Cheap weddings - where do you scrimp?

According to an industry report I subscribe to, the average cost of a wedding is nearly $27,000. It breaks down something like this:

• $2300 wedding ceremony
• $1800 attire
• $1150 flowers
• $1700 jewelry
• $1100 favors & gifts
• $2700 photography & video
• $14,000 reception
• $900 music
• $800 invitations
• $550 limo

Some of these numbers may seem ridiculously high - like $2300 for the ceremony, not including flowers, music, invitations, anything? Don't worry, it's an average. There are some cheap weddings in there too. Some folks get married at their local church for $100; others rent symphony hall for the day. We'll be getting into specific strategies for each of these areas, but not right now.

The point for today is that there are lots of ways to spend your money on your wedding. You need to prioritize. You need to figure out which things are important to you. If you've always pictured yourself driving away in a white limo fifty feet long, even if it means having a potluck reception, it's your call. If you plan it so you can walk across the lawn to your reception, and you don't put little mesh bags of personalized M&Ms on the tables, but you saved enough to put an extra couple of cases of booze behind the bar - well you go girl, I want to come to your party.

Remember, cheap weddings don't plan themselves. You have to prioritize, you have to plan. You can have the memorable wedding you want, a wedding that reflects your own personal style, for a lot less money than the "average" wedding. You just have to plan - people who don't plan end up with cheap weddings (or not-so cheap weddings) that look, well, just plain cheap.

You can find lots of good, free planning resources online, including this one. You can save yourself a lot of time by spending a little money on a planning guide like the one I recommended earlier - Erica's book & software. Whichever way you go, remember that it's your wedding, and it's up to you to get it right.

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