Wedding ideas?

Question

Planning a wedding and dont want to get scammed into paying a lot for things I can do myself, any suggestions on how to have an elegant event without the big bill?

Answer 1

Here are a few tips that worked for me:

1. Shop for your wedding dress on the bargain rack at wedding stores or even on eBay. If it's not quite the right size, but it's the right price, have it altered.

2. Skip the limo, your wedding party will be happy to decorate your vehicle.

3. Talk to people, there are several people in any city or town that make wedding cakes for a fraction of the price you can purchase one for at a specialty store. Ask that person to show you pictures of their work, if you like it, hire them.

4. Similar to #3, find through word of mouth someone who does photography on the side rather than hiring a studio photographer.

5. Get some sort of a wedding planning book so you can make good notes and keep track of things.

6. As far as the honeymoon goes, instead of parents (or close aunts and uncles) giving you cheesy gifts that you may not need, have them pitch in on your plane tickets or hotel stay.

7. Make your own flower arrangements with silk flowers, (watching sales flyers to get a good deal) or if you know someone else that has done this, and you could live with their colors, could you borrow them?

8. Can you hold the reception at the residence of someone you know?

9. When it comes to food for the reception, what could you recruit people to make or help with? Maybe you can have the main items catered, but veggie trays, salads, meatballs, fruits, etc. are easy to make, cut up, and store in bulk.

10. So many people want to spend a ton of money on gifts for the wedding party. The wedding party is very helpful, and more than not, close friends. As a very elegant thank you gift, frame a favorite picture of you together with this friend, assemble a scrapbook of memories for them, do something creative and inexpensive, but personal.

11. DJ instead of a band, if that fits in your plans.

12. eBay, eBay, eBay. I just can't stress that enough. Internet, internet, internet. I still can't believe the deals I come across sometimes.

13. Determine your budget and stick to it. That sounds basic, but it is very important. I personally don't understand people that go thousands of dollars into debt over a wedding. They are just starting out, and are already in mounds of debt together. If you get into mounds of debt together, wouldn't you rather it be for a house?

14. Do not use/hire a wedding planner.

Good luck. In 1995, my husband and I got married, dress, tux, reception, food, cake, pictures, EVERYTHING, for $1500. Yes, $1500. We already had a baby girl (and little money) and were saving for our first house together, which we bought 3 months later. The reception was at his mom's property, she made all the food, it was great. No regrets. That was her gift to us. My dad bought the plane tickets for our honeymoon as a gift. My mom took 2 weeks off of work to help with and be at the wedding, then care for our daughter while we were on our honeymoon. Good luck!

Answer 2

I wish I could help you, but I've been wondering myself if there is any way to celebrate an elegant wedding without the huge bills.
And to random name, you are so sad. Just because you don't know how to value a woman doesn't mean that every guy is like that.

Answer 3

Everyone's given great advice already so I'm just going to add tap talented friends to bake, decorate arrange flowers etc, look local for entertainment, students are often perfectly fine entertainment and then it's live vs obnoxious DJ, and shop in bulk for food and decorations from discount places/clubs. (Think costo and onlinewholesaleflowers.com) Also, keep the bridal party small; intimate is more tasteful than ostentatious anyway. If you want elegant though, one little thing...please no silk flowers. Yuck. Mirrors covered with tea light candles (craft store for both) with a delicate nosegay of Real flowers is so much better.

Answer 4

theknot.com has alot of budgeting tips.
i work in a restaurant and bridal shop and weddings are cheaper on fri and sun than on sat!(almost half the price)
and
if you are an"average size girl you can get a good deal on a sample or discontinued gown.
and then have it taylored to fit you perfect!
most bridal shops get all dresses in 10s or 12s so unfortunalty if you are any size bigger this is not a bargining tool.
dont be afraid to get a couple estimates for everything. and ask for throw ins . mention that a couple of your girls or guests are engaged or might be getting engaged soon!
sounds tacky but saves money and buisness like the referals
happy planning

Answer 5

I am the queen of cheap. My wedding came in at just under $1000.00. Really. I had it in a historic theatre (The Paramount in Abilene,Texas) . It is very elegant and it cost $150 to rent it out for 3 hours and they put our names on the marquee. I found a lady here that sells wedding dresses out of her home. I got a $2500 dress for $375 (still had the David's Bridal tags on it) and rented the petticoat for another $25. Spent $250 on tux rentals, $60 on flowers for the boquet and bootniers (on sale at hobby lobby and we made them ourselves). $120 on pictures (photographer was the photography teacher at the local high school and friend of the family) and the cake was free as it was made by a friend of the family as well (yes it was beautifully decorated and had four tiers on it). I got my shoes from Dillard's closeout sale for $16. If you really do some leg work and talk to people in your area and at parks you can find a lot of cool cheap stuff in your town.

