In the wedding business, you learn to cheat, conceal and cut-corners.  Whether  its bridesmaids dresses from Target or flowers from your neighbor’s garden (the latter of which I do not recommend), I thought I knew it all when it came to the over-documented topic of: Ways to Cut Your Wedding Budget in Half. One Bride showed me that I didn’t.

Jessica was a clever little Bride in terms of thinking outside of the box for her budget wedding.  Her invitations - A beautifully designed Flash presentation, created by a web designer and distributed to her 300 guests without using one piece of paper or postage.  Her music, a carefully planned out set of playlists and visuals, downloaded to her ipod and Deejayed by her cousin.  She even printed her programs on wedding fans for the hot outdoor ceremony.  We worked together to come up with cost-cutting, innovative ideas for almost every aspect of the wedding….and then came the cake.

Food is one area I do not like to cheat.   As much as you dress it up, put a bow on it  and call it sirloin, bologna still tastes like bologna.  So I was quite dumbfounded when Jessica showed me a picture of a $3,000 wedding cake and told me she could get it for a cool $300.   “Rent-A-Cakes!” she yipped, “it’s all the rage.”  Confused and frightened, my head started reeling with terrible visions of guests being asked to return the cake they just ate.  Then it hit me - styrofoam cake for show; cheap sheet cake for eating.  Brilliant!

These beautiful “cakes” can be designed to your exact specifications and even come with a compartment in the bottom where you can add real cake for the cutting.  By the time the groom is wiping frosting out of his eyes and the fake cake is wheeled back to the kitchen for serving,  your guests are none the wiser.  Since Jessica’s wedding, I have used this trick dozens of times and companies such as Cake Rentals.com create them to look amazingly life-like.  Only the sticky-fingered ring bearer opting for an early taste test is left disappointed.

Other Ways to Cheat at Your Wedding (besides with the Best Man): Freeze Dried Flower Petals.  Ok, so  they’re not fake petals, but the Freeze Dried treatment means you don’t have to keep them fresh which nearly cuts costs in half.

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Filed under: Budget Advice, Cakes and Catering, Engagement, Fashion Trends, Just for Fun, Music and Entertainment, Wedding Blog, Wedding Bloopers, Wedding Favors, Wedding Traditions, do-it-yourself, Fake Cake, Freeze Dried Petals, Rent-a-cake, Styrofoam Cake, Wedding Budget, Wedding Planning on a Budget