A friend went to a bridal show and bought a dress which was at the show - lightly worn and a lot cheaper. Mine came from a yard sale for $50!
One tip is to get married on Friday and split the cost of decorations with someone getting married on Saturday.
We had sandwiches, chips and fruit at our wedding. Made the sandwiches (chicken and ham salad bought from a caterer), bought the chips at an outlet and the fruit from a caterer but Sam's club would have this kind of stuff in bulk.
Go to a party supply store for your paper goods and tablecloths. Good luck Toni!!!

Do a google search on "frugal weddings" and check the parties forum for wedding tips.

You can made very inexpensive and easy bouquets for the bride and attendants from long-stemmed flowers tied together with pretty ribbon (very romantic) I did this from the grocery store floral dept--VERY inexpensively!! The throwaway bouquet could be made out of a standard bouquet put in a holder made from a plastic cool whip container (hole in the middle) with lace on top so no one can see. Floral tape around the stems.

Buy your dress off the racks or used. Make sure it fits in the shoulders and have a friend alter it. If too short--add lace.

Don't buy the dyed shoes--just plain white or off white shoes and add a shoe buckle you ornament with pearls or rhinestones, etc..

Dollar store disposable cameras on each table for guests. Decorate the tables with hand painted wine glasses with tinsel spilling out of them and those flat stones used in floral arrangements sprinkled down the middle of the tables. One lucky guest at each table takes the glass home. You can get wineglasses for zip at dollar stores and yard sales (because they don't have a set) to paint.

Talk to Jamie of Montana (and THS) fame.

She's good at frugal ideas - and has been planning a wedding for some time.

Seems to me to make a lot more sense to put $1,000. into a down payment on a home (that both will inhabit for years - if, we hope, the marriage lasts: if not, probably one, more than likely the female, especially if they have kids).

Rather than on a dress - that only one will inhabit.

And that for a few hours. Only once.

But - who ever accused hooman beans of being logical! Especially when it comes to weddings!

Good wishes to you and your loved ones as you make your plans, Toni - that's the KY thing at a time of potential disagreements.

ole joyful

I have received 2 invitations done on the computer. One was rather tacky but one was actually quite attractive - they used green ferns as a background.
The only problem with the disposible cameras is if kids get their hands on them. My sis in law has lots of photos of kids making faces and she bought the decorated wedding cameras.
Toni I saw on the KT you are having dress problems - I wish I were the same size but I was a lot smaller then. Spread the word! Someone will have a dress you can buy cheaply or borrow.
Kathy

My ultimate frugal wedding experience was all about blood test and licence fee. Justice of the peace performed ceremony, no guests, one witness. We wore our best clothes and incurred no expenses.If I had it to do again....I would do the ceremony. Working through the financials of a wedding ceremony with a potential spouse is just about the best way I know of to find out about potential money problems in a hurry. Better to lose money on wedding plans than to be stuck with a spendthrift spouse or an expensive divorce.Sandy

Kathy,

That's a great idea.

Anybody got a wonderful wedding dress - the right size (or more or less easily alterable)?

We could add an extension to this place called "G-bay" (maybe "ths-bay"?).

Sorry - can't help, though - no such dress around here.

Reiterated good wishes as you make your wedding plans, Toni.

joyful

Thanks Ed, but my ideas won't be much help for Toni, I'm afraid. DF and I are "running away" - just us and his brother as a witness, to Lake Tahoe, and that will be that. I bought a dress at Dillards for $20 that will work just fine...skirt and jacket set in white that will also work for other occasions (though we might do costumes if we feel like it, since we're getting married on Oct. 31). Our main focus is buying a house in Oct. that we can both move into when we get back, so not much planning is going into the "wedding" part of it for us - we'll plan our trip closer to the date. :-)

Good luck, Toni! I bet it will be lovely, no matter what. If you go with computer invitations, there are some really nice papers you can get - it will still be much cheaper than having them done at a print shop (I plan on doing announcements when we get back on my computer, with nice parchment type paper).

Have you seen the cable show "For Better or for Worse"? They give the couple's family (with a wedding planner's help) 1 week and $5000 to plan a wedding - the ones I've seen turn out beautifully (mostly) and they have lots of low cost ideas.

Best of luck - Karen

Jamie,

If you do decide to wear costumes ... if including masks - take a prelimiary peek under the mask to make sure that you're getting whom you thought you were.

Just looking out for your best interest.

joyful

if you want to do invitations on a computer, look into getting them actually photocopied at Kinko's onto your special paper. I don't know how much it costs, but remember the printer ink cartridges are expensive! And it takes a while to print stuff on there.

One thing you can do, even if you can't buy a dress on ebay is to sell it on ebay when you are finished with it (if you don't want to keep it for sentimental reasons) and recoup some of the cost. A friend of mine bought a dress off the rack at David's Bridal at one of their $99 sales and actually made money selling it on ebay when she was finished (even including the cost to dryclean it). In any case, they often have good deals on wedding dresses there.

Consider using silk flowers vs. real ones for your arrangements and supplementing with inexpensive greens for a "fresh" look. Silk flowers can be very inexpensive at craft stores when they are on sale, with coupons etc.

Carefully size your invitations to save on postage.