Another way to save money on a reception, even if you are hosting a dinner affair, is to book everything with a hotel or a restaurant. Many hotels and high-end restaurants offer an all-inclusive wedding package (e.g., tables, cutlery, room set-up fees, meals and servers) that is both easy and affordable to organize. Rather than searching and paying for individual vendors (such as caterers, servers, etc.), the hotel takes care of it all for you. An added bonus is that you will only have one bill to pay and you will know exactly how much everything will cost (i.e., no surprise vendor expenses), which makes budgeting and paying wedding bills much easier.

Guest List
This is a no-brainer. If you want to save money, then don't plan a huge wedding. Keep your guest list to close friends and family. Don't feel obliged to invite your future mother-in-law's colleagues. And don't feel compelled to invite anyone that you haven't spoken to in the last five years. This is a special day and you want to be surrounded by people whom you really care about. If you haven't taken the time to keep in touch with someone in the past, then why would you invite him/her to your wedding? Remember that your costs increase with each additional guest - everything from an additional invitation to the extra catering costs. To compile your guest list, begin with a list of everyone that you might consider inviting to your wedding and then cut it down by at least 25%. If you are still over budget, then cut the list by another 25%. Keep paring your list down until you have a manageable amount of guests.

Postage
To avoid paying for extra postage, make sure that your invitations are standard letter size. To save additional money, skip the traditional self-addressed, postage-paid RSVP cards and ask guests to RSVP via phone or email. Eliminating the bulky RSVP cards and their accompanying envelopes will also reduce the weight of your invitations, which ensures that you don't pay extra postage for any extra weight. While you are at it, skip any unnecessary inserts, inner envelopes and blotter papers. Historically, these were included because the ink dried slowly and often smudged or ruined the invitations. Laser printers have effectively eliminated this risk.

Alcohol

Have a cash bar or skip the alcohol altogether and host a dry wedding. You can serve a nice sparkling beverage for toasting.

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