Understand that with a great imagination and a experienced coordinator you can create a experience that will last 4EVR. — The latest numbers from XO group  pegged the average cost of a wedding in 2018 at $35,329.

This is another reason why selecting a great coordinator is important because they find ways to cut costs. Don’t give too much attention to averages but understand your personal budget. Yes, the U.S. average for a wedding looks a little pricey at face value, but CostofWedding.com estimates that most couples are going to spend less than $10,000, not including honeymoon expenses.

That’s more like it. Getting married is a beautiful and exciting milestone in many women’s lives, but there’s no shame in wanting to  to keep costs to a minimum.
If you need to trim the fat in your wedding budget, rethink these items that most wedding planners consider to be a total waste.
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1. THE FLOWERS
   Flowers in a wedding may be nonnegotiable, but there are several workarounds to ensure that your fresh flowers don’t break your wedding bank. Identify colors, types of flowers, and also flowers that are similiar. You can find flowers that are affordable that may not be as popular as others but helps you cut costs. Moving flowers from the ceremony into the reception is a great way to maximize their use and get your money’s worth. Just make sure that if you’re paying your florist or coordinator to make the transition for you, it makes sense financially rather than paying for more flowers — sometimes, it’s better to enlist an organized friend/guest to help out with a few details.”
   
   
2. THE EXTRAS
   One of the biggest money-wasters Kimberly Morrill, owner of Your Perfect Bridesmaid, has seen in her six years helping couples plan their weddings is sweating the small stuff. “Couples tend to waste a lot of money (and time and stress) on tiny details that no one else notices,” Morrill says. “Couples see these details on Pinterest (usually from unattainable styled shoots), and they spend a ton of money trying to recreate. Details like custom cocktail napkins, signs for everything, favors no one wants, additional pieces of stationary, etc. Guests notice the food, the bar, the energy, the love between the couple. They truly don’t notice, and don’t care about, the Pinterest-perfect touches.”
   
   Speaking of details, Anastasia Stevenson of “How to DIY Wedding” agrees that shelling out the big bucks on something as small as wedding favors is a bit much. “More often than not, we see at least two-thirds of the favors left at reception tables after the wedding. Guests are having a good time mingling and dancing and look at most favors as a useless encumbrance. The wise thing is to make sure they have a practical use or are something fun and theme-driven that everyone would want and are easily portable!” Stevenson suggests useful and inexpensive favors like edible favors or personalized drink koozies instead.
   
   
3. THE WEDDING GOWN
   While you may have your heart set on the picture-perfect gown, Katherine Oyer of Aisle Planner recommends making a detour before you head straight to the neighborhood bridal shop — and hitting up a sample sale instead. “At the end of each season, bridal salons and designers will typically sell their gowns ‘off the rack’ at a deeply discounted price. Brides will need to give each gown some extra time and attention while shopping to ensure there aren’t any un-fixable tears or major stains, but typically, most loose beading or threading issues can be taken care of during the alterations process. The money saved will be huge, and the best part — you can take your dress home that day!”
   
   
4. THE WEDDING PROGRAM
   This one’s a quickie but a goodie that could save you a few hundred dollars on your total budget. Oyer says it’s best to leave the program out completely if you are having a simple wedding since guests most likely won’t need a printed guide for the ceremony. “Most guests end up leaving their beautifully designed ceremony programs on their seats, leaving the couple with a pile of leftovers and wasted printing costs,” Oyer explains.
   
   
5. THE WEDDING VENUE
   If you’ve already tried pricing your wedding venue, then you’ve probably had at least one mini heart attack leading up to your wedding day. Michele Velazquez, owner of Pop The Knot, a pop-up wedding company created as an alternative to sky-high wedding venue costs, says, “The biggest thing brides waste their money on is the venue. Venues can be extremely expensive, as high as $30,000 and up. To get a better deal on the venue, the bride should try to book it during off-season or on a weekday. If the bride is open to a pop-up wedding — which is where the couple come in and have a quick ceremony with little or no set-up — this opens all kinds of doors for a very inexpensive venue.”
   
   “A venue may allow her to have a pop-up wedding at 9 a.m. before their big wedding at noon, and the bride could get that $30,000 venue for $1,000,” Velasquez explains.
   
   
6. HOW TO SAVE EVEN MORE
   If your wedding budget still isn’t budging after considering these helpful tips, there’s a workaround for that, too. Velazquez recommends trying to combine services whenever possible to take advantage of wedding-friendly discounts. “There are many companies out there that offer discounts if you use their husband or wife for another service. For example, if you book an officiant and her husband is a photographer, they will offer you a discount if you book them both. There are a lot of businesses like that nowadays, which offer husband and wife teams and services like photo and video, officiant and photographer, etc.,” she says.

First thing first – do a few things before you set up venue tour appointments (and even before discussing the date).
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1. Establish “Must Haves”. 
   What are the top 3 things you absolutely can’t go without for your wedding day?  What are 3 things you can pass on?
   
   
2. Establish a Budget. 
   Who’s contributing and what’s the total number?
   
   
3. Establish an Approximate Guest Count. 
   You’ll want the right-size venue for your guests to be comfortable.
   
   
4. Establish a Way to Organize Yourself. 
   Set up a new wedding email to communicate with vendors.  Set up a Facebook Group to keep communication easily through planning.
   
   
5. Establish your Top Venues & Make Appointments to Tour. 
   ​Research via Google and 4EVR to find local venues that fit your needs.  Make appointments.