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!

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?

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..

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).

If you’re planning a wedding or are newly married and have ‘wedding stuff’ that you don’t need, you may want to check out this site. They also match up brides looking to make volume purchases, which can be a great opportunity if you can find someone planning a similar theme to yours. Just a little word of advice: it may take some time to find the right match so if you’re planning on using this site, just be sure to do it early in the planning process.

You can check them out at www.brideshare.net.

Another great site is bagborroworsteal.com, which has a wedding shop with incredible fine jewelry and also carries designer clutches. The system there is the same – pay a rental fee and put down a credit card as a security deposit, and the company ships you the luxury goods for which (if you’re like most of us) you could never afford to pay retail!

And not only do you get to look absolutely stunning in the finest jewels but you can also cross the ‘something borrowed’ off your list!