Till Debt Do Us Part

On a brilliant Saturday last August, Wanda Olszewski and Christopher Sloop exchanged vows before 170 family members and friends in a country church near Pylesville, Md. Wanda was radiant in her white gown; Christopher stood tall in a tux. The reception lunch at the parish hall was punctuated by corny toasts and dancing cheek to cheek. Finally, the bride and groom made an unforgettable exit, soaring into a cloudless sky aboard a rainbow-hued hot-air balloon.

It was everything a wedding should be - and a lot less. The average U.S. wedding costs a stunning $15,400, according to Windsor Peak Press, an
independent bridal research firm that provided average costs for this story.  The Sloops' festivities set them back less than half that.

They saved a bundle on catering by enlisting the culinary talents of family and friends. They got creative in smaller ways, too: Wanda and Christopher
snipped blooms for the reception centerpieces at a nearby flower farm. Wanda bought her wedding dress for $250 at a consignment store. Guests toasted the
couple with white zinfandel instead of champagne. And the balloon trip was a gift from Wanda's brother and his wife.

"We had to pay for our wedding, and it wasn't like we had money to spend,"   recalls Wanda, 27, a science teacher. "And we didn't want to go into debt."

You, too, can cut the cost of a wedding without robbing it of its magical qualities. Some of your earliest decisions can make all the difference:

THE DATE.

Everyone, it seems, wants to get married on a Saturday night in june. If you choose a Sunday afternoon in September, you won't pay bid-up
prices on everything from food to photography.

THE PLACE.

If you select a reception site that lets you hire an independent caterer, you can solicit bids for food and drink - the costliest components of the average wedding.

THE BUDGET.

Set a limit and stick to it. Splurge on those things that are most important to you - whether a designer dress or a no-holds-barred guest list - but keep other costs in check.

You can't control all the costs of a wedding: Tux rentals are fairly standard, for instance, and you don't want to skimp on your donation to the officiating clergy. But on pages, roughly in the order in which you will plan the elements of your big day, are nine ways to save money - and a tenth option that could really win your heart.

Where love blooms

Average cost of reception site: $1,600

When John Windsor, 42, and Katrin Schlaeppi, 33, wed last summer, they exchanged vows and held their reception in The Conservatory, a Victorian greenhouse in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. "It was intimate, it was very scenic both inside and on the grounds, and it had a tremendous atmosphere," john recalls. 

The Conservatory rents for $1,250 on a weekend evening, compared with $1,600 for a church or synagogue and a hotel. Ten other sites in San Francisco parks can be reserved for $125 to $225, including the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden and the rotunda of the Palace of Fine Arts. Call your local parks department to see if your city offers similar bargains.

Historic homes also make a unique yet inexpensive setting. Elizabeth Zisa married Norman Jones in September 1993 on the lawn of the Isaac Winslow House, a clapboard colonial mansion in Marshfield, Mass. They paid $500 (since raised to $600) for the use of the mansion's high-ceilinged tearoom, where they held their reception, plus the refurbished barn, 11-acre grounds, kitchen and rest rooms. "The price was incredible," remembers Elizabeth. "I called a lot of places I'd heard of and been to, and most of them were out of our price range." The Joneses found the Winslow House in a Massachusetts state pamphlet,
Historic Places for Historic Parties. See if your region has a similar guide, or ask local caterers for ideas.

Toasting with taste

Average cost of food and drink: $8,400

Food and wine for the reception eat up more than half of the average wedding's total cost. The most obvious way to save is to limit your guest list. But you may be able to invite more friends if you serve lunch instead of dinner. That knocks 15% to 20% off food costs.

When selecting a menu, choose fresh local fruits and vegetables over out-of-season delicacies. A buffet usually saves you money, but if you order delicacies such as crab claws it can cost more than a sit-down meal with a chicken entree.

Wine and liquor costs can top $10 per guest if you feature an open bar. To whittle that down, you might join the trend to limit selections to wine, beer, soft drinks and sparkling water.

If champagne is on your list, you can substitute a good domestic sparkling wine. "In the $10-to-$15 range there is a lot of wonderful stuff," says Bruce Sanderson, tasting coordinator for Wine Spectator magazine. Some top-rated bubbly from the magazine's taste testing last December: Chateau St. Jean Brut Blanc de Blancs at $11 a bottle and Culbertson Brut at $12. By the case, the price falls 10%, and a wholesaler can save you even more.

No reception would be complete without a cake, which usually costs $1 to $4 per serving. Most couples want a multi tiered showpiece, even if it provides more servings than they need. But Teresa Rowbottom, 24, and Patrick Frye, 34, of Carlisle, Pa., solved this dilemma - and saved $293 on the four-tiered wedding cake served at their reception this March - by having the baker fake the bottom two tiers: Though they looked like the real thing, they were Styrofoam coated with icing. "We were really picky about the look we wanted,"
says Teresa, "but we thought this cake was absolutely gorgeous."

Photographic memories

Average cost: $1,500

Tempting as it may seem, don't depend on a family shutterbug to photograph your wedding, says Alan Fields, co-author with his wife, Denise, of Bridal Bargains: Secrets to Throwing a Fantastic Wedding on a Realistic Budget (Windsor Peak Press, $10.95, plus $3 for shipping; 800-888-0385). "If your uncle forgets to use the flash, you're not going to have anything," Fields says.

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