Wedding Invitations have the potential to wow your guests or totally bore them. Think of your invitations as your guests’ first impression of the wedding. You could wow your guests right off with gorgeous, intriguing invitations, or make them believe that your wedding will be ordinary and mediocre. Truthfully, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on the invitations in order for them to be striking. Saving money on wedding invitations is simply being resourceful. Take a peek at these money saving tips, and use that saved money to buy your guests awesome wedding favors, or splurge on that designer bikini you’ve been wanting for the honeymoon!

Get font savvy: If you think fonts are no big deal, think again. Font size and style have a huge impact on how your guests perceive the invitation and the thoughts they form about the upcoming wedding. It’s all about the little details that make a wedding so lovely and inspiring. If you are looking for a very simple invitation design that is uncomplicated and neat, stick with a calm color and print with a fancy font. Don’t forget that you are not limited to the fonts on your computer! There are hundreds of free font websites that offer gorgeous fonts for absolutely no cost. Simply choose your fonts, download, and type your invitations into a regular word document. Print on cardstock or heavy paper, slip the envelopes in the printer and address the envelopes with the same font, and you’re all finished.

Purchase an Invitation Template: Save yourself the heartache of designing your own wedding invitations, and pay a professional to do it for you. Not loaded with extra cash? No problem.  For as little as $10.00, you can hire a graphic designer to design a personal, unique wedding invitation for you. Typically, the designer will make the invitation, then email it over to you for printing. You end up with a breathtaking one-of-a kind invitation that will absolutely knock the socks off your guests. Another lovely bonus is that you save hundreds by printing at home instead of at a professional printing business. Score!

Channel your inner Designer: For some of us, designing a wedding invitation feels like more of a punishment than a reward. Fear not, I have just the resources you’ve been waiting for. Awesome websites like, Wedding Chicks, Download & Print,  and I Do it Yourself, have done all the figuring for you. All you have to do it download the invitation and type in your wedding details. It’s astonishingly easy and you will gasp at the professionally looking invitations you have just made.

Kathryn Elise

Why, hello! I'm Elise and it's lovely to meet you. I am a southern brunette who enjoys steaming hot cups of tea, long, chilly, bike rides, and writing about almost anything. I am obsessive about anything "wedding". I feel a strong sisterhood-like bond with all brides-to-be, and could literally sit and talk to another engaged stranger for hours! My dear fiancé´ endures my constant wedding chatter, and occasionally even gives me a nod or eyebrow raise :). I am thoroughly looking forward to knowing you better; please feel free to jump into the site and share your ideas! xox Kathryn Elise

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Wedding expenses can escalate quickly, and overtake a wedding budget in a matter of transactions. By taking careful inventory of your wedding wishlist and purchases, you can whittle down your wedding expenses, and end up with a glamorous wedding, on an affordable budget!

Dress:

Your dress can turn out to be one of the most expensive parts of your wedding budget. Designer labels are exciting to invest in, but truthfully most people cannot tell the difference between a designer wedding gown and a non-designer wedding gown. Save some cash by taking a photo of your favorite designer wedding dress to a wedding gown retailer, and finding a similar, more affordable version. You won’t regret saving the extra money, and none of your guests are going to ask you the name brand!

Venue:

Choosing the perfect wedding venue can be challenging, especially if you are on a budget. For your ceremony venue, do some research on the city you will be marrying in. Local parks, historic churches, and spacious mansions make for model ceremony venue. Think outside of the box for your reception venue. Find a large backyard, open field, or mystical garden for a secluded, intimate reception!

Food:

Rather than serving a pricey five-course meal to your group of guests, vouch for heavy appetizers or a buffet style array of snack foods. Incorporate heavier foods into the menu, like meats and veggies.

Another option for wedding food is renting a food truck. The idea might sound a little foreign, but the concept is ideal! Rent a fast food truck (anything from shrimp tacos, hot-dogs, hamburgers, pretzels, etc) and let guests choose from a small menu of items. By serving say, pretzels and hotdogs, you save yourself the trouble of designing and paying for a full menu for your guests. If you aren’t so into the idea of your meal coming from the truck, a soft-serve ice cream truck would be just as appetizing.

