Weddings are exciting and so the happy couple blissfully plans their future together, sometimes ignorant of the consequences of going overboard on the festivities.

On a recent nostalgia trip I looked at my wedding album and was shocked to realise that many of the smiling guests that I fed and watered, at great cost, were unfamiliar.

If I had been smart and spent half of what I did on my wedding and invested the rest, I would have accumulated R50 000 to add to my retirement fund today.

I know a wedding is an important event but do you really want to be paying it off for five years after you tied the knot? Here are a few ways to cut down on the costs without having to feed your guests bread and water.

Trimming wedding costs doesn't mean that you have to trade the Hilton for a school hall — there are plenty of ways to cut costs in your wedding budget without your family or friends being any the wiser.

The cost of a wedding can range from R20 000 to R500 000 or more. Of course there are no limits to the upside, but mere mortals will probably want to keep it below R100 000. Even that sounds excessive, but the word on the church corners is that people routinely spend this kind of cash to celebrate their unions.

Avoid the high season
The first trick is to avoid the high season. In case you haven't noticed, the majority of weddings take place from September through to March. You could save across the board by getting married during one of the quieter months, such as June or August.

Go for a morning event

Reception venues charge the highest fees for 7pm on a Saturday night. Any other time, especially in the morning, should be a lot cheaper. A Sunday brunch works out much cheaper than an alcohol and fillet affair.

Bond with other brides

A great idea is to network with other brides to share the costs of church and reception flowers. Ask the event planner to put you in touch with the bride who is getting married immediately before or after to see if you have similar ideas for decorations.

Desert the desserts

Overloading on desserts is another unnecessary budget-breaker. How many times have you seen trolley-loads of desserts being whisked away? After an evening of eating, drinking and dancing, many guests will forego dessert altogether. Cater for one third of the actual head count and you will still probably have too much.

Greens are good

Don't go too exotic on the flowers, hardly anyone remembers them anyway. Stay with what's in season and use more greens and fewer blooms. Roses are always available and romantic, but brides should steer clear of floral-intensive holidays such as Mother's Day, when high demand will drive up costs.

Dress down the gown

Assuming that nobody at the wedding will be checking out the tags on your bridal gown, the dress can be another good place to economise. Cheaper fabrics are almost always available for every dress design, and using lower-end fabrics can cut the cost by almost two-thirds. You only wear the dress once, so you don't have to worry about wear and tear.

For those who favour less complicated designs, consider using this trick — go to a bridal shop and pick out one of their bridesmaid dresses, order it in white and you have a simple wedding dress.

Do yourself a favour

The average number of wedding guests is 150, which means that overspending on seemingly inexpensive items such as invites and party favours on tables can add up to a small fortune. Keep it simple — flowers will suffice, nobody eats those horrible candied almonds anyway!

Also think twice before blowing the budget on gold embossed invitations — they get thrown away in the end, so keep them simple.