My Awesome Cheap Wedding Ideas

Yes... Jelly Bean Sundae. That is my favorite wedding suggestion of an inexpensive wedding favor.

:)

Okay I'm really curious what you are thinking upon first glance .. Whatever it is, that's what I think all my friends were thinking when we walked into the wedding reception hall and saw these jelly bean sundaes on our tables as the wedding favors.

Now let me tell you what was on the note card next to the little jelly bean sundae:

The note card told a story of how the bride and groom met at work: he an engineer, she a personal assistant. She always kept a gumball machine of jelly beans on her desk. And though he liked jelly beans, he did not LOVE them but professed to her that he did - but that was just an excuse to get to go visit her and talk to her (you see he had a crush on her!).

And when they started dating she would bring little jelly bean gifts for him, and he continued to pretend to love them because it made his heart melt when she did bring these gifts .

HOW CUTE IS THAT?

And NOW, how great a wedding favor is that? Personal, and memorable.

Most of the time you'll see wedding favors that are kind of cute, but realistically they are cute just for that day. Any other day it's just a piece of chocolate, or a pen, or something that just happens to have the bride and groom's name on it.

IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY!

People love stories, people love idiosyncracies. And that's what you're giving them with this wedding favor and backstory.

So here's what you do: And this is the fun part, because it's like when you clean a room of clutter and you start coming upon things and then start remembering stories about those things - it's awesome and it's that kind of fun.

1) both of you sit and write for five minutes and write every common interest or little idiosyncracy or write how you met (in detail!!). Do NOT think "oh this could be a discount wedding favor" or "this could tie in to cheap wedding stuff". Just write! Five minutes seems like a long time but it goes by FAST! Let the train of thought just run wild TOOT TOOT

2) time's up! Look at each other's list one at a time . Then start brainstorming to think if anything can be turned into a wedding favor

And that's it! Inexpensive wedding favors that are also cute, personal, and memorable!

Good luck!

Kennly

Part of planning a wedding on a budget is of course money saving ideas! There are a ton of ideas out there. If you feel overwhelmed, well... don't!

If you can use an idea, great! You will save some money. If you can't, you can tuck it away for future use and maybe it will help you brainstorm another idea. As my mentor says

"A mind expanded can not be contracted."

And if you can use all the ideas (all ten here, or heck all the thousands you fine), more power to you! You will potentially save thousands on your wedding. Heck they may even have to pay you :)

So here is my quick and easy list of cheap wedding reception ideas, brainstorming style! I can't wait to see how it turns out!

1. First and foremost and most important: avoid buying things labeled as "wedding". As an example "wedding private dance lessons" could be $200 per hour. But go to a ballroom studio for "ballroom private lessons" and you may only pay $80 to $100. That's a 50% discount. If you are able to apply that to EVERYTHING then your wedding budget just got cut in half.
   
2. Shop for flowers in season. Avoid costly flowers not in season
   
3. Keep it simple. cakes, wedding dresses, wedding favors.
   
4. Simplify your menu. Eliminating a course or a choice can trim a bit. People will remember more how good the food tastes then what was actually served. Quality over quantity. So you may not want the steak or shrimp over chicken. (GO TO FOOD TASTINGS!)
   
5. Looking for live music? Engage in the local college. Some colleges have a jazz band or swing band. Heck, some high school jazz bands sound REALLY good. For the ceremony you can find local students studying harp, violin, and you might even able to put together your own quartet.
   
6. Google "wholesale". wholesale flowers, wholesale wedding favors, wholesale florists to go for cheap wedding flowers.
   
7. Book a year or more in advance. You can nail down this year's prices for next year's wedding
   
8. Buy online, especially at ebay
   
9. Buy last season's dress (April-May or October-November) which should be a cheap wedding dress compared to this year's models
   
10. Booking off-season
    
11. Booking off-day (not Saturday)
    
12. Booking off-time (not evening). Some of my friends hold Saturday brunch weddings. With the right elegant setting it can be quite fabulous!
    
13. For your photographer, get the negatives or cd of original images, no need to purchase prints or photo books. If you're going to cut costs on your photographer, better to pay for high quality originals with no photos then lower quality originals and lots of prints.
    
14. Buy a non-wedding cake that is three layers instead of a "wedding" cake
    
15. Donate and write off (flowers, dresses, musicians who are non-profit, churches that are non-profit, venues that are non-profit)
    
    The power of brainstorming: *whew* I hope you don't mind I ended up going to fifteen ideas. And I hope some of those helped you brainstorm even more.
    
    The final idea, because I think it is just darn awesome, is from Erica Yoon's book Amazing Wedding Planning. And it has to do with the honeymoon:
    
    "If you want a fun, exciting and cheap honeymoon, go to Las Vegas, Nevada. If you've heard about all the cheap gourmet food and services, I can tell you that it's true. I happen to live just outside of Las Vegas, and it has so many gourmet foods and services that I love to jump in the car and hit the buffets for dinner."
    
    Think about it:) Because saving money on your honeymoon means freeing up some budget for the rest of your cheap (or not so cheap) wedding reception ideas. And I think all of us have entertained the thought of being married by Elvis!
    
    Congratulations and good luck with your wedding reception planning!
    
    

For planning a wedding, I have found cruises to be quite the deal. It saves a lot on planning AND on your budget.

Of course it is a bit geographically independent, but if you live near a body of water (like here in Southern California) you can definitely find some nice cruise weddings.

Most receptions now are a good $70 to $80 a head and are usually four to five hours long. (Ceremony adds another hour). That $70 to $80 a head doesn't count everything else like music, photo, etc..

Cruises are usually a four hour excursion (including ceremony) that run $70 to $80 a head but are ALL inclusive. Meaning including the ceremony minister, DJ/emcee, venue planner, flowers, and photographer! In my estimation a cruise wedding is maybe 60% to 70% the cost of a non-cruise wedding.

Of course you want to check the quality of your photographer, your DJ, etc. but as far as pricing, if you're on a budget, it is definitely something for you to check out.

Not to mention cruising around the water with beautiful scenery for your wedding day!

I had googled around a bit and here's a typical priced (and well priced) wedding cruise package website located in Newport Beach, California. If you're in Newport Beach, check them out :) If you're not, it's a great reference.

Electra Cruises

Happy Wedding Planning!

They are usually all-inclusive pack