Stylish Savings

How often have you heard “Save Money and Have a Beautiful Wedding!”? Well, Bridal Guide has always been on top of wedding cost-cutting advice, and now we’re going to help you through these scarily money-conscious times. Here’s an interesting trend: Saving money has actually become stylish, and everyone wants to do it. So we’re rising to the occasion with a tough-times special: our wonderful friend, Sharon Naylor, a great money-savings wedding guru, will feature recession-proofing tips on our home page. (By the way, Sharon just got married herself and the tips she used for her own wedding will appear in BG’s March/April issue.) I’m the editor of all those gorgeous reception stories you see in every issue, as well as all the magazine’s budget pages, so I’m going to serve up new ideas and suggestions on a regular basis. Okay, time is money—let’s get started:

Recently I’ve been working on a destination wedding booklet for an upcoming issue of Bridal Guide. You may not realize that this is a way that you can actually save money. Here’s a preview:

• The super-size guest list will not be a factor in a wedding away. A monster list is often the main reason that brides break their budget, but guess what, a smaller guest list works perfectly for a destination wedding. Fewer mouths to feed, lower costs.
• As long as you stick to LOCAL flowers, food and entertainment, you can stay on track quite nicely. (For heaven’s sake, if you’re in the tropics, don’t fly in dozens of roses when hibiscus will do beautifully!)
• Many resorts—Beaches, Breezes, Couples, Sandals and Superclubs, located in the Caribbean and South America—throw in a free wedding if you book a stay of three to six nights.

Okay, I’ll be back soon. Please send in all your wedding-budget questions and I will answer them ASAP!

Posted by Susan at 3:00 p.m.