It's an expensive job, y'all. Don't make your maids spend an arm and a leg just to be in your wedding. They may love you and want to support you, but surely they don't want to spend a fortune.

Here are five ways to keep their out-of-pocket costs low (and their spirits high):

1. Only invite locals and closest long-term friends and family to your wedding. Same goes for your bridal party. Keep it to your best friends and siblings. Couples are inviting fewer guests to weddings these days (144 compared to 152 in a 2010 Wedding Report study). You'll save money too! If you're looking to inform your greater circle of friends about your nuptials, send out an announcement featuring a photo after the wedding. (See our article on picking the best wedding date).

2. Let your bridal party pick their own attire. The only thing more impractical in the world than a bridesmaid's dress is possibly the Segway. Even if you're lucky enough to score a decent-looking dress, the chances of you ever wearing it again are nil. It's a growing trend to do non-matching dresses. Embrace this practical alternative and choose a color, or give your girls parameters to pick their own dresses. If someone offers their services for your wedding, suggest that be their "gift" to you. Whether it's helping arrange flowers, valet parking or doing hair and makeup, let friends know their services are the best gift and completely sufficient.

3. Create a gift card registry. Where there's a wedding, there are showers. And lots of them. Engagement parties, bridal showers, lingerie soirées, housewarmings -- the parties are as endless as the disco tunes at a reception. Keep the registry simple -- and 21st century -- by creating your wedding gift registry at CardAvenue for gift cards to national retailers. Not only do you forego returning one of two fondue sets, your guests can save on costly shipping charges.

4. Get practical when it comes to accommodations.
If travel is required to attend and/or be part of your wedding, consider your guests' needs. While you want to reserve rooms at a good rate, you don't want them to slum it for the weekend. Many hotels offer special rates for weddings, but you may also find out if local friends and family might offer guest bedrooms for those who may need extra help. Guests could split a rental car and hotel room. Chances are there will be many others flying from out of town, so an extra trip to an airport or a pullout sofa bed may work just fine.

5. Be thankful. After the last packet of birdseed has been flung, remember the reason you've put up with all this wedding nonsense. You want your friends and family to celebrate one of the most important days of your life. You care that they've sacrificed to be a part of your big day. Don't let that go unacknowledged. Include a note in the wedding program, a toast at the reception or a sweet line of thanks as part of the wedding favor (or on to-go boxes where your guests can take home some grub for later).

Weddings expert Cara Davis is the author of Cheap Ways to Tie the Knot and blogs from her home in Orlando, FL, about cheap ways to spend and save at CheapWaysTo.com.