Favors:

Wedding favors are an easy way to cut costs, but still end up with a suitable product. Depending on your price range, you could select candle favors,  or edible favors  , both of which would be a lovely favor for you guests! Instead of having your names imprinted on everything, including the wedding favors, settle for color coordinated favors, or favors that you think the guests will enjoy and appreciate.

To make cutting costs a bit easier, make a list of all your wedding expenses. Rank the expenses from 1-10, higher ranking expenses being your most valued. Decide  which item is most important to you, and which you want to spend the most money on. By taking a brief analysis you can determine which things are super important to you, and which things you don’t care too much about!

Kathryn Elise

Why, hello! I'm Elise and it's lovely to meet you. I am a southern brunette who enjoys steaming hot cups of tea, long, chilly, bike rides, and writing about almost anything. I am obsessive about anything "wedding". I feel a strong sisterhood-like bond with all brides-to-be, and could literally sit and talk to another engaged stranger for hours! My dear fiancé´ endures my constant wedding chatter, and occasionally even gives me a nod or eyebrow raise :). I am thoroughly looking forward to knowing you better; please feel free to jump into the site and share your ideas! xox Kathryn Elise

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Centerpieces shape the ambiance of the reception. The mood can be drastically altered, simply based on the design of the centerpieces. Dimly lit candles create a more romantic mood, while balloons and fruits create a more energetic, playful mood. Here are some traditional and nontraditional centerpiece ideas to explore:

Flowers:

Flowers are the traditional centerpiece staple. Tiny bouquets on each table create a symmetrical, structured atmosphere. Fresh flowers at the reception may seem to be the standard, but they became the standard for a reason. Flowers provide a fresh smelling scent to the reception venue, and can easily be matched to the wedding décor. Flowers are bought, meaning there are no rental fees or return deadlines to fool with. Flowers serve as favors. While you probably couldn’t send your entire guest list home with a bouquet, you could send your wedding helpers and close family members home with some sweet-smelling flowers as a thank you for helping with your big day.

Ornaments:

For wintery weddings, ornaments make for a festive, sweet arrangement that is both affordable and beautiful. Purchase ornaments that complement your wedding colors and décor, and place them in a crystal bowl so that they can be seen easily. You could also surround the ornaments with tiny lights, creating a glowing centerpiece. For an interactive centerpiece, place blank ornaments in the center and position permanent coloring markers around the table. Leave a note on the table, asking the guests to design ornaments for the couple’s first Christmas tree. The guests could choose to write a sweet message or tell a funny story on the ornaments.

Fruits:

Fruit centerpieces have been trending quickly in the weddingsphere this year. Lemons, limes, apples, and berries have been showing up in all sorts of centerpieces. Combine tall hurricane vases, sparkling club soda and fresh fruit, and you’ve created a beautiful centerpiece. These centerpieces are extremely affordable and surprisingly easy to make! If you chose to decorate your tables with apple centerpieces, you could easily coordinate your favors with these candle wedding favors  .

Lanterns:

Lanterns are particularly beautiful when used at outdoor receptions. The timid glow of the lanterns creates a soft, comfortable setting. Since lanterns are typically a more casual centerpiece, they are often used outdoors, and sometimes positioned among woody decorations with berry accents. You could easily personalize your lanterns with custom colored ribbons that match your wedding colors.

Which centerpiece is your favorite? The fresh fruit and brightly colored flowers are a striking combination!

