Is there a culinary school in your area? Consider calling them. They may be able to cater your reception for a fraction of the price. Add in some inexpensive ingredients and you could have a very elegant wedding spread at a minimal cost.

If you are serving wine and champagne at your wedding consider using a local brand. These are typically less expensive. If you are really close by a winery, visit them and see if you can even get a discount for buying in bulk.

Remember, that if you are dining in a restaurant there may be a corking fee for bringing your own alcohol!

If you want to have cocktails at your wedding but are concerned about saving a little money, consider having a signature cocktail. This saves in the variety of alcohol you need to have on hand but you can still offer it to your guests. If you have just one type of cocktail you may save more by having it punch style!  Remember to let people know it’s not alcohol free!

There is a new fad out there of people who want a larger wedding but still want to keep within a budget. Instead of just a cake and some drinks, consider a dessert reception.  You can incorporate a variety of desserts and perhaps champagne (or a no host bar if you like) and people can graze on their favorites.   This can work well no matter how formal or informal your reception

Okay this is an amusing one. Do you absolutely rave about a certain type of food?  Why don’t you use it in your food menu.  So you love hamburgers?  Maybe you need to have a hamburger bar instead of anything fancier. 

You never know…

When you are planning your reception menu, whether buffet or sit down, lunch, brunch or dinner, whenever possible offer season ingredients.  Not only will they be fresher, taste better and be healthier for your guests, in general they will cost less.

If you are having a winter wedding, one great way to lower the cost of the food is to consider heavy breads and soups. They are very warming and comforting. Additionally, if they are not your main dish, you can serve smaller portions as a thick soup with nice fresh bread will fill people up a great deal before they eat their main course.

Food is a huge expense at a wedding.   Fancy traditional meals can often be one of the biggest expenses. However, if you like international food, consider adding it to your wedding.   Many of these foods are easier to prepare for large groups and use less expensive meats and ingredient and fill out the menu with vegetables.

You can also prepare your wedding around the theme of the reception if you like!  Consider a Mexican fiesta or an Asian motive for the whole wedding!

Whether this is a tip you can use, will depend upon your caterer and your reception site. Be sure to ASK first!

Consider buying your own wine and champagne from a source other than your caterer or the reception site. You can save a lot of money by doing this. This is particularly true if you want a certain wine on a wine list or a certain brand of champagne.

There may be an extra fee with some caterers for not using their bottles. Again, check out these details before using this tip!

It’s popular right now to use cupcakes in place of a wedding cake.  This way you don’t have to have someone cutting the cake. Cupcakes can be served on tiered dishes to look like a fancy cake.  You can add flowers or any sort of cake topper as well.

The best part is that cupcakes are easier to decorate if you want to try and do it yourself.  White or cream frosting from a bakery looks just fine too.