By now you must be realizing that your wedding is going to cost a lot more than you ever expected.

You're probably asking yourself, where can you save money on these outrageous cost?

Well let me tell you - after 20 years of dealing day in and day out with  unscrupulous and unethical vendors,  I finally got fed-up.  Every day I see excited couples being ripped-off by vendors taking advantage of their enthusiasm and after helping couples plan their  weddings for all  these years, I decided to share at least one of my secrets and I will also make a recommendation of at least one company that I have worked with in the past and that has a proven track record for honesty, best prices and reliability.

In this first part of a series of articles and public announcements that I will make about the wedding industry, I will only touch upon limousine companies  and yes, it will definitely  save you hundreds of dollars.

It's truly amazing how much you can do yourself and the money you can save when you know the "ins  and outs" and what to look for in the  endless maze of things you have to do to prepare for your big day.

The tips and secrets I have learned will help you plan your wedding,  stay within your budget, and not get ripped-off by the people trying to take advantage of your excitement and enthusiasm.

As I said earlier, the wedding industry is very unscrupulous and anytime you mention the word "wedding"  -- the price goes up, and most couples end up paying about double what they should for their limousine service.

Most couples are just throwing away hundreds of dollars or even more, that's money that could be used to spend on other things like your honeymoon.

Money Saving Tips and Secrets

::When NOT to Buy from a limousine company::

When you shop around for a limousine company the way to uncover the people you don't want to do business with is easy. For example, say you get a great deal from limousine company A like $1,000 for 3 limousines and then you call limousine company B and they tell you $1,400 for 2 limousines. 

Ask limousine company B; "is that the best you can do?" If they said that is the lowest price they can offer. Then you tell them that you got a cheaper price from company A.  If limousine company B says "Ok, we'll give it to you for $1000 just like company A". This is when you need to run other way. Because limousine company B just lye to you about their lowest price and more likely than not, they will continue to lye to you through out the relationship right up to your wedding day. They probably lye to everyone they do business with which means that your limousine may not show up, it may be late or you might get a driver that is rude, unprofessional or unlicensed. Remember if they lye about one thing, most likely they will lye about everything else.

So my advised to you, go with a limo company that you don't have to hassle with to get the best price. Check out their limousines before hand to make sure they are clean, put a deposit and forget about it. This way, you have one less item to stress over. The whole point of planning early is eliminating stress. Book  your limo early and get it out of the way. Booking well in advance also gives you plenty of time to paid it in full plus you get special discounts. Believe me if you wait to the last minute you are going to get hammered.

::How to avoid the "Bate and Switch"::

This one is one of the most frequent and reported incidents that we see couples complain about. Basically it works like this. For the most part all limousine companies use a web designer who is been paid a couple hundreds dollars at best to design a pretty web site. The problem is that these web designer use stock photography to design the sites. So if you notice and look hard enough, you will see that a picture from one limousine company will match that of a competitor. So they show you a pretty picture of a limousine that they carried except that the picture is not of the actual limousine that they will send you on your wedding day. The picture is of some limousine in some showroom that has been taken by a professional photographer and sold to the web designer. So you book your limo thinking you are going to get this beautiful limo in the picture and when the day of your wedding arrives, they send old looking limousine. Surprise! You ask what happened and they'll tell you that the limousine that you booked is having mechanical problems. 

Avoid this trap by asking to see the limo before making a deposit.

::How to save 40% on your limousine cost::

You've struggled with the guest list; trying to book just the right date; ordering wedding invitations; selecting your bridesmaids and groomsmen. Just choosing a wedding dress was a monumental task.

Now is time to choose your limousines. You may think that this is one of those unimportant last minute details that can wait for later.

But think again, if your limousine is what we call a "No Show" you might as well put that dress in a shopping bag and throw on some jeans because you are going to look pretty ridicules arriving at the church ceremony in a yellow cab!

You need to start doing your research at least a year in advance. The best part about it is that you will save up to 40% of the cost by booking well in advance. 

In general limousine companies are starving for cash during two major times during the year. The first is in December through January and the other is right after prom season which ends in July. So if you can book during December, January, July or August, you will be in the best position to get the best price possible. Of course, this is assuming that your wedding is at least 4 months away otherwise you are going to get hammered for waiting until the last minute. Limousine vendors know that you are going to need a limousine for your wedding and that every other vendor is going to jack up the price just for booking at the last minute.  So do yourself a favor, if you are getting married, book your limousine today and get it out of the way. You will thank me for this.

In the future we'll address this other fine points of money saving secrets and tips:

   Unexpected things to watch out for on your wedding day.

   How to recognize a scam.

   How to recognize the Wedding Markup.

   When you should and should NOT book the vendors.

    Where to Find the Best Deals and Save Money.

   When is the best time to set the wedding date.

PS. More important than any part of your ceremony or anything that happens on your special day -- Remember to be happy and to have fun!