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i'm doing my own make-up and hair (i want to look like me on my day), not using floral centerpieces (i'm on the fence about my bouquet). we're looking into getting a small photography package just for the ceremony only and opt for a photobooth for the reception (approx $1500 as oppose to $4000-$6000 if not more). my brother-in-law is a graphic designer with printshop connections so we going to be able to cut out some extra costs there. i'm all for being frugal 
I'm doing my own makeup. We're printing our own invitations (granted FI is a designer) for WAY cheap. We're having an amazing yummy organic wedding cake covered in buttercream frosting, instead of a yucky fondant-covered cake that costs a fortune.
Also, it's not necessarily about being a cheapskate. It's about finding a good deal :-)
We're making our own invites and ordering flowers online. I got a cheaper dress and accessories. We're not having transportation (like buses or limos).
@skibobrown Let's be careful to not insult other people's choices. I'm still deciding on my cake, but I'm sure brides who are doing fondant cakes don't appreciate them being called "yucky" and overpriced.
Sigh, I feel like there hasn't been anywhere that I've been able to find a good deal...part of that is my fault because I get so caught up with, "but it's so pretty/cute/fits with our overall theme/we just need it!" Typical victim of the wedding industry monster, lol. Even the stuff that I thought I didn't care about (like our invitations/Save the dates) have ended up being way more money than I wanted to originally spend.
Good for you guys for finding deals/being waaay smarter than I am.
@skibobrown: that's awesome that your FI is a designer. I'm so jealous of all the bees that have FIs or family members with design experience/talent. No one in my family is crafty or artistic!
Our invites--FI is designing all our wedding stationary :)
My makeup/hair trial is free because the woman who's doing it know's my cousin.
Centerpiece vases I found at discount stores as well as other decor (chargers, votive candle holders) ect.
Save the Dates- electronic and free!
Wedding cake- cupcakes done by talented sister and free!
Alcohol- BevMo and friend bartenders. Open bar for less than $6/person!
Invitations- Done by ourselves. Came to less than $2.00/person
Veils- Made by me for only the cost of supplies. Never worn thanks to claustrophobia!
Music- iPod. We downloaded a lot of music from iTunes, but I don't think we spent more than $50.
Dress- bargained price down with retailer, got great deal! (saved about 20%)
Venue- bargained price down with owner, got great deal! (saved 33%)
Splurges: photography and food!
Here's to being frugal! I felt like anything that can be done cheaper we are trying to do cheaper. Like FI's sister is doing photos. I bought my dress at DB. We are having a rehearsal BBQ instead of a dinner. We DIY'd invites. We are only having one attendant. We are mixing floral and candle centerpieces. The only places we haven't skimped are on the food, cake, and the music.
Flowers - grocery store (and also using points so they are free)
Cake - Italian bakery/grocery store (cheap but amazing taste)
Invitations - bought the printable invitations from Michaels with a 40% off coupon
Favours - Not doing them - everyone throws them out anyway and I am already spending a fortune on food.
Ceremony - in a park for free (only renting chairs)
Crinoline skirt - buy used online
Bridesmaids Gifts - FI cousin is making the jewelry for them
Rehearsal Dinner - doing a Backyard BBQ
Let's see I am:
That's all I have so far. The big splurges for me are on food (~$15-20/person, self-catered), disposable cameras (FI wanted them soo bad), and I'm paying to fly one of my friends up from St. Louis, which will be about $230 or so.
I had our invitations made overseas, so they're still pretty but way cheap because of the low conversion rate. I figured, they're probably going in the trash when guests are finished with them, so why spend too much? I'm also going cheap on flowers. I'm doing what Mrs. Espresso did, which is buying a bulk of flowers from a nursery and putting them together myself. People don't really pay attention to centerpieces or floral arrangements. You can probably also go cheap on favors. Oh, and if you want to go really cheap, (which you may not want to) but you can skip going overly fancy on shoes, because they'll be hidden in your wedding dress anyway, and not many people will be staring at your feet.
Wow! Everyone is so crafty and creative! I'm impressed.
We are cutting money in a lot of places and splurging a lot in other areas.
Flowers- very simple in-season flowers. No church flowers
Cake - we are just going with a basic one that's in the package. We'll just get a one-flavor, one-filling cake with buttercream frosting. Hopefully not too much money!
Paper - DIY everything. I designed everything myself in Powerpoint. Very simple designs that can be printed on my inkjet printer. Paper ordered online.
Favors - skipping them altogether
Crinoline - borrowing from my sister or my cousin
Save-the-Dates - I wish we had skipped these altogether. I made them cheaply on Vistaprint but I wishI saved my $50. I would like to be able to change our guest list at this point but we can't because the STDs already went out. Learn from me!!!
Dress - was purchased on sale at David's Bridal. Definitely not the cheapest one in the store but was inexpensive compared to some designer dresses.
Rings - FI's ring is tungsten. We didn't set out trying to save money on this but it was a happy surprise that the one he loved just happened to be inexpensive!
Splurges: Food, open bar, bridal party gifts, photography, honeymoon
Transportation - Limo/bus/vintage car rentals can be crazy expensive, and I just didn't care that much. I made sure that everyone in the bridal party had transportation to and from the wedding, either in their own car or riding with someone who had a car, and DH and I used my car.
Veil - I bought mine online from a vendor who allowed returns. It was less than half the price of what the bridal salons (including DB) that I looked at were charging.
Flowers - To cut cost, we reused all our ceremony flowers at our reception. We used the bouquets as centerpieces for our smaller reception tables and our altar flowers as centerpieces for large tables.
Favors - If you don't want to forgo them all together, give out homemade baked goods. We made our edible favors, and they cost less than 50 cents per person, including packaging.
Grooms cake - We skipped it completely, even though we live in an area where everyone has one. DH didn't care, and we had more than enough wedding cake.
Paper goods - We diy'ed everything. We could have cut costs even more by making fewer programs - not everyone took one :)
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What places in my budget can I be a cheapskate on? Do you have any places in your budget where you were able to cut costs because you didn't care about that item?
For example, save the dates. I don't care. The people will look at it and throw it away. I plan to buy cheap paper and just get em done.
My venue is already booked and catering is pretty much set. I'm just trying to figure out where I can cut costs on the "little" things.
Are any of you brides doing your own makeup or having your friend do yours?