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People spend sooo much on weddings.. I mean I would love to get married some day but I'd rather buy a car or a house than spend it all on a wedding ya know? So crazy

Those were exactly my comments but my wife thought otherwise, had a huge argument about it, she won it hands and as been winning all the arguments ever since, we ended up spending quite a lot on our wedding, her take was that it's a once in a life time thing.

Someone sure has marriage on the mind! You don't think its gunna start scaring guys away when they have to meet your whole family on the first date?

When I got married I did it all for under $3,500 and we had over 100 people there! We got married in a 4 star hall had shrimp appetizers, all the food imaginable, beautiful wedding dress, etc.

This is how I did it. First, get married between Jan - March. You will save BIG on everything. These are off months, especially if you live somewhere where you may have snow.

We decided to use our local community center. It had an incredible hall. Since we were open to either a Friday or Saturday wedding AND we were willing to do it in March they offered us a deal we couldn't refuse. What happened was since it's a community center the halls are often rented for a varitey of uses. Somebody needed a hall from 8am until 10am. We were offered from 11am until iam the following day for $350!!!!! This usually would have cost almost $3,000! Using a community center is great. They provide all the tables, chairs, and some even provide linens if you chose.

Then I went on line and found a great discount bridal shop a few cities away. I got a coture dress for $199.99 and a vail and tierra for an additional $75.

If you go to church, ask somebody who works there what caterer they use for their events - funeral luncheons, parties, dances, fund raisers, etc.

We found the church caterer to be dirt checp PLUS she gave us a great deal since we were refered by the church. We paid $6 a plate. Four meats to chose from , two potatoes, one veggie, salad, rolls and desert tray provided! And she brought her own plates AND even did the dishes for an extra $1 a plate! She also offered linens for the tables.

As thank you gifts for the guests I went to a local craft store and bought those small candles. The ones that come in packs of 12 (not tea lights). I painted a gold heart on the outside of each, then using metallic gold ribbon I tied two fake gold wedding bands around each. You can get the bands in pack of 200 from your craft store for $3.99. People went crazy for these. I heard more compliments about the candles than anything else! They only cost 75 cents a piece to make!
We also made our own inventations using the same concept as the candles. They ended up running less than a dollar each.

For decor we had lots of greenery. We went to the dollar store and bought 8x10inch mirrors and used these for the bases to our table toppers. We had a vase on each table with flowers in it and a single lit candle sat on the mirror. We used out thank you gift candles too. Watch for sales in your local paper. Start picking up slik greenery in advance.

We had a full bar too. All of our alcohol was purchased from Sams Club. We did keep the selection relitively minimal - Rum, Gin, Vodka, Whiskey. That's all you really need anyways. For wine we had boxed wine (which nobody saw cuz the bartender was serving it) - merlot, white zin and a cabbernet. Beer we got a half keg. We didn't even go through 1/4 of it! The half keg was $60. At Sams you can get great deals on appetizers. We got jumbo shrimp in huge bags for like $20 a bag or so.
I wanted the shrimp to be really elegant so I made my own ICE SCULPTURE!
Its sooooo easy. Buy two plastic bowls that have really awesome texture. Fill the first on 1/2 way with water. Place the second one inside it with just a small amount of weight and freeze. If you live somewhere cold just let it freeze outside. Make sure you cover it properly. When you need the sculpture run COLD water over the bowls and carefully seperate them. Be sure to put the ice sculpture on some kind of plate for drainage.

There's so many ways to cut costs you just have to look!

OH - I forgot to add - For the DJ, I put an add on craigslist. I had about 20 responses. I listened to their demo's and chose the one that was right for me. Since most are looking for side jobs they won't ask you to pay what a company would!

Now thats what I'm talking about!! Good ideas