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Ask brides-to-be which website they'd choose if they only had an option for their wedding planning. A wedding planner site? Maybe a bridal magazine site? The site that very few would mention, but can prove to bevaluable, is Craigslist. Yes, the very same Craigslist where you bought your lawnmower or met your fiance! Having so many resources in one site is a godsend for engaged couples, and can save you thousands of dollars if you are creative and patient. There are several areas of Craigslist that every engaged couple should check out early in their wedding planning process.

For those not familiar with the site, open a new window and visit the site (link listed at bottom of article You'll want to find your city (or closest city to your wedding location) Once there, there are nine main categories: Community, Personals, Discussion Forums, Housing, For Sale, Services, Jobs, Gigs, and Resumes. offer amazing services. Businesses list their services, and consumers post items for sale through the site, so being thorough could net you a great Craigslist find. you are interested in any ad and want to contact the business / individual, look for the blue "reply to" link in the ad. Once sent, you've initiated contact directly with the business / individual. It does not get much easier.

Another way to simplify the process is to use the 'search Craigslist' field, located just above the calendar on the left side of Craigslist. If you are only searching for a wedding photographer, enter 'wedding photography' or 'wedding photographer' in this field and only ads with these search terms will be shown. Use the search field carefully, though, as you may miss a good deal simply because the ad's text did not match your search term. Now that you can navigate the site, search away! To simplify this process, I will address wedding deals by Craigslist category.

Community:
The subcategories here refer to businesses and individuals with local ties. You may find musicians or photographers here, and you may run across a venue or two that you've never considered for your wedding / reception.

Personals:
Hopefully you've already selected your fiancée, so stay out of this area altogether. Stay in this category and you'll soon be searching for listings in the Housing category!

Discussion Forums:
This is a Craigslist-community forum, where tons of conversations take place on every imaginable topic. There is a wedding forum for each city, so look through it. You may find good advice or vendors chatting. There's usually some entertaining conversation as well!

Housing:
Unless you're an engaged couple seeking housing, this is a category you can skip.

For Sale:
This section is for ads dealing with the sale of tangible items rather than services. If you are looking for wedding rings, a wedding dress, or discounted airline tickets for your honeymoon, this is where to shop.

Services:
Make sure you've grabbed a cold drink and the TV is off. The Services section is the holy grail for the Craigslist brides-to-be. Several of the subcategories lend themselves perfectly to weddings. You will find wedding photographers, DJ's, florists, caterers, basically every wedding-related service imaginable.

Jobs:
This section is not applicable to weddings, so skip it altogether.

Gigs:
This is the alter-ego of the Services category. This section allows individuals to seek services. If you decide to post an ad seeking wedding services (discussed later in this article), this is where your ads will be located. Check the subcategories anyway as you may find a stray ad or two that ended up in Gigs instead of Services by mistake. Some vendors intentally make this mistake as there are fewer competitive ads.

Resumes:
Like the Jobs category, Resumes is not applicable to weddings.

You can check Craigslist daily, even several times each day, and finds tons of great deals on items and services. You literally could book your entire wedding through Craigslist listings and save a ton of money, or you could just use the site to fill in any missing components. But what if you do not find what you're looking for and do not want to have to check Craigslist every day? This is your opportunity to play some offense and place your own ad. Its very easy to do and is 100% free. All you need is a valid e-mail address to sign-up. One piece of advice if you plan on placing an ad: create a unique e-mail address just for your wedding searches. Creating a new Gmail or Yahoo e-mail address only takes a few minutes. Use this new address when you contact ANY vendors (through Craigslist or not).

This neatly organizes your wedding e-mails, and more importantly protects your usual e-mail address from spam or aggressive e-mailers. It also protects your privacy. It will take a few extra minutes, but it is well worth the time spent to add a layer of security for yourself. Once you've done this, click the 'Post To Classifieds' link in the upper left corner. An empty ad will appear and you can advertise for anything you want. Be sure to place the ad in the best-fitting category to secure the best responses. Be specific in what you're looking for and you'll find better responses. Readers who reply to your ad will send an e-mail to your new e-mail address. You can decide whether to respond or not. A hint on avoiding spam responses, which you will still get after placing an ad, is to ask the reader to provide a specific title, word, or phrase in the title field of their e-mail to you. Spam responses are automated and do not have the ability to do understand this, so it's an easy way for you to filter spam responses without even opening the e-mails.

Keep in mind that you can also check nearby cities for lists as well. Just be sure to let all sellers know the date and location of your wedding, and ask about any additional travel / set-up fees that might be charged.

One final note: Use good judgment and some common sense if you use Craigslist for your wedding needs. Never give out personal information until you are comfortable with the other party. When possible, check the vendors' business websites before initiating any contact with them. I'd also recommend doing as much of the initial correspondence through e-mail as possible. This can save time and help you avoid high-pressure sales tactics or constant phone calls. Craigslist can be a treasure chest of wedding bargains if you approach it carefully, intelligently, and patiently.
Craigslist can be accessed by visiting www.Craigslist.org .

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Source by Shaun Baland