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What can be worse for wedded bliss than bills to pay off? These three couples went from being shocked by wedding expenses, to figuring out clever solutions.

Bride: Danielle Chiotti, 30, editor
Groom: Ron Lee, 38, restaurateur
Number of guests: 100
Budget: $9,000-$10,000

Sticker Shock Danielle says, “When we started planning, we had a number of unpleasant surprises. The craziest thing was the cost of renting a ceremony and reception space in Manhattan, where we originally wanted to have the wedding. We knew couples who were paying more than $10,000 for a completely raw space—they needed to bring in caterers, florists and everything else. And the invitations! It was really important to both of us to have something special. But as I searched websites and visited stationery stores, I found myself being pressured to ‘upgrade’ my paper choice and design. We had the same problem with our flowers. We wanted simple, colorful arrangements, but florists were quoting us prices anywhere from $400 to over $1,000. We also quickly found out that DJs and bands were expensive, and we weren’t sure how to handle that.”

Resolution “We decided to have the wedding in our hometown of Pittsburgh, where we rented a gorgeous art gallery for under $2,000. For the invitations, I spent a lunch hour mocking one up in Microsoft Word. I showed it to Ron, he tweaked it a bit and then we had our design! I paid a small fee to a graphic-designer friend of mine to create prototypes for the save-the-dates, the invitations and reply cards. Then I had them printed at a copy center, which cost less than $100. (I did splurge on the envelopes from Kate’s Paperie, though!) I wanted gerbera daisies for the tables, and I contacted a flower wholesaler who gave me a very fair price—around $200. I bought clear glass vases from the local crafts store for about $3 per vase and, with help from my mother and friends, came up with beautiful arrangements. As for our entertainment, we borrowed the PA system at our site and set up our iPod. Ron created playlists for the cocktail hour, dinner and dancing. Even if you need to rent a sound system and mixing board for your iPod, you can do so for about $50.”

Words of Wisdom “Consider what you need for the wedding versus what you want. Don’t hesitate to accept help from friends and family. And keep your emotions under control, so you can treat wedding planning as a business and be better at keeping to your budget.”

The Budget
Invitations: $350
Reception venue: $1,250
Catering: $3,000
Rentals: $2,780
Table décor: $300
Bouquet: $50
Flowers: $256
Cake: $50
Gifts/out-of-town guests: $142
Gifts/bridal party: $400

Total: $8,578

Bride: Tonilynn Sicari Amanna, 28, owner/designer for LolaLynn Designs
Groom: Kevin Amanna, 34, operations supervisor
Number of guests: 300
Budget: $18,000-$20,000

Sticker Shock Tonilynn says, “To my amazement, the invitation package we originally wanted turned out to cost $2,900. For my flowers, I wanted cattleya orchids in all of the bouquets and centerpieces—until I got the $5,000 quote from our florist. Obviously, it wasn’t feasible. I had more surprises: My dress was a gift, but once I went veil shopping, I found that even unornamented veils cost up to $1,500. Also, I found that chair-cover rentals cost $8 apiece—this was just not realistic for us!”

Resolution “I designed our invitations on the computer, adding digital graphics of our baby pictures, and I ended up spending only $350 on all our stationery. We were lucky enough to have some friends give us a photography package as a wedding gift. For our flowers, I decided to save the special, exotic blooms just for my own bouquet and use roses in three different colors for the centerpieces and bridesmaids’ bouquets. This brought the price down to $1,100, and that included all of our centerpieces, bouquets, boutonnieres and mothers’ flowers. I decided to cut the seafood bar from our menu, intending to save $12 per guest. But since we were working together so well, our caterer added it back in, at no cost!

“Finally, I created my own veil. I took some plain, inexpensive tulle and applied Swarovski crystals by hand. I got the crystals wholesale, so the finished product had more than 5,000 crystals on it! It cost $500. For chair covers and table runners, I bought fabric at wholesale cost and made them myself in the same color as my bridesmaids’ dresses. That night, I sold them to the rental company, and made a profit of $1,200.”

Words of Wisdom “Do as much as possible yourself. Be sure to sleep on every decision. Anytime I was being rushed for deposits and payments, I would get crazy. Also, if you keep looking—don’t jump on the first offer you receive—you might find what you need for a drastically lower price.”

The Budget
Invitations: $350
Reception venue, with catering,
cake and bar: $14,000
Hair/makeup: $300
Videography: $1,500
Flowers: $1,110
Limousine: $700
Favors: $350

Total: $18,310

Bride: Breanna Collier, 23, office manager
Groom: Sean Lucier, 22, retail manager
Number of guests: 100
Wedding budget: $7,500

Sticker Shock Breanna says, “We knew we wanted a reputable photographer and beautiful pictures, but photography is expensive. We also found that feeding a large number of people costs more money than we could have imagined! When we began planning the reception, we assumed that we needed a full meal service. When I started pricing this out, I knew we’d have to rethink. We also found the rentals and reception fees to be out of our range.”

Resolution “We got beautiful photographs when two dear (and generous!) family members chipped in to hire a professional as a gift. To get around high food costs, we decided on a simple hors d’oeuvres reception, which saved us at least $10 per person. For our bar service, we served only beer and wine, and sodas and water. We also got a great deal for our reception site: a county museum, which included a park-like outdoor setting. Had we rented a park in the city, we would have had to get insurance, plus pay more fees than at the museum site. I found that my local party-rental store would charge me at least one-third more for my tables, tents, linens and set-up fees than if I went through my caterer, who used his professional connections to get us much lower pricing. We saved hundreds of dollars by doing this.”

Words of Wisdom “Start planning early! We could have saved even more money if I’d had the time to research more vendor options. Always ask as many questions as you can before hiring any of your vendors. There are often hidden fees that they won't bring up until the money is due—so you have to keep your wits about you and remember to ask those important questions.”

The Budget
Invitations: $290
Catering/bar: $4,700
Reception venue: $500
Flowers/décor: $500
Cake: $300
Hair/makeup: $100
Music: $600
Limousine: $300
Favors: $115

Total: $7,405

Photography: (Top) Joshua Franzos Photography; (Middle) Infinity Photography; (Bottom) It's Celebration.