Low Budget Weddings

Low budget weddings are possible when you cut reception costs. Food takes about 50% of a typical wedding budget.

Most churches already have beautiful table linens for special occasions so you may be able to use them if they go with your wedding decor.

Have a dessert reception for your guests. Serve coffee, iced tea, and a sparkling punch along with some desserts, fresh sliced fruits, and the wedding cake. Low budget weddings do not have to include a full course dinner. A dessert reception is tasty enough so that most won't even miss a full dinner, especially in the warmer months.

You may want to include hors d'oeuvres with the dessert reception. If so, serve several varieties of hors d'oeuvres for the first hour while evberyone mingles and then serve the desserts and cut the wedding cake.

If you do decide to serve dinner, forget the caterers. Consider having some of the best cooks in your family along with some of your close friends make their specialty dishes. For more cheap wedding plans for food, see wedding receptions on a budget.

Choose music you love and burn several CD's to be played during the reception as background music. This way you do not have to pay for a band or a DJ.

Cheap wedding plans call for inexpensive and original table centerpieces. Instead of real flower centerpieces, make your own silk flower arrangements. Potted houseplants with color coordinated pots and ribbons work great as table centerpieces.

Arrangements of candles look lovely on the table, either pillars, tapers, votives, or floating candles. Just make sure that you group the candles in odd numbers such as three or five. For some reason, candles look better if there is not an even number.

Tiered trays of desserts or hors d'oeuvres in the center of each table also make great and very practical centerpieces for your hungry guests.

Decorative, small battery-operated fountains placed on each table will look good as well. They do not all have to match. Borrow some from friends and family and place a different fountain on each table.

Cheap wedding plans don't have to look cheap. They just have to be inexpensive.

Clear vases filled with citrus fruit make popular centerpieces now. I have seen them used recently at several weddings. A bowl of fresh fruit for the guests to enjoy also makes a good centerpiece.

For additional centerpiece cheap wedding plans, see centerpieces for weddings.