Buy Used and Save the Difference

Buy used and save the difference. Yes, I stole this motto from the popular TLC family the Duggers...but they are 100% right! 

I have been searching websites such as Craigslist, Ebay, and Riverbender (kind of like CL for strictly the IL side of the Mississippi River). There are people on these websites that are selling tons of wedding items at a decent price. These are either items that have been used once for a single wedding that look brand new, or items that brides have purchased had extra of or decided not to use at all. 

 This is also a great way to earn money back from your wedding or items you have changed your mind on. 

Just be sure if you are using Craigslist that you are being cautious. Everyone has heard the horror stories. Make sure you are meeting only locally using only cash. Meet up in well-lit, well populated public locations and consider bringing your fiance or a friend along with you. 

Make a list of everything you need to purchase for your wedding and compose your own ad under the "wanted" section. We did this an had quite a bit of success. I was able to find 160 silver plastic charger plates (you know the ones that are $4 a piece at the craft store that have become extremely popular for wedding receptions) for $70, or about $2 each. Yes, I know I only need about 80 of them for guests, but that leaves some leftover that I can use for serving pieces or that I can sell to pay for other wedding items. This was a total savings of $570 (number based on the price of chargers at my local craft store). 

We were also able to find the small clear bubbles we were looking for on Craigslist also; 48 bottles for $10. This is a savings of about $18. We still need a couple more boxes of these to have enough, but there are tons on Ebay as well for about the same price as what we paid for the first batch.

 Our Craigslist wanted ad was also answered by a very special woman named Suzie. She randomly saw our ad and decided to go on Amazon and purchase a few of the items we were looking for as a gift to us. This made me tear up because nothing like that had every happened to us before. Ms. Suzie did not know us at all! Her kindness has touched our hearts and we are very, very grateful for her generosity. Suzie purchased the cake topper, cake serving set, and toasting flutes we were searching for. In addition, she found a guest book that matches the serving set and flutes. Based on the prices of these items on Amazon, Ms. Suzie's gift saved us a total of $112!

TOTAL CRAIGSLIST SAVINGS: $700!!

Ebay has also been equally helpful. We purchased teal organza table runners for $30 (opposed to the $80 I almost spent), satin fabric and a charm for my DIY garter set for $6 (opposed to $35 for a pre-made set), an ivory pintuck ring pillow $5 (opposed to $25 in stores), teal and apple green silk rose petals $10 (opposed to $45 in stores), 2000 small teal rhinestones for embellishing our stationary $4 (opposed to $25 in stores), and these funky "bride" and "groom" glasses that will make for some funny wedding pics for $4 (opposed to $20 on other websites). Just be sure to find items that offer free shipping. 

TOTAL EBAY SAVINGS: $171!!

This brings our buying used, saving the difference total to $871 so far! Now this money can be used in other areas of the wedding or saved for our house.