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Hello bees! So I am really in a bind here, as my dream wedding has been bashed to pieces by my family theatrics. Here's the short of it...
Now here's where I need all of the budget savvy bees. I have no idea where to even start with planning a budget wedding. What kind of venue options do I have? How do I save on food and alcohol and decor and still have the wedding of my dreams? We're looking at a guest list of 150-200 people here...
HELP, PLEASE!!
The wedding is but a mere blip in your happy married life together. Gain some perspective, Frosting!
You can either have many guests at a modest venue, or a grand wedding with just a few guests.
I've been married 2x. The first time was a medium sized wedding and I was totally stressed. The second marriage was an intimate, immediate-family-only event in a gorgeous location, and was much more enjoyable for me.
The real, brutal answer: You don't pull off a wedding for 10k unless you make some VERY real sacrifices. You cannot have a "normal" wedding for 10k in most parts of the country I don't think. You have to sacrifice something--- cut the guest list waaaaay down, find a super cheap venue, don't do dinner, skip alcohol, skip a dj, skip florals, etc.
We're doing about 13k for the wedding itself (not counting rehearsal dinner, rings, or honeymoon) in Ohio and the big sacrifices we've made:
- DIYing all paper
- found a cheap venue
- found a venue that allows us to supply our own alcohol and it will be beer/wine only (and pretty cheap beer/wine at that)
- ipod reception instead of dj
- almost no florals (my floral budget is $250 and that needs to cover boquets, bouts, and corsages, we will prob DIY this to make it work. all decorations will be non-floral)
-DIY everything--- all decorations, etc.
- No hired DOC (i have a friend who will help)
- no transportation
- beg for price reductions (i have negotiated EVERYTHING seriously... saved $500 on my photog by begging and about $2000 on my venue/food)
- have your wedding in the off season (we're in Feb)
so um yea... it is hard. Honestly if I were you I'd take the 30k and have it where your parents want.
With the exception of my dress (a gift from my step-dad) and our honeymoon (a gift from my FMIL) we're doing our entire wedding for around $7,500. Use your friends! DIY! Start doing things now! Only buy things from Michaels if you have coupons! Look on retailmenot.com for coupon codes when ordering online! Use craigslist for vendors! Buy from etsy.com! Enter blog contests for wedding items (I already won my guestbook!)
There's a million ways to get about it. Our venue is FREE because it's a winery my FH works at. That saves us $3,000! I know that's not possible for everyone out there, but we're also doing our own flowers, and decorations! It's definitely doable, you'll just have to work at it and compromise!
Our wedding was a bit less than $10,000 but we only had about 95 guests.
We had it in a hotel. We had to pay for the ceremony room and then the reception room was free if we had 90 to 100 guests.
Here is our approx. breakdown...
Photographer - $840 (she was just starting out so her prices were great!)
DJ - $660
Cake - $375
Flowers - $500
Venue - $3369 (ceremony room and meals for 95 people)
Dress - $825
Veil - $100
Alterations - $230
DH's parents paid for the bar. We had a toonie bar ($2 canadian). The hotel charged about $5 a drink so then guests paid $2 a drink and DH's parents paid $3 for each drink bought... hopefully that makes sense.
Plus the gifts for the wedding party, little things like place cards, cake serving set, supplies for favours, etc... I have it calculatated to about $9K but I'm sure I've forgotten to add something in. I would guess our wedding cost less than $10,000.
We saved a lot by having it in the hotel. We didn't have to buy very many decorations. They even did the centrepieces for free!! They were simple and I was fine with that.
We also didn't do anything like chair coverings, limo, etc... My aunt made our invitations as our wedding gift.
And Michael's 40% off coupons saved a ton of money!!
that being said...i'm not having chivari chairs...just plain garden chairs. I'm not having floral centerpieces, we're having an open beer/wine bar..no liqour because we aren't allowed. I'm not having a photobooth, even though I really want one.
so it's definitely not going to be easy. you need to be realistic. I'm compromising on a lot of my choices, but it's still going to happen, and it's going to be gorgeous.
