Blushing Rose made a GREAT point. If your wedding is after the holiday season, or if you know way ahead of time when your big day is, a fabulous way of saving is shopping after halloween and after christmas sales for your mehndi/mayoun/dholki decorations. My mom got wonderful garlands and fabrics for 80% - we got some beautiful red fabric for 50 cents a yard! Fake flowers can also be found at a cheaper rate. RAID these sales -- you can make your home functions look like they cost hundreds of dollars while only spending a few dollars.
We also raided after valentines sales to decorate my sister's room for her wedding night. We got a lot of cute valentines themed stuff and garlands of fake red roses. it looked like we hired someone to decorate it.
if you have the time and advantage of knowing your date way in advance -- USE IT!!