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For me, there are advantages and disavantages of being away from girlfriends who I grew up with. An advantage is because I live overseas, I don’t get invited to their weddings and don’t feel compelled to send any gift. The sad part about it is that I am not there to share the most special day in your life.

If you are living on a tight budget but still want to attend your good friends or family members’ weddings, you don’t need to go broke. Here are some ideas on how you can save on wedding gifts:

DIY or Craft Gifts — are you into crafting or do-it-yourself type of projects? You can create a gift for your good friend that’s not only unique but is also done with love.

Picture Frames — picture frames when chosen well don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. To make it special, have a photo of the couple printed or create a scrapbook layout that you can frame. It’s much more special and personalized.

Group Gift — I did this a lot. When my college friends got married one by one, I tended to share with our other friends attending the wedding my contribution towards the wedding gift pot. With our money pooled like this, we can buy something of value for the couple rather buying separately.

What about you? What are your budget wedding gift ideas?

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Here are some tips on how you can get married with a budget of $1,000:

• Wedding Invitation – Do it yourself if you’re web-savvy and if it’s a small wedding, a wedding invitation printed off your home computer will do the trick!
• Wedding Gown – get it from the Salvation Army or a thrift shop or better yet, hire one for the day. You’ll only wear it once so why spend thousands of dollars on it?
• Venue: Get married at your local church or at a friend or family’s house. Destination weddings? It will blow your budget unless ‘destination’ wedding for you means the next town or city from where you live then it’s still doable under $1,000!
• Hair & Make Up – go to your fab friend who’s always so nicely made up. Perhaps she can do your hair and make-up for you
• Reception – Get your helpful friends and family to cater the food for you. Do it at breakfast where people don’t expect to gorge on so much food. Drinks? It’s a breakfast reception so there is no expectation from the guests to be served alcohol so early in the day. If guests expect alcohol then there may be something wrong with them. Recommend they go to the nearest AA meeting.
• Wedding cake – in your circle of friends and family, someone surely is a master baker wanna-be. Get him or her to bake your wedding cake.
• Bridal Party – get your bridesmaids to wear a dress in the motiff that you like for ‘uniformity’ of color. At least the bridesmaids can wear the dress in other occasions too!

I hope this helps. If you have other tips to share, do let me know!

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Can’t think of what to give?

Image: My Kitchen Collection

I’d love one myself. I wish I knew about cooking and knowing the good kitchen stuff to get. I could’ve put the KitchenAid mixer in our gift registry! Oh well!

You have to know first if the bride (or groom!) is into baking. Most couples who live before getting married would’ve all the normal house stuff like cutlery and dinner sets but most won’t fork out their precious dollars on something like a KitchenAid mixer as this is more of a luxury than a need for a novice baker.

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Here are 3 things that might help you save some of your precious moolah:

1. Get rid of the open bar. I think your guests will understand if you serve them a free round of drinks and the rest they can pay for. This will save your wedding alcohol budget quite a bit.

2. Instead of hiring an expensive limousine, why not borrow a friend’s car? You don’t need a limousine to get married surely? A limo is not something that you or your guests will remember your wedding by. It’s a want, not a need

3. Research, research, research. With the economic downturn, I am sure there are heaps of discounts or budget packages that wedding vendors are offering to lure customers in. Take advantage of this and get the best deal that you can get.

Are there other things that you can share to help other couples out there?

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I am recapping some of the budget wedding tips that I’ve covered the last 6 months here at Our One Heart:

Budget Wedding Idea: Potluck Reception

4 Ways to Save on Your Wedding

Budget Wedding Tip: Rent Your Wedding Gown

Budget Wedding Idea: Dyeing Your Bridal Shoes

Budget Wedding Idea: Emailing your Wedding Invitation

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For those in the throes of preparing for their own weddings, fear not. You can still have your dream wedding without burning through all your savings OR maxing your credit card! Here are some tips from Charlie Penn of Wedding Channel:

Buy your gown second hand

The price tag on a wedding dress can range from inexpensive (off the rack) to super-pricey (custom-made designer gowns). When a bride falls in love with a gown, it may not always be the one that’s ideal for her wallet (considering many brides spend 8 to 10 percent of their entire wedding budget!). If you’re looking for a cost-effective alternative, consider shopping for a gently used gown. Not sure where to start? Hit online shops like WoreItOnce.com (which offers the chance to purchase used bridal and bridesmaid gowns) or SavetheDress.com – this site actually lets brides post an ad for the gown of their dreams and vendors can then respond with offers!

