How to Save Money on Your Wedding

The dress, the veil, the shoes, the flowers, the limo, the photographer, the cake, the caterer or country club... not to mention your wedding bands, honeymoon, bridesmaid and groomsmen gifts, parent gifts, and on and on. Don't be fooled - the list of things to buy and book and do for your wedding is just as endless as you think, if not more so.

When it comes to congratulating you on your special engagement, everyone is there with open arms and beaming smiles. When it comes to shelling out the cash to pay for the big event, everyone points the finger. What gives? You only get married once, right?

Nowadays, there seems to be little rhyme or reason to the question on all our minds - who pays for the wedding. Some of today's modern couples decide to undertake the bulk of the cost themselves. Sometimes the bride's family follows the tradition of generations past and foots the bill on their dime. Other times, the bill can be split between both families, and often with help from the bride and groom. But any way you slice it, someone has to pay, and unfortunately, that money isn't going to grow on the trees lining your backyard.

To make the most of the money that you do have to put toward your special day, keep this one thought in mind. Weddings are to wedding vendors what Valentine's Day, anniversaries, and birthdays are to Hallmark, chocolate shops, jewelry stores, perfume makers and other gift merchants.

Weddings mean business. Weddings mean good business - megabucks. The vendors know just how important your special day is to you, and they capitalize on your emotion. They sense the flutter in your heart or they catch the tear glistening in your eye when you try on the dress and there, waiting in the wing, is the veil, the tiara, the shoes, the jewelry...all waiting on an assembly line once you've found "the dress."