1- A Simple White Dress
It’s no secret that wedding gowns cost a small fortune. Most gowns are made with luxurious material, and they often feature intricate detailings like beading or embroidery. If you don’t feel the price for such a dress is worth it, you might consider buying a simple white dress from your favorite retail store. It could be anything from a long maxi dress or a lacy empire-waist frock. No matter what you choose, it should be something that you love. Also, you should take it to a tailor for a custom fitting.

2- Buy a Wedding Gown from a Mall Retailer
Some of your favorite mall stores (like J. Crew) sell gorgeous gowns for a fraction of the price that most wedding dresses cost. While these gowns are very modern and elegant, they are far from frilly.

3- Wear Your Favorite Dress
The modern bride isn’t afraid to break traditions, especially if she’s not so comfortable with them. If wearing a white silk gown with a lacy collar freaks you out, feel free to wear something that’s more you. If you’d like to wear that cute floral lavender sundress to your beach wedding, why not? Your wedding should be about celebrating the relationship that you and your fiancé share, not blindly following tradition.

4- Opt for a Vintage Style
If you have a bohemian spirit, or you’d just like to wear a dress that’s unique, you should check out a consignment or vintage shop that specializes in bridal dresses or elegant frocks.

1- Choose Your Venue and Make Plans Early On

Shorter engagement periods don’t give you the luxury of time, so as soon as you have that ring on your finger, it’s time to start searching for the ceremony and reception venues. If you live in a large metroplex, you may have a harder time securing your dream venue in time, so be sure to keep your options or time frame a little open.

2- Create a Budget

You should never start the planning process without first assessing how much both of you make, and how much you’re willing to spend on the wedding. As always, you should create a little extra room in your budget for unexpected costs and fees.

3- Hire a Wedding Planner

Short on time, but you don’t want to stress about the details or quality? Hire a wedding pro, and let him or her do the dirty work for you! A seasoned pro will know the right vendors to obtain services from, how to get the most for your money, and inform you on important things you might have overlooked.

4- Get the Engagement Photos

Many couples like to send an engagement or wedding announcement to their local newspaper. Some also like to include a photo with their save-the-date cards they send out. Schedule an appointment with a professional photographer as soon as you can, and you’ll have the photos when you need them!

1- Keep Everything Simple and Minimalistic

Simplicity is the easiest way to create style, because it’s based on the fact that less is more. Choose one stand-out color and a neutral shade or two to complement. Think rose red and creme, or earthy brown and pale yellow.

2- Opt for Soft Lighting

Keep the look of your reception elegant and romantic; skip the flashy strobe lights and party effects that are best suited for senior proms. Opt for chandeliers, candlebras, pin-spot lights, or up-lighting instead. If your wedding is a daytime event, you could hold the reception outdoors where everyone can bask in the natural sunlight.

3- Let the Tableware Speak for Itself

Skip cheap paper products and rent or borrow several sets of the finest china you can find.  Enhance the elegance of the tableware by setting them atop luxurious linens. You could borrow classic white bone china, or you could mix and match several styles that coordinate beautifully.

4- Use Fresh Flowers Everywhere

You already plan to incorporate flowers as tabletop centerpieces, but did you know that you can come up with even more unique ideas for using fresh flowers? You can gently remove each petal of flowers and gently scatter them on tabletops for a romantic look, or you could create flower garlands to adorn the chairs.

5- Provide Comfy Relaxation Space

In between the dancing and dining, your guests will probably appreciate a small space to relax and enjoy themselves. Rent some plush chairs or love seats, and cluster them together to create a small lounge that’s a perfect spot for cocktail hour.

Informal and casual weddings don’t really need a seating arrangement. According to Bridal Guide magazine, guests at small weddings should be able to seat themselves. If you’re holding the ceremony in a small place with seating options that are limited, you might want to add extra chairs or at least padded cushions on the floor.

Certain religions, namely those of Christian or Jewish faiths, request that the bride’s family sit on one side of the church/synagogue, while the groom’s family sits on the other side. Today, that choice is completely optional. The Knot recommends that older guests should sit in the front so they can hear and see the ceremony better, and that disabled guests should sit at the ends of the benches or pews for easier access. They also suggest that family members are given priority for the first rows with the mothers of the bride and groom seated last.

If you plan on having a large ceremony with a lot of people, it might be a prudent idea to create a seating chart and to go over it with your ushers before the big day. Try not to stress about the ceremony seating arrangements.

1- Faux Flowers

Save a significant amount of money by making your own flowers from various papers or fabrics. You can incorporate faux blooms into a variety in options including bouquets, boutonnieres, and centerpieces.  To create a memorable reception, make a variety of flower styles in different colors and shapes – this will add dimension and style.

2- Stationery

Print your own stationery with a creative software program on your computer. Depending on the software you purchased, you could also design ceremony programs, gift tags, and address labels. If you don’t have a computer, you could purchase a stationery kit and make your own custom cards from scratch.

3- Decorations

From candles to paper lanterns to fabric curtains to beaded garlands, the ideas for DIY decorations are endless. You could also grow greenery in small pots and place one or two on each table as a centerpiece.

4- Bake Your Cake

If you (or your fiancé) love to bake, you could make your own cake and decorate it. You could bake a simple chocolate or buttercream cake, cover it with fondant, and then decorate it for a custom touch. Even easier – bake several dozen cupcakes and frost them with any creamy whipped frosting of your choice.

5- Favors

Save money and show appreciation to your guests by giving them special favors from the heart. Handmade soaps, candles, or cookies are all wonderful ideas, but you could also give embellished boxes, photo frames, paper fans, coasters, magnets, or even guitar picks. A handmade wedding favor can be anything you want, but you should select a craft project that you will enjoy, not because it’s easy to make or because it’s affordable.

