I have done 3 weedings (my own, my friend, and my mom & dad's HUGE 50th renewal) and have founf Ebay, Craigslist, thrift stores, and yard sales to be VERY helpful. I also have a few blogs that I have subscribed to online with various craft "How Tos" and without a doubt each of them have a wedding section. I did my own flowers, invites, some of the cooking for the reception, etc. I will say that it meant so much more to me because I created everything. Start early as well. This way if you find someone to do flowers on Ebay (I did this for my vow renewal and that of my parents), you have plenty of time for the order to arrive. For my mom& dad's renewal, we did the entire "wedding" - flowers, reception, cake, bridal shower (they never had one bc dad was in Korea), etc. ALL of the flowers cost me around $150. This included bride's bouquet, MOH, Bouts for grrom & BM, 15 female corsages, 15 male bouts, 20 long-stemmed roses w/ ribbons cascading that the grandchildren went and placed on the altar, a throwaway bouquet, and some smaller arrangements for the candles, etc. They were gorgeous and cost less than I spent on the materials to make all of mine!
Thanks for the craigslist idea!!! I looked on craigslist and found some wedding decorations..brand new. The funny part about it was that I ended up knowing the lady that had them. My DD went to school with her DD when they were younger. Her DD's wedding was called off and she was left with all the decorations, flowers, etc. The greatest part about it was that the flowers were in the colors that my DD wanted. We loaded the back of the Durango down yesterday afternoon with all kinds of goodies!! All for less than $500. We now have decorations, bridal bouquet, throw away bouquet, 5 bridesmaid bouquets and numerous other flowers. Also have over 20 mirrors for the tables, some vases, underwater LED lights to go in the vases, and gobs more stuff. I am so excited!!! I would have never thought about craiglist for something like this!! Thanks again for all the wonderful ideas!! And Jenn, I will probably be calling you to see what your rate is and to tell us what to be on the lookout for!! Thanks everybody for all the great ideas!! You've saved me lots of money already!!
my wife and I got married last year (july 17th) and did a lot of stuff ourselves. We bought stamp sets at Michaels and made our own invites. Colorful, personal, and cheap. We printed the wording on the inside at Office Depot in Garner, and then went to work stamping them. Make sure you account for mistakes and make about 25 extra if you do them yourselves. For flowers, her mom made all the bouquets, the pew decor (only made 4 of them for the family rows) and the guys and girls flowers (cors./bout) For decorations at the hall, we bought tiny flower pots (3 for a buck at the dollar stores) and filled em with some play sand and then a tall votive candle. Decorated the outside with some flower petals in our colors and some pretty ribbon. Cost was about $70.00 for supplies and our time. We also decorated the tables with Real ivy from a friends yard. All you had to do was cut it less than 5 days in advance, rinse it with a hose to free it of spider webs and excess dirt/leaves And prune it to fit. Took us about 2 hrs to cut plenty, and clean it. For entrance at the hall, we used an arbor with some white christmas lights in it, and intertwined the ivy. Bought glasses at the Pottery outlet for the head table, which doubled as one favor for the bridal party. And i'm sure you know this, but if you have it on a sunday, it's usually cheaper, and you might still get your weekend you want, just a different day. Anything else you may want to ask, just PM. We had invited about 300 and expected (and had) 150 to the reception. Of course, we party hearty all night long. Reception went from 5 till 12. Ask friends and family to make cookies instead of a gift...Most will bring a gift or give a card as well, just because they love you like that. People love to help at weddings...it reminds them of their grand day, because no matter what the outcome, they were happy that day.
A professional photographer, using professional equipment, professional editing and a professional print lab makes an image into a keepsake. Same picture. Before is SOOC-straight out of the camera, After is edited. http://www.shutterfly.com/lightbox/view.sfly?fid=3b91ec0bf8c3f0255b2f2841c4d4a52e That's the difference.
Hat, I mean no offense to your prettier half, lol. I'm just sayin', that for people doing a wedding on a budget, there is no reason to spend thousands on pictures, when you can get quality for much less. Now, if money is no object, then by all means, splurge a little....
Galpal, I took no offense. To presume that this type of quality costs thousands is understandable, yet often mistakenly so. I'll be the first to agree that MANY photographers ARE overpriced. Many, not all. That's why clients need to perform due diligence. I'm a great believer in letting local photo places develop some of my pictures, or even printing them off here at the house. I'm also a great believer that if they are important enough (and everyone's mileage may vary here) that my fuji camera, HP printer, and/or WM-CVS-WG editing/printing just won't give the results I want. I'm like everyone else here hoping that Bren can find the just right combo of what she needs. It's all good. Good day, to ya!
