Every year we are regaled with tales of how much the average bride has to budget for her wedding. Of course every average means that there are some that go way beyond that average and some that are way below. The reality, of course, is that most brides can't really afford the budget of the "average bride," even if daddy is picking up most of the tab, but they don't know that they have an alternative so instead they try to stretch an already thin wedding budget to the point of breaking.

The answer to this wedding budget dilemma is simple and difficult at the same time: Decide what is important to you and your groom-to-be and focus on those things by learning the basics about each discipline you want to include in your wedding so you will know how to choose what is really important to you.

By prioritizing in this way you can set a budget that puts the emphasis on the elements of the wedding that are important to you. It might mean that you get that ceremony full of high drama that you have always dreamed of with spotlights illuminating you as you enter the otherwise darkened room. In exchange you sacrifice the catered dinner in a local hotel ballroom in favor of a simple, yet elegant garden tea reception. Or maybe you forgo the professional photographer and get friends with digital camera's to record your day. Maybe it's the dance with a disc jockey that's not important to you...

It's all a matter of how to create a wedding day that you will look back at with fondness when all is taken into consideration. Decide what's important to you. Do those things, and leave the rest alone. It's not worth the stress of trying to create something from a budget that approaches nothing.

Remember, weddings don't have to be expensive to be memorable but they do have to be personal. If your wedding budget is too thin, don't try make it stretch so you end up with a bunch of shoddy elements scattered about your wedding. Get married in orchard at blossom or a field of wild flowers and skip most (or all) of the rest of the flowers. Skip the three tiered cake that tastes like sawdust covered in sweet lard if you can't afford a quality cake and serve some pre-cut deserts instead.

Take some time to study each of the disciplines involved in the wedding industry and learn what you are really buying from them (hint: It is rarely what it appears at first glance) and then decide what you can do without to make your budget provide you with the best nuptial celebration your budget can afford.