administrative stuff

[kellinator]

With weddings come... wedding filters. Opt in below.

And anyone who has any tips for doing this whole wedding thing inexpensively (and maybe even elegantly), I'm listening. No actually, I'm begging. Please. The only way I'll bring this sucker in under budget is if I start planning now.

[Poll #746691]

Comments

[tattermuffin.livejournal.com]

Keeping wedding costs down: ask friends with talents (sewing, crafty, etc.) to help with time instead of wedding gifts. One of my friends is an expert seamstress and she made my wedding dress for me as her gift, which got me exactly what I wanted for MUCH less than it would have cost otherwise. Another is an artist and gave me the gift of the image for the front of my invitations.

Also, an off-season wedding date will made location costs lower - and will increase your chances of getting the place you want :)

[sallerina.livejournal.com]

i also agree on the supermarket cake. one of my best friends got married last year and she got her cake from the bakery at the super g. no one knew the difference, but her wallet knew it was only $50 poorer.

[shes-precious.livejournal.com]

There are LJ communities for inexpensive wedding planning. Check jerseygirl1's info page because I'm pretty sure I saw that she belonged to a few.

[legolastn.livejournal.com]

I like what someone else said. Decide what you want. I wanted tuxes. Allen wanted nice flowers. Everything else was negotiable, pretty much.

[zitronenhai.livejournal.com]

What's your budget... do you wish to share?

Are you familiar with helenangel? If not, she's an absolute doll and I totally adore her. Beyond that, she's become something of a wedding expert. She has a website/blog devoted entirely to weddings and wedding planning: AppleBride (http://www.applebride.com/pages/Main_Page). I bet she could give you some really good tips.

[amenquohi.livejournal.com]

Forgot to mention - eBay for wedding dresses, or better yet, call a costume rental place and rent one, unless you want to be able to hand one down to a daughter someday.

[squiddna.livejournal.com]

I know very little about planning, I'd just like to see how it's going. :)

[sempereadem.livejournal.com]

I also second the Publix cake, they did our cake and the groom's cake and it was delicious, not to mention cheap.

[jerel.livejournal.com]

Have it outdoors. You wouldn't believe how much flowers cost! Outdoors, there are already flowers, or trees, or nice shrubbery.

Publix cake is a GREAT idea. Tastes great, costs less!

Places I would splurge a bit on: photographer and food. Get a pro and not a friend--unless you have a friend who is a pro. People remember if the food is good or if it sucks, so in order to avoid sucking, I'd say get a caterer. Take recs from anyone you can, especially on who to avoid! An acquaintance of mine had The Worst DJ in Central Florida, so I made sure to get his name, so I wouldn't hire him.

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

I categorically forbid you from using Precious Moments ANYTHING. I assume you weren't planning on it, but you invoked the name. And you know with Precious moments, invoking the name can conjure up the evil itself.

[azurelunatic]

What my parents wound up doing:

Decided to get married two weeks before the event. (Dad started talking about that when I decided to get married to my Evil Ex, and Mama hushed him up FAST; I think there was a Pregnancy Scare.) Told all the friends and family; allowed just barely enough time for the out-of-state family to get tickets and come.

Rented a local banquet hall type place (in Fairbanks at that time, that usually is a multi-function area; I think it was the Dogmushers' Hall, which is also used as a ready room for snowy mushers, their sleds and gear, and whole teams of dogs).

Bought insane amounts of cider and cranberry juice.
Bought the cake (I think -- either that or it was a friend who knew what s/he was doing).

Announced a massive potluck/popular dance type among friends (they met through the folkdancing crowd, iirc)/jam session reception.

Had a very quiet civil ceremony with the tapped-for-the-occasion husband of Mama's best friend officiating. (In Alaska, anyone may marry a couple provided, um, a few things.)

Had a riotously fun and informal and crazy reception with dancing, screaming kids, and all the good stuff that Dad's parties are notorious for.

[godessillyria.livejournal.com]

Publix wedding cake...excellent. Add natural flowers. I did mine with Roses and pink and red (they were big and gorgeous and they're non toxic).

I loved it. And it looked amazing!!!

Keep the bridal party small if possible just the maid of honor, best man and the flower girl and ring boy. You'll avoid the anxiety. Knock yourself out on the dress, you'll only wear it once and YOU need to look gorgeous, more so than anyone else. No skimping on the gown, at all.

The reception the earlier the better, if possible a lunch. That's what I did and you can get better deals food wise by keeping the menu light, hence lunch. If you must have an open bar do so, but I just served up champagne and no one was the wiser. And hey if the invitees bitch then feh, you need the $$$ for that super duper honeymoon.

At the end of the day, Kelly, people will complain about one thing or another, whether you throw a $50K soiree or a $10K. The eseentials are dress, tux, photographer, video, decent reception and honeymoon.

Ooh I'm so happy for you!!!!