Unless you can cut your guest list significantly, I don't think $10K is a workable budget in a major metropolitan area.
Taking money from your parents may be more trouble than it's worth to you, though, so I would suggest the following:
- Slash your guest list by about 75%
- Extend your engagement to allow more time to save
- Look for an outdoor venue a la Miss Sandollar
- Self-cater
- White bridesmaid or off the rack white dress
- DIY decor
- iPod DJ
- Costco or paper flowers, if any
Even if you don't wind up accepting financial assistance from your parents, I would look outside your city, as prices are almost guaranteed to be lower. I'm in NYC which, granted, is a bit more expensive than Philly, though not by much, and we paid ~$30K for 35 people.
Cut your guest list, which I'm sure you don't want to hear. My wedding was 15k for 50 guests, but I splurged on some unnecessary (but great!) things. We could have stuck to 10k without the splurges.
My venue wasn't anything unique or gorgeous, but it was suitable. Also, it wasn't in a major city, which cut down on the costs of flowers and catering, just because it wasn't city prices.
We're just a hair over our 10k budget. We went with a country club that does a ton of weddings, which has made everything easier. You can rent chair covers and decoration from them.
The biggest thing is to just keep it simple. I'm not talking plastic silverware simple, though. For example, our cake will be blue with a white ribbon tied around it. Our decorations are going to be mostly hand-made from paper and a ton of glitter (the finished product isn't as tacky as it sounds, I'll post pics soon!).
The things you don't really need: a live band, top shelf liquor, dessert (they can eat cake), several courses, huge BM bouquets, a videographer, a hugely expensive dress.
Here's what we spent on everything:
Yeah...like I said, we went over budget a bit. But choose your priorities, and you'll still be able to have a great wedding! You'll probably have to drastically cut your guest list, though!
MY wedding )minus the honeymoon) cost a smidgen over 10,000.00 I could have dont it for UNDER VERY EASILY if i didnt get suckered into my Maggie wedding dress *laugh*. MY theory is...be super resourceful.
My wedding was featured on the bee. http://www.weddingbee.com/author/real-budgets/ take a look, it might help.
Photographer - $1200(she was just starting out so her prices were great!)
DJ - $650
Cake - $100 (she was just starting out so she was cheap!)
Flowers - $230 (works from home and i was very carefree about what she did as long as it was the colours i wanted!)
Venue - $1700 (including rentals of chair covers, dishes etc.)
Veil - $30 (EBAY BABY!!)
Alterations - Bustle and steaming for 60.00
For that amount of guests you will have a really hard time. I would cut the guest list A LOT and then you can do it easily!
Is there a venue that allows outside catering? That could be a way to cut down, I dont think DIY catering is a good idea.
Don't be affraid to tell people that their quote is more than you budgeted for. I for my dj down $300 when I told him that.
Find a photog/ vendors on craigslist or one that is just starting out but has still done a lot of weddings. My photog has done at least 30 (by the looks of her blog) and is charging $400 with a disc of edited images!
Look on etsy for invites- make an alchemy request you will be AMAZED what you can find for cheap!
We budged $15,000 (paying for it ourselves) and I will be amazed if we even spend $10,000. Here's what we're doing:
-Inviting at the most 100 people. Assuming the 20% decline rate holds true for us, we'll only have about 80 guests.
-Our reception is being held at a popular/famous local restaurant that has a GREAT deal on food. $25/pp, including tax and gratuity for a full dinner buffet. Only $200 to rent their banquet room! Check restaurants rather than "popular" reception venues. We got a great deal this way.
-Because the banquet room isn't huge, I don't think we can fit a dance floor, so we'll have the music done from an iPod on a computer, and after the reception, the younger guests are going to be invited to join us for drinks/dancing downtown.
-Instead of a full open bar since most of our guests don't drink, we're just going to offer beer and wine. It saves us the cost of paying SO much for an open bar when probably only 20% of the guests will even drink at all.
-The only florals I'm doing are my bouquet and the 2 bridesmaids'. No bouts, no corsages, no floral centerpieces, and no arrangements in our chapel since it's beautiful enough on its own.
