I agree with some of the comments above.
A long planning phase will usually lead to higher costs. We planned our wedding in 12 weeks. I cringe a little when I see people spending 18mo-2 years planning their wedding. All the time! All those extras! All that stress!
Don't read wedding magazines, blogs, Pintrest, etc. I was glad we married when we were young, before we had attended many weddings or had ingrained ideas about what a wedding 'should' be like.
My only regrets - not enough photos of our day (though we've been married 14 years. Everyone has a camera phone these days and lots of people have really good DSLR cameras, so you could ask around and end up with heaps of pics from the day without having to hire a photographer). We did end up with two videos of our wedding. For one, we set up a fixed camera to record what it did. A friend surprised us by borrowing a video camera from her Dad and doing moving footage of the day, roaming around.
- not doing my own make up. They really caked it on us ("It will look right in the photos". Well, it didn't). The bridesmaid and I washed it all of in the bathroom at the reception.
Our budget: $2000.
$1000 for all rings.
$1000 for everything else.
How did we get it so low?
First, we asked everyone to buy their own lunch at the reception (except for the priest, we paid for his to thank him - old family friend on my husband's side who travelled from interstate). We approached a nice tavern/pub nearby and asked if they would be happy for us to bring in our wedding guests. The only limit they imposed was that they only had space for 80 people. The tavern did up a special menu for our wedding day (they even printed it up especially), allowed us to play our own music, put up signage (chalkboards welcoming us), set up a 'bridal table', etc. All at no extra cost on top of the meals (at their regular prices). I guess they were happy to have a full house one Saturday lunch. We phrased it as something like "please don't bring presents, but please buy your own lunch" - nicely worded, of course! Still had some people who wanted to give gifts, but didn't end up with heaps of 'stuff', just a few really useful things (that we still use).
Music. My Dad was a DJ in a past life. He did up a few CDs, one for the Church of typical wedding music, one for the reception.
Cake. A friend who worked for a large supermarket chain made the cake at work as a gift. Usual cost: $40. A two tiered chocolate mud cake. The top tier was uneaten so we got to take it home. Yum!
Flowers. No floral decorations for church or venue. Only a bouquet for myself and a smaller one for my one bridesmaid, plus button holes for groom and best man. I had always dreamed of roses, but economised and had daffodils instead (they remind me of visiting my grandmother's house). Chose a small florist close to home (working class suburb). The prices were extremely reasonable. Oh, I just remembered - the florist threw in a free 'throwaway' for the bouquet toss at the reception.
Clothes. My dress was around $180. I had a seamstress at the shop small skirt added underneath for added volume. It was very low cost. We bought it at a shop that sold formal/debutant/prom dresses. Much cheaper than a bridal shop.
My husband bought a suit on sale (he would use it for job interviews, etc in the future). The best man and bridesmaid acquired their own clothes. We just asked them to pick something they liked/would use again.
No bonbonniere for the table. We did provide bottles of bubble mix as people left the church, for them to blow as we walked out. I had decorated them with some ribbon, but they were just cheap, little bottles you could buy a 24-pack of from the supermarket for about $6.
Wedding cars. My cousin drove me in our own car. I took it through the car wash on my way to the church, then he met me at a motel nearby (where friends were staying) and added a ribbon. That was a nice surprise. :)
Honeymoon. My Dad paid for a few nights accommodation two hours drive up the coast. Nothing too fancy, just a nice getaway. We actually took it two weeks after the wedding, once we were on uni/college break (my husband's final year). Because of this, we managed to meet up with some wedding guests the night of our wedding and party on a bit longer (we left the reception mid-afternoon so people could head home without feeling bad about leaving before we did). We arrived home from our reception that afternoon, opened some presents, ate some leftover cake, and were still so buzzed we decided to head out and meet up with some people.
Wedding day (night) rules. Meh!