[teague.livejournal.com]

If you don't already have a dream destination in mind for the honeymoon, I can probably get you a cheap rate at the hotel I work at. Like 29 a night for a room that goes for 99 a night during the summer regularly.

Also, I am a photographer!

[blackacre.livejournal.com]

vegas, baby.

maybe not.

(i'm only commenting because its probably seems strange that i want to be on your wedding filter. but seriously, regardless of my personal desire to never get married i actually think its interesting to see what/how people pull weddings off...hence the interest. ;) )

[ellimayhem.livejournal.com]

You didn't give me a "I hate wedding stuff, but, well, OK, just for you I'll make an exception...." option. So really I will leave it up to you. But I had to give you the advice for pulling off the inexpensive wedding I offered up.

[amary.livejournal.com]

"I hate wedding stuff, but, well, OK, just for you I'll make an exception."

That's the camp I'm in. If it was anyone but Kelly, the answer would be "Absolutely, positively, hell fucking NO." But knowing what I know about her, I'm guessing that she looks at wedding-related stuff with the same level of cynicism that I do.

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

Don't buy anything from a wedding supplier that you can either acquire elsewhere, make yourself or have someone make for you. Wedding suppliers tack a huge markup on anything labeled "wedding."

We had the whole shebang in our backyard. We only had to rent a canopy in case of rain and make sure the plumbing worked. Our biggest expense was food, and we managed to get some wonderful beef from a local restaurant by having my father-in-law get it (he owned a business in town for years and knew the restaurant owners), everything else came from a supermarket (party trays), and it was surprisingly good. Oh, and my mother-in-law made the cake. I had my gown made by a costumer (since we were doing a medieval-ish theme), and it only cost me $140.00 -- and that includes the cost of the fabric.

[ardentdelirium.livejournal.com]

check out weddingplans

[polychromatic22.livejournal.com]

There are actually quite a few books put out on how to have a cheap wedding, and still have it be fantabulous.

My biggest hugest advice is to remember that it's the marriage that matters, not the wedding. Therefore, whatever you *choose* to spend on it is completely reasonable and okay.

Oh, and I totally think it's awesome that no diamonds were involved in your ring. Diamonds support horrible horrible happenings (like non consensual amputations in africa), and are basically artificially valuable.

[spikepage.livejournal.com]

When it comes down to the reception, go with simple light foods such as finger sandwiches, fruit trays (which can be quite elegant if arranged nicely) and the Publix cake. Stick with non-alcoholic punch rather than trying to impress your friends with champagne or a wet-bar. If your guests want to graze until they friggin' explode, tell 'em to take their asses to Golden Corral. If they want to get pissin' drunk, tell them to bring their own booze. It should be YOUR special day, not your day to go in debt.

[ilexx.livejournal.com]

Publix cake is REALLY f'in good, too - everyone says so. ours was from Publix and it was UHMYummy.

[ilexx.livejournal.com]

i can't promise i'll have much useful advice or a lot of feedback. BUT! i DO have a recommendation for a WONDERFUL photographer, if you're going to hire a pro. she really worked with us to get us something we could afford, and she was just a dream to work with, before, during, and after the whole thing.

http://www.artbydesignstudios.com/index.html

if you contact her, shannon is her name, and tell her ilex sent ya! (no biggie if not, but i adored her so much, i've gotta give a shout for her :)

[opalturtle.livejournal.com]

YAY!!! Congrats!!!

Let's see. . .inexpensive wedding
*We had ours in a state park - the chapel in Montgomery Bell State Park to be exact - it was free! Check to see if there's anything like that you could get for free or cheap.

*I found my wedding dress online for $300, used, but perfect!

*The only real flowers we had were buttercups and hyacinths in big pots in the front of the church. For the bouquets and the rest of the decorations we used silk flowers. They're much cheaper and as a side benefit, they're still pretty five years later (a little dusty, though!)
If you want I can do your flowers for you!!

*Check online for package deals for printing invites and napkins and all that good stuff.

*We used bubbles instead of little birdseed bags. We just tied ribbons around 'em, put 'em in a basket and we were done. Much faster and probably cheaper, too. And bubbles aren't painful like birdseed can be!!

Umm. . .that's all I can think of for now. If I come up with any more ideas I'll send them your way.

[dorei.livejournal.com]

We did our own invitations on the computer with templates from Office Depot. Final cost (before stamps): $30. And since our colors were amethyst and ivory, we were able to do them in our colors. Purple ink on ivory card stock.

[madshrubbery.livejournal.com]

If you're planning something for next year, wait until after the winter holidays, and then clean up on all the sales of ribbon. Where I live, white ribbon is always left over in January, and you can get tons for cheap. Even better if your colors are red, green, silver, or gold, too. (J/K, but red for February, green for March!) Great for decorating favors, tables, pews, what-have-you.

