Getting married on a shoestring..ideas wanted! - Page 2

[prettypixels]

I got a wedding dress from this site:

http://pacificplex.com/

For about $50. I took it to a tailor in the mall and had it altered to fit me for another $50. So, $100 for the dress. I got a veil from a veilmaker on ebay for $25! BEAUTIFUL veil!

[Cajun~at~Heart]

I recommend the book: "A Simply Beautiful Wedding"

We got our flowers from Albertsons (grocery store)
My mom made the bridesmaids dresses, so they only had to pay for the fabric

[Krystal323]

congrats!

having the type of home (and yard!) that we could invite people over to have a nice wedding get-together sounds perfect to me :

and for the most bang for your decorating buck, i suggest candles from the dollar store--LOTS of candles

[EviesMom]

Some ideas:

-Make your bouquet(s)--I thought about this but didn't end up doing it for the ceremony in the end. However, there are easy instructions online to make really nice bouquets and in books at the library. You could also ask a friend to do it for you. Bridesmaids can carry a single flower, which provides more impact and is beautiful.

-Dress from a vintage shop or friend--That I did do. It was much cheaper, and unique. I've never seen "my" dress anywhere else. And the woman there was really really nice and tailored it for me.

-Simplify the reception-although I think a daytime thing at your house sounds like a good bet in general. Potluck wouldn't have felt right to me, but you have to weigh that decision yourself. Could you ask a couple of close friends or relatives to foot the bill/make the food for the reception as their gift to you?

-Especially if you do something outside, have bubbles! You can make them yourself or not, but they look great in photos and people have fun with them, and they're better for wildlife than rice.

Do consider what you'll do in case of rain though. Renting tents is costly from what I've seen.

[allgirls]

Originally Posted by grisandole

moving to frugality and finances Congrats!

thanks..it hit me just a few minutes ago..this is where I should have posted it

[allgirls]

Wow..so many ideas! Thanks..some of them are awesome.

Ok..here is what I am leaning at..I will throw in some prices.

The ceremony. Have an officiant to come to our home. We could invite just immediate family to the ceremony. We will either be doing this in the spring(May 10 or 11) or the fall(date to be determined) so the weather will be chancy. We have a back yard. If it's dry enough and doesn't rain that day and is warm(which last year on that weekend it was gorgeous) we can set up chairs outside and have a beautiful outside wedding. It's plain..house is a year old so not a lot of landscaping but one BIG beautiful tree that should have leaves on it. Officiant would cost $250-$300.

or we could go to a location in a town about 30minutes away and for another $100 have it there...we wouldn't need to rent chairs or decorate or anything..$350 for the whole ceremony. I am leaning towards this one. Because then the weather wouldn't be a consideration and it would probably be as cheap. Also, this location holds up to 80 people plus the wedding party. My brother also lives in this town. Place for one of us to get ready while the other gets ready here at the house.

Reception. I think we might do an open house kind of casual/afternoon thing. Have the ceremony at 11am then from 2pm until 5pm ish invite people to come to our home for finger foods. I was thinking wine and beer only.

Thanks to you guys maybe I will do wine, beer and a wine punch..the punch will make the wine go further. We could set up a bar in the basement with some of the finger foods and more finger foods on the main floor. That way the crowd if too many arrived at once could be dispersed a bit.

The idea of having a photography student take the pictures for experience is brilliant!!!

The cake/cupcake idea is also brilliant. I like the idea of the cake stand with a small 8inch cake on top with matching cupcakes surrounding it all the way around and down. I found a website that will make a frosting picture that you can put on the cake and the cupcakes...it's amazing..you send them a digital photo..costs about $20 and then you put it on top of the cake istead of a topper...tie a ribbon around the cake and surround it with cupcakes...viola. Plus it could be made in advance, frozen and taken out the day before the wedding to defrost.

I like the single flowers.

My attendants will be my 4 daughters. I am thinking that each of the older ones will hold the hand of the younger ones and walk down the aisle with me.

I will wear a dress I can wear again to my FIL's 80th bday party this summer(which is why we can't get married int he summer) and the kids can also wear dresses they would wear to that or their prom dresses(one graduates highschool, the other graduates elementary school, both have proms.)

I will send email invites for the reception.

I will send card invites only to those invited to the ceremony. I will make them on the computer. This will save paper and money.

I can't do potluck. I want to throw this party..lol. I think we can just do little sandwiches, veggie trays, fruit trays, etc. And we would make all this ourselves. If we do this in May I will probably have help from my MIL and my mother as both will be visiting then. My older girls can also pitch in. I can get friends to help us set up.

Anyway..what do you think of my plan? I think we can come in for less than $1000. I guess the key is to pay for what you have to have, then scrimp elsewhere.

Oh..and dh's cousin sings so we would ask her to sing at the ceremony. My 13 year old also sings. I am hoping I could talk her into something but she's pretty shy.

Please keep the ideas coming. I love them. I did find a great website called the frugal bride. It has tons of ideas!

I am so glad I saved this very long post before the website started acting up!

