Even the smallest things can help save money on a wedding.

For brides, making just a few changes can help save a few pennies and trim a few dollars off the cost without making a huge impact on how a wedding looks and feels.

1. Book your venue early. Some places will give discounts for couples who book their venues well in advance.

2. Plan your wedding off-season. June, September and July tend to be popular months for weddings. By having your wedding in off months, October through April, you may be able to save money on the place you hold your reception. Planning your wedding for a day other than Saturday can save you money as well.

3. Make your own invitations. Using simple word processing and desktop publishing software and nice paper, you can make your own invitations. The best benefit is that making your own helps you to create something one-of-a-kind.

4. Consider the church fellowship hall or your mom’s backyard. Many brides are taking advantage of free venues to save money. Finding a good, free location to hold your reception can save thousands.

5. Forego the photographer for the reception. Instead, place disposable cameras on the reception tables and let guests take pictures for you.

6. Ask your caterer about children’s plates. Some caterers will discount children’s plates by as much as 50 percent. If your reception is family-oriented and includes children, the savings could really be substantial.

7. Consider gown alternatives. If you’re not super-sentimental about your wedding dress, consider alternatives such as buying your gown from a thrift store, buying a plain dress and embellishing it yourself, or even having your dress custom-made. Many seamstresses can make a simple wedding dress for less than the cost of one from a wedding store.

8. Use family and friends to the best of their abilities. If members of your family or your friends have special talents — your sister can do calligraphy, your uncle is a florist, your soon-to-be brother in law is a DJ — ask them for their specialized help.

9. Buy bridesmaids dresses from stores other than a bridal salon. Many retail stores, such as Sears, or catalogue businesses, like Speigel, will sell cocktail dresses during the holiday season. Buy bridesmaids’ dresses after the holidays, when they go on sale.

10. Forego save-the-date cards. Instead, send electronic invitations, like Evite, months before the big day to let people know what you’re planning.

A wedding doesn’t have to be a black-tie affair, but with a little planning it can be the day of your dreams, for less.

Just remember, if you get married in blue jeans and serve bologna, you’re still married. And that, ultimately, is what’s most important.

Holiday season is a time of celebration, family gatherings, and engagements! Now that the ornaments are boxed, food is eaten, and ring resized the difficult process of wedding planning looms in the distance. One of the most difficult choices for a future bride is deciding on her wedding dress. If you are guilty of watching “Say Yes to the Dress” as I am, but my reasons are purely for research of course, you will have had a glimpse into the wedding dress world. This is an entirely different place than the regular clothing world. This world contains superlatives and notions such as “the most special day of your life”, “since you were a little girl”, “everyone is watching”, “you can never do this over” and “everything must be perfect on this day, including you”.

All of the dress stress on top of everything else can take the blush out of any bride. How can anyone function successfully under this amount of pressure? Not to fret…Dr. B, with the help of wedding planner Nerissa Montemurro of Private Receptions, is here to ease your wedding worries!

Dr B’s Tips:

1. During any difficult time you must use what little energy you have left to actively de-stress. Stressful situations cause arousal. Kuznet’s Inverted-U Hypothesis teaches us that too much or too little arousal can decrease performance levels while completing a task. For most individuals, it is the moderate amount of stress that helps us perform at our peak. Remember this when shopping for a dress.

2. Take a time out from all things wedding. Give yourself one day to remove any talk of dresses, cakes, reception, and flowers out of your vocabulary. Store your bridal magazines and block your wedding update emails. Removing yourself from your wedding will put things into perspective, remove unnecessary emotion, increase your objective view of this day, and help you decide on the dress. It will also serve as a reminder that life went on before your wedding and will go on after your wedding no matter the outcome.
3. Remember what this day is really about. Although your wedding day is important, getting married has nothing to do with this one day or the dress. Getting married is really about the commitment you make to your partner, and the decision to build a life with your spouse. The wedding day is merely an arbitrary marker for this commitment. If your focus is funneled into only the wedding day you may be ignoring signs that you should not marry your partner, need to work on your relationship, or must strengthen the actual marriage.

4. If you look back on this day what will you remember? Whenever I need to make an important decision in my life or have hit a difficult period in my life, I always ask myself “When I am 90 years old what would I have wished I had done?” Asking this question has prompted me to move to California, write a book, jump in Lake Momar in my dress, and turn down a job in NYC. If ever perspective was important it is on your wedding day, so ask the question! I promise you the answer will not be the flowers, dress, or cake!

