Planning a wedding? Want to cut expenses? You’ll find plenty of good ideas in the 2004 paperback book, 1000 Best Wedding Bargains, by Sharon Naylor. Packed with “insider tips from industry experts,” it can help you to “have a celebrity-style wedding without paying celebrity-style prices.”

Here, condensed or paraphrased, are a few of those ideas...

“ • Leave kids off the guest list for the official reception.

• A smaller guest list can open doors at less-expensive wedding locations, like restaurant party rooms.

• Skip the five-course sit-down dinner and just plan a lovely, elaborate, and delicious cocktail party reception.

• Don’t feel like you have to compete with your sister’s or friends’ formal weddings.

• Just say No when parents or others try to get you to make changes in your plans: “Add a few more flower arrangements.”

• Try to avoid the peak wedding months: May through September (no longer just June through August).

• Get married on a weekday evening, when enormous discounts may be offered.

• A hotel penthouse suite might be the setting for your small (under 25 people) wedding.
 
• Consider your own membership in various professional and social clubs, such as a golf course or college campus.

• Hold your ceremony and reception at the same location,

• When hiring a photographer, musicians, etc., ask if travel time is included in their quote.

• Visit wedding gown designers’ websites to check out their styles and prices and see if thy have a budget line of dresses, too.”