Wedding Planning

What are some things you or someone you know have done to keep wedding cost down?

Not anytime this year. We're just planning and getting an idea of a potential budget so we can figure out when we'll be able to afford it.

Senior Detective wrote: is he nigerian too?

Of course.

afrokock wrote: congrats!!! he's not footing the whole bill?

Thanks, though I'm not officially engaged yet. No, him, his parents, and my parents will contribute, hence the we. I have only my exquisite taste of offer. I'm just a lowly student.

I've helped plan or been in several weddings the last year...

-My sis was going to rent her wedding dress from a place here in la where you rent couture/designer gowns for red carpet events and such. It's actually pretty inexpensive but she ended up buying a dress from someone who had a custom wedding dress made and got a great deal (because it was designed just to fit the one girl so she had to sell it cheap).
-Ordered wedding dress (200$) and bridesmaid dresses (about 100$) from Simply Bridal. I've actually worn my bridesmaid dress like 3 times already so it was a good deal.
-Free officiants (they were family friends).
-Catered it themselves with their favorite foods (ordered from restaurants...for example, indian food for dinner and krispy kreme and sprinkles cupcakes for dessert) and didn't specify they were ordering for a wedding.
-Got the wedding party and friends to pay for stuff (for example, I provided the drinks for one wedding).
-Had small weddings. (One was just parents and siblings...others were less than 100 people total)
-Free venue.
-All my family members had their rings designed by my mom's jeweler...so they got something unique, custom, and for a great price.

The only thing people consistently spent a lot on were photographers/videographers. If memories are important to you, that's one place you don't want to go cheap.