There's no doubt about it, weddings can be expensive and as the average cost of a wedding today is 20 to 25 thousand dollars; the wedding industry is estimated at 25.3 billion dollars per year. However, it is possible to plan a cheap wedding if you cannot manage something that requires expensive stationery, photographers, caterers and dresses. All you need is few ideas to point you in the right direction and you can have a wedding to be proud of at a fraction of the cost.

Firstly, do you really need a hand-made wedding dress with beads and diamantes because this is where the big cost is and there are several options open to cutting the cost so why not opt for a second-hand wedding dress? Men do not feel uncomfortable hiring a tuxedo for the day so why should a woman feel badly about buying a quality wedding dress for a fraction of the cost or hiring one herself?

The largest cost is the wedding reception but even here savings can be made although you would probably need to reduce the number of people who attend as the average is 189 and this is the area where the majority of your savings will take lace when you plan your cheap wedding. You can reduce the number of people attending by not inviting people who are the very periphery of your life and that can include distant relatives and when it comes to the meal, instead a four course silver service, why not have a cold or hot buffet. Instead of holding the reception in an expensive hotel suite or wedding reception, why not consider having it at someone's home or a club, or even book a restaurant and keep an open bar to a minimum by only serving beer, wine and soft drinks.

The obvious choice is to shop around for the best rates, but consider hiring a photographer for the ceremony only and ask a family member or friend to take snap photos of the reception. Although you may not like the idea, there is no reason why you couldn't have all the wedding day photos taken by your guests and you will find yourself saving many hundreds of dollars.

If you're on a budget and looking for cheaper wedding stationery items, then you might like to consider print-at-home stationery and there are many online stationers that will offer this service free of charge; all you pay for the paper and envelopes, then use their software to print directly from your own PC. You may not feel comfortable at first but this is a very productive use of your time and you will be able to adjust everything to suit your requirements without many visits to the printers to change things.

Providing you do not mind a little flower arranging, there is no reason why the flowers for the wedding cannot be purchased for a wholesaler just as florists do. Many people have friends who are very capable cooks and love to bake so why not let them bake a two or three tier cake made from sponge, or even a chocolate cake for the wedding reception. As a last cost saving measure, have one of your friends or relations who has a nice car to decorate it for the wedding day and use this instead of a costly limousine because there are many things you can spend all those savings on!