Fellow brides and past brides, lend me your ears
Well, I'm officially in wedding planning mode. It's constantly on my brain, I just can't help it! I been thinking about this day for so long, and now I can actually act on it - not just dream. Weird concept, because sometimes your dreams don't exactly align with reality, but I'm getting on the ball.
Things I have done:
1. Ceremony venue deposit - MRCC
2. A unofficial date - Aug. 6, 2011
3. A few bridesmaids
4. Tried on dresses
5. Been to a bridal show (and won $250 to a bakery to get my cake done!)
6. Checked into photographers and found a few I like that are within my small budget.
7. Surfed The Knot and WeddingBee entirely too often.
8. We have colors! - black, white, ice blue/aqua
9. A reception venue I haven't put a deposit down for
10. Some honeymoon research has been done
11. Changed my mind so many times not only my head is spinning, but so is my fiance's.
Things I need advice on:
1. Do I really need to do 'save the dates'?
2. How do I pick a photographer? (especially on such a small budget...)
3. How much do flowers cost?
4. What's something cool I can do at my wedding that isn't a photo booth or a candy bar?
5. How do I know when I've found "the" dress? What are good places to shop at that don't rip you off?
6. What costs came up that you didn't anticipate?
Fellow brides and past brides, lend me your ears. Any vendors and advice would be appreciated!
Discuss amongst yourselves.
5 comments:
First of all Congrats!! First word of advice... no matter how crazy the planning gets always remember what the real meaning of the wedding is... all the other stuff really doesn't matter in the grand sceme of things and it helps with the stress to keep that in perspective. For me Photography was the most important because its how you remember the day for the rest of your life but everyone is different I think the best thing in picking a photographer is how comfortable you are with the person... no matter how great the portfolio is (which remember they get to pic from HUNDREDS of pictures to put in there) if your not comfortable with them you won't take as good of photos. The dress... when you know you know... I know its weird and sounds crazy and I didn't believe it either until it happened. flowers can vary I can give you a name and number of a great lady that we used who was reasonable but it all depends on how many flowers you want and what your budget is like. Good luck with all the planning!
I saved money by not doing favors and not printing our names on napkins. I don't go to a wedding hoping I will get a cool favor, the only one I've been to with awesome favors was KP and Charlie's which I'm sure wasn't cheap. You can save a lot of money on not buying candy and little boxes for 200+ people, same goes for napkins, cute but slightly tacky in my opinion. My dress and photography is what I spent the most money on. Completely worth it, you want to feel great and have plenty of pictures to remember the day, don't settle (ha). Another saver is invitations, you don't need 8 things shoved into 2 envelopes, unnecessary. Invite and a small card with registry info. is all that is necessary unless you are having food, than RSVP card which people don't mail back anyway. Hope this helps, Call me anytime. Love you!
I think save the dates are great, unless you plan on sending your invites early enough for people to plan ahead- you could even do cute e-vite ones! Flowers are VERY expensive. I ended up buying artificial arrangements on sale when I could find them to cut down on costs. Certain flowers in season will be less expensive too. Also try to alternate with candles wherever possible bc they are so cheap and really add a romantic touch. A cool thing my aunt is doing is a coffee bar! I'm helping create the space with all kinds of coffee elements like filling glass hurricanes
With coffee beans for the tables with a candle in between etc. I really love that idea. For photography don't skimp bc it's all you will have and also a videographer was so worth it to me with how fast everything went. I found two guys who were old friends and starting a new business so it was a great deal. Also try to find someone that will give you the rights to a cd with all the pictures so you can print what you want maybe later in life when budgets aren't as tight :) for the dress, keep looking if you haven't found the one! And be sure to take your mom or a good friend! I found two that I equally liked but my grandma helped me realize I felt like a princess in one but a WOMAN in the other :) which is he one I got haha! If you need anything else let me know! I'd love to help! Love, Brittany Kendall :)
Also ! Costs we didn't anticipate- cutlery and glasses, stamps to send the invitations, a wedding coordinator for day of, tablecloths, bridal party gifts. Also just wanted to tell you- I think I would put your registry info and rsvp's on a wedding website and put the website address on your invite. My mom in law/ invitation lady! Told me that it's basically telling people you expect a gift, but I wanted people to know where to go if they wanted something from a registry... I just thought it was a good way to handle both. And just an idea for a cheap favor if you did want to do favors... I bought blank cd's and made a playlist of our favorite songs then wrote on the front
Our wedding date and stuff and put it in a red cd cover that I bought in bulk online. And don't be afraid to look in weird places for things! You dont have to buy from wedding stores and sites every time! :) -brittany
Thanks so much for all the advice, everyone!
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