-Instead of buying my dress at a bridal salon, I plan on trying on ones I like, finding out which fits me best, and ordering an "inspired by" dress from an eBay seller who got good reviews. This will save a TON of money.
-We're getting our cake done by a local grocery store, Publix. I don't like fondant cakes and prefer buttercream, their cakes are DELICIOUS and I've heard nothing but good about their wedding cakes, and we'll be able to get the cake to feed 60-70 guests for about $170.
To me, none of these were sacrifices. I love where we're going to have our wedding and it was just a bonus that it was so cost effective. I'll have PLENTY of wiggle room and could easily upgrade to Chivari chairs or add more flowers or a photobooth or you know, whatever, but I just don't care for any of that stuff. I know that's not what guests pay attention to at a wedding, and I just don't want it. I don't feel like I'm paring down; I just want a relatively simple but beautiful wedding that's not over-the-top and crammed full of extras that nobody wants or pays attention to, you know? Anyway, those are the things I'm doing, and even with having simple tastes and trying to do what I could to save money, we're going to come in way under our original budget. It CAN be done!
My wedding (not including the honeymoon or rings) will be less than $4,000. I have a gorgeous venue, but I'm in WV, where things are slightly cheaper I would assume.
What I recommend is... don't get married on Saturday. My wedding is Friday. (Next Friday!) and I saved a TON of money. I made it for 7pm so people wouldn't have to take off work. It's going to be a gorgeous night ceremony in a chapel and my reception is in the same building.
Yes, have your wedding out of season. March, April or November.
Instead of full per person catering I'm ordering food from a restaurant and having it delivered and set up buffet style. We are going to feed 75 people for $600.
I didn't go crazy on a dress. Nobody needs to spend thousands on a dress, unless they have the money to do so, of course. Wedding dresses are so much cheaper these days. My dress, crinoline, accessories, shoes, everything was under $500.
We're doing the Ipod wedding, so no DJ fees. My venue coordinator is doing the announcing for us.
I'm doing the flower arrangements myself. I ordered bulk flowers from Sam's Club and got vases from the Dollar Tree.
My photographer is AMAZING and she cut us a deal. Ask for deals. I assumed we wouldn't be able to afford a photographer. I found one I liked, told her I didn't have much money, and she cut me a deal. Simple as that.
I'm not having alcohol. Venue doesn't allow it. I get to save money that way. It's not popular with guests I've heard, but they can surely live without it for a few hours.
Didn't rent limos or anything like that. Bought my invitations online and I got tons of compliments for under $200.
Cut things that you can live without. Candy bars are nice, but not necessary, among other things.
Take advantage of all the DIY things out there. I made my guest book myself from following a template on the DIY page of Wedding Bee.
We did our wedding on a 3k budget. Day time Saturday wedding. 125 guests invited, and 85 guests attended.
$150 venue. State park building. It was beautiful with tons of windows, and an awesome arched wood ceiling.
$500 bride attire. (dress + alterations, shoes, undergarments)
$100 tux rental
$130 rental chairs for ceremony, linens for tables provided, speakers for ipod reception
$1300 Food. Dinosaur BBQ catered.
$500 drinks. soda, bottled water, bottled beer, lemonade and sangria.
$90 kids bags, candles + ribbon for centerpieces
$50 DIY invites, seating cards,
$250 Day of coordinator plus assistant. (OMG a HUGE lifesaver! set up everything day of, managed buffet, refilled drinks, etc...
Flowers were paid for by my MIL. We had 3 bouts (groom, BM and FOB) and three bouquets (bride, BMx2). We also had several loose stem flowers purchased for aisle decorations.
Cakes and desserts were made/purchased by my parents.
Photography was free from a giveaway. This would have added about $1000 to our budget.
It can be done!
Don't order or set your eyes on anything until you've found: the venue, food and alcohol (at least the prices), and photography. Those will be the most expensive, but necessary things. One you've decided what you need to spend on those, the rest of the budget numbers will fall into place. Remember, you won't be able to cut costs on the flowers or dress after you've bought them!
