By Guest Blogger: OneWed.com

When looking at your wedding budget it’s tempting to say, “Hell, I can do that myself and save a few hundred dollars.” If your fiancée is crafty, it may be even more tempting for her to say, “That would be fun to make myself, and save a few hundred dollars.” Remember though, what you save in money you usually lose in time.

Every bride and groom has to make their own decisions about what they can do on their own and what requires a professional but a few general guidelines about when to put a  professional under contract always hold true. (1) If it’s something you or your fiancée has always dreamed about having, hire a professional. (2) If it’s an integral part of having a kick-ass party, hire a professional. (3) If it requires anyone involved in the wedding to work the day of the wedding, hire a professional.

Here’s a feel-good wedding story out of Maplewood, MN:

Will Nicholson and his fiance Leah Bogen have decided to donate the entire food budget for their upcoming wedding to relief efforts in Haiti. The donation will total just over $2500. The money will go to Partners-in-Health, a group providing medical care for the earthquake victims in Haiti.

Read more and watch a video here: Minn. Couple Changes Wedding Plans to Help Haiti

Guest Blogger Profile: Jennifer Napier of OneWed.com

OneWed.com's Off-The-Chart wedding giveaway will help you save some cash.

Have you seen it yet? The pie chart or bar graph your fiancée found on a wedding site? It’s supposed to show you what percentage of your wedding budget will go for what items. Here’s the dirty insider’s secret, it leaves things out!

That’s why OneWed is offering an amazing Off-the-Chart Wedding Giveaway. We’ll give you and your wedding party all those extras that aren’t on that chart. How many extras? How about $15,000 worth?

For all the details, including how to enter our free wedding giveaway, come and visit OneWed.com.

Guest Blogger Profile: Simon Daykin

All signs are currently pointing to a major economic turnaround in 2010. However, that doesn’t mean that most Americans still aren’t feeling the crunch. This “crunch” hurts even more if you happen to be a bride or groom planning a wedding.

A rough economy doesn't have to ruin your dream wedding.

Here are four ways you can ease a little of the financial pain and still have your dream wedding.

Recession Proof Your Wedding – A lot of brides and grooms go deeply into debt for their weddings. Right now with the markets being the way that they are, that’s a little more than scary. But I’d say don’t be afraid of making some credit card purchases for your wedding but definitely stay in control. I would not advise you to take a line of credit out against your house to pay for your wedding right now. The best way to recession proof your wedding is to figure out what you can realistically spend on your wedding (chat with your parents about this too) and then stick to it. Cut down your guest list rather than trying to penny pinch to fit in your entire office floor. A smaller guest list will give you more room to make your wedding look lavish

Watch Out For the Quick Buck Vendors – Yes you want a good deal but now is not the time to be booking with anyone who hangs up a sign. You need to pick quality wedding vendors who are well established and have financially secure companies that have been around for awhile. How horrible would it be to give someone a big deposit and then not be able to get a hold of them again? I’ve seen this happen even when times aren’t tough but with people trying to make the quick buck right now you need to be extra careful.

Be Smart With Your Wedding AND Lifestyle Budget – It’s important that you make a budget for both your wedding AND your life and then stick to it. This will help you feel in control and confident with all your decisions. My downloadable templates in my product “Let’s Start Planning Your Guest List, Budget and Your Wedding Details” can really help you stay on stop of budgeting.

Be Resourceful and “Resourcefilled”- While you want to be resourceful and find great deals you also want to be resourcefilled. That means you have a bunch of resources to pull from that will help you achieve your ultimate wedding look. A wedding planner like me can really help you with this because I know great vendors to work with and I also have great resources for frugal items and sometimes even vendor discounts. Although hiring a wedding planner can take some room in your budget in the long run a wedding planner can really save you time and money. Click here to schedule an appointment.

Guest Blogger Profile: Jennifer Napier of OneWed.com

Getting married requires a whole new set of skills. For example, unless you’re a lawyer or a sports agent you probably haven’t spent a lot of time reading contracts.

Even Jerry Maguire would have trouble understanding some of these vendor contracts

Most wedding vendors and wedding venues will require you to do so. This is for their protection, as well as your own. Before you sign anything, make sure you have a full understanding of your wedding budget and, definitely, look for the hidden fees, tax and tip.  But, here’s an insider tip, if you do find that you need to get out of a contract, you may be able to work something out. Vendors not only want to keep your business, they depend on satisfied customers to gain referrals for new clients. It never hurts to ask if things can be changed, as long as you ask politely.

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TMR Announcement

We’ll be helping celebrate the launch of OneWed’s WeddingPreParty tomorrow night (August 5th). TMR Co-founder Chris Easter will serve as a guest wedding expert along with representatives from It’s a Jaime Thing, The Broke-Ass Bride and Fabuluxe Events. and  The party will run from 9-10 EST via  Twitter. You can read all of the further details here: Join Us Aug 5 for WeddingPreParty.com Twitter Launch Party!

Cheers!