• Go natural! A naturally beautiful setting such as a historic home, a rose garden, a cliff-top lawn, or a beach can all lend a gorgeous look to your wedding and drastically minimise the need to spend money on decorations. Click for more great venue ideas to consider.

• Take the time of year into account. The most popular times to get married in New Zealand are during the months January - March. Therefore during wedding season, the prices are hiked up due to demand. If the idea of having an autumn or winter wedding appeals, you will find the reception and venue costs a lot less when it is not wedding season. You may also find organisation of the wedding comes easier when things are not in such popular demand.

• Plan your menu carefully as the food costs really up the price per head of a wedding. You might like to consider holding your reception outside the dinner time period and instead offer guests, brunch, lunch or evening cocktails.

• Alcohol costs will be a huge factor of your reception bill, so hosting a wedding reception earlier in the day will lessen your expenditure on drinks for the guests, unless they are party animals, of course! Another option is to try to find a venue that will allow you to bring your own liquor to the reception. It is not uncommon for people to put a limit on the bar tab and then offer guests a cash bar should they want more drinks after that.

• The gown... OK you want to feel like a princess on your day, but perhaps white is not your colour. Consider another colour and buy the dress off the rack, or check out the evening and formal wear stockists for dresses that are white/ivory but happen to be classed as eveningwear not bridal - you'll save a stash of cash buying a dress this way as opposed to buying from a bridal store.

• The decor is important with regards to lending a certain style to the look and feel of your wedding, but be sure to decorate strategically to make the most of the look. Your guests will be seated at tables at the reception, for longer than they will during the ceremony, so pay attention to centerpieces on the table and scrimp on decorated pews. And as all their close attention will be on the bride and groom and the bridal party during the ceremony, this is the place to splurge on flowers. If you don't want to spend on flowers for the centre-pieces of the tables, consider candles, fairy lights or even bowls of fruit to lend atmosphere.

• Flowers need to be in season and locally available. As soon as they get difficult to source, the price goes up. When discussing flowers with your florist tell her that cost is a consideration and ask her to show you the more wallet friendly options.

• Get your friends and family involved... There's no harm in looking around to see who can help out with your wedding. Got an opera singer for an aunt? An uncle with a fantastic car? Perhaps there is a graphic designer in the family who can design all your invites, menus and thank you cards? Most people are thrilled to help out if you ask and you'd be amazed at the number of talent on offer when you put your thinking cap on.

• Be strict on the number of guests. Feeding and watering your guests is what is going to really bite into your budget, so be strict on your numbers. You don't have to invite someone to your wedding, just because you were invited to theirs, single guests can come alone and don't bother with friends you haven't seen in years.

• An imaginative use of a theme for your wedding can not only create a wonderful day but hide the fact that you are scrimping on costs. Having a beach wedding? Then have a luau type reception with tropical punch and mai tais and have everyone help themselves to ham on the bone or spit roast. Do you have Mexican or Italian ancestry? You can really have fun with these themes and spaghetti bolognaise or tortillas will cost a whole lot less than eye fillet or snapper.

If you have some great ideas for keeping your budget under control, feel free to share them by submitting a comment below.

Creating A Wedding Colour Theme

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