How to Arrange A Fabulous Wedding on A Shoestring Budget by David Sheath - HTML preview

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How to Arrange A Fabulous Wedding on

A Shoestring Budget

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INDEX

Page

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Introduction

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When & where do you dream of being married?

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Planning the Catering ‐ Food & drink

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Reception Music

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Wedding Dress

11

Flowers

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Wedding Cake

15

Wedding Favors

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Wedding Invitations

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Wedding Photos & Videos

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Other Money Saving Tips you should consider that keep your Wedding Costs to a minimum

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Wedding Planner

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Conclusion

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Introduction

If you’re reading this eBook because you want to find ways to save money on your wedding, then you won’t be disappointed.

This eBook offers countless money saving tips and ideas, along with links to places where you can find lots of wedding necessities for free, or buy high quality Wedding Dresses, Flowers, Cakes & Cake Toppers, Wedding Favors and Personalized Invitations, all at close to wholesale prices!

Given that the average cost of a wedding in the United States has risen to, in excess of $25,000, it is no wonder that most happy couples are forced to find frugal wedding ideas to cut some of the costs.

If you’re like most couples, and you cannot afford to spend that kind of money on your wedding, you will find the frugal tips and ideas described in this eBook useful in cutting the costs of what we hope turns out to be, the happiest and most memorable day of your lives.

The most important thing to remember when planning your wedding is not to change the things that are crucially important to you. If you’ve always dreamed of wearing a spectacular white dress, make sure you do, if you’ve always wanted a summer wedding, make sure you have one!

If you end up cutting your costs by cutting back on the things you’ve always dreamed of, there is a real danger that you will end up regretting those cost cutting decisions for the rest of your life!

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When and where do you dream of being

married?

The most popular months for weddings are April through August. If you plan on hiring a hall for your reception you will find that this period of the year is most expensive. If you can avoid the high season you can probably save a considerable amount of money.

Whatever time of year you plan on marrying, if you need to hire a hall, you should check around all the possibilities in both your own town and neighboring towns.

While church halls often provide the cheapest venue, make sure you thoroughly check out all the other possibilities.

Of course, if you do not need to hire a hall for your wedding reception, then there is no need to avoid the high season.

If you are planning a summer wedding you may want to consider an outdoor reception. This is probably the most frugal route you can take, and it can lead to a magnificent reception.

Check with family and friends who have gardens large enough to host a reception.

It’s probably best, assuming you have the permission of the home owner, to budget for a marquee, just in case the weather turns against you.

It’s also worthwhile checking the availability of areas within local parks; if you take this route be sure to hire an area that contains a shelter and enough picnic benches to accommodate all of the guests.

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Planning the Catering ‐ Food and Drink

The food and drink you serve at your reception will take up the lion’s share of your budget. It’s imperative to do everything you can to keep the costs of food and beverages down to an absolute minimum.

Here is a list of some of the things you can do to save money: 1 Make sure your venue permits outside caterers – (Many venues insist on providing their own “extremely expensive” catering service) 2 Check to see if the venue allows people to bring their own beverages – (If they do, this will save you a fortune)

3 If you insist on having an open bar, make sure you limit it to beer and wine. Also place a cap on how much you are going to spend or how long the open bar will remain open for. (Or both!)

4 Use Homemade Appetizers – (Most caterers charge an overinflated price for appetizers)

5 Do not be too extravagant – most people will be happy with cheese, crackers & fruit

6 If you must use caterers, check the prices for both plated meals and a buffet, then choose the cheaper.

7 Consider using a take‐out service. It might sound bazaar but there are no hard and fast rules on what wedding food should or should not be. From pizza, Chinese, Mexican and Thai, to a full dinner from a local steak house, your choices are endless.

8 Have your family and friends cook. There’s no substitute for home cooked food, so if your family and friends are willing to help, let them! (Be sure to organize who is preparing what, otherwise you can easily end up with a lop‐sided menu)

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Reception Music

The most expensive option you can choose is a live band. The second option is the most popular and is used at weddings up and down the country – hire a DJ. The third option is by far and away the cheapest; use your own stereo system.

There are so many ways to play music these days that we don’t need to go into all of them here. Suffice it to say, most people own multiple devices that are more than capable of playing your favorite music in high quality. If you need more volume, simply hire an amplifier and a few speakers. This will save you a bundle!

