Downsizing Your Wedding

A tighter economy is forcing more couples to look for creative ways of cutting costs on the big day

Erin Patrice O'Brien for TIME; Origami Roses by Tony Cheng / Origami USA

On the final Friday of June, Kelly Collins will marry Paul Hilcoff at the Nashoba Valley Winery in Bolton, Mass. After the ceremony in an orchard, the 60 guests will retire to the vineyard's restaurant, where they'll have a full sit-down meal complemented by wine and beer made on-site. All this will cost $4,500, or $1,500 less than it would on a Saturday. Rather than a wedding gown, Collins will wear a $200 ivory bridesmaid dress. She has ordered wholesale flowers online for $300 to make her centerpieces and, for favors, apple-scented candles from a teachers' catalog at $1.50 each. The...

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