Wedding Ideas on a budget

[BiggerPiggyBank]

My daughter recently got married and we didn't have much money
(obviously) to give her. So this is what we did.

We found a wonderful cake recipe, Strawberry Yogurt Cake with fresh
strawberries at the Betty Crocker website. Sarah, my daughter, bought
2 large cake pans and we quadrupled the recipe. It was covered with
pink icing I bought on sale and strawberries. It was very elegant and
romantic.

We looked for public places to have a small ceremony and settled on
City Hall. It was so beautiful, lovely walkways, trees and a fountain
where we had the ceremony.

We called around and found a place that rents chairs cheap.

Sarah bought red and white roses at Costco and made her own bouquet.
It looked like it came out of a bridal magazine. We bought her veil
on ebay.

We went to Costco and bought all the food there. Fruit trays, sliced
ham, rolls, large bags of fancy tossed salad in a kit. Vegetable
tray, etc.

We recorded our own wedding cd and played Bach "Joy of Man's Desiring"
during the bridal march. I had that at mine too. So perfect. It
sounded like a chamber orchestra must be hiding somewhere.

Since the pictures have been developed everyone is asking. Who did
your flowers, who made your cake? WE DID! Now people are asking
Sarah to do their weddings!

Total Cost:under $300.00

Just more proof that you can have a good quality of life and not go
deep into debt. I think the more I need to think and plan about how I
handle my finances, the better life I live as a result. It's all that
stewardship thing.

dream

[BiggerPiggyBank]

Now my wedding was over thirty years ago, and we probably did it pretty much
on the cheap side. We had a traditional church wedding with about 200 guests.
My Mother was an excellent semesters (she made wedding gowns and prom dresses
for people when I was a kid), so she made my dress. And, those of my
attendants. My sister was the maid of honor. And, I had two candlelighters who
were
younger cousins. She made all of their dresses, and we were lucky enough to
find the fabric on sale. We bought the fabric in December for a spring wedding,
so it was all sale stuff, except for the wedding dress material. I found a
young woman who made the cake. We ordered the invitations from a local print
shop and he gave us a great price.

And, we had a cake and punch reception in the basement of our church. We
paid a wedding coordinator $20.00 and my Mom had a favorite punch recipe and
made
it all herself. And, we did not hire a professional photographer, but my
uncle and a couple of other relatives just took regular photographs and we put
together our own album. We ended up with nice pictures too.

We were married the day before Easter and the local florist shop had a
special on Easter lilies and we used those for the wedding and then I had a
bouquet
and flowers for our mothers and buttonairs for the guys. The main other
expense was for the tuxes.



When my son got married his future mother in law is very talented
artistically and she did all the flowers out of artificial ones. They had
columns at the
front of the church and she decorated them with flowers and ribbon and we
helped do the rows in the church by putting up matching ribbons on the pews.
She
made the brides bouquets and flowers for all the tables at the reception.
Was a gorgeous setting and all of the flowers were saved to be used for her sons
wedding a few months later?

[JennyCup]

We did our wedding for $2000.00.

I got my dress, alterations, veil, and shoes for $300. I found a beautiful ivory colored dress on clearance on a rack. I was able to negotiate the alteration fee and the shop took it from a size 16 to a size 6 for $75. The shop also gave me a free veil. I got my shoes from Payless shoes for $15. The lady that helped me at the store was so wonderful. She even cried when I put the dress and veil on and she said that she hadn't cried in years. My mother chose not to go dress shopping with me so my MIL went with me.

I found a clubhouse in a nearby community and since I knew someone that lived there, I was able to rent the venue for $500 for a Saturday from 7 am to 10 pm. It was gorgeous with a lake, a pier, beautiful landscaping, etc. It also came with tables, tablecloths, a kitchen, bathrooms, a fireplace, and a reception area where we could put the gifts.

I had a friend make my 3 wedding cake layers (I did 3 different cakes on 3 stands) for free. I also had my in-laws show up with a 5 tier wedding cake as a surprise...so we had plenty of cake. The same friend also cooked up 10 lbs of spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, Alfredo sauce, and gave me several pieces of china as a gift.

I picked up apple cider (since we don't drink) on sale after the holidays (our reception was in late January) along with bagged salad and dressing to round out the meal. We also had taquitos as an appetizer as they were also on sale at the store.

I picked up snowflake themed plates, cups, napkins, decor, lights, etc. at the after holiday sales and did a winter theme for our reception. I am also able to reuse the decorations each holiday season.

I had my hair done at great clips ($45), a co-worker did my make up, and my 2 bridesmaids wore dark blue dresses they already owned. I also had another co-worker help serve for a few hours ($50). We borrowed speakers and a cd player from a friend (who also attended) and we burned CD's to play.

We got married by the Justice of the Peace 2 months before our reception.

We had another person who claimed they were a professional photographer do our photos for $120. They were supposed to print them out but claimed they ran out of money for the ink. After a few months of asking for the pics we ended up getting a cd of all the photos.

I also was able to borrow decorations, pretty material, cake plates, etc. from friends. I did get buttermints and the card wishing well from Ebay, serving trays and bowls from the thrift store, MYO invitations, programs, menu cards, etc. from Target when they were on clearance. I also got a decorative wedding pen and stand on clearance from Target. I had received a guest book as a gift a couple years earlier when we moved into our house.

Our centerpieces were craft bowls with blue faux flowers and ribbons tied around the top with snowflake candles floating in blue tinted water placed atop sparkly tree tinsel. They turned out gorgeous and they were really cheap to make.

My parents were unable to contribute monetarily, but they helped with decorating and clean up.

I think for $2000.00 we had a really nice reception and everyone had a good time.

[kensimpson48]

Hey, it's a good idea to plan your requirements before one week.....
So be attentive and make your big day a memorable day......