I have been engaged for a long time and want to have a wedding! I want it outdoors, and have some basic ideas. However, we are not financially well-off (nor is either family) and have a hard time saving money. Any ideas how to save, cut costs with photography, reception food, catering, etc. I appreciate any advice. What did you do for your thrifty outdoor wedding?|||Our planning:
Getting married at noon in a garden, for free (lots of outdoor places are free or low cost)
No need to decorate the garden, it's nice enough
Keeping guest list down. 40 invited.
Taking guests to lunch at nearby restaurant for our reception. We only have to pay for the food people eat. About $400, that including drinks. Not alcoho
No need to decorate the restaurant, it's nice enough. No centerpieces
No wedding party (except flower girl), no need to worry about buying them attire, flowers, and so on.
Photography student for discounted price.
Hiring a violinist for the ceremony for $110
Whatever music the restaurant plays is what we will have to listen to at the reception.
My dress cost $89 and my accessories were $25
Flower girl dress $22
Going to make my own bouquet from fresh cut flowers for $15
cupcakes to cost about $200
Officiant $265
Bascailly we're getting married in a garden and then going to lunch. Easy, simple, low cost.
Saving? We put money aside every week and only touch it for the wedding.
Our budget for the day is $1500|||Food and flowers are going to be the bulk of your expense. My brother and his wife had their wedding at her parents farm. We ordered big salads from olive garden and the moms pitched in and made a huge batch of lasagna and bread. The wedding party pitched in with extra sides and they got a cake from a local bakery, nothing too fancy. I am not saying ask your wedding party to do this but my brother and his wife were really close to their friends and their friends were so sweet and were so helpful. Overall everything went great! Keep the food simple, buffet style to cut on that expense...try doing your flowers yourself, research on some inexpensive greenery (asparagus fern is a good one) and put it in vases on the tables, skip the roses they are very pricey when trying to stay in budget..tables and chairs are pretty standard. Do you belong to a church, maybe they would lend the table and chairs? Pay a friend to take snap shots. It is possible to have a romantic beautiful wedding on a budget you just have to get creative :)
Best wishes|||an outdoor wedding would be beautiful and you can do it on a budget for sure.. the best way to save money is to carefully watch your guest list too.. here are some good ideas for saving money on a wedding: http://www.celebrationideasonline.com/we鈥?/a> Also have a friend with a good camera take your pictures..|||Make your own cake, center pieces, wedding dress, invitations, and food. Use fake flowers. Only invite family and a few friends -- those you don't invite will forgive you.|||If you belong to a church, many will let members marry for free. And the reception can be in the fellowship hall. If that works for you, you could ask close friends and family to help with food.|||When my fiance and I got engaged we opened a wedding savings account, we each deposit $200 a month (or more if we can) in the account, and also made it for "deposit only" meaning it would need both our signatures to withdraw from it. In a year that's at least $4800. We've paid for everything as we go along and made payments to our reception venue, we take turns with that one month he pays, one month I do, so our wedding account will be to pay last minute things and then for our honeymoon.
Photography is really the one thing you might want to splurge on, your pictures are forever! However check out some on craigslist, facebook, etc get recommendations from friends. Also if you have a local college see if their photography professors know of any students who might be able to do them. Being a student or a just starting out doesn't necessarily mean they're not good at it. On the flip side of that also having a nice expensive camera doesn't mean they are good at it! One thing *never* have a photographer without a contract and never sign it if you don't agree with it!
Flowers: A florist will cost the absolute most. you can make your own boquets and centerpieces you will save a bundle by ordering your flowers in bulk at places like Sam's Club, Costco, Grocery Stores, Greenhouses. If you have no experience in making your own boquets or centerpieces and aren't crafty in general (I'm not) craft stores like Michael's or Hobby Lobby have classes on Floral Arrangment which will teach you the essentials you need to know. Most of us also know someone willing to help.
For your dress there is a charity called Brides Against Breast Cancer and they have trunk shows all over the country, they also have stores in a few states. The sales of the dresses goes towards cancer research and helping cancer patients with their care. Some of the dresses are used, most are new and were donated by the designers some of them are half off the price you'd see in a Bridal Shop. http://www.bridesagainstbreastcancer.org鈥?/a>
Bridal shows/expos: If your area has any coming up I'd highly recommend going to 1 or 2 of them. They are full of vendors like caterers, bakeries, florists, venues, travel agents, photographers, videographers, DJs, transportation companies and most of them have specials or discounts they don't offer at any other time. Most of them also have drawings for grand prizes of free or hugely discounted services. My brother found his caterer here, he got half off his catering from a drawing, and a friend of mine won a trip for her honeymoon at one (to Hawaii).
Favors: Edible ones are best. You really don't need to go overboad on them. Everyone has enough calanders, coasters, mugs/shot glasses/glasses, golf tees (especially if you don't golf), picture frames with someone elses wedding anniversary on them, also enough CD's full of pirated music other people like. Edible (candy/cookies) are predictible but they are also the most practical and popular because -- people like them. Anything other than edible is likely to be left behind or discarded along the way. I have a massive collection of shot glasses from weddings in the basement - I think.
Other than http://theknot.com here are a few other sites that are helpful:
http://weddingwire.com (they also have an extensive music section)
http://marthastewartweddings.com
http://brides.com
http://onewed.com
decorations/favors/invites:
http://www.wrapwithus.com/
http://www.efavormart.com/
http://www.koyalwholesale.com/
http://www.annsbridalbargains.com/
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