Bridesmaids on a Budget

If you are not the bride, and are going to act as a bridesmaid for someone else, you need to watch your own expenses of attending someone else’s wedding. While you feel honored and are excited about your friend’s wedding, you might find the expenses bogging you down. You might have to spend on your dress, shoes, hairstyle, manicure and travel to the wedding etc. Also, add bridal shower, girls’ party, gifts for the bride and some miscellaneous expenditure. In an estimate, it is an established fact that a bridesmaid might even spend somewhere close to a thousand dollars before the wedding.

However, it is not very wise to go on spending, if you cannot afford it. The best way to handle such a situation is by talking it out with the bride, whose emotions are already on the high.
Otherwise, you can spend wisely and still be a graceful bridesmaid, if your friend surely wants you in her bridal party.

You can start by saving on your dress. If the bride is open in her approach then she can allow you to wear a regular dress that you are comfortable wearing or one that is available on sale or at an economy price.
However, if the bride insists on a traditional formal gown, you can opt for a designer who does not charge exorbitantly. The trick is in ordering the gown immediately once you make up the mind and the discussions are over. You must avoid last minute rush to avoid spoiling your friend’s wedding. One way to economize on the dress is by preferring it shipped along with the dress of the bride if your designer is the same. You would not only avoid sales tax, but would also cut down shipping costs.

Alterations in a dress cost a lot, so be attentive in giving your accurate body measurements when ordering. The bridal shop seamstress would charge a lot more than a normal shop seamstress.

Shoes to match with the dress are also expensive. Use dyeable shoes that you can use later also. Else, try to get your previous bridesmaid shoes dyed with this dress, if it is possible. If the bride is not very particular about the color of your shoes, you can go for good black shoes. Alternatively, go for a cheaper option available at many stores.

To save on the makeup, let your own makeup and hair styling talents come to the fore and let all the bridesmaids come up with ideas for each other. In case the bride wants a proper hair style and a professionally done look, go hire students from a beauty school, who would be happy to have free subjects to try their hands on different hair styles and would not charge much either.

4 Tips for Saving Money on Your Wedding Online

Four Ways you can use the internet to save money on your wedding.

Wedding Planning Tips

• Purchase expenisve items like wedding dress online. Make sure it is an American company like Bridalonlinestore.com.
• You make your wedding gifts unique by finding things not easily found locally. Most website will negotiate if you are going to buy a bunch of any item.
• You can online services or your own blog for people rsvp and save money on paper and postage. People can also post their wedding photos to flick.com.
  
• Realize that lavish doesn't make a great wedding. Making a great environment for friends and family is what matters and you don't have to worry if you pay less for your wedding.
  

Wedding Planner Career - Tips on Preparing the Wedding Budget

Once you have gotten a basic idea of what the couple is imagining, you can begin to figure out how much the couple's dream wedding will cost, and how much money the bride and groom (or their families) are planning to spend.

Obviously, not every couple has unlimited funds to plan their nuptials. A good wedding planner will be able to take the couple's picture perfect wedding and scale it down to size as necessary to fit their budget. However, the budget will definitely influence many of the couple's decisions about the wedding. There are two ways to determine the cost of the wedding. The couple's first option is to set the budget and plan the wedding accordingly. The second option is to plan the couple's dream wedding and figure out how to fund the affair later.

Factors that will affect the cost of the wedding:

- Date and Time
- Formality
- Number of Guests
- Food
- Flowers, Music, and Photography
- Ceremony and Reception Venues
- Location

You will quickly learn ways to manipulate these factors to cut costs as necessary. The bride and groom must be able to prioritize their wish list. If the couple's dream wedding is a black-tie affair in June with a catered, sit-down meal for 500 people in an expensive hotel ballroom, the couple better have a lot of cash or be ready to make some compromises. A good budget will take into account every aspect of the wedding. Your role is to help the bride and groom find ways to choose the most important elements and downscale in 30 other ways as necessary. The black-tie affair in the fancy hotel ballroom could cost significantly less if the couple chooses to have the wedding during an off-season month or day (think a Friday night in April or November) or has a late-evening reception with drinks and dessert. An open bar, designer gown, live music, or elaborate floral arrangements are all expensive options that can be scaled back to cut costs -- unless the couple is set on that specific detail. Odds are the bride and groom are not the only ones with big ideas for their big day. Parents and families on both sides will likely have their own idea of what the wedding should entail. If the couple's parents are footing a large portion of the bill, remind the bride and groom that their parent's opinions should be taken into consideration.

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