Well, the economy is bad, but people still need to get married, right? And every bride wants her day to be special, whether she has an extravagant budget to blow on the most luxurious items or whether she needs to watch every penny. Fortunately, when it comes to wedding cakes, you can trim some corners and save yourself some money without taking away from the beauty of your day.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Jennifer Trenchard

Try these tips to save some cash on your wedding cake:

* Trim down your guest list. This not only saves on your cake, but the cost of dinners served at your reception.

* Shop around! You would think this would be obvious, but I think brides-to-be sometimes get blindsided by something spectacular they've seen at so-and-so's wedding and they want the same thing. If it's priced way out of your budget, you may not be able to get the same thing, but you can find something similar (and less expensive). Try your supermarkets instead of just your local bakeries. Or, with the huge proliferation in baking bloggers all over the Web nowadays, maybe you can find someone in your area whose work you can check out online. If he or she is more of a home-baker than a professional, you might score a decent deal.

* Go for traditional shapes (round) instead of the current trend toward squares, rectangles and anything else that can be designed.

* Think simple. This doesn't mean your cake has to be bland and boring, but simple can be elegant.

There are other ways to have an affordable wedding cake, so even if you can't have some extravagant celebrity-style wedding, you can still have a lovely wedding. After all, it's what happens after the wedding that counts the most.