There is however, one app we would like to recommend if you intend to use a smart phone or tablet for your wedding music. It’s called Pacemaker+.

Pacemaker+ is available in the USA for $6.99 a month, $14.99 for 3 months or $35.99 a year. Prices will probably vary in other countries.

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If you’re on a tight budget, you only need to subscribe for one month – that’s $6.99 for your wedding DJ, you won’t find anything cheaper than that!

Pacemaker+ offers instant mix magic.

You can pick your tracks or playlist from Spotify or iTunes/Google Play and let the AI DJ help you create your own masterpiece.

It’s not just a DJing app – it’s DJing reinvented for the touch screen and it could be perfect for your wedding.

It’s certainly worth checking it out.

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Wedding Dress

While you obviously want to look your best, it is worth remembering that your wedding dress will only be worn once, so think carefully before you rush out and spend thousands of Dollars on a dress!

You’ll probably be surprised to learn that if you know where to look, you can find a dress that would normally cost thousands in a wedding boutique, for less than a couple of hundred Dollars!

This is where we know we can help you – by directing you to a source that many retailers use themselves to stock their boutiques, you too can get your wedding dress at almost wholesale price.

If you look in the right places, you will find fabulous collections of wedding dresses at truly unbeatable prices. You can find all the latest designs; Vintage, Lacey, Sparkle & Shine, Open Back, Floral Lace and more.

You can find dresses for every season, made from just about every fabric you can think of. We are confident you can find exactly what you are looking for, at a fraction of the price you were expecting to pay.

At time of writing, each of the following dresses are available for less than $100

(€81 or £73). Also, each of these wedding dresses can be delivered anywhere, worldwide, and you can pay in your local currency.

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Flowers

If you intend to use real flowers, you should consider arranging your wedding for a time when the flowers you want are in season. This will save you a considerable amount of money.

A better and more affordable option would be to use artificial flowers. While the best artificial flowers can be extremely expensive, again, if you know where to shop, you can find an array of fabulous artificial flowers and bouquets at surprisingly affordable prices.

At time of writing, the artificial flowers shown below are available for less than: Bouquets ‐ $25 (€20 or £18).

Corsages, Wrist Flowers & Flower Decorations ‐ $5 (€4 or £3.75).

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All of the artificial flowers shown can be delivered anywhere worldwide, and again, for your convenience, you can pay in your own local currency.

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Wedding Cake

There are lots of money saving options you may want to consider before you make a final decision on your wedding cake.

1 Homemade Wedding Cake

By baking and icing your own wedding cake you will have the satisfaction of providing a personal touch. If you’re not an accomplished cake maker maybe a family member or friend can make the cake for you? Someone who enjoys making cakes might even be honored to make it for you as a wedding gift.

2 Artificial Wedding Cake

While an artificial wedding cake made from Styrofoam may not sound very attractive, they really can look absolutely stunning!

All you need to do is frost it and decorate it with an appropriate cake topper, just as you would a real one. A Styrofoam cake will look just like the real thing, but without the huge cost!

When the time comes to serve the cake to guests, just cut a simple sheet cake and leave the artificial cake up for decoration.

3 Professionally Made Wedding Cake

If a real professionally made wedding cake is a “must” for you, you should try and find a local bakery to make it for you. You will find it will only cost a fraction of what the same cake would cost from a wedding cake specialist.

Additionally, regardless of the number of guests you are having, keep it to a small affordable cake. If you need more cake, simply supplement it with a cheap sheet cake.

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If you choose to take the artificial cake route you will find the cheapest places to find styrofoam cakes is on either Etsy or Ebay. ( You need to search for Dummy Wedding Cake ). You should be able to find a multi‐tiered cake for $25 or less.

Regardless of your cake choice, the cake will always look better and more impressive with a beautiful topper. Check out these wedding cake toppers – they all look fabulous and are very affordable, usually costing between $5 and $10.

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Wedding Favors

Wedding favors are traditionally used as a couple’s way of sharing their good fortune and saying “thank you” to their guests on their wedding day. They are usually small symbolic gifts that are meaningful to your relationship, your family or the theme of your wedding.

When you are tied by the constraints of a tight budget, you may want to consider using simple homemade favors. By making your own wedding favors, you are creating the opportunity to make affordable gifts that reflect something unique about yourselves, your relationship or the theme of your wedding.

