The wedding season is upon us. Feel the love in the air? Hear the church bells ringing? See the rice being tossed so carefree? Hear the bride fighting with her parents over the cost of the cake?

I already covered some great ways we kept our wedding budget under control. Now we'll share some great ideas that some friends have used to keep from breaking the bank.

I’m sure my friends and I are not the only ones who had to watch what they spent on their weddings. There are lots of ways to save money on your wedding day. The first one is to create a budget based on the total amount you have to spend. Then decide what is the most important things to you. From that point you can then decide where you can save without compromising on your wedding day dreams.

If the cake is not on the top of your important list then look into having a local grocery store make your cakes. A friend of mine did just that. She purchased a small plain round white cake with white icing and just put a little topper on it she bought. The rest of the cakes where large white sheet cakes. She even got the grocery store to deliver it for free to the wedding! What a deal.

Another great way to save money is on the DJ. Instead of paying a DJ have your Ipod loaded and ready with all the songs you like. Then just ask a friend or family member to play DJ for the night as your wedding present. Same thing goes for during the wedding. We had burnt a CD before hand with the music for the wedding and one of the ushers was in charge of it. It worked out great!

What about invitations? That cost can add up fast! If this is a smaller affair with email savvy guest ditch the paper and send e-vites!

The last but best way to save money is to keep the guest list small. Most of your wedding costs are based on the number of guests. The food, cake, invitations, guest gifts, drinks, size of venue costs are all based on the number of people who will be at your wedding. So when your soon to be in-laws ask to add one more person to the list just say “Sorry, but it’s not in the budget!”.

Do you have other great wedding day budgeting ideas?

Photo from Publix.com