Photo by: Elizabeth Messina on Kiss The Groom via Lover.ly
Food and drink will eat up {<-haha! } a huge portion of your wedding budget—around half of it, according to the Wedding Wire budget tool, which every bride should use, IMO.
Here's one way to trim costs: Make more of your menu vegetarian.
Before you start yelling, hear me out. I'm not suggesting you offer your guests a pile of crudite and a limp salad. But instead of offering two meat selections at dinner, offer one chicken option and one pasta dish. And rather that passing crab cakes or baby lamb chops at cocktail hour {I almost called it "happy hour." Daylight-saving is kind of killing me. }, serve corn cakes with salsa and bite-size veggie tacos. That carving station?
How about Lauren Conrad's crostini spread instead?
You might have to look harder to find a caterer who'll turn out imaginative vegetarian dishes. (To some caterers, "vegetarian option" means "an extra helping of the veggie side dishes.") But the more meat and seafood you can cut from your menu, the more money you'll save.
Would you serve a veggie-heavy wedding menu? Or do you HAVE to serve meat?