Wedding Etiquette

This article is based on proper wedding etiquette in an American wedding. Use as a guide to help to decide on, with family, who will pay for what.

The Bride
Groom's Wedding Band
Gifts for the Attendants
Accommodation for out-of-town Attendants
Wedding gift for the Groom

The Groom
Bride's Engagement ring and Wedding Band
Honeymoon
Wedding gift for the Bride
Marriage license
Groom's men gifts
Accommodation for out-of-town groom's men
Flowers for the Bride
Corsages for mothers, and special ladies
Boutonnieres for men in wedding party
Accessories for the men in the wedding party
Fee for clergyperson or judge

Bride's Family
Costs of the Reception and Ceremony
Bride's Wedding attire
Invitations, announcements, thank you notes (including mailing cost)
Photographer
Videographer
Flowers and accessories for Bridesmaids, Flower girl, and Ring bearer
Transportation for bridal party on Wedding day from Ceremony to Reception
All gratuities for all services: parking, tolls
Bridesmaid luncheon

Groom's Family
Clothing for the Wedding
Travel and lodging expenses
Rehearsal dinner
Wedding gift for the newlyweds

Maid or Matron of Honor
Her Dress and other attire
Travel expenses
One shower gift and one wedding gift
Share the cost of bridal shower

Bridesmaids
(Girls are not expected to help with cost.)
Their own dresses and other attire
Travel expenses
Only one shower gift and one wedding gift
Bridesmaids share the cost of the bridal shower with the maid of honor.

Flower Girl(s)
(Kids Under 6)
Families of flower girl(s) are expected to pay for their dress, other attire, and travel expenses. Flower girls are not expected to bring a gift to showers they may attend. If their parents attend, gift expectations would be the same as any other guest. If they attend more than one shower or party, only one shower gift is expected.
Flower girls are not responsible for helping financially with bridal shower.

Best Man
His formalwear and accessories
Travel expenses
One shower gift and one wedding gift
Share the cost of bachelor party

Groomsmen or Ushers
(Boys are not expected to help with cost.)
Their Formalwear and accessories
Travel expenses
One shower gift and one wedding gift
Groomsmen may share the cost of the bachelor party with the best man.

Ring Bearer and Trainbearer
(Kids Under 6)
Families of ring and train bearers are expected to pay for attire, and travel expenses. Ring and train bearers are not expected to bring gifts to any pre-wedding parties they may attend. If their parents attend gifts expectations would be the same as any other guest. If they attend more than one party, only one shower gift is expected.
Ring and Train bearer's are not responsible for helping financially with the bachelor party.

The Attendants
Their Wedding clothes
Travel expenses
Wedding gift for newlyweds

Good luck in all your planning. If you have any questions or need advise on wedding etiquette or other wedding related subjects please post it in are wedding chat section.

Ways to Cut Wedding Cost

How is it possible for a couple to have the wedding of their dreams, while staying within budget? By learning to cut wedding costs. The following are tips and practical advice on reducing the overall wedding cost in ways that the guests will be none the wiser:

The guest list
For every person that gets invited to the wedding, the cost of the invitations and food rises. Create a master guest list. Then sit down and go through the list eliminating guests one by one. Some couples may have to do to this a few times over the course of several days until the guest list has been trimmed down to a reasonable and affordable number.

Invitations
Keep the invitations simple. The more detail that is on the invitation, the higher the price will be. Consider printing the invitations using a home printer, purchasing them through a stationary store, party store, or an online retailer. Instead of including a reply card, have guests reply online or the telephone.

Wedding attire
Consider purchasing a used wedding gown, renting a gown and bridesmaid's dresses, shop in thrift stores, in department stores that sell designer dresses and gowns, or take advantage of sample sales.

Flowers
Flowers are one expense that can add up quickly. Choose flowers that are in season and consider using more greens than flowers wherever possible.

Day of the week & time of year
Saturday is the most popular day of the week to get married. As a result, many churches, house of worship, and reception venues charge top dollar for a Saturday wedding. To save money, some couples choose to get married during the week or on a Sunday.

The months of June through August are very popular months for marriages. Couples can save a considerable amount of money if they choose to get married in the fall, winter, and early spring months.

Decorations
Many wedding decorations can be purchased at craft stores, party supply outlets, and after holiday sales for a fraction of the cost of ordering through traditional wedding supply stores.

If a couple chooses to get married around a holiday, such as Christmas, many churches and reception venues are already decorated for the holiday, which will greatly reduce the amount of decorations that need to be purchased.

