1. Help the environment

Most Top 10 lists end with the best that it is offering, but let’s start this one with the best, or at least most original: recycling aluminum. A friend of mine is doing just that through a project she calls Wedding Cans. It might sound odd, but a month into her project, its international news. Look at the journal on Wedding Cans for the press it’s been getting.

2. Corporate sponsorship

This idea sounds weird, but it comes from Wise Bread. It might stink of “selling out” something that’s supposedly “sacred,” but aren’t we adults here? Weddings, like Christmas, have become ultimately focused on material elements. If you agree to have corporate logos or feature products at your wedding, you can avoid having to pay back personal loan companies.

3. Take a dare

One pretty bizarre idea that I saw on Romance Fire is to “take a video of yourself conquering a known fear if the price is right.” In the tradition of “Jackass” and “Fear Factor,” you could play on people’s fear to get some extra financial help in your nuptial ceremony.

4. Use your registry

The website Worst Case Scenarios opines that you could put items for the wedding, like limo services, flower arrangements, and food and beverage, could be put in the registry instead of for gifts.

5. Sell Stuff Off

This one is easy – you hold a yard sale, sell stuff on eBay, etc, to make money. Maybe you could hold an auction.

6.Just ask

Another very popular idea out there is that you should start a web site or a group on a social network and simply ask for people to donate to your wedding.

7. Get guests to pitch in

Similar to the registry idea, which has people helping pay for the wedding instead of just buying gifts, you can ask certain people, close friends and family members, to pay for one thing. Have someone buy the cake, another person buys the favors. You can pick everything yourself and just ask a certain person to fund it as a gift.

8. Try a vacation home in lieu of a wedding hall

This is how to save money instead of make it, but it’s a good idea. Wedding halls know they can gouge you, and they do – they can cost thousands per hour. Check for nearby vacation home rentals and hold the reception in a beautiful house or yard. You can stay for days on what will only get you hours in a wedding hall.

9. A little help from your friends

This raising money for a wedding idea isn’t directed at the bride and groom, but rather at the wedding party and the couple’s friends. A common way is to hold a “Jack and Jill” party, where guests pay a small cover to get in. The happy couple gets the cash.

10. Planning ahead

Pretty much every site I’ve gone to suggests that you plan ahead and save money in advance. They also suggest that you could get a second job or offer some sort of service and save the money you make. That’s obvious, but it merits a mention because weddings are incredibly expensive things.