[mydeepbluesea.livejournal.com]

I would love to make your wedding invites as a gift. You guys would just need to tell me a theme or colors or anything that really needs to be in, and I'll do up some prototypes.

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

*speechless*

You are so awesome! *hug*

[mydeepbluesea.livejournal.com]

my pleasure, dear. When the time gets closer for when you'd like them, just let me know, and we can talk particulars.

[john666.livejournal.com]

If you don't have to get married in Atlanta there is a church in a park here in Jackson County. It holds 175 people, and cost $200, $100 of which you get back if you do not leave the place in a mess.

http://www.hurricaneshoalspark.org/churchrental.htm

[dorei.livejournal.com]

We had to pay for our own wedding, too. I did it under budget.

We got married in the same place where we held the reception. This meant one rental fee and no limo fee.

Skimp on the flowers. They're overpriced if you go with a florist and no one will really remember them anyway. I went to Michaels and did fake flowers because they last longer and they're cheaper. We were married on a back porch at an historical hotel, so the white criss cross fencing seemed like plenty of decoration to us for a June wedding, since the grounds were so beautifully green. The hotel had one of those arches that we draped some garlands (bought on sale at Michaels) over and looked quite nice.

We went with a morning wedding. We were married at 11:30 in the morning. Morning weddings, or weddings on Fridays or Sundays are MUCH cheaper than Saturday late afternoon, early evening weddings. You will save beaucoup bucks doing "off hour" weddings. Our reception was a brunch buffet which was amazingly good.

Because I ordered the DJ a year in advance and paid in full, he cost me under $400 for four hours, and he did a fantastic job.

My entire wedding cost us just under $5,000 -- the only splurge we took was on the photos, at $2k.

[syrren.livejournal.com]

My first wedding cost me only 2K. Which was good because it only lasted 2.5 years.
I borrowed my dress from a childhood friend, my shoes were my something old, I made my bouquet myself, my cousin did my hair, my ex-in-laws prepared all the food and decorations, a friend baked our cake, my maid of honors dresses were bought from a store going out of business for 39 bucks a piece, my matron of honor's dress was made by her best friend, the flower girl's dresses were bought at Westend Mall for 10 bucks a piece.
I rented the Community Club house in my home town for 175 bucks and received 150 of that back in about two weeks. The wedding was held outside in the garden of the Community Clubhouse. I drove myself to the club house instead of using a limo service, pictures and photos were taken by family and friends. We did the cameras on the table thing.
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The wedding with James was a bit more because we got married in Jamaica. The tickets and resort fees are what cost us the most. 6K total.

I went to the Westend Mall and bought my dress for 60 bucks. I purchased the kids dresses at Burlington for 28 bucks a piece. James got his attire at a men's clothing store in Marietta for 45 bucks.

Pictures were taken by my sister, she also did our video. Of course we used our own cameras.

The minister charged us 300 bucks for his services and getting married on the beach was of course was free.

We didn't have to worry about a reception or gifts. That was taken care of by our co-workers once we got back to the states.

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So use your best judgement when it comes to your budget. Make a budget and stick with it. Most of all remember this is YOUR day and don't let anyone talk you into something that you don't like. Even if it is within your budget.

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

My brother had his wedding at Unicoi state park. THey were married on the beach of the lake. He just wore his nice business suit and she had an awesome dress she got at a department store that, though white, wasn't a "bridal gown" but with some netting from Michael's who knew the diff?

THey had my cousin do pictures and instead of flowers on the tables they had these really cool photos he took of them in B/W with their personalities and love evident inthe photos - much more memorable than flower arrangements!

I did the wedding cake for the same cousin - they picked a cake decoration they liked and I charged them for materials. Wasn't even $100 altogether! (they insisted on paying for the cake pans too which I still have so if you or some friend wants to make the cake, I got the pans and the decorating kit - hell I'll do it for you if you really want) but I hear publix cake is pretty good too.

Trust me on the state park thing - lots of beautiful locations around here an renting a clubhouse for one day is cheap as dirt.

DJ? Please don't tell me you don't have at least two or three friends who could help you there! SHoot, just setup a computer to an amp and fire up your winamp! (comorbid, BTW is a great DJ you can ask him and I bet he's WAY cheaper than $400 somenoe else mentioned)

I say, as everyone, rent your dress if you can't find something suitiable at a department store (I had a Macy's dress for my first wedding with some decorations on it) if you want flowers go to the farmer's market THAT DAY, ask your friends for photos, DJing, food and cake

....and don't let your relatives intimidate you into anything - definitely good advice.

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, I think the biggest waste of money in all weddings: Limos.

Youll be in the thing for what? 20 minutes?

Christ ask a friend with a nice car to drive you (if you need to be driven somewhere) but mostly, have the wedding same place as reception.

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

have the wedding same place as reception

This is a big thing I've been planning on, as the limo cost is a total waste and getting people from the ceremony to the reception is a huge freakin' headache. :)