Top 10 Websites For Saving Money on Your Wedding

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/QbyZE)
There are literally hundreds of websites on how to save money on your wedding. Many, however, are so cluttered with ads, it’s difficult to find the ideas or the ideas are few in number and not very original.

We looked for sites that not only had a number of good ideas but were also easy to navigate and clean in appearance. Here’s our list of top 10 websites – some unexpected. For links to all ten sites, see the link at the end of this article.

1.  About.com

About.com Weddings gets the highest mark for number and quality of ideas, and ease of use. There are ads but they tend not to overwhelm. Nina Callaway, editor for the About Weddings Guide, does an excellent job of organizing the ideas into easy-to-read pages – some with very practical tips like how to “cut out the crap” when dealing with vendors. She keeps the site current with a weekly Cheap Wedding Friday’s posting on new ways to save money. She also offers a newsletter, a wedding forum for visitors to share ideas and a wedding blog.

2.  Weddingvendors.com

Weddingvendors.com was a surprise. Contrary to what the name implies, the site isn’t full of intrusive ads, except for text links in the articles. If you can get past these, you'll find some practical money-saving ideas and advice; for example, how to save money on flowers by contacting a floral design school.

3. Weddingchannel.com

Weddingchannel.com lists reviews of vendors in different cities by the brides who used them. Weddingvendors.com and weddingchannel.com together could help you get the best deal for your money.

4. Celebrity style wedding on a budget from Money Central

While not a full website dedicated to budget weddings, this page offers some unique and interesting ways to copy ideas from famous celebrity weddings for a fraction of the cost; for example, how to get a wedding gown like the $30,000 designer gown worn by Britney Spears for $500. This site gets high marks for the most original ideas.

5. Weddings at TheFunTimesGuide.com

This site has a number of helpful blog posts, links and reader comments on planning a low-cost wedding; for example, how to find discount wedding dresses or how to set your budget by understanding all the detailed costs of a wedding. Not all of their budget wedding posts are in one place but if you have time, it’s worth poking around on the site because they offer a lot of good information.

6.Ourweddingday.com

Ourweddingday.com offers a number of good ideas from different brides on what they did to save money as well as a free budget planner to track your expenses as you plan your wedding.

7. Frugalbride.com

This site offers a long list of different ways to save money on your wedding in a very direct and clean way. They get high marks for the number of ideas in one click.

8. Weddingwire.com

Weddingwire.com is not a site dedicated to budget weddings but offers a discussion page on saving money with a number of quality posts by different brides on what they did to save money. It’s a current discussion so if you have questions that were not answered on the other sites, this would be a good place to ask.

9. Weddingchanneldeals.com, Groupon.com, and Livingsocial.com

These three sites, all similar, do not give you ideas but direct deals. They use group purchasing to get whopping big discounts. You sign up for a city and then each day they post what will be sold at a discounted price if enough people buy. You can check the site everyday or sign up for an email. So if you’re going to have spa day with your bridesmaids, need a deal on a restaurant for the rehearsal dinner, photography, tickets for special events for your honeymoon, etc., sign up. You should sign up as soon as you know you’re getting married so you have time to watch for the right deals. Definitely read the fine print and expiration date – most expire in a year.

10. Amigram.com

Amigram.com Life’s Happy Announcementsis a great site to send a free wedding announcement. So if you had a small wedding to cut costs, Amigram.com is a good way to share your day with family and friends who weren’t there, without the hassle of creating a full website. You can include your message, photos, video and visitor comments. It’s an "email on steroids" and can be private or posted on the site.

To get active links to all these sites, click here: http://ping.fm/EaJcm ...