A big thing I've noticed in comparing venues is that it's really important to add in ALL of the hidden fees before making a choice. For example, one venue might have a low rental fee, but make you use their alcohol, bar, caterer, etc WITH a 21% service charge. Having to rent tables and linens is another big add-on. Also, check to see if they require you to use their coordinator (usually another $300). It's also possible that a certain venue will end up saving you money because they cover the cake, offer guest hotel rooms, etc. I created an excel budget sheet for my top venues and compared every detail in each.
Overall, I've found that the venues that let you bring in your own caterer and alcohol while providing chairs and tables are the best deals (unless you're looking for a banquet hall wedding, hotels with packages are usually better deals in that case).
Good luck!
We're having our 100-person wedding for $2k. Yes, we scrimped on EVERYTHING (my dress is $200, venue is a community center, food is from a grocery store caterer, no alcohol, DIY everything), but it's possible. 10k is a fairly generous wedding budget, and you can do so much with it...but first, you need to set up your priorities. What's most important to you and FI? Second-most? Third-most? And so on. Doing this will help you figure out where to put the money and what things you can just skip.
Honestly, I don't know that you can have your dream wedding for that price, with the big guest list.
Our wedding is looking at costing about 12-13K, and I am getting most of the things I want, but we're only having about 60 guests.
You have to make sacrifices somewhere for sure. I'd look into restaurants though, that's what we're doing and it's pretty reasonable!
You have gotten some great advice. I think you just need to think about the big number items... ceremony location, reception location, food, photography & number of guests.
Cutting as much as possible in those areas will drastically adjust your budget.
Find a cheaper location, do heavy appetizers instead of dinner, do a dessert reception, have friends cater, pick a smaller photo package w/ discs of your photos so you can make your own albums, and cut the guest list. If mom and dad are no longer agreeing to help, than you can no longer be required to allow them to invite 100 of their closest friends.
If it's about you guys, make it about you guys.
We did a ceremony for a dozen people, followed by a reception for 60 people, for $10,000. And we are in the Washington, DC area, which is relatively high cost. You can check out my bio for details, including a breakdown of the budget.
You can save a lot of money by having a morning wedding instead of an afternoon or evening one, why is this?
~You can serve a brunch following the ceremony, which is soooo much cheaper than a seated or buffet dinner, breakfast is just cheap :)
~You can cut out the dance floor as most people won't want to rock out at 11:30 in the morning, sure you guys can still do a first dance and have some nice music playing in the background on an ipod, but not having to hire a dj will save you tons
~enlist friendors! - got friends who have talent? Have them take you photos, bake your cake, or ulilize whatever talent they have
~cut the size of your wedding party - 5 bridesmaids and groomsmen can really tack on the costs, cut it down to an MOH and a best man, you can still have other people supporting you, but they don't have to be official maids and men.
~keep the flower arrangement natural and buy ones that are in season!
One great example of a brunch wedding that I can remember, such a beautiful wedding, that didn't break the bank!
This really isn't as impossible as some people make this sound. We had a wedding with 135 people for about $9,00 and this included a photobooth for 3 hours, DJ for 6 hours meal, ceremony music, photographer,welcome bags, bathroom baskets, EVERYTHING.
You just have to be willing to do the work yourself. I did my own invitations, flowers, cernterpieces (which were non-floral). Our meal was great, but simple. We only provided beer and wine, but we still did a cocktail hour with hourdierves.
It is a lot of work doing these things, but we saved a ton of money and I was so proud on my wedding day of all the things I did.
Our wedding cost just about $10k. We did in on a prime Saturday night in Santa Monica for about 90 people.
This seemed like an impossible feat but we made a lot of sacrifices and got lucky in a lot of ways.
We did our ceremony/reception at a restaurant on the Santa Monica Pier.
Food was buffet style and the per-person price was very reasonable. About $30 per person. Drinks were not included so we paid individually per drink. To keep costs down, we limited the selection to beer, wine, champagne, and margaritas. (It was a Mexican restaurant.)
