Planning your wedding is no easy task. There are a lot of people out there that will want to give you advice that you don’t want to take. I found the best answer is to give in response is, “Ok, you can be in charge of that.” In every instance, I was left alone about the matter unless it was someone that truly cared about the issue and us.
There are also some thoughtless people out there. Since we got married in April 2011, someone even asked us if we were getting married on the same day as the royal wedding because they really wanted to watch William and Kate get married. Yikes!
Don’t Get Overwhelmed
I searched and read blogs such as OnceWed or GreenWeddingShoes and felt immediately overwhelmed. Dave quickly reminded me that our wedding was being planned for 350 people, not 35 and there was no way we would be able to do name plates, sit down dinners under lush canopies with vintage china, or over the top kitschy favors for less than $5,000 (Thank you, Dave).
Dave and I decided on a shabby, chic, and less expensive wedding. Below I will try and share with the reader how we managed to pull this off. Let me say here that you need to spend the most on the photographer.
A great photographer is going to cost you anywhere from $1,200 to $3,000 (usually $3,000). Lucky for you in this day and age there are a lot of start up photography companies out there. You can usually strike up a deal with some of them. We chose Dave’s friend, seasoned photography veteran Laura Tarquinoof Vosomo Photography
After you decide on your photographer and venue and food, then take the rest of your budget and divide it up among the other expenses.
The Announcement, Invitation, Thank You Cards
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Being a graphic designer, Dave was called into action several times during the planning of our wedding.
We decided the less expensive route would be postcards for the save the dates and cards for the invitations and thank you cards. If you need any work done for anything, Dave is much more affordable and user friendly than using templates online.
The Engagement Photos
Here is where we really “lucked out.” Dave’s mom took photos of us at the beach and my sister Taylor took photos as well. We received these photos for free, which was one of the best gifts we got! (You might have seen the photos in earlier posts, just click on their names to view the photos.)
The Venue
We finally decided on a shabby and chic wedding at a local train depot that is run by the town’s historical society. The venue was only $250 for the wedding and $50 for the extra day before to decorate and have the rehearsal dinner there. People are shocked when I share this information alone.
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I purchased white paper lanterns on DHGate.com (50 8″ and 50 12″) and electrical cords from Hometown Evolution, Inc. I called and talked to the owner of Hometown Evolution, Inc and he even threw in free light bulbs with my purchase!
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Buffet Verses Plated Sit Down
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One of the most frustrating things to do decide on was food. We decided that plated dinners had a lot of waste and cost. You have to pay for each server and usually $25 per person. For the buffet we were quoted $10.50 per person for the food we chose.
To make the price of the buffet lower we chose
1) a meat lasagna
2) a creamy chicken alfredo
3) a cold pasta salad
4) fruit
5) cheese
6) yeast rolls
7) sweet tea, tea, water
Our venue allowed us to serve wine without hiring a bartender like some other states or venues require. We bought some beer and local wine and my friends volunteered to serve it.
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The Cake…Cupcakes
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We decided on cupcakes right from the start. My sister Lyndsey had them at her wedding and we quickly realized how affordable they could be.
When Lyndsey was planning her wedding she called a bakery and asked for a quote on wedding cupcakes. She was told $3-4 EACH! She waited a few days and called back and asked for a quote for cupcakes for an office party and was told $1.5-2 each.
Disgusted with the local bakery, Lyndsey and I both sought out a woman in town that worked at a camp as their cook. We told her our situation and she laughed. She made Dave and I 400 cupcakes (half carrot cake and half white cake) with the supplies costing $100, and simply asked for a donation for her labor.
We looked around prior to Valentine’s Day and found the perfect cupcake holders for $5. They were originally bright red, but we sprayed painted them without a hitch. We arranged some cupcakes on the tables for the centerpiece instead of spending $25-30 a table for centerpieces. With 20 planned tables there was no way we could afford to spend so much per table. We found that the guests really liked having the cupcakes on the table. We also avoided the cost of a groom’s cake. I told Dave all the cake was his anyway and he laughed. I’m not much for sweets.
The Dress
I purchased my dress online at DHGate.com for $112. I was nervous about this, but the purchase turned out to be great. I had myself measured and ordered my size according to the chart. It came several inches to big. When I emailed them, they simply said, “why didn’t you tell us your measurements, we could have made it to fit you.” DHGate.com is a website that connects you to the factories that make these items, so its no problem for them to whip up something exactly to fit you. No problem for me though, my sister Tara is a talented seamstress and she was able to fit it without problem.
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Suits Vs. Tuxedos
We decided suits were more practical than tuxedos for several reasons, but mainly for the simple fact that you get to keep a suit instead of throwing your money away on a rental.
We ordered all the groom men’s suits from DHGate as well, but this turned out to be a nightmare. Out of eight men, only two had fitting suits. You can’t tell from the pictures, but some of the guys couldn’t even sit down in their pants and changed into jeans at the reception.
I tried to get refunds and had to go through arbitration with the seller. I would recommend ordering them from JCPenny or Men’s Warehouse instead. The price is about the same and you can get fitted locally. Usually you can get a suit on sale for $120.
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My Bouquet
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I priced bouquets at a local florist and found the price to be between $80-$120 for a simple wildflower bouquet. Being the frugal girl that I am, it felt so wrong to spend that money on something that I wouldn’t have for a long time. My mom and I began searching for brooch bouquets online with etsy.com. We found that many of them are priced at $600, but that is the initial deposit! Many of them range fully priced anywhere from $400-$1200!
We quickly watched some how to videos on youtube and made the bouquet ourselves using my great-grandmother’s brooches.
We didn’t make step-by-step pictures, but basically you gather a bouquet of silk flowers to be the base and fill them in with pins.
For each brooch, we wrapped wire around each side of the pinback and then wrapped the florist wire in white florist tape. My mom then pushed each pin (now with a long stem) into the bouquet of silk flowers she had already made.
When she was finished she wrapped the stems all together with a cream ribbon and a pin.
The bouquet is easy to take a part, so one day when we want to wear one of the brooches, we can just slip it out.
The Flowers
We decided on silk flowers for the bridesmaids and the throw away bouquet. Dave and I went to a local store and purchased all the flowers and ribbon for less than $50.
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Photowall
During this whole process I had one bridal magazine that was 4 years old. Inside one of the articles of someone’s $25,000 wedding I saw a 2″x2″ photo of the couple peeking through frames hung on the wall. I showed it to Dave, “Let’s do this. I think you can engineer this.” It took us four weekends in January to get it done, but he mastered a photo wall wall for our friend Hannah (who has her own photography business) to use after our wedding.
Dave took 2 pieces of plywood and cut them to fit on top of each other on a hinged lip. He covered the upper and bottom pieces with a chair rail and the corner round for the corner. We spray painted several frames and cut out holes for guests to stick their faces through and covered the whole wall with some fabric we had left over. For the other frames on the wall we made black and white photos of our families’ weddings and stuck them on the wall.
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All photos on this blog entry of our wedding are by Laura Tarquino of Vosamo Photography
You can watch our wedding video on an earlier post.
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