1. Help the environment
Most Top 10 lists end with the best that it is offering, but let’s start this one with the best, or at least most original: recycling aluminum. A friend of mine is doing just that through a project she calls Wedding Cans. It sounds weird, but only a month after the woman started the project, it was making news. Look at the journal on Wedding Cans for the press it’s been getting.
2. Get Corporate Sponsorship
This is another sort of strange idea that I came across on Wise Bread. It might stink of “selling out” something that’s supposedly “sacred,” but aren’t we adults here? Weddings, like Christmas, have become ultimately focused on material elements. If you agree to have corporate logos or feature products at your wedding, you can avoid having to pay back personal loan companies.
3. Participate in a dare
An article on Romance Fire suggested to “take a video of yourself conquering a known fear if the price is right .” In the tradition of “Jackass” and “Fear Factor,” you could play on people’s fear to get some extra financial help in your nuptial ceremony.
4. Use your registry
Worst-Case Scenarios suggests that instead of registering for gifts that you will use after the wedding, register for ceremony components such as a limousine service, floral arrangements, food and beverages.
5. Sell stuff
Of course, there are numerous tip lists out there that suggest you sell your stuff, either online, at a yard sale or some other way. Perhaps you could put on an auction.
6.Just ask
Another very popular idea out there is that you should start a web site or a group on a social network and simply ask for people to donate to your wedding.
7. Get guests to pitch in
Similar to the registry idea, which has people helping pay for the wedding instead of just buying gifts, you can ask certain people, close friends and family members, to pay for one thing. For instance, someone could pay for the cake; another person could fund wedding favors. You can pick everything yourself and just ask a certain person to fund it as a gift.
8. Vacation home instead of wedding hall
This is how to save money instead of make it, but it’s a good idea. Wedding halls know they can gouge you, and they do – they can cost thousands per hour. Check for nearby vacation home rentals and hold the reception in a beautiful house or yard. You can rent these places for days and still spend less than a few hours at a hall.
9. A little help from your friends
This raising money for a wedding idea isn’t directed at the bride and groom, but rather at the wedding party and the couple’s friends. A common custom in some places is to hold a “Jack and Jill,” which is a big party in honor of the bride and groom, and charge or so to get in. The happy couple gets the cash.
10. Plan ahead
Pretty much every site I’ve gone to suggests that you plan ahead and save money in advance. They also suggest getting a second job or offer a service and put money aside. To that I say, “duh,” but because it is the most common piece of advice out there, I figured I had to include it.
