Wedding Planning on a Tight Budget

Wedding planning on a tight budget doesn't have to hold you back as much as you think...There are many very simple tricks to use that will greatly reduce your costs while keeping the wedding on the level you want. The key is finding the balance between thinking big and knowing your limits. The average wedding in 2006 cost $27,852. However, it is very easy to slash that cost by $10,000 or more so don't get discouraged.

The very first thing you should do is determine your budget. To do this properly, figure out the how much money you could spend, all sources considered. (Family, friends, loans, savings, etc.) Then, consider your honeymoon a wedding expense, too. Do some quick research online to figure out how much you'll need for the honeymoon. Planning a wedding on a tight budget requires looking at the big picture, and the honeymoon is a piece many go into debt over, because they fail to consider it in the costs of the wedding from the beginning.

The next thing to do is to break everything down into separate parts:

1) Attire (Dress, Veil, Accessories, Hair and Makeup, Tuxedo, etc.)

2) Ceremony (Location, Decorations, Accessories)

3) Reception (Location, Decorations, Food, Entertainment, Cake, etc.)

4) Miscellaneous (Flowers, Invitations, RSVP cards, Rings, Transportation, Photographer, Video, etc.)

5) Honeymoon (Travel, Hotel/Resort, Meals, Extra Money)

This is a good list to start with. You'll find that by breaking things down even further than this will help you to keep things simple. There are great software programs that help with all this and more, which can be a great investment.

Here are some simple ways to decrease your costs without decreasing the quality:

1) Invite less people. This is often overlooked, as the guest list just starts piling up between each spouse and the rest of the family. However, when planning a wedding on a tight budget, keep in mind that the less people that are there, the less food you have to buy.