Budget Brides!

[E B]

I thought it''d be fun to have a thread where us PS brides on a budget could share tips they''ve found on how to save money while still having a gorgeous wedding! If you''re already married and found out how to save on flowers, your dress, etc., come in and share!

 

[AmberWaves]

Having a friend make my dress! Just show ''em a picture, and it''s as good as made! (Although I may want to buy one anyway!) Also, a friend is doing the DJing for us, only 250 dollars! All the music we like, scheduled pefectly.

 

[SarFarSuperstar]

Two words: Cash bar.

Even though I''d love to spend the money on an open bar, I cannot justify spending that much money just so people can have free drinks. And as my darling fiance keeps saying "We''re feeding them- isn''t that enough?!"

Also, I bought my dress in Texas (originally from there but moved to Boston) and had it shipped up here, thus avoiding sales tax- plus things are just generally cheaper south of the Mason-Dixon line.

I''m also probably only going to use in-season flowers for the arrangements and am hoping to get them locally. Anyone have any good ideas for fall flowers?

 

[E B]

Okay, okay, I'll start. I'm most definitely (without a doubt) doing my own flowers. Centerpieces AND bouquet. $1000+ for flowers? I don't think so!

Here's an article I saved regarding DIY Centerpieces from the Knot. It's actually quite helpful, though I'd love to hear what Selflove did with the florist foam (is that what it's called?)

DIY Centerpieces

If you don't mind, selflove, I've also posted the link to your DIY flower experience!

Selflove's DIY flower experience!

One knottie (Kertybird) said she ordered 10 bouquets, several boutenniers and roses for an archway for $150.00 at Vons (a grocery store here in California....it might be other places too).

ETA: Oops! You guys beat me.

 

[LollyBear]

My cousin-in-law made our wedding cake as a gift. It was beyond DELICIOUS!! I don''t think I could''ve had anything tastier.

 

[E B]

Date: 2/16/2006 4:49:39 PM
Author: AmberWaves
Having a friend make my dress! Just show ''em a picture, and it''s as good as made! (Although I may want to buy one anyway!) Also, a friend is doing the DJing for us, only 250 dollars! All the music we like, scheduled pefectly.

Oooh! Is your friend a seamstress? What does your dress look like?

 

[E B]

SarFar,

From About.com (http://weddings.about.com/od/traditionscolorsthemes/a/fallwedding.htm):

Fall Wedding Flowers
Generally you can find Mums, roses, daisies, yarrow, fall leaves, tallow berries and both natural and dried wheat for inexpensive prices during the fall. A spray of wheat or a mum accented with a pheasant feather makes an elegant boutonnière. Consider hollowing out pumpkins for your centerpiece containers – if you don’t have the time, many craft and home stores now sell realistic fake pumpkins. But if you go with the real thing, consider white or blue natural pumpkins for an elegant and unique touch.

 

[AmberWaves]

Ebree, I wanted to say we''re doing all our own flowers too, L.A. Flower Mart, bay-beee!!! But Costco and Vons are great alternatives. And yeah, a friend of the family is a seam-man. (It''s a guy) and can make anything I want if I show him a picture, all to my perfect measurements. And we''re going to see if I can find someone to make the bouquet holder I wanted with the corset looping, like my uncle (he made my first blankie when I was a baby)..

We''re also having a brunch meal during the off peak times, so it''s doubly cheaper. And no alchohol, because whoever wants to drink during brunch can BYOB..

 

[E B]

If you like simple, classic A-line gowns, a bridesmaid dress is a great way to save money. Here are some gorgeous BM dresses that could easily double for wedding gowns (and they all come in white/ivory!)

Jim Hjelm Cashmere Satin

Jim Hjelm Ivory Tulle

Jim Hjelm Pearl Satin Mermaid

Watters Off-Shoulder

Watters Pick-up

Watters Ribbon (MsFlutters' gorgeous gown!)

Lazaro Satin

If you find any others, please add!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Oh goodness you don''t want me replying to this thread! I could go on for days on how much I''ve saved and how.

