> Mainly because I'm poor. All the books and magazines either assume all blushing brides have mounds of money to spare, or all their ideas are tasteless and/or boring. I know Rinkworks people are creative and... interesting. Any ideas?

When Darien and I were planning our wedding, I went crazy, as all brides-to-be do, with the books and magazines- but, as we were also poor, we had to be very creative. Here are some pointers for you:

1. Keep the guest list small. Luckily for us, we had few friends and my entire family lived too far away to make the trip, so this was pretty much taken care of for us. You'd be amazed how much you can save just by cutting your guest list to those really close to you.

2. Do-it-yourself. I found very pretty fake flowers at A.C. Moore and made my bouquet and the ones for the bridesmaids myself. I also made boutonnieres for Darien and his best man. We used leftover flowers for decoration, and kept everything pretty simple. We also made the invitations and programs ourselves- all we had to buy was the paper and envelopes.

3. Use your connections. Darien's mother made our wedding cake *and* hosted the reception. I work at a candle company and so could get candles for very cheap. The pastor who performed the ceremony was also a good friend of the family, and so didn't charge us at all.

4. Have an early-afternoon wedding. Then you can serve munchies at the reception rather than a full meal. We did cold cuts and salads, plus some other stuff I don't remember. Again, with Darien's mother's help, we made all the food ourselves.

5. Consider skipping professional photographers and videographers. Pictures your friends and family take will really capture the spirit of the moment, whereas we felt professional photos would feel stuffy and staged. Plus, we didn't have to make our guests wait while we went off to have a bunch of pictures taken. (You can see some of our pictures at the link below.)

6. If you can, plan far ahead. We started buying little things well before we even had a date set. And I got my dress early, and made payments on it instead of shelling out a lot of money at once. (That was the only thing we really splurged on.) This way it won't seem like you're really spending a lot.

7. Don't think you need to spend two weeks in the Bahamas for your honeymoon to be special. We spent a weekend at a nearby bed-and-breakfast, and it was wonderful. You'll have a great time wherever you go- you're newlyweds!

8. Above all, make it *your* day! You don't need to spend thousands of dollars for your wedding to be special. Get as much help as you can from your family and friends and don't worry about the rest. Everything will fall into place if you let it.

9. Completely unrelated to finances- if you really want to have a wedding everyone will remember, have your mother throw a hysterical, screaming fit in the middle of the ceremony and get some bodyguards. This works best if some of your guest have no idea it might happen.

~Mina "no, I wouldn't know anything about that" moon