Save on Your Wedding With Clever Substitutions

In the early stages of wedding planning, many brides have a lot of fun perusing bridal magazines and wedding websites for inspiration. The only problem is that when it comes time to start bringing your vision to life, many of the elements can end up being way more costly than you ever imagined. To trim expenses while still having the beautiful wedding you designed, try substituting similar, but more affordable, elements for your ceremony and reception. You can end up with a wedding that meets your every expectation, including the total budget.

Instead of this: A six tier wedding cake decorated with handmade sugar flowers, a la Silvia Weinstock.

Substitute this: A cake with a real bottom tier and upper tiers made from Styrofoam. Once the whole cake is frosted, it will be impossible to tell that the top layers are fake. Decorate with fresh flowers instead of labor intensive sugar blossoms to save even more money.

Instead of this: A stack of diamond bracelets from Harry Winston (sorry, girls, they only let you borrow them if you are a movie star headed for the Academy Awards!).

Substitute this: A stack of sparkling Swarovski crystal bracelets. The Swarovski crystal bracelets will be glamorous and sparkly, yet won’t cost as much as a down payment on a house.

Instead of this: Custom letterpress wedding invitations, save-the-date cards, and thank you notes with your monogram on them.

Substitute this: Imprintable wedding stationery with a letterpress motif, such as a flower or a bird. The paper will have a lovely letterpress design on it, but you will save hundreds by doing the printing of the words yourself on a high quality home printer. There are a huge number of beautiful letterpress imprintable invitations from which you can order, both online and through traditional stationers.

Instead of this: A silk wedding gown which is heavily embellished with intricate crystal beadwork.

Substitute this: A simple silk wedding gown with a bold crystal trim around the waistline. You can get more sparkle by choosing a veil with crystal accents, crystal bridal jewelry, and a crystal tiara, but none of it will add up to as much as a gown which has been painstakingly handbeaded for countless hours.

Instead of this: Thousands of roses for your bridal bouquets, reception centerpieces, and ceremony decor.

Substitute this: A combination of roses with less costly flowers. Lisianthus are a favorite secret weapon of florists when trying to cut the cost of the floral budget as they have a very similar look to roses at a lower price. Use them to add fullness to your wedding arrangements without driving the price sky high.

About the Author Laura Firenze

Laura helps brides with their wedding plans by offering advice on selecting bridesmaids gifts,reception ideas and other aspects of planning a wedding. Visit us at http://silverlandjewelry.com/ to see our spectacular collection of Swarovski crystal bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. All jewelry orders over $99 ship for free, so visit today!