Dream Wedding on a Shoestring Budget

Make Your Budget Wedding Look like a Million Bucks!

By Tim and Lisa Spooner

Contrary to popular opinion, beautiful weddings can be achieved while spending little to none of your (or your parent's) money. We should know! We planned our beautiful dream wedding on less than $2,000 and want to share a few tips and ideas to help you plan your dream wedding on a tight budget.

The first thing you need to understand about planning a wedding is that the budget is your foundation. That is why we call it wedding planning ON a budget. Before you do any planning, you need to sit down with your fiancé and figure out what you can afford to spend. Consider what type of help your parents will be providing and what you have available in savings. The amount you are both comfortable spending is your wedding budget.

Once you have a set amount of money earmarked, it is time to figure out how you will achieve your dream wedding without spending more money than your budget permits.

You and your fiancé should develop a vision of what your wedding will look like and write it down. Ask yourselves the following questions: What aspects of your dream wedding are most important to you? What would make your wedding day a dream come true? Don't be shy about flavoring your wedding with touches that reflect your personality. Personal touches not only add meaning, but make the occasion more memorable.

At this point you have two clearly defined goals:

1) A budget that tells what you can reasonably afford to spend.

2) A summary of how you envision your dream wedding.

Keep these written goals in a prominent place in your wedding planning folder and refer to them throughout your planning experience.

Now it's time to save the big bucks! Most brides spend a lot of energy trying to get discounted wedding products and services. These are of course important to successfully planning a wedding on a budget. However, discounted wedding products and services are often not enough to help you achieve your dream wedding within your budget. In addition to discounted products and services, you should follow strategies that will produce FREE wedding products and services for your wedding.

Learn how to get not only discounted but more importantly FREE wedding products and services. Download the wedding planner that reveals how we planned our beautiful dream wedding on a $2,000 budget. Discover our proven tried and true strategies for planning a dream wedding on a tight budget!

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couples have been saving thousands upon thousands of dollars on their dream weddings!

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Amazing Wedding Planning - Save Up To 80% of Your Wedding Budget
Would you like to have a beautiful wedding but also save tons of money?

Here's how you can have a gorgeous and luxurious wedding under $10,000!

Wedding will be one of the greatest thrills of your life. Trust me! I've recently done it. Imagine that you'll be the center of attention of the most beautiful event. Not only that everybody at your wedding will envy you and talk about it for years to come.

But unfortunately, planning a wedding can stressful to many brides. It's the most important day, there are hundreds things to manage and everything has to be in sync.

The good news is that it doesn't have to be! All you need to do is eliminate the following 3 major wedding obstacles. Once you overcome them, wedding planning will be fun and exciting.

According to Hallmark, going over a budget is the single biggest worry for marrying couples. It's been estimated that about 80% go over budget. Forgetting something important and boring wedding are the next biggest issues.

When I was planning my wedding, I came across this book called "Amazing Wedding Planning" and it changed everything for me. It had everything that I needed to make my wedding beautiful and under $10,000. I can't write exactly how I did it step-by-step. But I highly recommend this book. I read several other books before but this book had the best information by far.

Here's where I bought the book.

Useful Wedding Toast Tips
by redgsr

Most people think that wedding speeches are the only important type of introduction or well-wishing available. Although wedding speeches are certainly a critical part of a wedding celebration, they are just one segment of the event. Wedding toasts complement speeches, and though they are commonly confused or thought to be the same as wedding speeches, they are actually quite unique.

Wedding toasts are short statements that can either be planned or made spontaneously. Often, a guest will stand up unexpectedly and give a toast, and in other cases, they will be volunteered to make a toast. Some people put a lot of thought in to their toasts before making them, while others just wing it and try to make it sound as excellent as possible off the top of their heads.

The toast comprises of well wishes and, much of the time, humor. At the end of the toast, all the guests take a swig of their drinks as a gesture of support and agreement for what was said in the statements. On the contrary, wedding speeches are very formal, often more serious, and it is not required that you take a drink at the end of them.

If you are going to a wedding, it is best to prepare in advance to make a toast. Even if you do not personally plan on toasting, there is no way to predict whether or not someone will volunteer you to make a toast. Imagine how horrifying and scary it would be to go to a wedding with nothing in your mind, and then hear your name arbitrarily called out to make a toast. Nobody wants to have to deal with that kind of pressure, so it is best to relieve it early on by pre-forming a mini speech.

Preparing is not as difficult as it might sound. Odds are that if you are attending a couple's wedding, you know a fair deal about them. The best way to start off is simply wishing them well, and then using some of your personal knowledge to mention a few intimate compliments and jokes. There is no problem with asking some of your friends and relatives for ideas, and just talking to other people can spark your own creativity. Also, think back to famous movie toasts.

