Planning a Wedding on a Small Budget in 7 Simple Steps

Planning a wedding on a small budget is easier than you think. You can turn coal into gold by cutting corners and taking a do-it-yourself approach. Now, this approach won't work for everybody. If you've been planning a fairy tale wedding since you were a little girl, you probably won't be willing to make the necessary adjustments. But if you don't mind having a scaled down wedding, you can easily save a few thousand dollars.

7 Ways to Have a Simply Beautiful Wedding on a Budget

Location – Have you considered getting married at home? With the exception of getting married in your local city hall, a home wedding is a great way to save money. At home weddings work well for small wedding parties. If there's no room inside, you can use the back or front yard. When considering this option, think about your guests. Will they have somewhere to park? Is there enough room inside for everyone to have a seat? And if it's an outside wedding, what weather can you expect?

Invitations – Thanks to home computers and design software, you can design your own invitations. As long as they include the necessary information, that's all that matters. Spend a day or two looking at invitation designs in bridal magazines and on websites. This should give you plenty of ideas. When you're pleased with your design, have a local printer print the design on sturdy card stock paper.

Wedding Programs – Just like with the invitations, you can create your own wedding programs. Keep it simple. Include information such as the parent's names, the name of the couple, time and date, and perhaps a poem or quote. It's also a good idea to include reception information and directions. As an extra special touch, you can print the programs on specialty paper. When you're done with the program, ask friends and family to help fold them into booklets.

Wedding Party – The smaller the better. A bridesmaid and a maid of honor can suffice for the bride. A best man and one groomsman is enough for the groom. Get one or two people to act as ushers, and you're set. As for attire, keep that simple as well.

Let the participants wear off-the-rack clothes that they can use again. Women can wear matching skirts, tops, or dresses. And men can wear matching slacks, shirts, and ties. If it's not possible to get matching clothes, use coordinated colors instead.

Flowers – Skip the florist. You can get less expensive, but just as beautiful, flowers from a grocery store or discount store.

Music – All you need is a CD player and some good speakers. Music CDs, such as 25 Wedding Favorites and A Day to Remember, contain music for playing during wedding ceremonies. And as for the reception, you can use a DJ instead of a live band. The DJ can be anyone with a large collection of CDs and the ability to operate a CD changer.

Food – Look no further than your local grocery store. Most grocery stores sell large platters of chicken, turkey, and vegetables. You can also buy the cake, wine, soda, and any other beverages in the same trip.

Planning a wedding on a small budget is possible. The one area in which you might want to hire a professional is photography. Your wedding day photos are too important to leave to an amateur. But get your photos on CD and create your photo album using your home computer.