[bwylde]

Our wedding was super cheap. Many people did stuff for us instead of presents. For instance, a friend with a talent for picture taking did our pictures, another did the music (we later had kareoke, which was a huge hit!), we rented a hall with full facilities for $100 but we had friends who helped with the food and setting up for free. We had a potluck, no alcohol (since we don't drink it and we were renting a dry spot...not too many people complained ). A friend made my wedding cake as a gift, which is still talked about to this day (a heavenly carrot cake that was to die for!!!). The actual wedding ceremony was free through my church. My dress was free from a friend who had just divorced and didn't want it anymore. DH's tux was $75 from a clearance men's shop (all the sizes were weird, but fortunately one was a perfect fit for him). Flowers were provided by a friend. I made the invitations up on the computer.

I think a rather elcectic wedding is fun and people still mention it to this day nearly 8 years later. Everyone else was having boring, predictable weddings at the time (being the millenial year) so ours was different and fun. The reception was a big, fun, family affair and without everyone's help we could never of had a reception for about 125 people for *well* under a thousand dollars, flowers, food, clothes, rings included. I learned then never be shy to ask around as in my experience, most people are willing to pitch in and help out

[Rev1053]

I think your plan sounds lovely!
We did the exact same thing when we got married. Except we decided to get married in the living room. I didn't want to travel to another location. We had little things appetizers that I had bought from Costco to eat. It was very small and beautiful.
I wore a clearance dress from Macy's that was just plain black so I can wear it again. Not that I get dressed up too often.
We had an official come to our house and do a SHORT ceremony. I think it took 15 min, but it still felt like forever....
For the cake we ordered it from the local bakery. I think it cost us $80 and it was two tiers. I was amazed that it was so cheap.
Later we went to dinner at a local restaurant (organic, local food) as I didn't want to cook meals for everyone but I wanted to feed them. : The only problem with the food is the kitchen wasn't set up to feed so many people at the same time and my SIL thought she was being picked on as her meal was last. But we expected something from her so it was no big deal.
I think the whole wedding cost us $600-$700 and the majority of it was the dinner at the restaurant.
We loved our wedding and wouldn't change it for the world.

ETA: My sister owns a nice camera so we had a family friend take pictures for us! Turned out VERY good and she wouldn't accept any $$ payment (we ended up mailing her cash anyway as I felt guilty) and she brought us a gift!

[gothnurse3]

I took a cake decorating class at a craft store. Many of the people that took the class were DYING to occupy their time. I'm sure somebody would do your cake for free or very little. They are learning so they could do your cake and get credit for it by taking a picture. Wouldn't hurt plus it would be homemade and fresh.

[CandyApple]

Originally Posted by allgirls

My attendants will be my 4 daughters. I am thinking that each of the older ones will hold the hand of the younger ones and walk down the aisle with me.

I can't do potluck. I want to throw this party..lol. I think we can just do little sandwiches, veggie trays, fruit trays, etc. And we would make all this ourselves. If we do this in May I will probably have help from my MIL and my mother as both will be visiting then. My older girls can also pitch in. I can get friends to help us set up.

Anyway..what do you think of my plan? I think we can come in for less than $1000. I guess the key is to pay for what you have to have, then scrimp elsewhere.

I am so glad I saved this very long post before the website started acting up!

Yeah, I had a long post all typed up last night, when everything went wonky. I see this morning you answered a lot fo the questions I had!

Having the girls in wedding will be very memorable and unique. It be AWESOME if one sings, or all of them together.

I definitely think you can do it for under a $1000, esecially with help.

Just some ideas for finger foods. We did only foods we loved. We did cocktail shrimp (a splurge) that dad steamed the night before (large bags from Sams) and our favorite greek salad and breadsticks from our fav pizza place, salad isn't finger food I know, but easy. Sanwiches, veggies and fruit too. Oh and hot wings, cuz their dh's favorite. Not very elegant, but many of the guests were pleased because it was their favorite foods too. Do you have special foods you love?

I love your cake ideas!

And photos: If professional ones are important, try finding someone for just a few hours. My sister found a gal who pro. shoots babies and kids. She normally charges $50 for a session where she comes to your home for 2 hours worth of shooting children. My sister really liked her work and asked if she’d do her outdoor ceremony and a few choice pics afterward. She agreed. Photos will be more later, but at least its not a huge upfront cost.

Congratulations - sounds like your whole family will be having a great time with this!

[koofie]

Originally Posted by Mommal

Instead of splurging on a band, rip your own wedding cd with all your favorite music on it. If you want, rip multiple copies and give them out as gifts. It's a super-cheap wedding favor, and it's meaningful.

We did this and it is STILL the CD I listen to most.

Originally Posted by elspethshimon

Have one of your friends become an on-line minister and perform the ceremony Free officiant.

We did this as well - our friend did a great job and still thinks it is cool that he got to do it.

We spent about $6k, but we had an expensive wedding/reception package. My mom bought my dress and bought flowers from costco.com and made the bouquets. We had an outdoor wedding and a reception in a restaurant on site. One of the cutest things we did was buy beta bowls for the tables and put a few call lilies (I think?) in them. People took them home afterwards. we got many complements on the wedding - it was nice, wedding-casual but still serious and fun. Her is a slideshow my DH made for us http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErFT0_KNrew
Even though it was more then you plan to spend, we spend $ on a few things we really wanted and were frugal on everything else.