Do not replicate one exactly, but hearing them over again and adding your own twist will be seen as clever. In the case that all else fails, you can always turn to the Internet for a plethora of wedding toast ideas. In fact, it is best to go to the Internet even if you do have a quality idea, as you may find something you like better, or be inspired to create something of a higher degree.

For those who are truly intent on making a memorable and unforgettable toast, there is a way to almost completely assure that your wedding toast will be the talk of the event, besides the ceremony itself. Many people have made careers out of writing wedding toasts for others; all they need is some information about the bride and groom, and they can come up with the perfect toast that everybody will love. Personal toast consultations run from as low as twenty dollars into the hundreds, and the more you shop around, the better the deals you will find.

About the Author

The complete Wedding Guide and Wedding Toasts information resource.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Get Creative with Bridal Shower Ideas
by jevans161

Bridal showers are always a great time for ladies to spend some time together, and to celebrate the upcoming marriage of a dear friend or family member. For friends and family planning a shower, sometimes it can be hard to come up with some great bridal shower ideas to help ensure you and your guests have a great time. There are so many different themes and other kinds of ideas you can use to make your bridal shower one of a kind, but it can be difficult in knowing where to start. So here are some great bridal shower ideas in all the different areas and themes you can use to help create the perfect shower that will be remembered for some time.

Bridal Shower Ideas - A Theme

One of the first things you'll need to consider when coming up with ideas for your shower is if you want to have a theme of some kind. A theme can be anything from a color to a particular kind of gift you're wanting to focus on, or even a particular kind of food you'll be serving at the shower. For example, showers with a theme of a color will give you some great ideas for decorating your location. A paper theme for the shower can have you asking all guests to bring paper products for the bride to use after the wedding, such as paper towels, toilet paper, napkins, paper plates, etc. A theme around a particular kind of food can be anything you like, such as sushi or an elegant tea party.

Bridal Shower Ideas - The Games

One thing bridal showers are known for are the games they get to play together. Bridal shower games can be a lot of fun, and serve as an ice breaker if the ladies don't know each other. There are plenty of kinds of games that you can play that are acceptable to every age group. If you have some great games planned, then you're sure to create a bridal shower your guests aren't soon to forget.

Bridal Shower Ideas - The Food

If you are basing your bridal shower ideas off of a food theme, then these two steps go hand-in-hand. Having a simple table set up with finger foods is always a favorite, and easy to pull off. If you are planning your shower with a food theme, then lay out a spread of that kind of food so that everyone can test and try and find their favorites.

Bridal Shower Ideas - Favors

One thing that is typically forgotten when it comes to bridal showers are favors. You don't want to forget the guests that have come to help make your shower successful, and you want to thank them for coming and participating. The Internet is always full of great sites to get bridal shower favors from, or if you're crafty you can save some money by making the favors yourself. You don't want to forget this important aspect of the shower though, it adds more fun for the guest and thanks them for their attendance. Plus, everyone likes getting a little something to remember a party by.

As I mentioned before, bridal shower ideas can come in all shapes and sizes. With a little bit of planning and creativity, and maybe even asking around friends or family, you can create the perfect bridal shower with the look and theme that you are going for.

About the Author

Sarah's wedding help site will get you off to the right start. Her ideas for bridal shower ideas are just one of many articles, tips and tricks to make your wedding perfect.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

How Do You Plan Your Wedding? 5 Points to Remember
by jerleung

Planning your wedding should be something enjoyable and exciting. However, many couples find this "job" very stressful because there are too many items to take care of. This is very true that you will need to keep searching on web and magazines for different ideas and information about your wedding.

For some other couples, they just do not know how to start their wedding plan. They find it hard to start because they do not know what to do. The followings are the five issues you need to consider when you start your wedding planning.

1 The budget
You can do nothing without money. The first thing you need to consider is the budget. Firstly you will need to decide on how much you are willing to spend for your wedding. Then you should start to allocate the budget to different items of wedding such as the venue, the catering service, wedding photography, favors, and invitation.

2 The scale
The second thing you can think about is the scale and complexity of your wedding. In fact, you should have a rough idea about it after you set your budget. A wedding with a larger scale will most probably mean a higher budget.

You may also need to take the advices of your parents. They may want a bigger wedding while you may not. In this case you need to discuss with your partner and parents so that a mutual agreement about the scale of the wedding. Then you may probably need to review the budget you have set. If the budget turns out to be too high for you, you will certainly need to discuss the whole matter again with your parents.

