You walk into the shop of your chosen vendor and announce “Hello! I’d like to get ________ for my wedding.”

Only one thing will happen. The vendor’s eyes will light up. You can practically see the dollar signs flashing in them. They will start falling all over themselves to lavish attention on you and make you feel special.

You’ve said the one word that all frugal brides should avoid when they first approach their vendors. The “W” word. Wedding.

Why should the word wedding be such a dirty word? Weddings mean Big Bucks to vendors. The average wedding these days costs well over $20,000, and many couples are happy to go into debt to create the wedding of their dreams.

Vendors know how important a wedding is. After all, this is supposed to be “the best day of your life” right? They also know that you’re likely to have a very specific idea in your head of what you want and you’re willing to spend just about anything to get it. And they charge accordingly.

In fact, some brides have reported that when they ask for the vendor’s service without the word “wedding”, they are quoted a price that’s at least $1000 less.

If you want to save money on your wedding and keep costs at a reasonable level, you need to drop the word “wedding” from your vocabulary. This is the biggest wedding money saving secret of them all. When you call to speak to a vendor, you should say that you are planning for a “family gathering” or otherwise conveniently leave out the part about this being a wedding.

You may feel a little uncomfortable doing this. I know. It feels like you’re lying. But this is a war and you need to fight to come out on top. If you say the word “wedding”, the vendor has already won.

Rest assured, you don’t have to keep the secret forever. After you’ve gotten the vendor to agree to a price, and sign a contract, you can let the cat out of the bag and mention that it’s a wedding. They may fight about this, but know that you are right and stand your ground. They’ve agreed to a certain price for a certain service and they should stick to that price.

Weddings can be incredibly expensive, but with a bit of ingenuity (and a slight omission of details), you really can have the wedding of your dreams and a price that you can afford.

————————————————————–

As a mother of three girls, I’ve planned my share of weddings. We aren’t the wealthiest of families and the costs of three weddings did put a bit of a financial burden on us. However, we managed to put together three amazing and perfect weddings that looked like they cost a lot more than they actually did.

How did we do that? Well, we did lots of homework on finding inexpensive wedding ideas. Once we found some great tips and hints, we put some creativity and imagination into it and pulled them off.

There are lots of inexpensive wedding ideas that can be created if you have a more limited budget or are simply not wanting to spend a small fortune. Weddings today cost, on average, $15,000.

That is absolutely ridiculous.

Sure, it is supposed to be the happiest day of your life but it isn’t supposed to be the most expensive day of your life. So many couples start off their marriage in debt because of the high costs of the special day. Find some inexpensive wedding ideas and save yourself the burden.

One of the best inexpensive wedding ideas that you’ll find is purchasing the bridal gown. Some women spend thousands of dollars for a dress that they will wear for one day. You can go to discount bridal shops, consignment shops or even search ebay for the dress of your dreams. There is no reason why you should spend more than a few hundred dollars. If you do end up getting a gently used wedding gown, no one will ever know, except for you.

Some other inexpensive wedding ideas can be used when looking for a place to hold your ceremony and reception. If you know someone who has a beautiful house or yard, ask them if you can have your wedding there. Choosing a private property as a wedding site can save more money than you can imagine.

One of the most wonderful inexpensive wedding ideas that helped us to save lots of money was cutting costs on flowers. Yes, roses are elegant and beautiful, but so are lots of less expensive flowers.

Find some wildflowers, homegrown flowers or something that costs less because it is in season. By choosing different flowers, you can save quite a bit of money and look even more elegant because you are doing something a bit different.

When you take the time to look around as you’re planning your special day, you might notice lots of inexpensive wedding ideas that will make your day just as special. Creating your own wedding invitations is another idea that can save quite a bit of money. Some people choose to elope because they cannot afford an elaborate wedding. They might have a small reception when they return.

Inexpensive wedding ideas will make your special day a huge success and allow you to spend money on lots of other important moments.