5. You must feel physically and emotionally comfortable in your dress. Your dress should allow you to dance all night and actually breathe! You also want a dress which makes you feel spectacular in your own skin. This is not the time to try something drastically different or experiment with a new look. You want to feel like the most beautiful version of you!

6. You need to create a signature look which is informed by your day-to-day wardrobe. Maybe your love for belts, color, or jewelry sets you apart from the rest every day as well as on this special day! Consider a colorful sash, vintage brooch, or elegant hairpin.

7. Remember you. This day and this dress are yours. Take your first step in assertiveness and boundary setting in your new life with your dress choice. Also remember what looks good in a magazine may not work for you. Ignore Tim Gunn’s mantra “Make it work” and just move on to something better.

8. No self-punishment! Remember you want to look you best on your wedding day not like some over-bleached, burnt, and starving version of yourself. Save the crash diets, body wraps, celery sticks, tanning beds, and spray tans for another time.

9. Break all the rules…even mine. You don’t have to wear white, you don’t have to wear a dress, you don’t even have to wear anything all, just as long as it makes you celebrate on, what I hope will be, the happiest day of your life.
Nerissa’s Know How:

10. I always suggest for a bride to go shopping by herself the first time around. Get a feel for what she likes without the approval or disapproval from family and friends. Once she has an idea of her top 2 or 3 styles and/or designers then narrow it down with the help of family and friends.

11. Brides need to understand the difference between a TV and the real live dressing room. Nine out of 10 times women try on too many dresses looking for the moment where they break into tears and say “this is the dress!” Nine out of 10 times that doesn’t happen. You could love 5, 10, 15, dresses you try on. Remember to work with the figure you have highlighting your strengths. Next remember the type of affair you are having and make sure the dress is suitable for the season, time of day, venue, and the overall environment.

12. Sometimes the dress you thought you’d never wear is the one you end up with. Be flexible when trying on different styles.

13. Be honest about your budget. If you don’t have one…get one. Everyone has a budget, and it’s best to shop within it. Saves you time, heartache, and debt.

The holiday season is prime time for many couples to become engaged to be married. And equally so, once the holidays are over, the month of January is prime season for bridal shows, so the Department of Consumer Protection is offering some advice for couples who are going to be planning and shopping for their wedding in the upcoming months.

“Starting this weekend, there are at least 10 major bridal events scheduled in or around the state through March, so we want to offer a little advance advice,” Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell, Jr. said. “No matter if it’s small or large, casual or fancy, your wedding is an event that’s going to involve some out-of-the-ordinary expenses and purchases, and you’ve got to be well prepared. My first piece of advice if you’re going to a bridal fair, is to bring a notebook but leave your checkbook home. Take the time you need to gather information on lots of venues, photographers, florists, dresses and caterers. Don’t make any hasty decisions.”

However, says Farrell, as you move further into the planning process, the single most important thing you must do is carefully read all contracts and be sure you understand them before you sign.

“What are the cancellation policies and deadlines? How much of your deposit is non-refundable? What is the exchange or refund policy on your wedding dress? What is included in the catering cost? How much will it cost for the band to play an extra hour? You’ll want to be sure you understand all of these possibilities and contingencies,” Farrell said. “Get every detail in writing and be sure both you and the business agree on all points before signing a contract. Include exact descriptions, and add your own statement that you will not pay for services and expect a complete refund on any deposits if the company does not deliver exactly as specified in the contract.”

When booking photography, video or DJ services, you may want a particular person assigned to your wedding because you have seen their work and really like it. Make sure this individual’s name is specified on the contract.

Specify in writing the photos that absolutely must be taken — for example, your great aunt or your twin nephews. You’ll also want to provide some overall direction, such as how many candid photos you prefer versus formal photos. Give your DJ a list of songs to play. Agree in writing to a time frame in which you’ll receive and approve your proofs, and a price for a minimum number of prints you agree to purchase — aim low because you can always add more later.

After you’ve made all your choices based on careful attention to personal recommendations, price, quality, convenience and amenities, you’ll want your down-payments to be safe.

“Use a credit card for all deposit payments — where possible — and give the smallest possible deposit that you can,” Farrell said. “If something goes wrong, payments you made by a credit card can be disputed through the credit card company, but payments made by check or cash will be much harder to get back.”

It’s a good idea to book your wedding sooner rather than later, in order to get the widest choice. Also, if something does go wrong, you should have enough time to make alternate arrangements.

Once you have booked your hall, caterer, florist, photographer and other businesses, be sure to stay aware of how those specific businesses are doing.