Doing it at a restaurant meant we didn't have to rent linens or do any kind of decor.
We did cupcakes instead of a full cake. It was much less expensive and we avoided a per-person cutting fee.
Other cost savers:
Invitations - designed myself and printed on zazzle.
DJ - he was a friend of ours and did it as his gift to us.
Flowers - a friend of mine did them with flowers purchased from the LA flower mart. (I think it ended up costing under $200.)
Officiant - he was the cousin of the flower friend. His service was a gift to us.
Photographer - I lucked out and got a really good deal on a last minute photographer. (My original photog cancelled on us less than 2 weeks before the wedding.) BUT, we had at least 3 friends at the wedding with fancy digital SLR cameras who are photography buffs. The pictures they took rivalled those of our professional photog. Had I known in advance, I might have cut the pro photog.
Ask around...when I started planning, I had no idea I had these options.
It can be done! Good luck!
Our wedding, reception and pig roast the day after ran us 5K. We invited over 120 people and 110 attended. We skipped a lot of things many brides consider necessities, like an expensive photographer, a DJ or band, limos, centerpieces, etc. We still had a great time and many guests told us ours was the best wedding they ever attended.
Either you need to scale back your expectations, or have a lavish wedding for a smaller # of guests.
I had my dream wedding (minus rings and honeymoon) with apx 150 guests for just under 10K. Previous posters have said it and I'll say it again. It can be done but you have to shop around and be resourceful. Granted I am in the midwest so it may cost less here. But I found a country club venue that was all inclusive type with chairs, tables, and standard white linens included. We did an hor d'oeuvres/buffet reception with a limited bar (the rest was available with cash). Only used flowers for bouquets, corsages and boutineers, all other decor was non-floral. I diyed everything. Found a photographer who was still building his business so he was relatively inexpensive. Had a friend run itunes instead of a dj. No DOC just a friend that helped keep me sane. Friendors are a huge help in keeping on a budget. So in short you can have an amazing wedding just be resourceful and think outside of the box!
Don't Stress Vanilla! There are ways to do it! We are doing our wedding for $10K for 100-150 guests in the Denver area.
--We are having our wedding on a Thursday which gives us bargaining points with the venue, and other vendors. We've managed to get at least 20% off all vendors just because it's on a Thursday. Guests might scoff at a Thursday, but it will save you BIG TIME!
--We are doing all our own stationary--invites, std, place cards--for really cheap. We are ONLY sending std to family.
--We are doing an IPOD Dj with speakers from our church. We are asking my charming and not-shy-at-all brother in law to MC the event.
--We are doing our own flowers and they will be very minimal. Small bouquets for me and my 2 BMaides, and one submerged flower at each table. I think flowers will cost less than $200. Ordering everything from Costco. My caterer has offered to throw in some decorations for free--since it's on a Thursday.
--You can save big time on buying a sample dress or a dress at a consignment store. Also, find someone in your area that does alterations. The bridal boutiques charge an arm and a leg--trust me on this one! My mom runs an alteraion company.
--Also, if you are your FI are paying for this wedding, then you have control over the guest list. You don't need to invite your mom's golf team or your dad's fishing buddies. The guest list is the best place to cut costs!
--We are getting married in a garden (which was cheap on a thursday) so we don't need a lot of flowers. We made sure we were allowed to bring in our own alcohol and catering company. Over the next year we will buy a bottle of wine here and there for our wedding :)
--The two things we aren't going to skimp on because it is important to us is photography and food. My FI is a big food-ie and I want those pictures to be good cuz it's what lasts.
NEGOTIATE!!!! Only food and service costs are fairly set in stone, but everything else is fair game for negotiating. I told all of my vendors that the other one was giving me a 20% off for a weekday. It worked! Plus, I did my shopping and also used "another company quoted me this price. Can you match or beat it?"
Good Luck Vanilla!!!
We're doing a wedding for $9000 (it's $12000 if you count rings and honeymoon). It can be done!
Some advice:
-look at public parks, community centers, etc for your venue. They're often cheaper than standard wedding venues. Also, look at places near your city but not in it - if there are small towns nearby, start there.