If you’re not the creative type, again, there are places you can shop for wedding favors at close to wholesale prices; such heavily discounted wedding favors should not adversely affect your budget too much.

If you are looking for ideas on wedding favors you will find this linked page will

provide you with a huge amount of inspiration. If you don’t intend to make your own, we suggest you check it out.

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Wedding Invitations

Wedding invitations can be incredibly expensive if you rely on local stores and wedding boutiques, but there are a couple of very affordable alternatives you can use to keep the costs to a minimum.

1 Professionally Printed Invitations

You don’t have to pay several dollars per invitation for professionally printed personalized invitations. If you know where to look, you can find places where you can buy high quality personalized invitations for less than $1 each.

2 Homemade Invitations

Before you go to a craft store to buy the materials to make your invitations, make sure you know how many invitations you need to make. If you don’t have this information at hand there’s a good chance you will over buy and end up incurring needless costs.

While making your own invitations can be a great deal of fun, you need to take great care because if you don’t like the finished product, the chances are you will scrap them ‐ and your money, time and effort will have been wasted!

If you like the idea of using professionally made and printed wedding invitations, but you can’t afford to pay the exorbitant prices that most stores and boutiques

charge for them, check out these wedding invitations.

You can choose from hundreds of designs, with many personalization options.

Packs of up to 50 cards are available for as little as $30 (€24 or £22).

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Wedding Photos & Videos

The photographs and video taken on your wedding day will become treasured keepsakes.

But photographers and videographers are very expensive, even if you go for the cheapest package available.

If you’re not careful on photography, you could very quickly end up with a big hole in your budget! The trouble is, you obviously want quality photos to put in your wedding album.

You need to look at your options very carefully and decide what will be best for your needs, as well as your budget.

Research photographers very carefully, as you should everything else in your wedding.

Photographers usually offer package deals. Typically, they include a combination of printed photos and digital photos on a CD.

If you’re intent on having top quality wedding photos you need to contact several different photographers and obtain quotes from them.

Once you’ve found what you think is the best deal, you need to meet with that photographer, so you can view his portfolio. This is the only guaranteed way to avoid disappointment.

One of the easiest ways to save money with a professional photographer is to buy their cheapest package; but you must ensure the package includes every photo taken on a CD. Also make sure the photos on the CD will not be watermarked.

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Use Family & Friends

You can save quite a lot of money if you have family & friends take photos throughout the day; this will reduce the hours you need to pay the professional photographer for.

By using family & friends, you will only need to hire the professional photographer for the ceremony, group photos and maybe for a short time at your reception.

If you want a lot of video, it is highly recommended that you find a family member or friend, with a decent video camera and a love for videography.

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Other Money Saving Tips you should

consider to help keep your Wedding

Costs to a minimum.

It is estimated that it costs upwards of $80 per guest at a wedding. Having said that, if you use our tips you won’t be spending anything like that, but the fact remains, when you pay the bill, it will be far less to pay for 75 people than it will to pay for 300! Keep your guest list to a minimum!

If your venue does not permit guests to bring their own alcoholic beverages you would do well to skip the booze altogether and serve soft drinks only.

Last but not least, if your family and friends are willing to help, use them. Many of them will possess specialist skills that can save you a lot of money. For example, bakers, caterers, florists, dressmakers, hairdressers and photographers.

In addition, as we mentioned earlier, if you have enough helpers in the cooking department, you can forget the caterers and, with the help and support of your friends and family, self‐cater your own wedding.

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Wedding Planner

Wedding planning is a mammoth task and should not be underestimated. It really is a tough job!

To help you along the way, we have outlined below the decisions you need to make and roughly when you need to make them.

At least six months before your Wedding.

 Choose a wedding date & time of day

 Choose a location

 Decide on the number of guests

 Book your ceremony & the individual to perform it

 Book your reception hall or other site

 Choose and buy the wedding dress

 Get a marriage license

 Send out Save the Date cards

At least five months before your Wedding.

 Book a caterer or enroll family & friends to help

 Book a photographer.

 Choose and inform your wedding party

 Buy dresses for the Bridesmaids (enough time to make adjustments)

 Book musicians or DJ (if required)

 Book a florist (if requir