Economic Wedding Ideas

Doing something yourself is a great way to save money on virtually anything, from home or car repair to cooking and cleaning your house.  Paying someone else to do something for you makes that something much more expensive, no matter what it is.

The exception to this of course is when you have no idea what you’re doing and just make things worse than when you started out!  The “expert” in home repair can do more damage trying to repair something than when he or she started out, and the same can be said for so many things when it’s best to have an expert do it for you in the first place.  Really, who would try to do their own dental work if they’re not a dentist or would try to build their own home if they have knowledge of construction?  Having someone else that knows what they’re doing can be a wise choice in many situations, regardless of the cost.

So when it comes to your wedding, what are some things you can do yourself or have friends and family pitch in for and what things are better left to the experts?  Let’s take a look at several aspects of your wedding and give you some things to think about so that you can make the best decision in this regard.

Wedding Gown and Accessories

You’re probably going to need to have your wedding gown altered in some way.  If you buy a dress at the department store and it hits a little below your knees than you expect or it’s a half inch shorter than other dresses you have, chances are you might not even notice or care.  But if your wedding dress is half an inch too long you’re going to be dragging it on the floor all night.  And the way it fits your body is going to affect the way it looks in pictures, so a dress that’s too loose in certain areas will look like it’s sagging and if it’s too tight in other areas it might make you uncomfortable and even rip while you’re dancing.

Altering a dress is serious business.  There’s much more involved to it than when you just need to sew a popped button back onto a jacket.  And think of how much you spend on your dress - you don’t want to take the chance of ruining it!  If you have a friend or family member that’s skilled in alterations then he or she might be able to save you quite a bit of money but don’t have anyone touch your dress unless you’re sure they know what they’re doing.

Wedding Favors

Putting together your own wedding favors is a common practice and can save you a tremendous amount of money!

You can purchase wedding favors online that are already boxed and wrapped and ready to go, but sometimes making these things yourself is the best way to save literally hundreds of dollars from your budget.

Many brides purchase small boxes and fill them with edible items such as chocolates or nuts; a good way to dress these up is to wrap them in festive wrapping paper and tie them with fancy ribbon.

If you purchase personalized candy bar wrappers it’s also typically cheaper to buy just the wrappers and bars separately and wrap everything yourself as well.

Purchasing small boxes and tins for favors is very affordable and most are well under a dollar each; check out www.FavorsAndWraps.com and www.theknot.com for ideas and items.

Flowers and Bouquets

You may have read or heard many times that you can save a lot of money by assembling your own bouquets and making your own flower arrangements.  This can certainly be true if you have a knack or an eye for these types of things, but remember that professional florists usually take classes for months to learn about flower arranging.  There’s a reason they use a particular type of accent for one flower and not with another; there’s a reason why they stack flowers a certain way, and so on.

You can certainly buy flowers from your supermarket or warehouse style store or even your local florist and easily tie them together for a nice bouquet for you and your bridesmaids, but this is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted and certainly not left to the last minute.  It’s a good idea to check out photos of different flower arrangements and really study them carefully; why is your eye drawn to the ones you like versus the ones you don’t?  Is it the color of the blooms, the size of the bouquet, the accents?

Don’t leave your flower arranging to chance.  You might even want to purchase some blooms well ahead of the time of your wedding and put together some practice bouquets to make sure you like the finished product.

Decorations

If you do any of the decorating yourself you absolutely should write up a plan of what you’re going to do and where.  If you want to put together some artificial trees with lights in them, definitely write out where they will be in the reception hall and make sure there are nearby plugs in the wall.  If you’re going to assemble centerpieces then you want to get this done well in advance and make sure you have a way to transport them to the location on the big day.

Remember that you’ll be very busy the morning of the wedding and won’t have time to decorate yourself.  Unless you’re having your reception at a friend’s house where you can access the night before, it may be best to leave homemade decorating to friends and if there is no one to help, then you may want to leave it to the experts.

And some locations actually have requirements or restrictions when it comes to decorating.  There are obviously fire codes that restrict what can be put in doorways and they want to be sure that no one ruins their walls or does anything else that might cause damage.  So if you’re planning on doing any decorating yourself you definitely want to plan ahead and check with your location.

Cooking

Preparing the meal for the reception or at least some food items on your own or having friends and family help out is a good way to save some dollars on your wedding overall.  Of course you need to use some discretion when asking others to help as they may resent being asked to pitch in to host your party, but some are happy to do at least a few things.

Usually desserts are best for those who want to help as they’re easy to prepare and can usually be done several days before the wedding and stored in the freezer.  You might also ask someone to prepare some vegetables with dip or a big salad or something along those lines if it’s very simple.  Some casual weddings might also mean that guests can bring soda or potato chips or something else simple.

Be sure that you check with your chosen venue as they might not allow outside food and request that you only work with their kitchen staff.  Remember too that you need to have some way of getting those empty dishes home and of cleaning up afterwards.

Tip from the experts: You might want to consider asking someone to oversee this job for you.  That person could coordinate who is going to bring what and can make sure everything is organized in the kitchen and cleaned up afterward as well.  If you try to do this on your big day you’re just not going to be able to take care of everything and enjoy your day as well.

Invitations and Printed Items

There are so many computer programs today that have templates set up specifically for invitations of all sorts and this means wedding invitations as well.  Most people also have a color printer or access to one so their prints are very professional looking.  This gives everyone a great opportunity to create their own invitations, response cards, menus, programs, and so on.

Making invitations and other printed items is not difficult but it will take some time and some expertise as well.  Many amateurs make the mistake of tossing some clip art and other decorations on their printed materials without any thought as to how it will look overall, making the materials look amateurish or crowded.  There are also certain fonts that work well with certain designs whereas others look sloppy or are hard to read.

If you have a background in graphic design or a good eye for these things then you might be okay; if not, you might want to ask a friend for help or have a professional make up your printed material.

Tip from the experts: Whatever you’re planning on printing yourself, make some mockups on plain paper before using up your good invitations paper or cardstock paper.  It’s surprising how often something looks good on your computer screen but not so good when you print it out.