Back from a LONG break-- and big announcement!
 

Hi all!

I haven't logged on IN AWHILE (to say the least!) but I recently got engaged (YAY!) and wanted to reach out and get as many wonderful tips as possible!

Question: What do you wish you knew while planning your wedding that you know now? I am overwhelmed with options and on a veeeeeeery limited budget that doesn't seem to be getting me very far. Any tips and suggestions would be very much appreciated!

:):D

Congratulations! I hit married in our living room by a judge who was a family friend so I can't give any tips.

CONGRATULATIONS!! I wish you and your fiancé many, many happy years together. :)

I was married in the home of a family member. My future mother in law made my beautiful wedding gown. My family members made all of the food for the reception except for the cake. We had that made at the bakery. My bouquet was from the florist. I had a simple bouquet of roses and babys breath. We were married in the summer so we had hand picked wild flowers for the maid of honor. Also, I might try getting invitations from Hallmark. They are much cheaper and they have some very lovely ones to choose from. I hope these suggestions help you.

When is the big day? Please keep us updated on how things are coming along. I'm always excited to see two people who are so in love move to the next step of commitment...marriage. Again, congratulations!

I didn't have a big wedding either time myself. And I didn't WANT one! I think spending thousands of dollars and going into debt for a one day event is a waste of money and unnecessarily stressful on everyone involved. I'd rather put that dough into a down payment on a house, or into savings. Having a very small wedding does not make your marriage smaller, it just makes you smarter about money!

congratulations!! i had a small wedding in which we made everything ourselves...so DIY as much as you can to save $$. Good luck with our planning and congrats!!

As you say, you are already in a tizzy, I think that is a sign of what is to come.

Do your parents want this for you? There are many things to consider and people who may be hurt if it is not a larger wedding.

Lots of good advise here and I too think that to spend that much and all the details involved, one can lose sight of what that day is really all about.

Most grooms hate it and that is something to remember as well.

I remember wanting all our friends to be able to celebrate our day with us but after it was over was sorry my parents had to have such a large bill.

It's only the two of you and your parents that can make that decision. Congratulations to you both and I wish you all the happiness it can bring.

I know someone who is a bridal consultant who thinks $3,000 is a very small budget:confused: so what is small to one may be not to another.

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!

Me and hubby got married on the side of Camelback Mountain, at a resort called The Sanctuary in Phoenix. It was just the 2 of us and our dog Wylie (he was our best man and maid of honor :D). So, that's the route I took so that the event would be low stress, and not all crazy. Plus, it's exactly the way I wanted it (not a big wedding type).

The best advice I can give is to make the wedding match what you and your fiance are about...don't do it a certain way just bc you feel you should, or bc other people do it a certain way or want it a certain way. Do it YOUR WAY.

Oh my gosh, Patti! That is EXACTLY how Ron and I got married 32 years ago. We already had our license and decided at 7:00 pm to get married that night and by 9:05 pm we had said our I DO's. I did have a beautiful gown and to die for flowers. Our reception lasted about 15 minutes for hubby and I and then we left. The food consisted of coke, coffee, and Oreos that we picked up at the convenience store. The ONLY regret that I have is that we didn't get more pics. On our way to our honeymoon love nest we left our flowers on Ron's fathers grave.


To the blushing bride to be - a huge Congratulations. My prayers are with you for a long and happy marriage. My suggestion is to use the KIS method - Keep It Simple and avoid as much stress as possible. It is YOUR wedding don't let ANYONE try to take control.

My biggest TIP, the day is not as important as the marriage. Enjoy your day, even on a budget, just enjoy your company, your family, your friends, your new husband. :)

Homemake everything! :) I wanted the hall of my dreams and so I worked really hard to make things on my own. Lots of 'crafts' as my wedding! We made grape jelly from the Concord grapes in our yard, and canned it all at home. It was a TON of work. I made all my own labels, seating charts, invitations, even most of the centerpiece was homemade. Flowers are HUGELY expensive. Try going for fake/silk flowers, or not doing flowers for your centerpieces. I only had 2 $3/sprigs of hydrangeas in my centerpieces. They are huge, so I got a big bang for my buck with those. (they can paint them any color you want too!) I spray painted wine bottles with chalkboard spray paint and we wrote the table names on the wine bottles, with the hydrangeas, they made awesome centerpieces. I used the jars of jelly as the seating chart, everyone's name was on a jar with their table name. Invitations, I saved a ton of money. Those can easily run $400. Mine cost about $75 and some work. I designed them, a friend of mine had a cricket machine for scrapbooking, her & I cut them all, printed the info on vellum, mounted them in the invite (mounted the RSVP on the other side), tied them closed with matching ribbon around them, they were beautiful!

Also, when we were looking for cake, I wanted cupcakes and we found a cupcake shop that JUST opened. We took a huge leap of faith, but it saved us $500 and they did a GREAT job! They were so grateful to have a wedding to do and the trust when they just opened. Everywhere else was charging $500+ for the cupcakes and $100-$200 for stand rental. This place charged me $220 for everything! It was awesome and almost 2 years later, people are still talking about the cupcakes at our wedding!

We rented a room at the place we got married at for 2 nights, so there was no limo charges and that was luckily gifted to us. Uuumm If I think of anything more I will let you know! Basically I think a lot of crafty, hard work can literally save you $1k or more in little things that add up. Oh last thing, reach out to everyone ... you never know who knows a cake person, a DJ, a photographer, etc... they do it on the side, they are excellent and a fraction of the cost of a company who specializes in it. We got an amazing DJ for $700 for 9 hours, he was 'da bomb! A company would have cost us $2500 up here (which is ridiculous!)

On that note.... CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I didn't have a 'budget' so to speak, I just tried to make wise decisions and not overpay, I think my wedding was around $20k for everything, but hubby & I already own our house, (and a townhouse) and are well established in our careers and we paid for the whole thing ourselves, no one else went into debt from it. (well not even us, we had the money for what we did) So SHOP around! :)

We got married at the court house by a JP and then did a 15 year anniversary and vow renewal.

Save your money and put a nice down payment on a house.

THANK YOU, EVERYONE!!!

I was surprised to read about all the small weddings! I am pretty sure I want small, but I don't want to miss out on celebrating and partying with my family and close friends.

We found a state owned garden in Monterey CA that will be affordable to rent, but the catering is pushing us over budget (and that's not counting DJ and flowers and etc.) I'm trying to get creative...

We currently own a house together, so we're in a better position than some soon-to-be-married couple, but I can't seem to justify spending +10K for one day.

I am loving the suggestions, ladies! Keep them coming!!!!! Celstu1: Wine bottles and hydrangeas was a great idea! I might steal it ;-)

CONGRATS!! I love Monterey. :)

It's not really all that conventional, but if you're open to it, you could ask people to help donate towards your wedding instead of giving gifts.

OR you could just do appetizers instead of full meals. And a paid bar instead of open.

AND Pinterest. Pinterest will be your best friend with TONS of DIY! This company is located in Monterey and may help you with some DIY stuff: Save On Crafts | Discount Wedding Supplies & Event Decorations You can pick things up there if you're close enough or you can get ground shipping.

I've been utilizing Pinterest. There are a ton of DIY ideas and the pins link you to alot of helpful sites. There is so much out there. Just have to take it bit by bit.