If you have a skill or product that you can trade for something you want, take advantage of it. Bartering is, simply put, exchanging things rather than paying for them with money.

I have something you want, and you have something I want, so we can exchange those things instead of paying each other. Why is this good? It's simple: Neither of us necessarily has money to pay for those things we want, but we have items we can trade for them.

A Lesson in Bartering

A neighbor approached an artist saying how much she liked a painting and wished she could afford to buy it. The artist appreciated the woman's enthusiasm for the painting and mentioned that he'd seen a coffee table she had made and thought she was a talented woodworker.

They looked at each other for a long moment, obviously thinking, until the artist offered to trade the wood-worker the painting in return for the coffee table. Each walked away happy. That's an example of successful bartering.

Could you walk into a bridal store and barter with a saleswoman for a gown? Maybe not. But think about what goods and services you need and assess the possibility of bartering something that might benefit their owner, in turn saving both of you money.

How Can You Use Bartering?

The key to bartering is that the services or goods traded must be of equal value. You might be experienced with creating Web sites and can offer to create one in exchange for something a shopkeeper or vendor has to offer you.

Perhaps the venue that will host your reception looks like it needs a service like painting or decorating, which you or your fiancé do. Not only might you save money on goods and services for your wedding, you might get some nice publicity or future business from the bartering opportunity.

Think about whether there is an opportunity and explore it mentally before you approach the other person so that you will be prepared to negotiate the barter. Use the same technique as for negotiating — except that instead of asking for a discount, you are offering to trade a service — or, if a complete swap of the item or service isn't possible, you can ask for a barter with some cash still exchanging hands.

If you have a business card, you can always leave it with the shopkeeper or vendor so that they can think about your offer.

Bartering in Action

“I'm part-owner of a local print shop, and when I walked into the small hotel where we were thinking about having our wedding reception, I noticed that their menus and other printed materials looked dated and showed signs of age,” a friend said. “I mentioned my work and asked if they'd consider reducing the price of our reception in exchange for some original, creative artwork and printing. They agreed, and we both walked away happy!”