What LCD are you using?
If it's something like a 16x2 or 2x40 character based display then there are ways of reducing the number of pins required by using IO expansion, in the form of Shift Registers or I2C expanders.
It's a 16x2 - http://www.oomlout.co.uk/lcd-display-16-x-2-p-212.html. I've got a 74HC595 shift register that came with my starter kit - I didn't know that there was an option to reduce the pin use.
I'm using the LiquidCrystal library at the moment, so this sounds quite feasible.
Do you know of any tutorials on this or links that give a brief explanation of the electronics side ?
Thanks!