Frugal Wedding ideas...Post em here! - Page 2

[Ianthe]

Ours was probably on the higher end of "cheap" weddings.. I think it was around $2000 total.

We made our own food in advance
I bought tulips in bulk and used them for our bouquets and center pieces- The center pieces were recycled wine bottles with 2-3 tulips in each, they were lovely.
A friend photographer- you can also try to find one for free on craigslist that is trying to build their portfolio.. I did this, but then he went AWOL before the big day, so have a back up plan!
My mom made our wedding cake.. but she is a cake decorator so that might not be available to you.
Music: ipod and my BIL's band

I'll add more if I can think of them.

[sugarlumpkin]

You've already gotten lots of good advice!

I agree with don't do the disposable cameras since people take stupid photos or walk off with them (I've done that several times myself--whoops!).

I'd also not bother with favors.

If you use an iPod or laptop for your music, make sure to make a playlist, not just put it on shuffle. Otherwise awkward stuff might happen (this happened at a friend's wedding). Also, have a friend be in charge of the music, just someone to babysit and go to the next song if it needs prompting--you don't want the bride/groom having to run over and troubleshoot in the middle of the party!

[KayTeeJay]

The most frugal thing we did at our wedding (small, only about 40 people) was do our own flowers. We saved a *fortune* doing them ourselves. I ordered from www.freshroses.com and have nothing but wonderful things to say about them. We did all the centerpieces in roses, bouquets for myself and four bridesmaids, boutonnieres for 7 and corsages for a few more for under $500. That was with roses, lillies, some berries, all the greenery, and another few types of flowers I can't quite remember. We also made a donation in lieu of favors. Maybe not frugal so much as practical, but it went over very well.

[Tizzy]

We had a super frugal wedding, here's an outline of what we did

First off - we only had 16 people. This was bare bones family and a couple friends. One best man, one maid of honor and one usher.

I should say my stupid moment was buying my 2nd hand wedding dress. I LOVED it at the time, but two days before the wedding I realized I couldn't wear it. It just wasn't right. So I went out and bought my actual wedding dress, it was a white prom dress from a chain store in a mall - it cost $100. The first dress cost $200 and I could probably sell it and get some of that back...if I ever get around to it!

We had an "off season" wedding - in April, thus our photographer was a lot cheaper. She did an a la carte package for us since she wouldn't have been booked for anything else - best money we spent.

We had our ceremony at a public outdoor location (free) and were blessed with GORGEOUS weather.
Our "reception" was a pot luck luncheon at a nearby victorian bed and breakfast. They let us use their facilities for free because we booked 3 rooms for that night (us and our wedding party). We rented dishes which was completely worth it.

I made the center pieces and corsages from realistic flowers on sale at Michaels and had the rest of the flowers done at the floral department of a local chain grocery store. They did an AMAZING job, and my bouquet was under $20. Our "flower theme" was daisies and daffodils, both inexpensive and readily available.

DH wore a black suit instead of a tux and my maid of honor's dress was bought on sale from Sears and I did some minor alterations.

I made all the invites and thank you cards, I did it the hard way - now I'm into actual card making and it would be so much easier doing it the "proper" way.

Oh the officiant prices were INSANE for the most part so we shopped around and ended up with a minister from the closest united church to our ceremony location. We had to attend two pre-marriage sessions which were actually kind of fun

Oh I paid a salon to do my makeup, I wouldn't do that again. And as a wedding present, my SIL did our hair which turned out to be amazing. Next time I'd do my own makeup.

I splurged on getting my nails done, that was useless because they did acrylics instead of gel and I picked them all off right after the reception - they were really annoying.

Oh! My mom made our cake as well, she was really into the rolled fondant stuff and we wanted something extremely simple. It turned out perfectly and I didn't even give her any specific directions.

Also, for favors, we bought a bunch of spruce tree saplings that came with neat tags and instructions. As cool as it was, they were useless because everyone ended up killing them. Another wedding we went to (that was MUCH larger but still heavily budgeted) gave out personalized packets of organic vegetable seeds. I thought that was a cool idea!

I made up a binder that had everything sorted by category and then called everywhere and priced everything out ahead of time. I wasn't afraid to dicker with prices and most places were willing to work with me. Any business is better than no business for them

[redvlagrl]

We had a really cheap wedding. We actually had the ceremony and reception month apart, but here's what we did:

I made my own bouquet with lovely flowers from a large supermarket plus orchids from a hawaiian flower shop. I have pics if you want to see them.

We had a lunch reception midweek. We had an open bar but becuase it was lunch people didn't drink that much

We had a single gerbera in italian soda bottles lined up along the table (17 guests). These were from the supermarket the morning of.

We bought bubbles form Michael's which helped entertain adults and kids

After the reception we came back to our place and had a BBQ with marinated chicken and fresh corn on the grill, plus salads and bread.

My dress was from Lord and Taylor and was brown (!). I've work it several times since.

DH's suit was one he bought for the wedding but it is grey so he has worn it since.

We had a photography student do our awesome pics and she only charged $100 INCLUDING as many prints as we wanted, plus the files so we could print out ourselves.

We took a taxi to city hall and our friends drove us back in the back seat of their two door cavalier!

I did my own hair and makeup.

We both loved our wedding - so relaxed and intimate. Ironically, we're both musicians but didn't end up having any music becuase our friend who was going to play couldn't come at the last minute. Even if he had come, he would have performed only one piece.

[karkli]

Keep an eye out on Freecycle (or post a "wanted" ad) for people getting rid of wedding supplies. I have seen several postings for wedding-related items.

If you know anyone who was married recently or will be getting married between now and your wedding, ask them what they did/are doing with their leftover supplies. My brother and his wife actually left a lot of their decorations (candles, vases, flowers, etc.) at their venue, which (sadly) probably ended up in the trash, because no one wanted them and they ran out of room in the cars to transport things back home. I know that I, personally, held onto the mirrors and flower petals that were part of my homemade centerpieces for a couple years after my wedding. I would have happily loaned them to a friend for their own event!

I absolutely agree on not doing favors, though if you're set on them, there are plenty of cheap options!

I also agree about choosing non-"wedding" items for your wedding. Wedding dresses, wedding shoes, wedding flowers, wedding jewelry, etc - These are all things that you can find at significantly lower cost if you find the version that is not specifically marketed for weddings.