| Planning a wedding can be extremely stressful, | | | | work on your own to save the money then all |
| overwhelming and confusing if you don't have the | | | | the more power to you, but just know that this |
| right resources to help you out along the way. | | | | can end up being a huge expenditure in time and |
| When I was planning mine, I thought, sheesh, | | | | money. |
| what did people do before the internet? At least | | | | Of course, you could really cut costs by having |
| now, you have step by step guides, advice, and | | | | people make food for you and eliminating the bar, |
| specific questions answered at your fingertips by | | | | that's up to you. It all depends on your tastes and |
| typing them into a search engine. Before, you had | | | | personal preferences, but you can save a |
| to rely on hearsay and the advice of friends and | | | | boatload of money this way. There are of course |
| family, which I'm sure was spotty at times. | | | | other small considerations to make whether you |
| Along the way in my planning for my wedding | | | | are booking through a hotel or not. You will want |
| reception, I have used the internet extensively, | | | | to think about if you want to provide party |
| and found that even then, I still had a lot of | | | | favors or not. Do you want to make |
| considerations to make that I would have to | | | | centerpieces or does the center or hotel provide |
| apply to my own situation. My now-husband and I | | | | those for you? What about table linens? |
| actually got married a few months before our | | | | Also, you will probably want to get a guest book |
| reception, in Las Vegas, and we decided that we | | | | for your guests to sign. This is a minor expense. |
| were going to have a reception later on so that | | | | You will also want to have a box for people who |
| we could celebrate our marriage with family and | | | | brought a card to put their gift in. For this, I |
| friends. The Vegas wedding was pretty easy, I | | | | ended up buying one instead of having one made |
| mean that's what Vegas is known for, easy | | | | or attempting to make one myself since I have |
| weddings, but the reception was a whole 'nother | | | | little patience for crafts. I had a half off coupon at |
| ball game as I would soon find out. | | | | a local craft store, and voila, I had a satin |
| The first concern is where you are going to hold | | | | embroidered box for fifteen bucks - not bad! |
| the reception. Some of the considerations for the | | | | How do you want to decorate? Are centerpieces |
| venue are as follows. First, do you want to have | | | | OK, or are you one to really spruce things up? I |
| it in a hotel? Do you have a lot of out of towners | | | | chose to ultimately just let the hotel decorate my |
| coming that will be staying in a hotel anyways? | | | | table since they provided neutral colored linens |
| This was a big reason why I eventually went with | | | | and hurricane lamps, and ended up buying some |
| a hotel. This and the fact that many hotels offer | | | | silver and gold wedding themed "confetti" to |
| complete reception packages where the food, | | | | spread on each table, making it look festive. |
| cleanup, bar, and dessert service are included. I | | | | Another fun and easy way to decorate is to |
| ended up choosing what I thought was the most | | | | spread real or silk rose petals on each table, it's |
| reasonable package price per person, and the | | | | very simple and very elegant. I decided against |
| best location for us. | | | | the party favors, I personally did not feel they |
| If you are thinking that you want to save money | | | | were important, but you may feel differently. |
| and don't want to go with a hotel or another | | | | Another thing to think about is how are you going |
| professional all in one type of service like that, | | | | to play music? Do you want to hire a DJ? Most |
| then make sure you consider the following | | | | DJ's run about five to six hundred dollars per |
| additional expenses when figuring out the final | | | | night, but they offer a hassle free way to provide |
| costs involved in making the right decision for | | | | your guests with all night entertainment and good |
| your budget. First of all, most party centers will | | | | music. A cost saving way to cut the DJ out is to |
| offer catering, and some of them bar service | | | | bring your own MP3 player and speakers, but |
| too, but they may not offer cleanup. Many of | | | | then you do have to make sure you program the |
| them now also require that you hire security for | | | | right songs and have a continuity. We ended up |
| the event, and this can definitely add to your | | | | going with a DJ because, again, it was less hassle, |
| price too. | | | | and I'm all about making it easy! |
| Also consider the out of towners, are there any | | | | After the planning for the venue and the food |
| reasonable hotels within a safe travel distance for | | | | package you want, you need to send invitations. |
| them to stay? We ended up looking at a very | | | | We chose to print our own invitations on |
| basic community center that was really pretty | | | | pre-printed decorative stock. It saved us over a |
| much just a venue, no frills, and decided against it | | | | hundred dollars to do it this way rather than have |
| because it would have been us paying for the | | | | someone pre-print them for us. It was, however, |
| catering, the liquor, a bar tender, security, a DJ, a | | | | more time consuming than I figured on, but in the |
| cake, and decorating, not to mention cleanup at | | | | end, we had lovely invitations that were less than |
| the end of the night. If you are willing to do all this | | | | half the cost of the pre-printed ones. |