You don't have to be rich to get married. You just have to borrow about £15,000! Getting married can easily set you back a cool £15k, which is incidentally about the money you'd have to put down on a house deposit. So it's no surprise that couples can shy away from extravagant weddings. No doubt wedding prices will continue to balloon, but a fun wedding isn't always an expensive one. And with so much emphasis getting all those traditions crammed into one day, it's easy to get sucked in to spending a fortune. We take you through a few tips to create a wedding to remember without having to pay for it for the next 10 years!

The first, possibly most obvious, tip is to keep it simple and stick to your budget. A trip to the newsagent may well blow your wedding budget on bridal magazines alone. Do yourself a favour and avoid the usual wedding day lists to avoid temptation. You'll find yourself using a wedding day list, but always remember that you don't need everything. Each item on that list may well seem manageable, but you'll soon spend that budget and will probably end up justifying just one more thing. So keep it simple from the start and if you want to stick to the budget, be ruthless! You wanted to save money, so you'll have to be strict. From the start plan exactly what you need, not what tradition suggests you need!

eBay can sometimes be just as expensive as shops, but you're almost guaranteed a discount on certain items. We recommend buying party decorations for evening entertainment from eBay if nothing else. An essential at receptions (from formal to fun), these are at least 50% cheaper than high street stores. eBay shops will also sell you a whole host of stuff at discount for postage to bring the costs down even more. You may also grab a few bargains where you least expected: from the Grooms cuff links to a wedding videographer. Yes, just about everything wedding related is bought and sold on eBay, but be careful to compare prices!

For the budget conscious, we would never recommend buying wine or putting money behind the bar at the venue. This can be one of the biggest extravagances, and typically abused by select individuals! Remember you're entertaining your guests, but you don't have to buy drinks all night! You'll save a few hundred pounds by getting the booze yourself and paying corkage, and that's without taking a trip to France to take advantage of lower prices. You also don't have to go overboard with champagne and wine for you guests. It may seem cheeky, but most brides save the best for themselves!

For the wedding reception there's not always the need (or the desire!) for a sit down meal. In fact it can be a bit too formal for some, so save money and opt for a buffet. There's normally almost no difference between menu prices, so don't be tempted to opt for the highest price just because it's a buffet. And if you're having a big wedding, you'll almost certainly need a DJ. But on a smaller budget there's less likely to be the need, and it's amazing how effective an ipod mix can be.

Getting friends and family to provide services can also save a small fortune. You're guaranteed to know someone that knows someone that can bake a mean cake, or shoot a great video, so use this to your advantage. This can help spread the costs a little bit more, but be careful not to be disappointed. You can also borrow just about anything from people! Be prepared to pay a higher price for a few items you want to get just perfect. For example you may not want to be too budget conscious on the photographer. But you don't have to pay top prices to get professional results - you can find students by contacting colleges at a fraction of the cost, and although a gamble, you could very well have an aspiring film maker film your wedding.

Remember that it is just ONE day. Of course, it's the most important day for some, but that can often be at a huge expensive. If you'd rather spend the money on a honeymoon, keep that in mind when planning and make sure you stick to your plan and more importantly that tight budget!