-start checking craigslist for a photographer. You'll probably have to wade through a lot of crap (I did), but you just might find someone fabulous who will give you a deal. Also, really think about how many hours of photography you really need. For example, we're skipping getting ready shots and pre-ceremony pics so that we can afford a better quality photographer, though we get her for less time. To me, the quality of her pics was more important than the quantity of lesser-quality pics we could get elsewhere.
-if you can, take a good hard look at your guest list. Be ruthless. That will help you save $$ too.
-do your own flowers. A simple hand-tied rose bouquet isn't that hard to do, and there are lots of tutorials on youtube and elsewhere. Fiftyflowers.com and similar sites have good prices on flowers. Keep them simple, and that saves even more money.
-look into a restaurant banquet room for your reception - or renting out the whole restaurant, if you can! You may have to pay a room deposit, but it's cheaper and easier than trying to coordinate a tent rental, silverware rental, etc etc. Also, get creative with the type of food you're serving - just because it's a wedding doesn't mean you need steak, chicken, and fish. A pasta bar could be really tasty! Or "ethnic" food, like Indian, Moroccan, Greek, etc.
-Skip anything you don't really care about. I'm skipping table centerpieces because 1. I'm lazy and don't want to do them and 2. our banquet room is so pretty on its own, I don't think they'll be missed.
-David's bridal gets knocked a lot, but check it out. Honestly, the only person who will know if your dress isn't couture is you. I think most people (wedding guests) see a pretty girl in a white dress - they aren't speculating on the desiner of your dress, how much it cost, etc.
-Limit alcohol. We're doing sangria, and that's it. Of course, we'll have plenty of non-alcoholic drinks available.
-check etsy for bridal accessories like a clutch, hair flowers, veil, etc. Or diy, if that's your thing.
Good luck!
@ohheavenlyday: Just a warning, our Publix cake looked horrible. Yes, it tasted delicious, but they did a really bad job on the cake itself. I had heard wonderful things about Publix, but I would never recommend them for a wedding cake again. I do love grocery shopping there though!
We'll be throwing a wedding for approx. 180 people for just above $10,000, but in my area that's a common price. That being said, we've scored some major deals (no venue rental costs), and we're missing out on a lot (no dj, no alchohol, no hired transportation, etc).
Choose the things that mean the most to you, and realize that the rest of it doesn't matter that much. As long as you have a great day, who cares whether your centerpieces blew everyone out of the water?
Either you can pay for the wedding yourselves and make sacrifices regarding what you consider your 'dream wedding' or you can have your parents pay for it and play by their rules, that's just how it generally works. Is you large guest count due to your parents inviting friends or family that is a priority to them? If you are paying for the wedding yourselves then you have all right to reduce the guest count to the people you feel you couldn't get married without their presence. After that, it's all in the details, and deciding what is more important, the wedding or the act of getting married. If you wanted to, you could totally do a wedding for under 10k. You just have to understand that you will be making sacrifices that I am not sure you are completely willing to make based on your post and what it seems constitutes your 'dream wedding'.
We paid about 13k, but our parents helped with about 4k, and so they requested we invite close friends of theirs and extended family that 'they just wanted to see'. This accounted for an extra ~30 ppl so, had we exclusively paid for it ourselves, it would have been totally doable to come in under 10k. We found a relatively inexpensive caterer, did DIY flowers and decor, almost all DIY paper products, used and iPod for music, still had an open bar but served only beer and wine (used Trader Joe's two-buck-Chuck) and didn't have champagne, rented a school bus for guest transportation instead of a coach, chose a venue where we could have both ceremony and reception, kept our rentals limited to tables and chairs and plates/forks and we picked them up instead of paying the delivery fee, I bought my couture dress pre-loved and at a third of the price, a friend hand rolled truffles as our favors (and her gift to us), I found an "up and coming" photographer who only cost us ~$500, and we had a super casual rehearsal dinner bbq at the hotel. It's all about making it work! : )
My fiance and I are having a destination wedding in Hawaii. Everything included, venue, food, alcohol, accomodation/flight, spending money, wedding coordinator, photgrapher is coming up at under $15K. If you want to go that route, I highly suggest it. It is not as stressful as planning a home wedding and your family and friends can make a vacation out of it.
