According to the Bridal Association of America , the average cost for a wedding officiant is $263.00.  An inexpensive alternative, and a more personable option, is to have  a friend or family member serve as your officiant.  Thanks to the smorgasbord of ministries online,  your selected officiant can become ordained for free (plus a nominal fee of $10 for the certificate) in as little as one day!  In addition to saving a couple hundred bucks, you can have a more intimate wedding ceremony overseen by someone close to you and your fiance.

Flowers are one of the more important items when handling a wedding. It gives people the sense of warmth and welcome when presented correctly. But the cost of this welcoming view is quite overwhelming when it comes to professional florists who try to make your wedding as best as possible. The fee for their expertise is high when you are on a small budget.

A good way to bypass a lot of the expenses is by creating the bouquets yourself. It may sound weird, “How do I get flowers and make them look pretty like the professional florists.” It is not impossible, but it will take you some time.

Often times, people ignore the flowers that are on sale at your local grocery store. These flowers are a lot cheaper than buying from florists, but the selection is a lot less. Try looking around at different grocery stores to see which flowers you like. After you have found the one you want, you must order the amount you want. If there is enough in stock, you may pre-order them before hand and pick them up the night before.

Taking apart the boquets and customizing them for your wedding is the best part. You can experiment with what looks better, and give yourself a lot of time to see what styles you like. Try looking through magazines or online for a certain layout or design that you like. After you have found it, try putting it together and give it a few tries, you will pick it up very fast.

At a local arts and crafts store, you may also pick up some ribbon, wire, and florists tape. These three items will help ease the assembly of your prefect flower displays. You could easily save up to 50% when creating these wonderful flower creations yourself.

Here is a link that shows how to create these wonderful flowers, the flowers chosen were not that great, but the techniques and ideas are great!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wedding-bouquet–boutonniere/

A new and inexpensive trend is for centerpieces are candles. Lit candles look great in the center of a table, and they can be made anyway you want. Assorted candles can be put together in a wreath of flowers, and leaves. They can also be put into glasses of water with glitter, flower petals, marbles, and just about anything you can think of. With a little bit of effort, the candles will look like they were bought from a store. Candles are also not too expensive, and you can also use citronella candles to make use of the centerpiece at a summer wedding. Candles come in different sizes and shapes, and the ornaments can be anything you want. Centerpieces like these make them easy to fit into the theme of your wedding and do not cost a lot. The only problem you might run into may be the fact that the candles could be a fire hazard, make sure to check with your venue.

When thinking of wedding favors, homemade jam is always a good option. The cost of jam is not too expensive and it can easily match theme colors of your wedding. A variety of fruits can be used to make jam and they are fast to make. The jam can be made in batches at a time, and does not require tedious work.

Fruits can be purchased at local markets, and jars can be bought at Wal-Mart or the local dollar store. Tedious work is not required and does not use too much money. The cost of a cup of jam per guest ends up being less than $1.50 per guest. Feel free to add a little ribbon or leave it plain.

Diy projects are good for matching themes of weddings. Since there are many fruits with different colors, jam can be almost any color. Jam is also suitable for every one of all ages. But be careful with the sugar, certain guests may have diabetes. Have fun Jamming!

Filenes Basement has announced the next set of dates for their Running of the Brides events .  The upcoming calendar looks like:

Baltimore, MD - July 11th
Chicago, IL -July 25ht
Washington, DC - August 1st
Boston, MA - August 22nd
Cleveland, OH - October 17th

WeddingWire is also running a contest to give away a free dress at each event.  Find out how you can win your free dress!

This morning, travel pro Pauline Frommer was on the Today Show talking about ways to save money on travel in the face of increasing airline costs, mostly due to our lovely dependence on oil (foreign and domestic).  Tips she talks about include being creative on where you search.  The same websites don’t always the same deals from the same carriers.  She likes sites like Kayak.com and Sidestep.com best with a couple others mentioned.  Also, be sure to think about when you book your travel.  She says the”smartest time to purchase is between 24 days and two months of your departure.”  Adding that airlines adjust price according to demand for a particular flight.

Video of her interview and the complete article can be found on the Today Show website.

Ann Taylor is extending a sale on dresses that are great for bridesmaids and super affordable. The sale goes until next Tuesday the 26th and WeddingBee readers get a 25% discount. Here’s the deal from WeddingBee:

Take an additional 25% off all Celebrations dresses that are currently on sale for $59.44. Use coupon code 104001599 at checkout to purchase these timeless, classic dresses for only $44.58 after the discount!

Shop Happy!

The postal service is raising their rates, which means the price of stamps are going up to 42 cents from 41 cents.  1 penny may not seem like a lot but when you factor in the already high price of postage, it can add up.  Not only does this affect RSVP cards, but it could affect wedding invitation postage costs as well depending on how heavy they are.  So depending on the timing of your wedding, you might want to see how this affects you and make budget adjustments accordingly.

The other option which I am a big fan of is using an online RSVP tool.  Free wedding websites like those from WeddingWire offer online RSVP as an option to the wedding websites.  Many wedding website companies will charge for this feature, but you shouldn’t have to pay for it.

Blue Orchid Designs is giving away a FREE wedding day coordination package to one lucky couple getting married in 2008.  It’s a package they say is worth $2000 and they’ll travel anywhere in the US.  Check it out, wedding day coordinators can be extremely helpful to make sure things run smoothly and takes a load off your back for the wedding day.

While searching the blogosphere, I found a post on the WeddingWire Blog for a contest by Dr. Pepper and Yahoo!. Apparently, they have teamed up for a Live Wedding Event contest in Las Vegas. The winners will be receive a 5 day, 4 night package to, and I quote, “Tie the knot. Renew your vows. Or crash the wedding and meet the person of your dreams.”

The contest website is here and even features a wedding guide for Vegas.