Your wedding day should be one of the most special days in your life. While you may want to look a million dollars you certainly don't need to spend that much in your quest to have the perfect wedding experience.

There are plenty of thrifty ways to ensure your wedding celebration is affordable so you end up married to your dream partner and not to a big credit debt to pay off your big day.

In this article, we share a few ideas for making your wedding affordable, not cheap:

Cut down your guest list

Consider cutting your guest list down to guests you absolutely must have, not people you think you need to have to please your family. If you're not careful your guest list will grow and grow if you let it and the less is more philosophy is a winner when it comes to avoiding an overflowing guest list.

Ask for guests to help out rather than spend on wedding guests

As a frugal way to make your wedding a little more affordable, you can ask your wedding guests to help out on the day in lieu of presents. If you have a guest who is a great musician or you have a baking whiz in the family who could make a cake ask them if they could consider providing this service instead of a gift which allows you to save some serious money on vendors and suppliers.

Hold the ceremony outdoors

Having your wedding ceremony outdoors allows for a more affordable venue, or better still a free ceremony venue. If you can find a park, lakeside or a unique location that is outdoors you can usually add your own rustic style to it and save big money on expensive room or ceremony space hire. Add some chairs and a DIY canopy and you have a stunning wedding ceremony location.

DIY as much as you can

If you are a little crafty, you can do a whole lot of DIY to design your wedding including favors, decorations and even bouquets for the wedding party. Wedding vendors are expensive and they add up, so if you know a guests is wonderful at makeup or hair or anything for that matter that you've looked at outsourcing bring them in and ask the to help you with some DIY and save big bucks on your big day.

Avoid the unnecessary wedding items

It can be intoxicating on your wedding to overspend on the things you think you 'should' do, rather than the things you can afford. So consider foregoing any unnecessary items such as printed invites (you can make these at home), skip any gifts for the groomsmen and bridesmaids (consider making them a intimate dinner or a DIY gift) and borrow items where possible so you can keep your wedding affordable and on budget.

Buy your dress off the rack or on sale

The wedding dress is a large item cost-wise in your wedding budget so to keep the expenses low you might consider buying a dress off the sale or at least on sale or even reusing a vintage dress or borrowing it from a family member or friend.

River Rest Weddings is the perfect wedding destination for brides and grooms looking for a unique and affordable wedding venue. Located on Lake Logan Martin, in a peaceful and secluded area close to Talladega, Alabama the resort & wedding venue offers everything you need for the perfect wedding celebration.

The beautiful lakefront home has a private beach and overlooks two and a half miles of stunning lake, the perfect location for your outdoor wedding reception. The resort specializes in offering affordable and intimate wedding celebrations that are perfect for small wedding celebrations, with accommodation on site and plenty of options for ceremony and reception, River Rest really is the perfect venue for an affordable wedding celebration.

Whether you set up your ceremony or reception amongst the trees, in a marquee or along the lake, River Rest Weddings features a range of options for your wedding celebration. The venue offers three living rooms for reception functions, five guest bedrooms, private golf carts for transporting the wedding party, a hot tub, and an entertainment den for the wedding after party or simply relaxing with your wedding guests.

Located less than an hours drive from Birmingham, Alabama and only two hours from Montgomery and Huntsville, the idyllic resort home is surrounded by three miles of delightful Alabama countryside and is the perfect location for a relaxing lakeside wedding reception and ceremony.