Firstly congrats!
here are some of the things that we did to cut some of the costs...
*friends to pictures, we had a few with good cameras and they did the main ones, then ad disposables on the tables so we got pics of what the guests were doing.
* the wedding cake was tiers of cup cakes and the guests were served thats as desert
* made the invitations
* made the table centers, got some cheap black candelabras, made beeswax candles and scattered flower petals around them
* included with the invitation was the RSVP card, on it, it asked guests to list their top 5 songs that they would get up and dance to - we made CD of all of these and played that at the reception
* we paid a friends daughter and her friend to be waitress's (they bought bottles of wine and beer to the tables)
* we bought clean skin wine in bulk from a winary when we were on holiday in SA and served this at the wedding
* the wedding and reception was at Mum and Dads (they live on a beutiful prperty) so we hired a marquee for the tables and we got caterers in and they did fingerfood followed by a spit roast that each guest had to get up table by table and get (like a carvery thing) - everyone loved this part of it as it was more laid back and people felt like they could mingle and it made the atmosphere even better the dance floor was in the outdoor area that we call the Pub (it looks like an outback pub) - and was next to the marquee

this wouldnt change the cost, but thought i wuld mention it... we all loved to party (the days before having lkids!!!) and hated the fact that weddings just got going and then it was time to leave - so we had guest put up tents on the property (out of the way) and we had an all night party - i think i crawled into bed at 9 am after Mum and Dad had cooked bacon and eggs for everyone that was still up, or waking up at that time

Oh yeah our wedding was in december (start) so the weather was better which meant that the weather was good for the evening meal

Good luck and congrats again