While you can’t forsee the future, nor can you prevent every hurdle that comes your way, there are some things that you can take control of, like beauty blunders. Here are a few of the most common beauty blunders and how to fix them.

1- A large pimple forms on your face the day before your wedding.

Stress is the inevitable side-effect that comes with planning a wedding, and unfortunately, this can result in the unsightly formation of pimples. But what if you get a pimple the day of or the day before your wedding? Whatever you do, don’t try to extract the mole yourself! Instead, try to squeeze in a last minute appointment with your dermatologist for a cortisone injection – immediate relief.

2- You’re having a bad hair day, and getting another blow-out isn’t an option.

If you don’t have the time to revive your hair, and you don’t have the time to make it to a salon, take a quick shower so you can shampoo and condition. Next, take a blow-dryer and a flat brush to dry your hair straight. Once you’ve done that, you can style as usual.

3- As soon as you sit in your makeup artist’s chair, she informs you that your skin is very oily.

Of all the blunders mentioned in this article, oily skin is probably the easiest to manage. If you have an oily skin problem, you might want to start using a quality cleanser that was made for oily skin, like Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser. If your skin continues to get oily throughout the day, store skin blotting tissues inside your bridal emergency beauty kit to bring with you on the go.

Here are three fabulous tips to help you find the dress of your dreams no matter who your consultant is.

1- Know what you want.

For most bridal consultants, getting the sale is the top priority. Since they can’t read your mind, it’s always best to come to a bridal salon knowing exactly what you want. If you don’t have a dream dress in mind yet, make sure you spend a little time researching on styles, designers, and embellishments. If you see a dress or gown you love in a magazine, print it and bring it with you to the bridal shop. Remember that a picture is what you want.

2- Keep your budget in mind.

As I said previously, most bridal consultants care most about making sales, so as a customer, you need to make sure that your needs are met. Create a budget and stick with it. Even if you’re tempted to buy a more expensive style, you don’t want to buy a dress that’s going to cut into your budget. Don’t forget to tell the consultant not to show you dresses outside your bugdet.

3- Don’t purchase a dress that doesn’t flatter you.

Know your shape and what flatters your figure. And always try on all the dresses before you actually make a purchase. A few words of caution when shopping for that perfect bridal gown: never buy a dress just because it’s the cheapest on the rack unless you absolutely love it.

The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Day by Mindy Weiss and Lisbeth Levine ($19.95 at Amazon)

If you’ve stayed on top of high-profile celebrity weddings from the past few years, Mindy Weiss is a name you know. She’s a legendary party coordinator and wedding planner who’s worked with Katy Perry, Kate Beckinsale, Heidi Klum, Gwen Stefani, and many more. Now you can get her expert advice for way less with her comprehensive wedding book. In it, she gives tips on budgets, wedding contracts, destination weddings, and much more. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to create a celeb-inspired wedding, this is the book you will want!

The Knot Book of Wedding Lists by Carley Roney $10.39 at The Knot

You will save time with this handy book of lists including timeline guides, checklists for contracts, ceremony lists, bridesmaids lists, and much more.  Thanks to the book’s small size, you can take it along with you for your all-important meetings with vendors.

Colin Cowie Wedding Chic: 1,001 Ideas for Every Moment of Your Celebration $26.40 at Amazon

If you’re looking for even more fabulous wedding ideas and reception hints, this book is for you. Colin Cowie is a renowned style expert who has made a name for himself by creating some of the most stylish events all over the world. This guide is full of ideas to help you decide on attire, food, flowers, decor, and so much more. The real treat of this book? The beautiful colored photographs!

Have Several Flower Girls and Ring Bearers

If you have more than just one special little girl and one special little boy in your life, why not have several kids share the roles? You could have two or three little girls play the flower girl roles and have two or three boys (including the ring bearer) escort them down the aisle.

Ask Relatives or Friends Read Special Passages

A wedding ceremony is really all about the couple, but there really is no reason not to ask loved ones to be involved. You could have your friends take turns reading select passages from religious texts (like from a Bible, Torah, or Koran), poetry, or whatever else you’d like.  If you want, you could also have your parents or siblings get involved with the reading festivities as well!

Keep it in the Family

If you want, you could ask select family members or close friends if they would want to be involved in key parts of the ceremony. For instance, if you know someone who is ordained as a minister, you could ask them if they want to officiate. If you have a talented friend, you might ask them to sing a special song as you walk down the aisle. This not only makes the wedding even more special and intimate, it will also save you some extra money. Just remember to ask for the right reasons and not just because you want to save money.

1- Purchase a Package Deal

Save extra money by purchasing a wedding package from a resort or hotel. There are many resorts (mainly in the Caribbean and in Hawaii) that offer all-inclusive deals that include the officiant, professional wedding consultant, music, food, and honeymoon suite. Different resorts will offer different packages, so be sure to research well before booking one.

2- Keep it Small and Simple

You’ll save extra money by limiting your guest list to a select few, and most wedding packages usually cover small parties exclusively. If you’re willing to foot the bill for a few extra guests, you might want to cut costs in other ways. For instance, you originally were going to invite 6 guests, but that list changed to 12. You can cut back on expenses by serving lunch or a light dinner instead of a buffet, or skipping the whole reception, and serving up a small cocktail hour event instead.

3- Work with Local Vendors 

Instead of bringing your own florist, caterer, photographer, and baker, save money by hiring locals from that area. Contact a professional wedding planner who knows the resort or town where your wedding will be, and they will be able to help you find what you need for the prices you’re willing to pay.

4- Plan an Off-Season Wedding

You will save even more money if you book your destination wedding for the off-season. Instead of planning a May or June wedding, you could plan a wedding for March or April.