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The wedding invitations that you send out to family and friends, work colleagues and others will be making a statement about you and the type of wedding you intend having.

But the cost of a wedding nowadays can quickly slide out past all budgeted figures if you do not use your head.

Discount wedding invitations can be elegant and unique and the internet is a great place to shop for your wedding invitations.

You can choose from a range of elegant and creative wedding invitations from a range of online suppliers-companies such as Carlson Craft and Nuart.

These companies are well used to handling the many demands of nervous brides and between their websites and their after sales support you will be able satisfy yourself that you can be proud of the wedding invitations that you order.

Some of the factors you will need to consider include the size, the number, the paper quality, the print font and of course the design.

You can choose from hundreds of designs provided or you can design your own unique design and upload it and preview your invitation online.

You might also want to consider ordering some extra invitations as there will be the inevitable number of people who can’t make it. You should also order some extra envelopes as you will invariably misaddress some.

To prevent any screw ups you should definitely send out your invitations in good time-months ahead at least-to ensure that everyone who you would like to see on the big day has ample opportunity to make the necessary arrangements to be there.

There is intense competition online in the wedding invitations market and if you shop around you should be able to pick up your invitations at wholesale prices.

When you do order make sure to carefully proofread them and get a friend or family member to do so as well because an extra pair of eyes will ensure that there are no typographical errors or other serious mistakes on them.

You can check out wedding invitations online at your comfort and avoid the hassle of a fast talking salesman standing by your side trying to pick the invitations that he wants, simply because he has an overstock..

Every bride wants a fabulous, Hollywood-style wedding. Few of us can actually afford it. For those of us in the latter category, here are 5 great tips to making your wedding day a little easier on the pocketbook.

Off Season – June/July and September/October are the busiest seasons for weddings. Consider a winter or early spring wedding. You will find it much easier to negotiate pricing when it comes to reception sites, catering and other services if you plan your wedding when these vendors need the business.

Bridal Party – The larger the bridal party, the larger the budget. Think smaller here. If you have six bridesmaids, you have to buy six bridesmaids gifts. The same goes for groomsmen. By scaling back the bridal party to three instead of six, or two instead of four etc., you can cut your budget for wedding favors in half. Don’t leave out anyone that should be in your wedding, but forget about putting those 2nd cousins you haven’t seen in five years in your cost-conscious wedding.

Photography – Consider having a friend who is into photography and has a good camera take your formal shots at the ceremony. Use caution here. You should really trust this person. If this is not an option for you, hire a professional to take pictures only at the ceremony. This can cut your photography bill in half! Put disposable cameras on each table at the reception for your guests to take. It’s amazing how often I hear that these photos, taken by friends and family, are the most prized.

Entertainment – Instead of hiring a live band at 00+ or a DJ at 0+ to entertain your guests, dust off that CD collection of yours (and your friends) and burn your own customized music selection. This way, you are sure to have every song that’s a must, played at the time you want it. Make several CDs with different song types and label them accordingly (dance, slow, background, father/daughter, etc).

Now here’s the tricky part. Find a friend you trust to pop in the correct CDs when needed. Write up a brief outline of what type of music to play and approximately when to play it and give it to your friend. Don’t make this too complicated. If you have a reception hall for 3 hours, divide the music schedule into 30 minute sections or whatever works best for you. If you have to pay your friend – to make sure they keep an eye on the CD schedule, do it! In the end, your guests will enjoy themselves and you will have saved yourself some big bucks!

Dessert – It’s become commonplace to have a groomsmen cake at receptions today. In fact, one of the latest trends in weddings is to have a dessert buffet, also know as a Viennese Table. Save your money and do without these extras. Let your wedding cake be what it was meant to be. Dessert. Your only dessert! It’s worked well for a hundred years and it will work just fine on your wedding day.

In this day and age, weddings are becoming more and more expensive and wedding cakes are no exception. However, it is possible to serve a beautiful cake while maintaining a budget.

One of the best ways to save money on wedding cakes is to consider a kitchen cake. This is a flat slab cake iced on top to match the wedding cake, but generally without piping, flowers etc. When the cake is cut and served, guests are unable to tell the difference between slices of the actual wedding cake and the kitchen cake.

You may also consider having a “dummy” cake as a centrepiece on the cake table. Rent or buy a Styrofoam show-cake from your local baker, and have the caterer serve your guests from sheet cakes or kitchen cakes that are plated in the back kitchen. Or have a single, small cake for show and several sheet cakes to cut for the guests.

When choosing your wedding cake design, opt for simple cakes with minimal decoration as the more labour that is required to decorate the cake, the more expensive. Try to also skip having multiple tiers with fancy pillars. Instead, have the cake layers stacked or borrow pillars if your baker provides this service, or have the baker use disposable pillars instead of the costly crystal ones. Also, check with your local rental company to see if it has any available.

Another option to minimise costs is to try having the cake decorator make and ice the cake, whilst you put your own fresh flowers as decoration for the cake. You can ask your florist to supply extra flowers for the cake to match your bouquets or just pick the flowers on the day of your wedding. If that’s not possible, store the flowers on a plate with some water in your fridge. Sprinkling petals, cascading down tiers or placing flowers around the base of the cake are simple yet elegant designs.

Alternatively, bake your own cake or enlist the help of a friend or family member to do this for you as their wedding gift to you. Fruit, candy, ribbon and marzipan sculpted into flowers and figurines make for beautiful wedding cake designs.

Check also if your reception venue offers a wedding cake as part of the catering deal. Some venues will provide the entire wedding cake whilst others will just provide the first tier.

Another option for couples on a budget is to have cupcakes rather than traditional wedding cakes. This is not only a great way to save money, but it is also a very popular option and can be done beautifully. It is both unique and different and can enhance the beauty of the wedding. The cupcakes are generally arranged in tiers similar to wedding cakes. Each guest will receive an individual cupcake. This saves on having to pay the fee for cake cutting as well as paying for a large, expensive cake. The fee when a reception venue or caterer charges for cutting and serving a cake is called “cakeage”. Fees can be up to or a head.

Finally, decide when and how the cake will be served.

As dessert: you will need a large slice of cake and need to cater for every person attending the function as the cake is a part of the formal meal and a generous slice has to be put in front of the guest whether they are going to eat it or not . When the cake is served as dessert you normally need 3 times as much cake as when the serving is as a coffee slice.

As coffee: as “finger” slice which is normally served on a platter towards the end of the evening. A general rule is that you need only cater for 70% of the guests

There are many considerations when it comes to wedding cakes: size, flavor, design, and of course choosing the right bakery. The bride and groom on a budget should remember to look at lots of different ideas before deciding what they want. Visiting several bakeries and getting quotes are a great way to taste yummy wedding cakes as well as perusing bridal magazines to find inspiration.

However, if a wedding cake is really out of the budget, than consider skipping the cake altogether and serve a non-traditional dessert, such as tartlets, cheesecake, or a dessert buffet. Mmm… yum