3 Wedding theme
After you settle the budget and scale of the wedding, you can start searching for your wedding theme. There are a lot of wedding theme you can choose, a beach wedding and a winter wedding for example. You can search on the web for different wedding themes and discuss it with your partner which will be the most suitable one for you.

4 Wedding date
Some may think that they should decide the wedding date at the very beginning. It is not totally true indeed. You may have a rough idea about your wedding day but you cannot really fix it until you make your decision on your theme.

If you are going for a beach wedding, you will most likely have your wedding in summer. On the contrary, you will not have your wedding in summer if you are planning to have a winter wedding. And this is the reason why you should have your wedding theme before fixing the wedding day.

5 Wedding venue
After you have gone through the first four steps, you can start to choose your wedding venue. There is no doubt that the wedding venue will be related to your wedding theme. You will try to find a beach if you are planning for a beach wedding. Searching and booking the venue as early as possible is very essential. If someone book the same day for the wedding as your wedding day, you will need to either find another wedding day or think of another wedding venue.

The above are only issues you need to think about when you begin your wedding planning. There are still more details to be consider such as wedding invitation, wedding favor and wedding photography. However, they should not be something difficult if you start your wedding plan well.

About the Author

Jerry Leung is a wedding invitation designer with great interest in Chinese Style Wedding cards. His works are in 983 Wedding Invitation. He runs A Wedding Blog and shares Wedding Tips

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Wedding Check List, Step By Step Guide
by Amy Nutt

Planning a wedding is a difficult task for both the families of the bride and groom and the bride and groom individually. There are so many preparations that must be made, and in many cases, not enough time to do it. It's little wonder that many resort to paying professional wedding planners to do the job for them. However, for many, that is an added expense they can't afford or, takes away from the fun of planning the wedding. For those who need guidance concerning planning the wedding, here are some steps you will find helpful.

1. One of the most important things to do, as soon as you set the date, is to decide where you want to hold the reception. This may seem like a backward way of doing things, but the reasoning is that reception halls tend to book quickly, especially in the summer or during certain holiday seasons, such as Christmas. In order to assure you will be able to have the reception at the place of your choice, book well in advance â%u20AC" sometimes you may have to plan as much as a year in advance. Of course, you will need to have a general idea of the number of guests you plan to invite, just to be certain your venue of choice is big enough.

2. If you plan to have a church wedding, your next step is to make plans for the use of the church, minister, organist, and any other church facilities you need. If you already belong to a church, this process is much easier than for those who don't have a home church. In fact, this should probably go hand in hand with booking the reception hall, since you have to make sure the church is available at the date and time you desire. This is especially important if you are planning your wedding around a holiday season or on a Sunday afternoon.

3. Whether you're having a band or just a disc jockey, you want to book several months in advance. Again, this will depend on the season, but during Christmas with many parties going on, they will book quickly.

4. Unless you have booked a venue that provides catering, such as a fire hall or banquet hall of a restaurant or hotel, you will also need to contract with a catering company. Even if your parents are paying for the wedding, you and your fiancé should have a say in picking the menu items as long as your choices fall within the allotted budget. Alcohol is optional, and if many of the guests are underage, you may wish to eliminate it, except for the wedding toast. If costs are a factor, a cash bar is an alternative.

5. Once you have booked the reception hall and the church, many of the other preparations can go in any order you choose, since they all need to be started at about the same time. However, most brides like to begin by choosing a wedding gown and dresses for the bridal party. Both of these require one to two months' preparation in case alterations may be necessary and in case any of the styles are sizes need to be ordered by the bridal shop. Allow enough time to ensure your final fitting and any additional alterations will be ready several days before your wedding.

6. You should order the flowers approximately two weeks in advance to allow the florist time to put the order together appropriately and have time to schedule delivery to the church and reception hall on the day of the wedding.

7. You also want to order your cake a couple of weeks before the big day â%u20AC" preferably even one month, depending on the policy of the bakery. In fact, some may only want a week's notice, but check with your bakery first.

8. Finally, a few days before the wedding, confirm that everything is in place â%u20AC" all guests have responded, names have been provided to whomever is going to make up the place cards (if you plan to have reserved seating), the caterer is clear on the menu and whether it's sit down or buffet style, the wedding party (male and female) has picked up their attire, and the cake will be delivered by the bakery to the venue.

Of course, your wedding trip is already planned, and though that is part of the wedding, it is not included in the wedding checklist here since many people choose to do that at a later date or it is booked separate from wedding preparations. The same holds true for house hunting, especially since many couples today either live together or already have a place of their own before the wedding.

About the Author

The Perfect Wedding Guide is a useful resource that offers wedding tips, wedding checklist and everything related to weddings for you to plan a memorable celebration.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

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