Local expert shares ways to stretch the wedding budget

I’ll be spending the Fourth of July weekend at the wedding of an old friend. In honor of that occasion, I’m sharing this list of money-saving wedding tips from event planner extraordinaire Lisa Gleeson. Feel free to share your own money-saving tips in the comments of my blog.

1. Make it Yours- Pick out items that you can create yourself. While saving money, it personalizes the wedding too. They may be the favors, the invites, floral arrangements, table cards. Lisa suggests the bridal attendant gifts could be jewelry the bride can make.

2.  With A Little Help from My Friends- Accept help from friends and technology. A talented graphic friend might create invites that look great with today’s fine papers and high tech printers.  Likewise with a friend handy with a camera can capture all the moments. Lisa suggests that someone in the family guide the person around the wedding to ensure everyone is photographed- as you would with a professional photographer.

3. 29 Dresses- Bridal party can wear the same color dress but in any style they want- easing the burden on them to buy a costly dress they might never wear again. A beautiful ribbon can tie the entire bridal party together from the bridal bouquet to sashes for attendant and flower girl dresses.

4. Multi-Task- The cards with table assignments can be turned into the gift for your guests, like bookmarks. 

5. Personalize it- Use an Embosser to personalize the napkins at the reception, favor bags and used to make stationery for thank you notes. [Note from Linda: You can use that embosser after the wedding too to fancy up blank notecards on the cheap -- perfect for thank you notes or any occasion long after the wedding].

Lisa also offers this cool idea:

Give Out of Towner Goody” bags. Lisa loves to do Michigan themed foodstuffs, directions and guides to local points of interest and fun things to keep kids entertained. 

Want more tips from Lisa? Visit www.lisasgiftwrappers.com.  She also consults with brides and wedding coordinators and planners. Private appointments can be scheduled by phoning 248.547.9094. Lisa's Gift Wrappers is located at 28834 Woodward Avenue (1 block south of 12 Mile), Royal Oak. Hours are 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and by appointment.