Posted from MasterPiece Weddings blog:

Budget Bride's Ideas!

Things are tight all round right now, money is getting tighter, and if you watch the stock market ticker, you are probably dizzy by now!

I've noticed that brides are starting to cut back on things - and there are smart ways to cut back, and not so smart ways to cut back...

How difficult is it to make cuts to your budget?

That depends on how much you need to cut - and what you are willing to cut back on. The obvious choice is to cut back on the number of guests, because if you are paying $60 per person and cut 50 people from your guest list, that's $3000.

But what if cutting guests isn't an option.

Scale back, more affordable linens, more affordable china, a different menu, signature drink bar, instead of full open bar, only serve beer and wine instead of a full bar.

Scale back on your flowers, do some additional DIY projects, cut out the program, use a lesser paper on your invitations, don't do thermography printing, don't use cotton paper.

There are lots of ways to cut back...

These are just a few options on ways to cut back, but one thing to never skimp on is photography, I wouldn't recommend having Aunt Jane do your photography, unless Aunt Jane is a pro... the only you have in the end are those photographs... so better to higher a great photographer's cheapest package then risking not having any photographs at all.

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Of course I totally agree with the last paragraph. An artistic professional photographer can photograph any wedding and have it appear to be as lavish as any Martha Stewart event. As artists we look for great light as well as great moments. It doesn't really matter in the end if you have 3 foot Eiffel tower flower arrangements at every table... what does matter is that your photography experience translates to fun, amazingly crisp, clear, colorful, emotional photographs that will take you back to every moment that day.


Check out Adventures in Wedding Planning -a cool website for all of you planning a wedding...