I hear ya Vanilla! FI and I started out this process with an attitude of "it is just ridiculous to pay so much in one night - WE are going to keep it cheap." And reality is now creeping in. Who knows, maybe I am really off base (I am still in the early planning stages myself), but the impression I get is that if you want to keep it less than 10k with 100+ people, you have to make a major cut: either no DJ, no pro Photographer, no booze, not on a Sat night, or MAJORLY cur the guest list.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but this seems to be the case. And while I am very happy for the lucky couples who have friends with venues/dj skills/photo skills, these are not great examples to share with the rest of us who have friends with no talent :)
But it looks like you will have to loose the booze, the DJ, or half your guests, or go with a lovely Poconos wedding curtesy of Mom and Dad. Honestly - if they are offering, let them pay - I bet your friends in Philly will be willing to drive up the road a few hours for the weekend for your wedding. Good luck!
We cut out a lot of things that we didn't care about. No dancing, so we didn't need a dj. No transpertation, b/c we stayed at the venue and ceremony and reception were in the same place. I DIYed a lot, everything I could. We found a venue (historic inn and spa) that was beautiful but cheap, all they charged was $35 per person for everything except cake and alcohol. You just have to do a LOT of research to find the best prices.
LOL at "friends with no talent". :)
Like I said, when I started planning I was going to hire a DJ, officiant, and a florist.
The DJ and officiant we ended up with were friends-of-friends. And the girl who did my flowers...I had no idea that she had put herself through college working in a flower shop. And I've known her for 5 years! (She's married to one of DH's good friends.)
It doesn't hurt to ask around. Especially in the early stages of planning.
@ohheavenlyday: Greensboro, Georgia so I cant speak for all Publix! I can show you pictures...they did a horrrrrible job
@sorens: normal might have been the wrong word... maybe "standard"? What I mean by that is what I think most people would consider the basics for a wedding:
- guest list of your choice
- nice venue
- catered dinner and cocktail hour
- full open bar
- florist to do all the decor
- good photog and dj and cake baker
- favors
Basically having all the standard components of a wedding done by the standard vendors... not having to DIY everything and not totally skipping some things (like dj or whatever).
@CorgiTales: perhaps 'traditional upscale' would be more appropriate then
Soooo... FI and I are going to go up to the Pocono's next weekend and have another look-see at the venues up there. They are more cost effective anyway.
My family is HUGE and I would love to cut out my dad's cousins and my Uncle Frank who is 90 and a whole slew of other people that I haven't seen in eons... but I honestly can't because the family politics in the Vanilla Family stink. If it came down to booze or no booze... my dad would definitely foot the bill for the open bar because "there is no way we could have a Vanilla Wedding without alcohol". My family are just big drinkers- my dad actually got asked to not return to the venue where we had my Sweet 16 because they closed the bar early and he argued with the manager. The DJ, I know I could do an iPod if needed- so there is a good cut.
I actually would like to DIY a lot of the things, but honestly, I'm not that crafty! I was SUPER excited at the way that my "Will You Be My Bridesmaid" cards turned out (I will post them eventually, honest!).
Bees, your ideas are amazingly helpful!! Keep them coming!! I love knowing how many guests, where the wedding is, and how you saved because it really does have the wheels turning.
our budget is $12k. and as of right now, we are coming in under budget - YAY! hehe. I was looking to spend over $1k on a dress but ended up loving one that was half the price - score! We did splurge on our venue $3500 and photog $3000 but to me, those are important parts of the day. a great, fun place, and awesome pictures to look back on. a high school friend is doing the catering - light h'orderves, I will have a candy table, and we will have beer and wine and a little liquor. Our venue is outside of city limits so it's a BYOB place but we will still provide some alcohol.
Just shop around for everything else! That's what I've been doing. Your budget is just fine and will work out if you pay attention to everything :)
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