest. Yikes. She better get hustling. Oh, and the fabric for my dress was free...it was my Nana's dress 55 years ago, which my mom wore 29 years ago.
2. Oh, Mom is also making the bouquets, but all the bridesmaids ones and the bouts are done. Just mine to finish now. --FYI--Saved a bundle on flowers too by buying them last October for 50% off fall flower clearance at Michaels.
3. My bridesmaid is making our cake, and it will be beautiful!
4. My aunt is a graphic designer. She and my junior bridesmaid (her daughter) are doing our centerpieces.
5. I did our invites. I got so many compliments on them, and they only cost me $90 total.
6. My girlfriend has worked as a hostess at many events for quite a few years. She has agreed to be our "day of" decorator at the hall -- phew.

- I think the most important thing to remember is to not get carried away! Yes, it is your wedding day, but you should not have to go into debt for it. Make a list of the items that are the most important thing to you and cheap out on the rest.
- Be creative. You don't have to do things the way everyone else does them or how your Mom wants them. Your wedding should be a reflection of you and your FI. If you don't want to have a cake, don't have one. If you want a cocktail reception, have one.
- Look at 3 or more vendors until you are absolutely satisfied that you are getting the best person for the best price. I can't tell you how long I looked for a photographer. They were all upwards of $1k and I didn't really think the pictures were all that great. I ended up going with someone who's going to charge $450 and the pictures are the best I've ever seen. I've been looking for a DJ for six months now and still haven't found one I'm happy with.
- Have a cash bar, but pay for the first round.
- Buy your dress off the rack and just pay for the alterations. I bought my $1200 dress for $800.
- Make your own favours, centrepieces and boquets
- Get your fresh flowers from the grocery store
- Pay a culinary student to do your cake or buy it from a grocery store
Basically I have found that if you want good, frugal vendors, you need to look outside of the big companies and go for the home-based ones. The quality is the same or better, the service is hard to match and the price is honest
- Get stuff from the dollar store or on sale, never pay full price.
- READ THE FINE PRINT. A lot of places are out to rip you off. Don't sign anything that you are not comfortable with. A lot of places charge extra for silly things like cake cutting and uncorking the wine.

If you can deal with doing stuff yourself, do it. It is a lot more frugal.

Get married "off season". We booked the Elginton Grand for March and saved $15 per plate and also recieved free h'ors d'eurves and marquee signage (our names on the movie billboard outside). Many service we booked offered us discounts for the time of year and we had no problem with anyone already being booked. We were even able to "name our price" on many things and it was a great place to start negotiations with vendors - none of them are busy in March! Our DJ gave us an awesome "off season" rate and even knocked off $200 because he knew the Eglinton Grand has an already-existing sound system and he wouldn't need to bring any speakers, just plug into theirs. Hotels in the area are also offering "off season" rates.

- talk to everyone around you...you never know who has special skills and will help you out...

- keep you eyes open and friends and family memebers weddings, and see if you can borrow anything, a bunch of my decor items are from my cousins wedding, others are from friends weddings, my wrap is from my cousins wedding...Bunnylover is coming to my wedding, when I found out our colours were simular I told her to take notes and she can borrow what she wants

1. Get married on a Sunday or Friday. Vendors tend to give a better rate and have a availability on that day.
2. Get a small "real" cake for display and cutting. Put it on a nice large stand to make it look bigger. Have sheet cakes in the back for serving. No one will know the difference and halls tend to knock of the ridiculous cake-cutting-fee for sheet cakes.
3. Guest book: Think about it, no one will see the cover so why get an expensive $50 silk version when you can get a perfectly elegant scrapbook for half the price? Plus, you can add photos or cards to the rest of the pages. Chances are that you will not need the entire book.
4. Flowergirl basket/ring bearer pillow: I used a ring pillow from Dollarama (YES!!), and a small bouquet for my flower girl.
5. Bridal accessories: Shoes, jewellery, etc. Just buy them a regular stores. It's highway-robbery the prices they give at bridal stores!
6. Elizabeth Stuart Bridal is my savior. I bought my beautiful wedding gown there for $500, and i saw the same gown for $1375 elsewhere. This store is fantastic and the gowns are brand new and in perfect condition! And yes, veils are $40.

Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate! When I first looked for venues I checked out four of them in depth. I then went to my favourite one and negotiated a price for everything I wanted based on my willingness to go elsewhere if my terms were not agreeable.
Ask for suggestions and help from friends and family, you might be surprised. My wrap belonged to my sister from her wedding, my tiara was borrowed from a good friend, my veil came free with my dress (with a little negotiation, lol), my candles were made by my sister, the BM dresses made by my little sister. Saved me a bundle!
Don't be afraid to try DIY projects for the wedding. Dollarama, Michael's and WallMart are all great places to start.

Oh! where to begin...I only purchase wedding items at Michael's if I have their 40% or 50% discount coupons. This took care of my invitations and guest book.
-The fabric to create & cover my guest book and gift envelope box is from the remnant bins at my local fabric store.
-My shoes are from Winners - they were regular price $100.00, I paid $25.00 including taxes.
-Found a knock-off version of a Maggie Sottero gown online for $600., which includes shipping. **update** bid for gown on Ebay & won! with shipping & exchange, gown will be just under $300.00cdn!!!***
-Marrying on a Sunday in November.
-Borrowing a cake plate stand from a dear friend.
-Purchased a crystal beaded wreath from Pier 1, regular price $55., paid $15. including taxes.
-Not being afraid to ask for extra's or negotiate.
-Made my own crystal bead "jewellery" for my bouquet. Probably only cost me $1.00 per stem.
-Dollar Giant or Dollarama stores for votive candle holders and my mirror tile mats.
-Borrowing bridal magazines from the library. Borrowing any type of wedding book from the library.
-Mostly what has saved me money is research, asking lots of questions, not saying the word "wedding" when talking to potential vendors and the word S-A-L-E.
-I really tried hard to focus on the important parts of the day...the ceremony, the food and the ambiance of the day.
-Last but not least, all the support from the Ladies on FB!

I've started looking at unlikely places for wedding things.
We picked an unusual theme, medieval,and thus have a lot of creative cheap things we can do...
Also we are keeping it small, only close family no one further then first cousins...
I emailed Ukrainian churches to get recommended Caterers, ones that don't advertise other then by word of mouth, I'm getting a great deal...
I got by wedding invitations for 2.99 a box and am printing them myself...
Linen rentals are hideously expensive, I'm making my own table clothes out of broadcloth that I can buy by the bolt. I'm waiting for the buy one meter get two sale to buy my gold tulle at the fabric store..
For favours we are buying chocolate at Halloween and Valentines Day the day after and packaging them in bags..
Were using fake flowers and I am having a "wildflower" bouquet
Bridemaids will carry a single flower each
I'm using baskets with flowers in them for centerpieces and dollarstore candle holders, two per table... The baskets I get at the thrift store for 10cents a piece (I also found a great flower girl basket)
We are getting a leather notebook from staples for the guest book
the flower girl is going to throw bird seed
I'm buying up fake flowers from unusual places, thrift stores, free cycle, local websites, garage sales,
We picked a venue that requires very minimal decoration, it was cheap too... 250$
For our cake, we are having a small one made from the grocery store, and the caterer will provide the rest
We are having homemade wine... Shhh don't tell the liquor board
I am getting my dress made, and am having it made using Dupioni silk as opposed to more expensive fabric
I am making flower girls and ringbears outfits.
We are having a small ceremony outside
No tuxes for anyone... That's just my money saving thoughts for right now...

I have posted something like this before and in some detail, but, we saved about 10K by having our extremely talented family and friends part of our wedding in every way.
In fact, the ONLY thing that we did NOT have a friend or family member for was our DJ...and since he has become a friend!!
At first we were a bit concerned that people might think that we were mooching, but, honestly, every single one of them was thrilled to be included in our day in a special way!!
It made every aspect of our day so personal and unique.

That's what we are doing, it's alot cheaper getting married there!

We're trying to DIY as much as we can - not just to save money but also because we're hands-on kind of people. We made our Save the Dates and printed via VistaPrint (free before shipping/processing) which saved a lot of money. Michael's is also a godsend as they always have 40-50% off coupons. We bought our invites using 50% off coupons and spent $40 on 80 invitations w/response cards (much more frugal than $5/invite). We wanted to make a wedding website from scratch so are hosting it on our own server rather than through a web hosting site (saves about $100/yr).

