Inexpensive Wedding Ideas for a truly Frugal Wedding and Cheap Wedding Reception

Courtesy of Andrew Eick

Inexpensive Wedding Ideas

So much advice about inexpensive wedding ideas are leaning towards the tired and patsy advice that it really doesn't matter if you have to serve your guests homemade cupcakes and "finger foods" instead of Making a Wedding Cake into a fairytale and having a gorgeous catered buffet. Really?

Or how about this- Give up your dreams girls, you don't need a limousine, a horse drawn carriage or even real flowers at your wedding. Forget the fact that you have been dreaming about this very day since you were maybe, 5 years old.

Planning to love, honor and cherish till death do you part? That is a very long time! Why would you give up on a gorgeous wedding with all the dreamy elements when you are committed to having only one such ceremony in your entire lifetime?

Why we can cheap this down so much it will only cost about as much as the annual 4th July Party your parents hold in their garage each year?

Inexpensive Wedding Ideas : A Frugal Wedding, Not

Courtesy of Tracy Hunter

Now that I have you wondering if you are on the right website, let me assure you I understand you don't have much money and what you do have has to cover the dress, ceremony, cheap wedding reception, food, music and honeymoon. Whew!

Inexpensive Wedding Ideas : Brides, Businesses and Bartering

First things first. If you want it all, you are going to have to either Do it yourself, Barter for it or Pay for it. The latter is usually not an option for young couples starting out.

You must plan ahead and delay the wedding until you can get the elements in place that are important to you.

I recommend 6 months out you start mobilizing the wedding guests that are willing to help, as well as the members of your wedding party. Remember that many hands make light work.

Start a notebook. The first entries are a list of your most wished for elements in the perfect wedding:

Courtesy of sylvar

• *Professional Printing Services vs. Making your own Wedding Invitations
• *Perfect Setting
• *Transportation-Horse and Carriage, Limo, other...
• *Perfect dress
• *Perfect Bouquet, can you Make your own bridal bouquet?

• *Dream Cake - Make your own wedding cake or use a professional pastry chef?
• *Dream Food
• *Full Bar Services
• *Excellent Photographer/Video
• *Musicians- Want an String quartet? Trendy band? DJ? Harpist?
• *Beautiful Floral Arrangements and Centerpieces. Can you find Through a friend or relative with ties to a florist shop?
• *Thoughtful Wedding Favors

How are we going to pull this off? You can divide the tasks and services you need into 1. Things you can make yourself successfully, and 2. What you can barter for.

We are going to ask your entire set of family and friends for help bartering their business and personal skills and services instead of gifts. Every person on this planet has a skill or talent that can be bartered for another skill, service or talent.

Courtesy of emilio labrador

Inexpensive Wedding Ideas : Little Money, lot's of Relatives and Friends

The second entries in your notebook match the person (friend, relative) with the skill that he/she can offer, and who they are to contact with offers of a barter for services.

* Does your best friend style hair like no other? She is on for your hairstyle, complete with flowers drifting through your locks, and the entire bridesmaids party too.

* Father in law is a CPA? Can he offer tax services to the small business owner with the horse and carriage business?

* Are there women in your church that can cook the entire buffet for you?

* Does you nephew paint houses? Could he trade a paint job for the homeowners donating from his floral shop chain?

* Can your Niece donate babysitting for the family who owns the printing services shop?

* Can your friends cut hair, mow lawns, walk dogs, put on garage sales or clean the house of the business owner who makes uber fancy wedding cakes?

* Can your Dad trade small home repairs for the musicians playing at your wedding? Most people can either play beautiful music or fix things, but rarely both. Frugal weddings that don't feel that way depend on talented people on your side.

* Can you lock down the venue (mansion estate anyone?) for the services of your friends the roofer, the mechanic, or the tree stump chopper? If you want it, it can be traded for.

Courtesy of Mike Babcock

Inexpensive Wedding Ideas : Try Craigslist

There is a true story about a woman at begbarterorbride that actually placed an ad in Craigslist offering to barter for the services to put on her dream wedding.

Without the money to pay for her wedding, she became determined to ask to earn it herself, through dog walking, hair cutting, babysitting, anything people commonly need.

The response was overwhelming. The bridal business community came out in gale force, often offering their services as donations rather than actual barters, although this was not the spirit the bride to be was asking for, it just happened.

She gave back to these wonderful photographers, venue owners and others in the wedding industry by starting begbarterorbride and showcasing their talents and plugging their websites and phone numbers for them.

So if you can barter for it, you can have it.

Happy Frugal Wedding! !

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Inexpensive Wedding Ideas to Family Security through Frugal Living

Inexpensive Wedding Ideas to Frugal Weddings