Money Fix: Wedding gifts -- think affordable

It's wedding season. Mushy romance makes for a good cry, but overspend on wedding gifts and the tears will be about your blown budget.

Get creative and you'll eat wedding cake without worrying about your wallet.

"It's about what you can afford and what's practical for the couple," says Joseph De Sena, a certified financial planner with Ameriprise Financial Services in Melville.

Send a gift basket of beach goodies like towels, suntan lotion and other fun stuff for a couple honeymooning in the Caribbean, he suggests. Give an inexpensive digital camera and travel guide for a European getaway.

Other ways to save:

Team up with friends. Pool credit-card rewards points. "It's a great way to get a big-ticket item that you might not be able to afford on your own," says Linda Descano, a chartered financial analyst and chief executive of Women & Co. in New York.

Beware if you are in wedding entourage: The average cost of being in the bridal party is $1,500, says Nicole Lapin, chief executive of Recessionista.com.

Give as a group: One solution is for the wedding party to give as a group. Think themed gifts, given over the course of the festivities. For example, "Start out with a package of CDs of music they like, then his and hers iPods, and later a stereo or DVD system for the home," says De Sena.

Set a budget.  Spend roughly 60 percent on the wedding gift, 20 percent for the shower, 15 percent for the engagement gift and 5 percent for the bachelorette or bachelor's bash.