When we were considering having our wedding in NYC, caterers there told us to either do wedding cake or dessert but not both because it would be overkill. So we've taken that mantra and are doing wedding cupcakes. Not having desserts saves $6+ per plate, and cupcakes are generally more frugal than tiered wedding cakes (plus we LOVE cupcakes!) We also have been making sure to "streamline" our catering menu - no sweets tables or seafood tables or chocolate fountains - just hors d'oeuvres, 1st course, entree, and cupcakes!

A lot of our savings are sort of "bonuses" for making the wedding more personal. We prefer cupcakes to cakes, have fun (and bond) over doing things together, etc. But being a bit more frugal is definitely a plus!

off topic... i love your ring. but my engagement ring is the exact negative of this - a centre sapphire and two side diamonds! so pretty.

I highly recommend the cupcake vs. cake thing..not only did all of the cupcakes get eaten but they were cheaper than a wedding cake..

I can't contribute much yet, but I just spent about $90 for 60 invites (kit from Michaels). I'm going to add a few of my own touches because the invites as is are quite plain. Either way I know this is way cheaper than ordering invites. I'm not much of a DIY-er, but this was one project I wanted to tackle. I wasn't able to use a 50% off coupon unfortunately, because the invites were already on sale.

FI has suggested an ipod wedding several times but I vetoed that one in a real hurry. I've heard too many stories of ipod weddings going very very wrong, and I didn't want that headache, especially since music is a pretty big aspect of the reception. Not only that, but the DJ is already booked. Sorry FI

Here's how I was able to save money and pay for 85% my $25K wedding in 9 months:

original post

1) Cut the guest list to the smallest possible #. This was tough, but it's our wedding and we shouldn't have anyone we don't want there.
2) Asked around to see where we could get help. My cousin's making my wrap (and the Ring bearer's pillow), a friend of a friend is our photographer, I'm making our favours and so on.
3) Scrimp where you can. We decided that food, alcohol, and music are the most important parts of the evening, so those are the parts we'll go all out (though alcohol will be cheaper now that we can bring in our own), but we're making cuts in other places to make up for it.
4) Moved the wedding out of the city. We were originally going to get married in Toronto, but ended up moving it to Peterborough and I've already noticed about $5,000 worth in savings, just from moving it out of the city. That's a big plus for us.

Interestingly enough, we went the opposite direction: we decided to move the wedding from Peterborough to Toronto! FI is from Peterborough, but we found that using our condo's party room for the reception (we have under 60 guests, so quite doable) and using Dorio's Bakery was a wonderfully frugal (and quality) combination. Other things we did:
1- I bought my dress from www.yourwhitedress.com for $299 + tax: original price was about $1,400.
2- FI's sister is a fantastic photographer, so she's doing all the engagement and wedding photography.
3- MIL bakes like a dream, and is doing our wedding cake.
4- Got beautiful gold shoes for the wedding from the Dixie Outlet Mall, the Spring outlet, for $10!!
5- Buying two 16-litre boxes of wine from Magnotta Winery, one white, one red, for about $80 each.
6- My MoH's husband is a music teacher, and so he's coordinating the music for the ceremony.
7- Since Church ceremonies are so expensive if you're not a member of the congregation (and we aren't), we're having a City Hall wedding (which definitely cuts down on the number of guests).
8- Two of our darling friends are teaming up to bartend: these are the same two who'd ordinarily be found behind the bar anyway.
9- Two of FI's friends are bringing the audio equipment and are DJ'ing.
10- We're not going to have a champagne toast. Friends and family are contributing plenty of liquor, so we'll just have everyone toast with whatever they want from the bar. Saves us a lot of $$ and that's also fewer glasses to order (I really did want one, but I can't figure out a frugal way to do it).
11- The hotel where we are spending the night is providing us with a bottle of sparkling wine as part of their "romance" package, and so we're engraving two beautiful crystal flutes that were given to FI as a present a couple of years ago, and having our own private "champagne toast" at the hotel.
12- In lieu of a limo, we were able to borrow a Murano, and a friend is driving us to and from City Hall, and the hotel is sending a "sedan limo" to bring us from the reception to the hotel around midnight, and is charging us only $45.

We still have plenty left to do/arrange etc., but I really like the idea of scouring Dollarama for some of the little things we need - thanks!

Wow Cm79, you're my hero!!!

Aw - thanks, TeamLimaBean! That's so sweet! *warm and fuzzy feeling*