Budget Wedding Boosters!

Here's my two cents on the whole matter:

1. Make a strict budget allocation in advance, and STICK to it. (No matter what your family, your fiance, your suppliers, and even those wedding magazines would say.) Focus on one or two particular aspects of your wedding that you want to highlight (i.e. food, photo/video, cake, gown.) You can spend just a wee bit more on these, and then scrimp on the rest.

2. Do you honestly need to dress up in a hotel?

3. Learn the wonderful and creative art of Do-It-Yourself. Be hands-on.

4. Instead of hiring a wedding planner, ask help from your family and friends. You might be surprised at what these people are willing to do for you since they care for you so much! Make it a clan and barkada effort! Then hire a wedding coordinator to just put everything together on the day itself.

5. Trim your guest list. Intimate weddings are more poignant because you're celebrating it only with your family and closest friends. Then just throw a simple after party for the rest of your circle later on.

6. Borrow a friend's car for your bridal car. Just pay for the gas and floral arrangement, and have your friend drive you to the church.

7. Opt for a no-prints photo package and just negotiate for a nice photo AVP of your pre-nups and on-the-day preps. Save the Earth! Besides, you can always have those photos printed later on.

8. Send e-invites to friends and acquaintances. Save the real invitations for the VIPs and Principal Sponsors.

9. Find a designer who is willing to be paid just for making the gowns. Buy the cloth/materials separately. Opt for barongs and not suits. That way, you won't need to buy boutonnieres for the male entourage.

10. Hold your wedding during a weekday. Usually venues and suppliers give lower rates during regular days of the week.

11. Book and reserve suppliers waaaaay early! Their rates increase every so often!

12. Use hand-tied bouquets and flowers which are in season.

13. Cut down your entourage members. You don't need 5 bridesmaids AND 7 junior bridesmaids, plus 4 flower girls! Give these people other roles!

14. Always ask suppliers for freebies and add-ons they can offer. Sometimes, suppliers offer more than one service, and it's better to avail of services from just one source because they can package it for you - at a lower price than booking each and every service provider separately. Don't be afraid to negotiate for the rates given to you by your suppliers. They're willing to bend the rules... a little.

15. The cake will just be used for cutting. So just get a two-tiered one instead of all those fancy-schmancy designer cakes which nobody gets to eay anyway.

16. Divisoria is your friend, my dear. And so is Google.

17. Opt to pay for your wedding rings on an installment basis, so that you don't have to worry about paying for it until after the wedding. Buy those wedding rings a month before the wedding date so that the installment plan can start at a much later point in time.

18. Always do RSVP. Encourage your guests to confirm their attendance. If not, proactively call them and ask them if they're going. Be meticulous with your list of confirmed and unconfirmed guests, so that you can have a clear idea on the headcount.

19. Indicate the number of seats reserved per guest in your invites, and be strict with this. You never know when one guest might bring the whole barangay to your wedding!

20. Sign up for a honeymoon bridal registry. That way, you can have your guests pay for your honeymoon as wedding gifts!

21. Ask a trusted friend, colleague or family member to be the emcee during your reception. It makes the whole program more personalized as well.

22. For destination weddings, try to book suppliers who come from the same area to save on out-of-town fees.

23. Get married during off-peak season. Avoid setting your wedding date in June and December!

24. Consider getting a civil wedding first, then have a private and more intimate church wedding later on. It opens up more opportunities to be creative with the ceremony!

25. Select a caterer that offers to package event styling (and lots of other freebies) with their food services. Caterers are able to offer a lot of stuff, so take advantage of this privilege!

26. Instead of getting the full services of a mobile bar, just buy their signature drinks and shooters (like how SoberClub does it!) Usually they package this at a much lower price and you get all the booze good for all your drinking guests. Ask the caterer if you can just pay for an extra waiter to serve the liquor. Be wary about the corkage, though.

27. Instead of getting a guest book, why not make a set of questionnaires/forms that guests can fill out? You can even personalize it with quotes, pictures (like in a scrapbook), mementoes, and even special questions that would encourage the guests to be specific with what they will write. Afterwards, you can just have them bound together - voila! A personalized guest book!

28. Focus more on videography. Anyone who owns a DSLR can take pictures, but the video footages are a different case altogether.

29. Use CDs or MP3s instead of getting a live band. If you really want live entertainment, get a soloist (instead of a choir) for the ceremony, and an acoustic ensemble (instead of a full band) for the reception - or why not get that same ensemble's members for both the ceremony AND the reception?

30. Choose dishes that are simpler and easier to prepare, and ask your caterer if he/she can reduce the price per head.

31. Be bold. Be frank. Indicate in your invites that you prefer CASH and not material gifts. We have to be practical during these times.

32. You might be amazed at the vast array of potential souvenir items priced at 10 pesos in many tiangges all over the Metro! And these are not even in Divisoria yet!

33. Borrow jewelery from your family members. At least that takes care of the "something old" or "something borrowed" line.

34. Be active in online communities, such as Weddings At Work (W@W) - the people here are more than willing to help you out, recommend low-priced suppliers, and give you more tips on how to save!

35. If there's a wedding ceremony before or after yours, try to coordinate with the other couple and propose if you can share the cost of the floral arrangement at the church - it also saves preparation time that way.

36. Give yourself a fabulous bouquet, and have everyone else wear wrist corsages. Hey, it's YOUR day, right?

37. Hold the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at your house, and suggest a potluck dinner for all. You can also serve home-cooked dishes instead of ordering food, or having it catered.

38. Hold your wedding during the morning or noon, so that you won't need to pay extra for a lighting setup from the sound system.

39. Missalettes can easily be photocopied, you know.

40. There is honestly no need to pay for ALL the gowns and hair/makeup services of your female entourage members.

In the end, what's more important, anyway? Is it the wedding, or your marriage? Try to reassess your priorities here, and really figure out what you're spending for. Is it just that one occasion, or is it better to invest in your future together? Think about it.