[allgirls]

Great ideas. I think we will do shrimp rings with seafood sauce, sandwiches, veggie trays, fruit trays, cheese and cracker trays..etc. Nothing hot. Nothing to mess with.

Do you think this would work. What if right after the ceremony I assign a couple people to drive back to the house to tidy up and lay out the food, set up the bar, arrange things etc. Because we will get ready at the house, drive to the ceremony we won't have time to fix things up etc. So a couple people could come back and set up the wedding cake and make sure bathrooms are tidy for guests stuff like that. Also we many rearrange the furniture.

I think one thing I will suggest is that guests bring their own chairs(folding lawn chairs if they have them to the reception. We will have lots for the ceremony at the site(which I am 99% sure of doing after pricing out rentals and stuff it's actually cheaper)

I cannot believe the help I recieved here! You guys are amazing!

[koofie]

Check with your local school/church/rec center and see if they have folding chairs you can rent or borrow in case some people don't have lawn chairs (like me)!

[allgirls]

Originally Posted by arismomkoofie

Check with your local school/church/rec center and see if they have folding chairs you can rent or borrow in case some people don't have lawn chairs (like me)!

Great idea! Our neighbor is a minister! Maybe he can help. Of course we do have some and patio furniture and a swing if it's nice out and we can do the reception partly outside!

What do you think of this for a cake?

http://www.weddingsoflove.com/EdibleImages.html

I am thinking I could do the cake/cupcakes myself and then add the frosting pic and make it really pretty.

Does anyone know if you can rent/buy those cake stands cheap?

I was thinking I would get 7.5 inch pic of the two of us for the cake then order 12 cup cakes with pics of the 4 kids and alternate them in a pattern with plain cup cakes...special and also cheaper!

[adtake]

I had a friend who recently got married at a State park. There was a big barn and picket fence. She strung a few bits of garland over the door and had a judge come with them. They had the ceremony in the door way. Invited a few close friends and they just stood during the ceremony. They had a friend take pictures all over the barn and on the fences. It was great! After they went back to her house for a pot luck meal. Cake and snack foods.

It was really nice and very simple!

Good luck and CONGRATS!!

[SquibsNCrackers]

This might not appeal at all, but ...

I know someone who had a 100% green wedding for free. They had organic food, biodegradeable plates and utensils, a treehugging minister, live music, wonderful flowers, an organic cotton dress, more things I can't remember, and they had the wedding at a state park which had a banquet room/kitchen.

They did it by contacting all the green vendors they wanted to use and asking them to donate their goods/services to the wedding in exchange for publicity. They contacted the local newspaper and told them they were having an all green wedding and got them to cover the wedding, thereby providing free advertising for the vendors. They literally had no money to get married, and are very cause-oriented, so it worked for them.

Just an out-there, wacky, crunchy idea, fwiw.

[CatsCradle]

In 1990:

My dress: $80
DH's suit (which he still wears): $100
Rabbi: $100
Food & Cake: $150
Wine glass: .25 from salvation army

We were married in apartment and only had immediate family as guests. I never regret that we "cheaped out." We're still married after 18 years!

[Igraine]

Our wedding was not super cheap, but we had 115 people attend so that is why.

Cost savings:
1) rented a tent, with chairs, tables and linens from the same company. A very good price but it was almost 11 years ago and I can't remember exactly. We were married in a family member's back yard and just moved the chairs from the ceremony area to the tent for the reception. *We did do disposables, but we could have rented everything from this company.
2) had friends who were licensed to marry perform the ceremony and we gave them a gift certificate for dinner because they did not want us to pay them.
3) Had every one bring a dish to pass (* we provided meat, drinks and cake). We did a dinner pot luck style and it was fabulous. I have wonderful cooks in our family and many friends were also fabulous cooks!
4) A friend did the photographs as our wedding present and they were beautiful
5) I slowly purchased the beer, wine, beverages in the 6 months prior to the wedding.
6) We made our own cd and played it on a radio
7) A friend of ours sang a song she wrote and we only had to pay the man to play the guitar

Our wedding costs were under $5000 including my hand made silk wedding dress, dress clothes for my husband, wedding shoes for both of us, purchase of all the items mentioned above and gifts for all our attendants (4) and friends and family members who helped.

Good luck and have fun! It was a great experience and I believe we were able to make our wedding memorable for not only us but also our guests.

[sunanthem]

I've never had a wedding but just attended my SIL's. She had a friend who was a scrapbooker make her invites and they were beautiful, and inexpensive. She also had a fall wedding and for place settings/favors she bought apples and caramel and had all her girls get together before hand and make caramel apples on a stick, wrapped w/ cellophane and tied w/ pretty ribbon.

[redhotmama]

Plan your flowers around what is blooming, lilacs, daffodils, crepe myrtles, roses, mums, zinnias, etc. You can buy a package of zinnia seeds for 99cents and get about 300 blooms....