Kathryn Elise

Why, hello! I'm Elise and it's lovely to meet you. I am a southern brunette who enjoys steaming hot cups of tea, long, chilly, bike rides, and writing about almost anything. I am obsessive about anything "wedding". I feel a strong sisterhood-like bond with all brides-to-be, and could literally sit and talk to another engaged stranger for hours! My dear fiancé´ endures my constant wedding chatter, and occasionally even gives me a nod or eyebrow raise :). I am thoroughly looking forward to knowing you better; please feel free to jump into the site and share your ideas! xox Kathryn Elise

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You’re planning an extravagant ‘do, but your favors look anything but extravagant. Favors used to consist of a simple slice of the wedding cake or candy, but with DIY weddings on the rise,. many brides are looking for inexpensive favors for their guests to enjoy. It’s sometimes hard to create extraordinary favors without breaking the bank. Here are some great (and cost effective) alternatives to the traditional favor to send your guests home with:

Some Like It Hot

It’s always nice to create a favor that someone could actually use. For winter weddings, guests might appreciate a warm gift to go home with. Package individual sachets of hot chocolate with marshmallows in clear bags or these personalized glass favor jars. For a summer wedding, you can use ice tea mix or bottle lemonade with monogrammed labels.

Wall You Need is Love

They say plants grow with love, so spread your love with tiny wall terrariums for wedding favors.  They’re easy to assemble and have an incredible impact when displayed at your wedding. All you need is a small plant, like an aloe plant or cactus, pebbles, magnets, and these square tin favor boxes. These favors would be great for beach or destination weddings. Alternatively, you could include seeds, for an herb or flower, and soil so that they can grow for a special surprise. The favors will surely flourish, just like your love.

Make a Mix Tape

Take your guests back to the days when you first fell in love. Recreating the scene with a CD compilation, with a playlist for your guests to enjoy. You can include “your” song, the first song you danced to, and the couple’s favorite tunes. Personalize the mix with these CD Covers and labels.  Your guests will be thanking you when they’re humming their way to work.

Something Sweet

Create a twist on the ordinary wedding sweet treats. Cookies and cupcakes make a great alternative to the traditional favors. These are the perfect frugal favor for weddings that have a large attendance. They’re easily made, at a very small cost. Add labels with your names to personalize your package. Perhaps you can even bake a family recipe and include the ingredients on the back. Not only would the guests have a sweet treat to enjoy, but they’ll have a recipe to keep forever.

Afton Negrea

Hi! I'm Afton - blogger, mother, designer, and world traveller. I’m a seeker of simplicity, a cultivator of love, and I live to create beautiful things. My inspiration comes from my family, my travels through Europe, and my background in Art and Interior Design. I look forward to guiding you through all things party!

It’s no secret that weddings are expensive events. Between the dress, venue, food, and flowers, the bill can add up very quickly! DIY or Do-It-Yourself wedding projects are becoming all the rage, as brides focus on lowering the cost of their wedding.

If you aren’t naturally crafty, attempting DIY projects might seem intimidating! But, with the help of websites, magazines and books, you can find all the instructions you may need. One of the most popular DIY wedding projects is flower design. From arranging live flowers to compiling faux flowers, the options are many!

Using faux flowers might sound unattractive and cheap, but the result is often very beautiful! Silk Flowers are a great option that offers the faux flower in a beautiful, very real looking material. These flowers can be arranged into individual bouquets or arrangements, or bought in petal shapes and scattered down the aisle or table. Silk flowers can also be bought pre-arranged in bouquets and boutonnières. Silk flowers can be found in almost any shade imaginable, making it very easy to match your wedding colors and incorporate different tones into your wedding and reception.

Mixing different elements into the bouquet is a new trend that is really a fun way to add your own personal taste and personality into your flowers. Feathers, pearls, sequins, and buttons add a punch of flair to bouquets and boutonnieres. Other options for creating flower wearing-pieces include: felt flowers, paper flowers, tissue flowers, and brooches pinned in an arrangement, in place of flowers.

Real flowers are obviously gorgeous and smell beautifully. Buying your flowers instead of arranging your flowers will no doubt save you some stressful moments and time. By hiring a florist, you will be guaranteed beautiful flowers on your wedding day!

  If arranging your own flowers isn’t exactly tempting, but you still want to save   money on your wedding, consider other ways to cut back. It’s fun to indulge in   an extravagant dress, but usually you can find a dress with a similar design for a much cheaper price. Also, by purchasing affordable wedding favors, you can send your guests home with something beautiful without breaking your wedding budget. Another simple way to cut costs is to serve hors d’oeuvres at your reception rather than a full-course meal.