 

[E B]

Date: 2/16/2006 5:25:36 PM
Author: aphisiglovessae
Oh goodness you don''t want me replying to this thread! I could go on for days on how much I''ve saved and how.

Please, please share your money saving wisdom!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

I'll soon be making a thread that will have EVERYTHING to do with my wedding and how much they were. All I can say right now is one word: EBAY!

ETA: Joann's Fabrics, Hobby Lobby and Michaels have been really important too!

 

[treysar]

Here''s a pic of our wedding aisle - my sister did the hooks, the lanterns, decorated the arch/ The arch was $20 at michaels, the lanters were $6 each at Christmas tree shops.

Our bouquets were from Stew Leonards, a groery store, that saved a ton. Favors were CD''s, that was reallly cheap too. Scroll down and i''ll post pics of them.

 

[treysar]

Made the program ourselves

 

[treysar]

My sister made the centerpieces...

 

[treysar]

and finally, the CD''s

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Those centerpieces are ADORABLE!!

 

[monarch64]

I second having a friend/relative make your wedding cake. A lady at my husband''s office made ours (for 100 guests), and only charged us $100. It was beautiful. No fondant or anything fancy, though, otherwise I''m sure she''d have charged us more.

My aunt made our invites and programs...she is a rubber stamp enthusiast. She and I designed them together and they turned out beautifully. They were her wedding gift to us. She did throw in a gift card to one of the stores we had registered at, which ticked me off because the invites were SUPPOSED to be her gift! LOL

We did not do favors. I''m sorry, I know there are many people out there who think you can''t do a wedding without favors for your guests, BUT. I have come home with so many favors and they end up in a drawer or in the garbage. We had an open bar for our entire reception (but did not do bottles of wine or champagne on the tables), and we felt like that was enough. It was a tough decision, but I''ve never heard any complaints.

We chose to have a Sunday afternoon wedding instead of a Saturday night, which knocked off half the cost of the ceremony/reception site, and we also got married AT the site, not in our church, which saved us some transportation cost. We got a stretch limo for $100 to take us about a mile back to our hotel, where friends and family who had taken off work the next day joined us for a couple more hours.

Creativity and unconventionalism (if that''s an actual word) go a looooong way in cutting costs while not committing any major faux pas...when most people heard we were having a Sunday wedding, they were pretty excited because it was different. To this day, two years and 4.5 months later, people still remember our wedding because it wasn''t your typical Saturday night affair. Helped that the weather was absolutely gorgeous that day too! I guess I''m saying don''t be afraid to be different...you''ll always get the whiners who don''t like it when you shake things up a bit, but who cares? It''s the rest of your life, not just one day.

 

[sunkist]

Date: 2/16/2006 5:42:53 PM
Author: treysar

Our bouquets were from Stew Leonards, a groery store, that saved a ton. Favors were CD''s, that was reallly cheap too. Scroll down and i''ll post pics of them.

Stew Leonards!!? Haha, you''ll think I''m wierd and it''s WAY off topic, but I''ve always wanted to go there!

I''ve never been to NY, but my parents and brother went to Stew Leonards as part of a business trip and they rave about it

heehee!

Thanks for everyone''s budget tips!!!

 

[E B]

Date: 2/16/2006 7:11:28 PM
Author: monarch64

We did not do favors. I'm sorry, I know there are many people out there who think you can't do a wedding without favors for your guests, BUT. I have come home with so many favors and they end up in a drawer or in the garbage.


We chose to have a Sunday afternoon wedding instead of a Saturday night, which knocked off half the cost of the ceremony/reception site, and we also got married AT the site, not in our church, which saved us some transportation cost.

We've decided not to have favors either. I've read so many stories about people having half the favors left over (no one bothered to take them home!) so we'll be saving money this way. We're also hoping to get married and have the reception at the same place, at an amazing arboretum where I grew up. I want this place so badly, but I haven't found out how much it costs yet. If it's too much, I'll have to keep searching. I know we won't be married in a church, though; we're not religious.

