Wedding Invitations

If you need items such as a wedding dress, veil, or garter, borrow them from friends and family instead of buying or renting them. If you need yarmulkes, borrow them from your local temple.

Have your makeup done for free at a department store counter the morning of the wedding. (Try out the artist first and consider tipping her afterward. Be sure she will be working the day of your wedding, too.)

Do your own hair and makeup, or have a family member do it for you (a trusted family member).

Use prerecorded classical music for your procession down the aisle and back, or have a single pianist rather than a string quartet.

Hire a DJ instead of a live band for your reception.

Save on a DJ by loading preselected songs into your computer and playing them at the reception. One bride asked her guests to request their favorite song on the reply card to the wedding, so many of the guests heard something they liked.

If you have no money in your budget to videotape your wedding, try calling the audiovisual department at a local high school or community college and hire a student to tape your wedding. These student-produced videos can have loads of fun effects, music, and audio, and they’re often as good as a professional video. The same method could be used to find a photographer.

Or hire a professional photographer, but also see if close friends, family, or a photography student would be willing to take candid pictures with their own or throwaway cameras. You will be surprised to find that some of their pictures will be even better than the professional’s and at a fraction of the cost.