There is no doubt at all about it, weddings are very expensive affairs. Even when the economy is not in major difficulty, it is a wise couple that tries to work together to make their special day both memorable and wallet sparing. After all, the wedding is merely the start of an entire life together and no one wants to start that life penniless.

Decide what the most important aspect of your wedding is to you and then use that as your focal point. Consider everything else as filler material, accessories and backdrops. Allow your dress to take center stage at the wedding ceremony and your beautiful cake to be the star at the reception. You want to have people talking about how lovely the flowers were, or how adorable that little flower girl was. You know that almost no one will spend more than a minute or so talking about the wedding favors, so don’t knock yourself out over them. Save yourself a little bit of money here and go for homemade wedding favors. Properly executed, these will look like you splurged, and only you really need to know the truth.

One of the most common of the homemade wedding favors is the paper napkin nut cup. Simply made from a folded napkin and then filled with nuts or small candies, these are just the right size to sit at each place setting at your reception for guests to nibble on or to take home. Coordinate the colors of the napkins with the wedding colors for a nice touch. (One of the best sources for paper goods, or other ideas for your wedding for that matter is the dollar store. Some of these even feature an entire aisle of wedding items which can give you some good ideas.)

Bottles of bubbles tied with a satin ribbon are another popular favor for many weddings; blowing bubbles to send off the happy couple is a much better idea than throwing rice or seeds, and many churches have banned either. Again, coordinate the color of the ribbon with your wedding colors.

If you wedding is on the slightly smaller size, consider buying very inexpensive photo albums and including pictures of the bride and groom (photocopy these right on your computer). Wrap the album in tissue wrap and set on the plates at the reception. Include some a card that lists the name of the couple, the time and the date of the wedding and a special message as well to make the keepsake even more memorable. Again, a great source for the photo albums, the tissue paper, and even the photo quality paper is the local dollar stores where you can afford to be a little more creative.