Whether you choose to buy your flowers for your big event or do them yourself, consider ways you can incorporate your personality and style into them. Whether it’s a hint of sparkle or a small feather in the bouquet, remember that all aspects of your wedding should point back to you!

Kathryn Elise

Why, hello! I'm Elise and it's lovely to meet you. I am a southern brunette who enjoys steaming hot cups of tea, long, chilly, bike rides, and writing about almost anything. I am obsessive about anything "wedding". I feel a strong sisterhood-like bond with all brides-to-be, and could literally sit and talk to another engaged stranger for hours! My dear fiancé´ endures my constant wedding chatter, and occasionally even gives me a nod or eyebrow raise :). I am thoroughly looking forward to knowing you better; please feel free to jump into the site and share your ideas! xox Kathryn Elise

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The wedding day means lots of camera time on your hands and nails. During vows, when guests peek at your ring, and any photos the photographer may take, your nails will be seen by a lot of people! Getting a wedding manicure for your big day is a requirement for almost any bride. Whether you are getting a full-on spa treatment or just a simple polish touch-up, a day of pampering is enjoyable for any bride. But, often manicures can be expensive. Luckily, there are several options to accommodate every frugal and extravagant bride!

Instead of looking at the manicure as just part of the package, think about exploring the different options given to you. Most brides choose a natural color or French manicure for their big day, but the decision is totally yours. A modern trend is to use brightly colored nail polish. Any color goes, from bright red to dark black, plum, magenta and every other color in-between.

Think about your favorite colors and favorite polishes that you already own. If you normally do not wear nail polish, and don’t want to stray too far from your personality on your wedding day, consider trying a basic French manicure or a fancier French manicure with glitter.

You also have an option between using false nails or your real nails. If you have healthy, natural nails then you may want to consider having your natural nails painted for your wedding day. Professional manicurists can push back your cuticles, shape your natural nails and make them look gorgeous! Also, when you go with your natural nail you will not have to worry about damaging your nails in any way. Polish removal with natural nails is extremely easy as well. Simply remove all traces of the polish with any nail polish remover and you are all done.

  False nails aren’t quite as simple as natural nails. False nails require upkeep      and typically more money. You may get false nails applied at most nail  salons,  or apply them yourself at home with a do-it-yourself stick on it. The  home kit  does not sound appealing, but the results typically look professional  for a few days. Acrylic nail services are available at most salons.

The downsides with acrylic is that most nail technicians must trim your nail  really short before they can bond the false nails to your natural nail beds.  Acrylics are known to last a few weeks, but their removal is difficult. For correct removal, visit a nail salon and pay to have them removed. Acrylic nails may be an expensive pain, but they will guarantee beautiful, flawless nails for your wedding and honeymoon. Once they have been applied that are almost impossible to ruin. Most liquids wipe right off and placing your hands in water will not hurt them or cause them to pop off.

Nail stickers are another option to add details to your manicure. Nail stickers work on both natural and acrylic nails. You can choose a design you think is pretty or a certain graphic that means something to you personally. If you like hearts and want to incorporate them into your wedding’s decorative scheme you could place heart stickers on your thumbnails, add heart confetti to your tables at the reception, and give out heart favors.You can also alternate colors, adding in sparkle. Glitter on the ring finger alone is a pretty, not too extravagant look!

Which do you prefer for the wedding day, natural nails or false nails?

Kathryn Elise

Why, hello! I'm Elise and it's lovely to meet you. I am a southern brunette who enjoys steaming hot cups of tea, long, chilly, bike rides, and writing about almost anything. I am obsessive about anything "wedding". I feel a strong sisterhood-like bond with all brides-to-be, and could literally sit and talk to another engaged stranger for hours! My dear fiancé´ endures my constant wedding chatter, and occasionally even gives me a nod or eyebrow raise :). I am thoroughly looking forward to knowing you better; please feel free to jump into the site and share your ideas! xox Kathryn Elise

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These days the savvy bride is always looking for the absolute best deal. Today we wanted to share one amazing way for that bride to get exactly what she wants.

