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So you find you are in love but a little tight on cash. How can you afford a wedding and still be able to eat for the next year? These are the cheap and easy tips.

1. Do not buy your dress at a bridal shop. There are so many other, and by other I mean cheaper, alternatives. If you or your mother or aunt sews, a one of a kind gown can be sewn for under $200. Ebay, the classified ads, consignment stores and second hand stores are full of gently used gowns. How many times does anyone really wear a wedding gown?

2. Find a free or nearly free venue. My own wedding was on my church lawn with a lovely backdrop of evergreen trees. Possibilities for the wedding and/or reception include your church, your yard or home, a friend's yard or home or a park.

3. A wedding reception does not need to include a sit down meal. If a meal is a must for you, a buffet is usually less expensive. If you can do without the meal, other great options include finger sandwiches, a dessert buffet, wedding cake and ice cream or just wedding cake and punch. Friends and relatives can help with the desserts or sandwiches and then your only food expenses are cake and punch.

4. Buy your wedding cake from a grocery store bakery or better yet, if you know someone who is handy with a pastry bag, ask if they would be willing to make yours. Consider it their wedding gift because this is a huge thing to do.

5. Do not hire a band or DJ. Find a friend or relative with a big collection and a stereo system they are willing to share for a day.

6. Do your own flowers and don't go overboard. Craft stores have classes in bridal bouquets. You can make your own bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres as well as floral centerpieces out of real or silk flowers. A few long stemmed roses or lilies make a very elegant bouquet and cost considerably less than a traditional bouquet.

7. Speaking of centerpieces, brandy snifters make great centerpieces. They are cheap and can be found at second hand stores and yard sales. Fill them with water, shredded foam and a rose, or several roses, or a gold fish, or colored marbles, or Hershey's kisses for the guests.

8. Ask your church if you can borrow their folding chairs instead of renting them elsewhere.

9. Don't have a traditional rehearsal dinner, have a casual barbecue.
Make your own invitations. Twenty years ago this was a cheap and cheesy idea but now anyone can print lovely invitations and put them together with the help of a computer and some ribbon or a glue stick or what ever suits your fancy.

Your wedding is the most important day of your life so far, but keep it in perspective because it is only one day. Use your savings to get a jump start on the rest of your life.

Learn more about this author, Al Louis.
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