Have a quickie ceremony

Think tying the knot at City Hall equals long lines, dingy rooms and an unfriendly officiant? Think again! New York’s Marriage Bureau recently underwent a huge $12 million makeover to give a more stylish experience for altar-bound couples which costs them just $60 (including a marriage license). Las Vegas also offers lots of custom chapels already prepared to make your quick “I dos” simple and romantic, while San Francisco takes the cake with a two-hour rental package of the City Hall Rotunda, which holds up to 200 guests, for just $4,000!

Honeymoon in the U.S.

You don’t need a passport to have the honeymoon of your dreams! Many four- and five-star resorts throughout the country offer lavish honeymoon suites and packages that can easily compete with those in the Caribbean and other popular honeymoon destinations. Plus, you’ll save a ton on airfare – especially if you book in advance. Hawaii may be a little far away from home, but cities like Chicago, Austin, Miami and New Orleans are loaded with personality, charm and endless possibilities for honeymooners that want to save money and stick close to home.

Shop around and barter

The wedding industry is very competitive. Whether you’re shopping for flowers, favors or accessories, there are a lot of vendors out there, and they’re hungry for your business. If you can’t find something in your price range in your neck of the woods, you can always try reaching out to other brides on bridal message boards, or scan sites like eBay or Etsy.com for cheap deals. (Etsy actually lets buyers post requests for custom or handmade items.) Just don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Brides around the country are buddying up when it comes to sharing tent rental fees, ceremony decorations, etc. If you don’t know another bride, turn to your loved ones for help. Is there a musician in the family who can perform during your reception? What about a family friend in the floral business, or a neighbor with a backyard perfect for an outdoor wedding? Don’t be afraid to tap into your relationships to score an awesome discount and the wedding of your dreams.

What about you? Have you got other wedding economic tips you can offer to our readers?

See this button on the left. This means that by leaving a comment on this post, you get to enter the draw to win a $259 genuine ruby necklace!

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Money’s tight during this economic downturn so if you want to have a free wedding and want to get married on New Year’s Eve then the best thing to do is fly/drive/walk to West Virginia!

It’s Judge Crislip’s last day in office on New Year’s Eve and he wants to do something nice for couples who want to get married. All you need is your wedding licence and you’re set to get married!

You’re also allowed to bring flowers, music, photographer. You don’t have to do that but if you wish to do so then you can.

For more information about this free wedding offer, click HERE.

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With the current economic climate, I am sure many couples planning their weddings are having to consider wedding budgetary issues.

You don’t have to spend more than what is sensible to have a gorgeous wedding. There are ways to cut on costs and still have a memorable wedding that you can reminisce through the years

Here are some tips for you from Ant and Dick wedding planners:

• Wedding fairs are ideal place to find a reasonable wedding package — “If you book there and then, you can attract major discounts. And haggle – you have to treat them like Turkish stall holders.
• Get married at home — We all know somebody with a big house or a big garden. It’s all about roping in the people around you. A friend can take photographs, a friend can do the cake, a friend can do the stationery.
• Do your own catering — it doesn’t have to be a five course meal. It can be a beautiful buffet.

• Go Vintage with your wedding dress — many brides are now saving hundreds by going for vintage instead of new – after all, you only wear it for one day. If you go online to eBay or Oxfam, you’ll find designer dresses for pennies because a lot of people want rid of them – for whatever reason.
• Flowers — rather than having a huge big bouquet, a nice single flower like a lily or a gerbera can be very effective. You can create a really stunning piece by doing very little.
• Wedding accessories — Stick on a couple of nice accessories and it looks like you’ve paid a couple of hundred quid.

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With the US recession hitting everyone’s pockets even those living outside the United States, couples need to be more practical in planning a memorable wedding day that will not lead them to bankruptcy.

The LA Times has an article on how couples are saving and cutting back on their wedding-related costs:

• you can buy a prom dress and wear it as your wedding gown
• get married on a Sunday — apparently, the fees are cheaper
• invite fewer guests rather than the whole village (we did this for our own wedding. Being Asian, it was not easy trimming down the guest list but we were intent on not blowing our budget)
• Hold your receptions at low or no-cost venues like parks and beaches
• Hold a garage sale of your old stuff and proceeds of that can go into your wedding budget
• Opt out of cake cutting (apparently you get charged in LA $4.50 per guest for cutting the cake. Try out wedding cupcakes
• Order unassembled invitations so you don’t have to pay for the wedding invitation supplier to assemble the invitations for you

What about you? any cost-saving tips you can share with us?

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