Imagine how great it would be if you and about 400 other people you knew were getting married at around the same time. Ok, maybe it would be a nightmare… but imagine the discounts you’d get?! Well, actually there is a way for you to use the power of numbers to your advantage without having to share the spotlight with anyone!

Groupon.com is a site dedicated to finding the absolute best deal for a specific product or service. They do this by finding hundreds of people to buy together. Brilliant! And the best part is that the ‘deal of the day’ often is a service that brides can make great use of… like dance lessons, or spa treatments. All you have to do is visit the site, sign up for e-mail updates in your city and be on the lookout for something good!

sarah

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Fake the Cake — It sounds like it could be a new Food Network show, but really it’s just a great tip for the bride on a budget. What we’re talking about here are fake wedding cakes – yup, fake cakes! The idea is actually pretty brilliant, and not to mention a great way to save to save some dough (or maybe I should say batter, haha)!

Here’s how it works… If you’re the crafty type, you can buy a kit and do the decorating yourself. This is probably the best way to save money, but keep in mind it will only work if you’ve got some decorating talent. The first thing you’ll have to do is choose your shape. Sugarcraft offers styrofoam cake forms in many different shapes and sizes — including heart and cupcake! Believe it or not, there are a lot of sources for these styrofoam molds, but I chose to highlight Sugarcraft because they also offer supplies and instructions for decorating. I like when things are made to be as easy as possible!

The second option is perfect for anyone whose expectations exceed the limits of their design talent (and I would definitely fall into this category). Rent someone else’s talent! A very professionally designed three tier ‘fake cake’ will run you about $175 plus a refundable $200 deposit at cakerental.com. It may seem a bit pricey at first glance, but once you take a look at their work I think you’ll see the value. Real cakes of this caliber could easily cost four times the cost of rental.

With either option, you don’t have to forgo real cake altogether. Many brides will keep their fancy (fake) cakes for display, and serve an inexpensive, but delicious cake to their guests. After all, when it’s cut into slices who can really tell the difference?

sarah

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One thing they almost never tell you about planning a wedding, is how you have the eloquence and strength of a politician to navigate through other people’s expectations — while still keeping true to your own. Some people have ridiculous expectations, so they are easy to manage — just say no, ever so eloquently of course . But one expectation you do have to manage deals with the budget of your wedding party.

These days just about everyone is more conscious of every penny spent. And while your wedding will be an important and necessary expense to those closest to you (your wedding party), you should definitely keep their budget in mind when picking out their attire. The groomsmen are easy, they rent their tuxes. All you have to do is try to keep it reasonable.

So when it comes to bridesmaids, we ask: why shouldn’t they also be able to rent their dresses? This can be done at a fraction of the cost to buy, and you can still have your dream couture wedding. Some tux rental stores have started renting prom and wedding dresses, so if you’re interested in the concept you can start there. But if you’re looking for more designer options, check out Wear Today Gone Tomorrow — a fairly new site launched by a former Lucky Magazine editor. Now they don’t specialize in bridesmaid’s attire (yet), but you may still be able to find a designer dress that would be appropriate in the sizes you’ll need. Just keep in mind, this may not work if you have a girl in your party that will almost certainly need alterations.

If the rental concept doesn’t work for you, another way to help your bridesmaids justify the cost would be to pick out a simple dress that they will be able wear again after they day’s festivities are over. Their wallets will certainly appreciate the gesture!

Here are a few styles from WTGT..

sarah

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Whether you’re planning a bridal shower, bachelorette party, wedding reception or rehearsal dinner, there is always a need for stationary. And we all know how much pizazz a personalized touch can add. But while there are tons of luxurious options out there, sometimes they just don’t fit in the budget (especially in an off economy).

It used to be that the ‘print-your own’ options out there were… well, a little tacky. But boy has that changed!

Check out the designs at Print Your Party. The designs are stunning, and the best part is once you’ve paid for the .pdf, its yours – you can print as many as you want!

If you’re worried that your printer isn’t up to the task of printing a professional looking invite, you can always send the files to a local copy store (like Kinko’s or Staples).

sarah

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