When purchasing wedding decorations, choose decorations that can later be used at the reception.

Cake
Wedding cakes can be rather expensive. The more layers and detail that goes into a cake, the more expensive the cake becomes. What many couples choose to do is serve their guests sheet cake. The wedding cake is made with the top layer being the actual cake and the bottom layers are just forms. The wedding cake will look just like a real elaborate wedding cake, but without the added expense.

Wedding Budget Tips

Do not worry if you cannot have your dream wedding due to a low wedding budget. Many brides with low wedding budgets still have great weddings without all the frills and without breaking the bank. The number one reason for divorce is money problems, start avoiding money troubles now. The good thing is that you already stopped thinking spend and started thinking save. A lot of brides and grooms go into debt even before they are married. They put thousands of dollars on credit cards, or take out loans, which take years to pay back. With interest on top of the basic payments plus all the new cost of living together (if not already) you can put your future plans on hold for awhile. Some of the new cost that you take in once you’re married is often over looked. Some of the bigger budget items are: financing a home, insurance, furniture, and utilizes. If you plan to have kids soon that is another huge cost to factor in to your life budget. But do not haste if you really want to spend a lot of money on your wedding, without the proper wedding budget now, then wait till you save up all the money for your high budget wedding. (My aunts did, their wedding had over 500 people and it had all that a wedding can have with a high wedding budget, however they saved for 6 years to pay for it. Most of the money, I think, when to her 3-carat diamond ring!)

Now if you are ready to start your wedding budget list right, and plan your wedding now you will find a lot of wedding budget help in this article. Below is a huge list of wedding budget ideas and budget tips for all aspects of wedding planning. All these wedding budget ideas came either from other low budget brides (No, you are not the only one.), or wedding vendors. The wedding budget list will cover wedding photography budget, budget wedding invitations, budget wedding dress, just to name a few.

Fact is: you cannot have everything in life. But think on the bright side, everyone said that you couldn’t buy happiness anyway. You have your groom and that is all that really matters, right?

Know your Wedding Budget!

How can you save money when you do not know how much you can afford?
You need to know what services cost out there and what you can afford. Be budget wise: print out and read "Average Wedding Cost" by Amena Harris, then come back. That article will give you a common list of vendor services and their prices.

All set? Then lets start!

Prioritize: Time to adjust that budget
Before you begin planning your wedding and reception take the time to sit down with your fiancée and categorize the top five items, or services that is a must for your wedding day. Doing so will help you both see each others view on a perfect wedding and help determine what items, services, or other ideas that are less important to you both. This can be from wanting your wedding in Hawaii to not wanting a full band, or wanting a designer wedding dress instead of opting for a budget gown.

Guest List: Guests do not come cheap
The fewer guests you have the less money you will spend. The more guests the more favors, invitations, cake, food, drinks, and larger reception hall is needed. Receptions being the most costly due to catering services, and the hall size most of both these services charge per-person prices. The best advise is to limit the guests you have per how long your reception will be. For example, if you had 150 guest and you want to greet everyone individually for a minute each you would need 2hrs and 30mins. Remember this does not include other activities, like dancing, eating, tossing the garter, cutting the cake, etc.

Another way to determining how many guests is to just invite close family and friends that you enjoy being with.

Invitations: Getting the word out
Anyone can make invitations. Do-it-yourself can save money and show everyone how skilled you are. You can even add a personalized touch to each. You can make them on the computer with software and pastel colored printing paper, or even handwrite with a gold pen and stationary; the possibilities are endless, be creative. If you lack creativity or don’t have time, call around to get price quotes, everyone prices differently. The higher priced one may be nicer but if this is not a top priority buy the cheaper ones. Your guests should not care if you send them a plain white invitation instead of the custom one shaped like a bride. Your guests will more than likely just write the date on the calendar and throw away the invitation anyways.
To save money on purchased invitations:
Purchase thermographed print instead of getting the invitations engraved. Thermography is raised print were as engraved is indented, however they look and feel the same.

Other ways to save:
If everyone has email or most have email then you could email invitations. The ones without email send an invitation by mail.
Save on return postage, envelopes, and printing by having your guest call to RSVP.

Wedding Budget

Wedding Budget
Weddings can drain any size budget fast. The expenses of wedding supplies, vendors, and services vary and can easy add up quickly once adding on special services, additional time, or even more guest. Make the most out of any budget, by saving time and money with tips and tricks that stretch every dollar.