Planning on a Budget

To all you bride to be's out there, Congratulations! However, keep in mind that if you want to have a typical wedding with a ceremony and reception, the average wedding in the U.S. cost $30,000. This doesn't even include the cost for the couple's romantic honeymoon! Planning on a budget is incredibly important since it's so easy to go over budget. The "harmless little extra costs" do add up, and they add up very quickly! Hence, here's a couple of do's and don'ts to prevent you from going over budget:

DO: Go to your site cake baker. Most venues have excellent bakers and will work with your vision of the perfect cake. This will save you a ton of extra money than if you go to an outside baker. Why? Because at the reception, the onsite staff are responsible for cutting the cake, serving it, and cleaning the dishes--this means more work for the staff! On the other hand, the cost for a cake from the onsite baker will already cover the cost of cutting, serving the cake along with any other costs related to the cake!

DON'T: Get overly complicated and oversized wedding invitations! While the one with pop out bouquet of flowers might go perfectly with your reception designs, the postage stamp alone per card will cost you around $2. That adds up! Skip the fancy boxed up invitations and go with something that can be more easily shipped.

DO: Plan ahead and set aside extra budget for the film crew. Most video crews are booked for a certain time at a certain price and will charge you overtime by the hour. If you have ever been to any wedding before, you know that almost all weddings never start on time or end on time.

DON'T: Think that the price on the dress is the final price of the dress. Every woman is beautifully shaped in her own way. This translated in terms of wedding dresses is that most of the time, the dress will need to be altered to fit the bride perfect. A simple hemming of the dress may cost up to $100. We'll let you use your imaginations as to what a full bodice alteration may cost.

DO: Forget about tradition and have both the bride side and the groom's side of the family chip in for the wedding! This is not the 1900's anymore where a beautiful 3 tiered wedding cake could only cost $10. A simple wedding cake can take you up into the hundreds nowadays.

DO: Just have fun! Girl, this is your wedding we're talking about! While it's important to stick to your budget, don't over stress over something if it's priced slightly higher than you had planned for. Remember, you only have this one most important day of your life (well, some of us have more than that), so make the best out of your situation and just smile!

Here's a link that's really helpful in calculating and planning out your budget: Budget Calculator

To find elegant and affordable wedding and bridesmaids gowns, follow this link: Lucky Dresses
They have beautiful dresses of all different colors and styles, most for under $400!