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I found that our biggest splurge was our venue. That was most important to us. It's good if you and your Fi prioritize as to what matters most and go from there. Also, going to local bridal shows helped us. Not only did we get to see different vendors, but if we did book them they gave us a discount for going to the bridal show. Hope this helps. Your wedding day will be so special regardless of your budget. Good luck!
we spent money on: venue, food and photography
we didn't spend money (at least not enough)on, but wish we did: DJ, Videographer
We saved on: stationary, flowers, and all decor through DIYing
Instead of a rehearsal dinner, I had a rehearsal lunch. $12 per person and included soup, entree, beverage and a dessert. It was a plated meal too.
Made my own bm hydrangeas bouquets, hyrdrangeas centerpieces
Bought stuff off craigslist
Checked out Davids Bridal clearance and sale websites and told my bm about them. My sister bought a $80 dress in my color, while the other bridesmaids bought dresses for $150.
Bought my dress at a sample sale. $100 for my dress.
Bought placecards that doubles as favors on ebay. ($1.50 for each favor)
Got a brother of a gm to do our photos. He does weddings on the side. $400
Hired a sister of a bm to be my DOC $120.
Bought my hydrangeas from a discount flower shop. Flowers cost me $80. All of those flowers made 17 floral centerpieces, 8 bm bouquets and random decorations.
Husband went to art school and drew the drawing on our invitations. I got white wedding invitations for $6 for 50 invitations. I added vellum and ribbon to it to dress it up. My invitations cost me about $0.50 each to make.
Oh our first venue, was nice but it was really expensive for alcohol. $30 per person extra for wine and beer. We cancelled and lost our deposit but found a reception site and got an outside caterer that supplied us with bartenders and allowed us to bring alcohol. We spent about $900 in alcohol and it was more than enough for 130 people. We had about 7 kinds of beer and bottles and bottles of different type of liquor. My guests loved all the variety.
Let see... $3,900 for a open bar or $900 for alcohol.
I posted a few photos of my wedding. Definitely did not look cheap.
http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/my-wedding-photos-diy-038-planned-mostly-by-me
I love saving money... and especially for a wedding that we were mostly paying for.
Hope this helps!
How much is your budget. I had a buffet sit down reception and for 130 guests. I spent $13k but I had to pay for airfare and dog expenses and additional church expense because I was planning this wedding from across the country. I live in Seattle and my wedding was in Philly.
1. Choose a venue that you think is pretty on its own/has its own character or natural beauty. You will save a lot of money if your venue looks good without feeling like you have to pour money into flowers, linens, etc.
2. While good food was important to us, fancy food wasn't. Guests will be just as happy eating casual, less expensive food as they will be eating super fancy food as long as it's yummy.
3. I'm sure a lot of bees will disagree with me on this one, but I saved money on my dress. I totally agree that it's your only wedding gown, you'll have the pictures forever, you want to look amazing, etc. BUT, you can look amazing and fabulous in a less expensive gown. Just be prepared to keep looking until you find a dress you love that's in your budget - it's out there! I know I would have felt guilty spending a ton of money on something that I only wore once - I love my dress and I have no regrets about not spending more.
4. This tip is in every wedding mag, blog etc, but it's so true - we cut the guest list. Having fewer guests cost us less money. Plus, we got to spend more time with each of our guests. Do I regret not inviting all of my coworkers? Nope!
5. Our one splurge was photography. I love our pictures and don't regret the splurge for a second :)
I second what viscomda said - figure out your wedding priorities and make decisions from there. If you make a budget that's realistic and you stick to it, you won't regret the money you spent. You will be surrounded by so much love on your wedding day and you'll be making a commitment to spend the rest of your life with your FI. That experience is priceless, and you'll get it no matter how much the wedding costs :) Best of luck!
We saved a ton of money by doing the following:
Ohhh I love this post!!! Keep posting, this information is so valuable
Venue - pick one that doesn't need much / any embellishing. I added xmas lights (thanks dearest bm!!), cafe lights, and paper lanterns, tea lights. not too bad!
We are doing away with Save-The-Date cards and just mailing our invitations out early
Having a Sunday wedding - less $$ at our venue
Having a very small wedding with 40-60 people - this saves alot of money.
Look into purchasing things instead of renting, somethimes it's cheaper then you can resell the items later. We bought tablecloths and a wedding arbor instead of renting. DIY helps too, I printed our invitations and programs on a regular at home printer. Look online for deals, I shopped around online for my veil, sparklers, cake topper, etc. Also jewelry and shoes do not have to be expensive to be beautiful!
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So I'm on the tightest budget that anyone could be on for a 100+ wedding. I wanted to know how married bees saved money on their weddings. What did you splurge on? Do you regret spending so much on your wedding?