Your wedding party can be a memorable, unique and personal event even if you choose to limit your budget. The trick is in creatively paring down, while keeping the joy up. The most obvious cost-cutter is to reduce the size of your guest list, because regardless of where you hold your wedding, you will be saving money. Although not an easy task, it is perhaps the simplest way to trim your budget. Try to stay away from buying anything with the word "wedding" in it (e.g., wedding dress, wedding shoes, or wedding cameras), because these prices are often artificially inflated. Try to locate and purchase an equivalent non-wedding item.

Your Wedding Reception
The first area you'll need to consider is that of your wedding reception site. The location you choose can seriously influence the bottom-line of your budget. Instead of a catering hall, change the venue to less expensive location such as a backyard, a multipurpose room (e.g.VFW hall, firehouse, gathering space at your local house of worship, a community center your home or the home of a friend, a public garden, college campus room, public space, mess hall on military base, city properties such as historic buildings, a restaurant, vacation home, cottage, barn, winery).

When you check out sites, consider a restaurant in the business or downtown district of a city. Many of these restaurants are closed on weekends and so might be prepared to offer you a better deal on catering. Use your imagination. You never know, you may come up with a location that no one else has thought of before.

Ask the reception hall manager if you may borrow any decorations that they may have. Stringing white lights around the room adds a real air of festivity, inexpensively. This area of wedding planning affords you the opportunity to use your creativity. A very personal, sentimental and totally free option is to decorate your wedding reception site with framed photographs of the bride, groom, parents, wedding party members, grandparents, etc. on their wedding days

Should you choose to have your wedding in a hotel or catering hall, stay away from "prime time." Midday tends to be less expensive than evenings. Sundays and weekdays are usually less expensive than Saturday nights. Peak months are April, May, June and September, October, November. Saturday evenings in December are usually booked for holiday parties. So, try for "off season" and the rates should be better on both the location you pick and on lodging for you and your guests. Make certain not to overlap the standard six hour blocks. Reception venues usually charge extra for daytime affairs that spill over into evening hours. Some reception venues will offer you at a discount should you choose to limit your reception to three or four hours. This is true particularly with venues that hold both an afternoon and an evening affair.

Food and Beverages
The largest single elements in your food costs are beverages and the bar. Ask your caterer about "open bar" packages that are per person regardless of consumption and allow you to have a fixed sum in your budget. Consider closing the bar during dinner to reduce the number of hours in which beverages are served. Consider serving non-alcoholic beverages such as coffee and tea, instead. You can also consider an alcohol-free affair or choose to serve only wine, beer, and champagne. Buy beverages in bulk and check to see what stores will allow you to return unopened bottles. Consult with your caterer about serving carafes of wine instead of bottles.

Talk to your caterer about menu options with dishes that include fewer costly ingredients or are less labor-intensive with regard to preparation and serving. Eliminate expensive, imported foods for dinner and, instead, provide less inexpensive food from your area. Ask the caterer what you might be saving should you choose to eliminate the appetizer course entirely.

Consider downsizing from an elaborate sit-down affair to less formal stand-up reception (buffet, hors d'oeuvres, brunches). Hors d'oeuvres stations (as opposed to having trays passed by a wait staff) are a less-expensive option. If the caterer will be working in your home, you may have them provide only the main meal, leaving you to provide the appetizer, desert tables and beverages. Check with the caterer to make sure that the cost saving is worth your effort.

When you order your wedding cake, consider a small display cake that you supplement with less expensive sheet cake made out of the same ingredients. Sheet cakes are less expensive because they are less elaborate. They also require less staff to serve. Use fresh flowers to top the cake or ask to borrow your parents' cake topper.

Working openly and honestly with your caterer will go a long way! Use your caterer and his or her expertise. Off-site caterers will often also serve as part wedding consultants, increasing the efficiency of your event. Because they are professionals, caterers are often in position to recommend other wedding professionals. Don't be shy. Tell your caterer about your budget constraints and ask to have a florist, rental agent, musicians and photographer recommended.

Wedding Professionals (Flowers, Music, Photography)
One of the best cost-cutting solutions is including some do-it-yourself elements to your event (e.g., clothing, party favors, table decorations, addressing invitations, invitations, etc.). If you are in a position to do so, ask some of your friends and family to help you with some of the smaller projects such as flower arranging and background music. Find out what skills your family and friends may have and consider one of them to serve as photographer, bartender or musician. Entice them into cooperating by explaining that you will consider their contribution as their wedding gift to you.

There are also lots of ways to economize on the professional services you use at your wedding, but keep in mind that you need to be prepared to "live with" the possible consequences of relying on nonprofessionals. Cutting back may be a better solution than hiring someone who is not a professional. Consider a smaller band, fewer photos, floral packages, personal mementos as attendant gifts, combined parties, etc. If another bride is getting married on the same day as you are (same church or same reception venue), ask to share the expense of the flowers. Try to find a florist connected to its own green house or garden. Prices will tend to be lower than in shops where flowers are flown in. Cut back from an elaborate floral arrangement. Use one or several individual flowers in a bud vase. Flowering plants offer a lovely alternative, in season. Many brides purchase their own flowers in a flower market and have friends help to arrange them. Substitute a single flower or a few flowers tied with a ribbon in place of elaborately designed bouquets. Use your and your bridesmaids' bouquets to decorate the tables.

Your wedding is one of the largest "investments" you will ever make, so "cover yourself" by purchasing wedding insurance. Whatever you do and however you decide to limit your budget, keep in mind that cutting the cost need not mean cutting the spirit and the joy of your event.

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