Tuesday, October 7, 2008

If you are looking for ways to reduce your wedding costs without sacrificing style and memories, here are a few options:

1) Bridal Specials:

- Ask your vendors if they offer a special rate for ABG readers. Here’s a list of ABG advertisers and their Nashville bridal specials. Also, many of the vendors in my vendor directory offer specials when you mention ABG. This is a great way to hire your fave vendor, save money without sacrificing your wedding dream.

- Attend bridal shows, find a favorite and take advantage of bridal show specials. Many vendors offer specials for brides who contract with them within weeks of bridal shows. For instance, at an August show, The White Room offered a $100 off coupon on their dresses. At the September show, Sweets and Sundries offered a three tier wedding cake for $495.

2) Rental Wedding Cakes:

Get the cake you want, for less with a fake cake - Rentable cakes are an option for brides seeking couture looking cakes. Cakes by Shara offers “rent-a-cakes”. Check out my article on these rent a cakes here.

3) Smart Floral Design

Work with a knowledgeable/helpful florist to use flowers in season. I really like this flower picker resource by Weather.com that walks you through the most popular wedding flowers available by season. Here are a few other website resources.

The Flower Expert

About Weddings

4) iPod DJs

If music and entertainment are your thing, be sure to hire a DJ because a great dj is a great mc and can help you and your planner keep your event running smooth. An ipod cant get folks on the dance floor. Can’t announce your bridal party or fill in when necessary. Many djs can also help you set up your ipod dj by delivering speakers, etc. Blake of Nashville Event Lighting recently set up a dj ipod set and lighting for an event.

Here’s an article on eHow: How to Throw and iPod Wedding.

(I don’t recommend this option BUT many brides have gone this route and recommend it.) Here’s a dj’s opinion on this topic.

5) Consignment Bridal Attire:

Fabuless bride purchased her wedding dress at a Nashville consignment store. She was elated to be able to make changes to the dress - add a train, add a colored sash, etc and still had the option to sell it back to the store if she wanted to.

Here are a few Nashville stores that i found:

Bridal Carousel

Cherished Memories Bridal UPDATE - Cherished Memories is NOT a consignment store. They sell brand new gowns. Sorry for the confusion.

Designer Renaissance

Second Time Around Consignment

6) Non-Saturday Wedding

Most venues offer lower rates for non-Saturday wedding/events. If you really love a place but it’s slightly out of your budget, see if the venue offers a better rate on a Friday or Sunday. I don’t really recommend this option unless it’s a long weekend OR most of your guests are local. While it will save you money, it will likely be really inconvenient for your wedding guests. Fridays require your guests to take off Friday from work and can be very hectic for everyone to attend. Sundays usually require your guests to take off on Mondays, unless you have an early ceremony - like a brunch.

Another great way to save money is to follow some of my fave budget bridal blogs like Nashville’s Budget Savvy Bride or bridal experts, like DIY bride.

Have you found great ways to save without sacrificing what’s important for your wedding day? Comment on this blog or email me your tips.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 12:03 am and is filed under Bride Types - Bargain, Advice, Daily Scoop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.