 

[cpster]

Do it yourself flowers are definately the way to go. Make sure you have plenty of help and plenty of space to refridgerate too though! If you decide to do floral centerpieces, I highly recommend getting low opaque vessels that you can put the green oasis stuff into. It makes them easy to transport and much easier to arrange. We wound up finding these great footed silver (plastic, but you couldn''t tell) bowls and made our centerpieces with black magic roses.

Also, if you do favors do edible ones! We baked cookies and put them along with chocolates in small colored bags tied off with pretty ribbon. On the front of the bad I designed a "logo" for our wedding consisting of our initials and wedding date. I printed these in color and pasted them onto the bags for personalization. I think people enjoy edible favors versus the ones that wind up in drawers like anothe poster said. We set one favor at each place setting and it really helped dress the table up.

Another thing we did was buy a ton of wine glasses at Target. I think they came in boxes of 12 and worked out to be a buck each. We filled each with rose petals and a simple candle. These were also placed at each place setting. We had an evening wedding and the candlelight was amazing once night came.

We decided to save where we could since our big splurge was our photographer.

Definatley make your own veil too! Good luck!

 

[pebbles]

Date: 2/16/2006 4:49:39 PM
Author: AmberWaves
Having a friend make my dress! Just show ''em a picture, and it''s as good as made! (Although I may want to buy one anyway!) Also, a friend is doing the DJing for us, only 250 dollars! All the music we like, scheduled pefectly.

There is a thread somewhere on what kind of regrets we had with our wedding, and my #1 regret, and I still am sad about to this day, is that I had my dress made. In a nutshell, I would make sure that the dress is made WELL ahead of time if it does not come out to what you exactly wanted. I HATED my dress, and unfortunately got in only a week before our wedding so I was screwed. It didn''t look at all like I was hoping (although according to my mom, I am the only one that knew that) and I really didn''t get to try it on until it was done because the seamstress kept pinning, cutting and recutting the muslin. Obviously I am biased, but I would never recommend having something as important as your wedding gown made. I still have flashbacks...

We too didn''t have favors. I always threw them out anyway.

We got our flowers for the reception from a grocery store floral department (ordred ahead of time). We didn''t have limos or fancy transportation for the bridal party (so they could ride with their SOs). Those are a few things I can think of off the top of my head...

 

[Mara]

two words..destination wedding. our budget went from a ~20-25k wedding to a $13-15k wedding just by changing the locale. less people came but everyone got invited, and everything was much less than locally for the same quality if not better. plus you have the beautiful destination locale. definitely the best decision we ever made !

 

[Caribou]

Well I''m doing very simple typical spring flowers (tulips, hyanthius(sp) ). My center pieces will only be flowers, no candles.
We are forgoing the DJ. I''ve been to too many wedding where 1 or 2 people danced all night. It just seems like a waste of money for us. So hopefully I will get an iPod for my birthday and I will download some songs on that and have it piped into the hall.

We are also having only beer and wine at our reception. Only one bottle of champaign (for us and the MOH and GM).

Our wedding will be on a Sunday and we are having a lunch buffet, which will cut costs.

That''s all right now.

Oh and my mom and grandma bought my dress, veil, and headband which saved us $500.

And we.... well my MOH and I are doing the invites, although I don''t know if that will be a cost savings yet.

 

[SarFarSuperstar]

Ebree- thanks for the flower ideas! I actually really like the idea of hollowed-out pumpkins- is that cheesy? We were also thinking about doing caramel apples as out favors/more decoration for the table (totally stole that idea from someone''s knot bio- it was such a great idea!). I totally agree with cpster that edible favors are the way to go- at least if people leave their apples behind, I''ll get to eat them!

We''re also saving some money by doing it on a Sunday afternoon and having the ceremony at our church- it''s almost double the cost for non-members!