“In good times and bad, there will always be companies that go out of business for a wide variety of reasons,” Farrell said. “If the caterer or photographer has a Web site or e-mail newsletter, sign on and check that the information there is up-to-date. Take an occasional ride by the reception hall or the florist shop on a weekend to see that it’s thriving. Stay informed about the companies you’re doing business with.”

Your wedding party is very important event in your life and you always want to make it memorable among all peoples. But it is really hard to find the right event planner for wedding party. If you have complete information related to how to organize a wedding party then you would be the best event planner for your party. This article is for you to short out various problems related to birthday, wedding party ideas and event planners. By this article you can get a great help for party idea. Mainly people would like to hire party entertainer to their local area for marquee hire, table hire, chair hire, glass and glassware hire.

People would like to send invitations to their relatives, friends and other peoples when they have selected a location for their wedding party. Selecting a location for your wedding is not too complicated. There are various alternatives available, as well as party rooms at restaurants, private homes, hotels, and many more. First of all check your budget and then choose the perfect location for your wedding party.

Make right decision for selecting a perfect date for your wedding event. Your friends are the main pride for you on your wedding party so you should try to choose a date according to their availability for your marriage party. This would help you preventing from the disappointment that your friends are not coming in your marriage due to their busy schedule. Be sure that long weekends may not be the perfect time to arrange your wedding party. To a certain extent frequently people go away and you may find it hard to plug your guest catalog with all of your unique friends.

For making your party distinctive and attractive you will have to be innovative with your party supplies. It will make your party memorable among your guests. There are also various websites which can get you ideas for unique party supplies. For your wedding party you need tasty foods, marquees, table and chairs, glass and glassware equipments and hiring these things within your budget is very hard. Don’t worry. Just search to internet and you can get various websites in which complete or individual equipment can be hired very easily. You have to do some homework like according to the number of your guests you have to order. Prices are mentioned with each product you need. So calculate the actual number of guests and then order them.

Finally, the main point is to confirm the service aspects of the party organizer. You have to check testimonials from the sites where their clients tell about the services the party planner provides. If you are looking locally to your area for a party planner then confirm everything about their services. Don’t hesitate to share your opinions about party planning with him. It will help the party planner to better understand your party needs. The best homework you can do arise the best and memorable party among all your wedding party guests.

As everyone knows, once the date is set, the stress and worries begin. When, where, what, and how much are the big questions on every engaged couples minds. But, what most don’t know is that minus the honeymoon you can actually plan your dream wedding for fewer than two thousand dollars, and in some cases even under a thousand like I did.

Brides, your biggest worry is how you are going to look. Can you find your dream wedding dress? Is your hair going to be just as you imagine it? Is your makeup going to last? There are a few different options for your dress. First, if you have an idea of exactly how you want your dress to look, why not buy the material yourself and have it made exactly to your expectations. Not only is it your perfect dress, but you save a lot of cash by buying the material yourself and cutting out the middle man. Second if its not a big deal to you about where you buy the dress giving you’re only going to wear it once, why not a second-hand store. You can find a beautiful dress that looks brand new for a very cheap price, once again saving that cash. As for your hair, if you have a friend willing to help you out, why not let them work on your hair before the wedding. The two of you together can come up with the perfect hairstyle, and that will cut out the expense of a high priced beautician who may not get it exactly how you want it. Doing it this way you will have your style chosen and know that come the big day it will be right and you don’t have to hope it turns out.

Grooms, you have the big worry of finding and paying for the perfect rings. Well, why not try EBay? You can purchase beautiful, top of the line jewelry with lifetime warranties for a third of the price of going to a jeweler. Once again cutting out the middle man and saving some cash.

Another high cost for a wedding is the food. Do you really need to hire a caterer? Why not hire a friend? You can still buy all the food that you want for an enormously cheaper price, and just hire your friends to do the cooking for you. It can save hundreds of dollars having your food prepared by a friend, rather than hiring a catering service that may not have the foods you desire and are going to charge way more than necessary.

Photographers are yet another high expense in the wedding industry. Again, I say, hire a friend. With all of the computer programs and photo printers there are, you can save hundreds yet again by cutting out the middle man. You buy the film, the ink, and the photo paper, and your photo smart friend prints out perfect wedding photos just as nice as a professional would.

Make your own decorations and flowers. With a trip to the dollar store, some floral tape, and a little creativity, you can perfect floral pieces, handmade by yourself and having more sentimental value in the end. Small decorative fishbowls, aquarium rocks, a little lace and ribbon add a beautiful centerpiece to all your tables. Again you cut out the middle man and save up to hundreds of dollars.

So in the end you save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars creating a dream wedding for you, by you.