Many of us go to a few extravagant weddings throughout our liives. When it comes to your own, (unless money is no object) reality sets in. Questions start to be asked; should we spend less on the wedding and more on our house or more on the honeymoon? Read on. I think it should really help.

The photographer
This is potentially one of your biggest costs - as much as £2,500.

Find a photographer that will work by the hour. Then ask him to do your wedding and have a pre-consultation. This is a must. Tell him you want the pictures on a disc and that you will get them developed yourself. There is no difference at all whether you develop or he does in quality. A photographer will charge around £75 a hour you should need him no more than 4hrs. A saving of £2,200.

The guest list
In a hotel the average cost per head in the UK is said to be about £36 for the wedding breakfast. This is probably the hardest decision you will have to make. Don't invite people you have not seen for years nor should you invite casual friends. We trimmed (after lengthy discussions) our guest list by 28 people, inviting 60 in the end. By just reducing by 10 it will save you
about £360 plus about £75 on wine and Champagne.

The evening buffet
Get married late afternoon, about 4pm. With the ceremony and pictures etc. this will take you through to about 7pm. Just in
time for the wedding breakfast. This has two distinct advantages. One, you can take all day to get ready Ð WOW Ð and two, no one will want an evening buffet as they will have eaten at about 7.30pm. If your guest list is 50 on an average of £8:50 per head for the buffet, this will save you £425.

The rings
Whilst I appreciate they are very special. Why buy platinum, when you can't tell the difference between that and white gold? ItÕs also easier to buff out scratches in white gold. The saving on the three rings would be around £800.

The flowers
ItÕs all too easy to get carried away with this, as it's such a lovely part of the organising. Once you have decided what
you want. Re look at it then start trimming down. Also recruit friends to take many of the flowers from the ceremony site to the reception area. This saved me about £900. Then once you have your written quote shop around, so you know you're getting like for like.

And finally
Most suppliers will barter. If you don't like bartering, get your partner or dad to help. You will be surprised who will and by how much, plus you can't lose what you don't have!