 

[lovelylulu]

my biggest savings so far has come with my dress. I have never been that "fancy" and i don''t care for a lot of embellishments -- so i think that kind of personal style lends itself to finding a more budget dress. i went with an ivory non-bridal gown. It was under $700 to begin with, which is extremely pricey for a regular dress, but it''s a designer label. anyway, i found the exact same dress on bluefly for under $400. I was thrilled, but they just didn''t have my size. so, i bought the dress for about $700 kept the tags on and religiously checked bluefly''s inventory for my size. finally, after almost giving up, i found it, ordered it, returned the other for a full refund and have my dream dress for about $350. not too shabby

and while we aren''t DIYing the floral arrangements, we are using in season flowers and a florist (not a floral designer). we are sticking tight to our budget, i think that is key, just being very firm about what exactly you can afford and they are working with us to make it beautiful! also, like with diamond buying

everything is quite a bit discounted if you do it online -- i.e. invitations, BM dresses, veils, shoes, etc.

good luck!

 

[Kismet]

We saved big on our bar tab by having our reception at a historic home and buying all the alcohol at a liquor store. So if you''re still looking for a reception site, check out the historic homes (or other places that let you provide your own alchohol) in your area. We ended up paying $850 for 100 people for 5 hours.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Date: 2/16/2006 4:53:26 PM
Author: SarFarSuperstar
Two words: Cash bar.

ohhh...not sure if I like this idea. IMHO I think cash bars are tacky. I think offering beer and wine only is a much better option or like Kismet said find a location where you can bring in your own liquor. I just think it is wrong to ask your guest to pay for anything at YOUR reception.

 

[curlygirl]

Our biggest savings came from having an off-season wedding. I know most people would never do it but we took the chance in February and it was worth it. All of our vendors were available and gave us better prices because it's not like they had other events going on. My dress was not cheap but probably less expensive than an actual wedding gown because it wasn't meant to be used as a wedding gown. We made our own programs. We printed addresses on the envelopes ourselves using the computer and it looked better than hand calligraphy. We had the menus and place cards printed by one of the best vendors who I highly recommend www.inkspun.com. It's all digital calligraphy and the prices can't be beat. They did a great job. We didn't have favors. We had a dj and an Armenian band and it was still cheaper than going with just a regular wedding band. I got my veil from the lovely rfath--brides should share their goodies with others when they're done using them!! We only had a maid of honor and best man so that eliminated the need for gifts, etc. for a big bridal party. We also used a friend who is a cinematographer as our videographer and a professional photographer friend to do our photography (film & digital).

I did splurge on flowers but it's NY and hard to get a bargain and I had to use one of the vendors recommended by my location. I also splurged on my shoes, hair and make up because I finally realized that the important thing was how I looked!

 

[eks6426]

I think Mara has it right...destination wedding. I didn''t do anything as exotic as Hawaii like Mara, but I did go 4 hours from my home town. That immediately cut the guest list a lot. We only had very close friends and family. For family, I invited my aunts & uncles but not all my cousins that I never see anyway. I bought my dress for about $300 on a lunch break. Sure, the $1000-$2000 dresses are beautiful, but I couldn''t justify the cost. We also did it on a Sunday. We had an outdoor gourmet luncheon. Our entertainment was basic conversation and a large tub of "toys" for playing in the park (frisbees, balls etc.) We did not serve alcohol. We also saved money by having our mother''s make our favorite childhood desserts instead of a cake. For the photographer, we negotiated to just get the pictures on a digital DVD and I made prints on my own and did our wedding album through Snapfish''s memory book (total cost for album $100) Total wedding cost--about $2500 including invitations, photographer, dress, suits (purchased not tuxes), flowers, food, minister etc.) I''ve heard from so many people how unique and fun our wedding was.

It''s really all about expectations. When I married the first time I felt there were so many "shoulds." Such as I SHOULD have favors. I SHOULD have an open bar etc. I SHOULD invite cousin so and so or acquaintance friend so and so. Well the 2nd time around, we did what WE wanted to do and if it didn''t fit tradition we didn''t care. I didn''t worry what others thought of me.