Answer 6

FIRST is to figure out your budget. People try to put that off and then end up having agreed to spend way too much on this or that.

I looked for a long time for invites. They range all over the board in prices and there is no reason to spend $2-3 each for an invite. I ordered mine from www.invitationsbydawn.com and they were gorgeous. www.annswedding.com and www.now-and-forever.com are great as well but definitely look online. I ordered the catalogs listed in Modern Bride and they were much cheaper than anything I saw at Bridal Shows.

My best friend ordered her dress on ebay and it was gorgeous. She ordered it from China and they took every measurement possible so it fit perfectly. But you can find the perfect gown without getting a custom made Vera Wang.

What can you do yourself? I made my programs. So simple. Bought card stock paper at Staples and took them to Kinkos to get them printed off once I was finished. I made all my favors too. I bought candles for my guests and printed labels off my printer for the front of the candle with a picture of my groom and I and the wedding date. Do not spend much on favors. Many will be left over so set a strict budget. I did candles in a glass jar 25 cents each. Oriental trading has a ton of ideas.

Alcohol is a huge expense. It is cheaper to serve wine or a couple signature drinks instead of an open bar. There are tons of inexpensive wines as well if you just look around. Try a lot first :) so you can find the perfect one.

Anyone willing to offer help? I had neighbors clipping coupons from Michaels. They had 40% off coupons every week in the paper but it was only on one item. So I bought one item each week. Ask other brides at your church for what they have left over. You can get your vases for your centerpieces from a bride b/c after the wedding--who needs 20 glass vases? Same with the mirrors or marbles or whatever.

If you start planning early you can find it on sale. I was able to get nearly everything half price b/c if you have the time to keep looking, it will go on sale. Price shop Price shop Price shop.

If you have a friend that can assist with anything--use them. I've been to weddings where she had a friend do her hair, a friend do alterations on her dress, or even the grandmother baked the cake. But if a friend volunteers to help you, you can't be bridezilla.

My grand total was 10,000 and I had an extremely elegant evening affair. Reception hall was a shriners club for about 1,000. Caterer was about 3,500. Church was about $500. Cake-I saved a lot by using someone new to the business. She'd been doing desserts for a long time but just started with wedding cakes. She did a fabulous job and was much cheaper than others in the area. Flowers-I don't care much about them so I saved a lot by not ordering thousands of flowers. I had the Walmart florist order them for me and when they came in that morning, we picked them up in the florist boxes from their wholesaler. Then we arranged them ourselves for the centerpieces.

www.ezweddingplanner.com was a site that I used that really gave you a good idea of how much of your budget should be alloted to each thing.

Hope these ideas help. Figure out what really matters to you and what doesn't--that way you can save money from what doesn't. Just stick to your budget and you'll be fine.

Answer 7

Take your time, shop around, enlist in the help of your family and friends. Check out bridal websites and get ideas from magazines that you can incorporate into your wedding.

If someone in your family can take pictures, and someone else can do cakes, and someone is crafty to help with the deco, you're on your way.

Just put your ideas down on paper and run with it. Good luck and congratulations.

Answer 8

Pick out the items that are MOST important to you !! Cut out half the stuff you do not need . Go to weddingchannel.com and they have a checklist and if there are things you do not want on the list you can delete them . They also have a budget calculator too. Good luck

Answer 9

I know its been said a lot, but The knot (www.theknot.com) has really helped with my wedding planning, it has a lot of useful tools. People there can be helpful as well.

Answer 10

exclusively weddings.com

anns bargains.com

also try to do some of the things by buying the things you need in craft stores and decorating them yourself.that store micheals is good.