10 Recession-Proof Wedding Ideas: From Bridal Guide

Follow these helpful budget tips and your dream wedding can still be a reality, even during these tough economic times. by Sharon Naylor 1. Choosing the right month for your wedding date could save you thousands of dollars. For instance, a formal evening wedding in April often costs one-third as much per-person as the identical wedding scheduled for September or October. Just go for mid-April for a better chance at gorgeous weather and less rain. 2. Sign onto mailing lists at all of your local bridal shops and salons to get advance, VIP notice of upcoming trunk and sample sales. These special events could get you up to 70% off your dream wedding gown and accessories. Sure, you’ll get some junk mail, but that one e-mail invitation to the right sale could be a golden ticket to big savings. 3. Talk with your other engaged friends to see if there are any small wedding items that you can all choose together, buy together, and use at your own weddings. The top shared items are ring pillows and aisle runners. Some brides even share veils, just pairing them with different headpieces or tiaras. 4. Ask for gift cards to your local craft store as birthday and holiday gifts to get big savings on all the supplies you’ll need to make favors or décor, guest welcome gift baskets and even centerpiece bowls. With enough gift cards, these things might turn out to be free. 5. Choose inexpensive entrée items such as chicken and pasta for your reception meal, and then ask your chef or caterer to create delicious, gourmet sauces to make those meals extra-special. With a fabulous lobster-garnished sauce, that pasta dish is a crowd-pleaser. 6. Ask your site if they have any ‘dead stock’ in their wine collections, cases of perfectly good wine that they have moved down to their wine cellar to make room for newer, trendier vintages on their showcase menu. If you taste and love these last-month’s wines, you could negotiate a big bargain on them as all or part of your bar wine collection. 7. Shop for your invitations at the top discount invitation websites such as invitations4sale.com, where top-brand invitation lines are available for 40% off, and a percent of your purchase is donated to charity. 8. Since money is tight for everyone these days, your friends-with-skills could be thrilled when you ask them to do the graphic design for your programs, make your favors, make your bridesmaids’ wedding-day necklaces or bake a dessert for the rehearsal dinner as their wedding gift to you. No need for them to write a $300 wedding gift check to you…their $50 materials fees and time adds up to the perfect, meaningful gift to you. It’s a win-win! 9. Ask your relatives about borrowing heirloom items for your wedding. Your Mom might love the idea of your wearing her headpiece or using the cake topper from her own wedding cake, and your sister might be touched by your request to use her jeweled hair pins since she’s so stylish! Beyond the hundreds of dollars in savings, it means a lot to them that you want to borrow something of theirs for your big day. 10. Take a mini-honeymoon instead of the two-week Hawaiian getaway. After the big day, just head out to a moderately-priced locale for your first vacation as husband and wife, and then you can assess your monetary wedding gifts to plan the more exotic vacation later on. Delayed gratification is the new trend, with more brides and grooms using this ‘trick’ to book their dream vacation during that location’s less expensive season. Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 wedding books, including 1001 Ways to Save Money and Still Have a Dazzling Wedding (Updated 3rd edition, 2008), and is a longtime contributor to Bridal Guide. Visit her website at sharonnaylor.net.