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PLANNING YOUR WEDDING ON A BUDGET
By Wenona Napolitano
Aug 12, 2004, 11:33
My husband and I had to plan and pay for our own wedding with a pretty tight budget. We had a little bit of help from our families but 90% was coming out of our pockets. I just like about any bride to be, started out with high hopes and that vision of “the perfect wedding”. Well, the “perfect wedding” was soon replaced with what we could afford. Honestly though, it did end up perfect and would have been perfect no matter where we were, because when we stood at the altar and looked into each other’s eyes, that was all that mattered. But as they say hindsight is 20/20, you don’t always see things clearly when you’re in the middle of it all.
After I started planning the wedding and getting price quotes, I realized how expensive things were and I decided I needed to plan this wedding the way I handle my business and the rest of my life. I do things on a budget, I shop around, compare, bargain, I find deals, I barter, I delete unnecessary expenses, and I try to find creative solutions. Although this was my wedding and I did have those “bridezilla” moments where I was pigheaded and stubborn and did not want to come down to earth from that “perfect wedding” vision. I finally hit earth completely about six months into planning when choices had been made and non refundable deposits were put down on places and it was too late to save money in some areas. So I hope I can help a few of you save some money by learning from my experience and from some of my mistakes.
I started my planning by pulling out phonebooks and making a list of all the vendors I would contact, if they had a website I wrote that down too so I could check them out online. I did a lot of shopping online since I worked six days a week and most vendors and bridal shops were only open during the times I was at work. I did a lot of planning and researching between the hours of 10 P.M and 2 A.M online. I found so much for my wedding on eBay. I had a fairy tale themed wedding, so I was looking for unique items to go with my theme. On eBay I found a castle guest book, tiny pewter castles for favors, a garter, and many other great deals. Another way to find great deals is networking with friends and family. You would be surprised at how many people you know that are connected to someone else that could get you quality service for your wedding and possibly get it at a discount. For example my now husband’s sister owns a catering company and offered to do our catering at the cost of the food plus hourly wages to the staff that would work the wedding, my maid of honor’s cousin is a DJ, a mother in my son’s boy scout troop is an excellent seamstress and did great, cheap alterations, and my step sister’s friend makes wonderful and cheap wedding cakes. I could have used my mother’s church and reception area for free, but we choose another route and paid a fortune for a beautiful pre-decorated non-denominational wedding chapel and reception hall. Always network, and if you have the capabilities barter. My husband and I now own a business and do a lot of bartering; we trade services for other services or goods. I wish we would have owned the business during our wedding planning; we probably could have got a lot of great deals. Just remember to be creative and think “outside the wedding box” when planning your wedding. Look in areas that are not considered to be wedding vendors and don’t be afraid to work with people that have home based businesses, they can offer the same quality work without the mark up because they don’t have a big storefront and all the expenses that go with it.
Most of us start our wedding planning with the search for “the dress”. We usually get a good idea of what we want by looking through bridal magazines at styles and designers. Check local bridal shops for trunk shows that offer designer dresses at discount prices, look for stores that are going out of business and want to clear out inventory, even check online. I found the perfect dress on ebay for $99.00, it was even my size, unfortunately I had already bought a beautiful, non returnable dress off the rack for $415. That was a deal for that dress at almost half off the listed price, but it wasn’t the dress I had been pining for. I did get my two flower girl dresses for under $100.00 total on eBay. When shopping for dresses for other members in your wedding party shop at stores that are not bridal or wedding oriented stores. I found a gorgeous white crepe/satin dress with a jacket on the clearance rack at Sears for $34.00. It made a perfect mother of the bride dress and was very similar to one we looked at in a bridal shop for over $150.00. You can also find a very nice selection of casual to semi formal dresses for your bridesmaids at department stores much cheaper than at bridal shops, believe me your bridesmaids will thank you for saving them some money. In early spring you can find pretty “Easter” dresses for little girls that would work great as a flower girl dress. Also in spring and summer you can find white or ivory shoes in a variety of styles at normal shoe stores like Payless, without the bridal shop prices.
If you want a beautiful veil with a tiara without paying that scary price (I looked at many that were between $100 and $200), you can buy tiaras online wholesale or on ebay for as cheap as $5.00 and you can buy the veil that’s already made at stores like Michaels or JoAnn Etc for around $15.00. You can either attach it yourself or have someone that’s handy with a needle attach it for you.
When you are looking for a place to hold your ceremony and reception shop around and get all the details, what’s provided, what’s allowed and what isn’t allowed. Some reception halls do not allow alcohol or smoking, especially ones that are in a church or attached to one. Be aware that most reception halls will make you have liability insurance if you plan on having alcohol, they tell you it should be covered in your home owners insurance, mine wasn’t and I had to purchase it elsewhere. Many insurance companies I called wanted between $400 and $500 for liability insurance, for one day! My homeowners only cost $540 for the whole year. One insurance company told me to go online to www.wedsafe.com; I got my insurance for $180.00. Check your local area to see what it has to offer for unique areas for your wedding and reception, public parks and historical sites sometimes allow weddings on premises for donations instead of outrageous fees.
Definitely shop around for invitations, there are so many to choose from and many companies carry similar invitations for major price differences. Beware of buying from wedding vendors like a wedding rental place, your caterer, reception hall, etc. They may say you’re getting a discount but check company direct pricing before you order. Remember going through a middleman usually raises prices; everyone has to make money off the deal. You can buy blank invitation packages and design and print them on your home computer. This also applies for wedding programs, and tags for wedding favors. You can save a lot of money by doing things yourself on your computer or having someone else that is computer savvy do it for you. My husband’s friend downloaded songs we picked for our wedding ceremony and burned them on a CD in order of the ceremony components the music corresponded to. This saved us from having a ceremony musician and we had custom music and a keepsake that we made copies of for family members. I designed the CD cover with a scan from our invitation and personalized it with our names, wedding date, song titles, and artists.
For creative photography look into student photographers, sometimes they’ll do photos for free, or just for the cost of film and developing so they can build their portfolio. Have friends bring digital cameras. Nice photos can be taken, edited on the computer and saved to disk or CD and reprinted many times. Another good option for the reception is disposable cameras on the tables. Just hope kids don’t get a hold of them and take stupid photos of their hands. I had two cameras that were pretty much nothing but photos of hands, cut off heads, the ceiling and floor. For videography, digital cameras are again a great idea. Also have multiple home video cameras taping different angles at the wedding and reception. Later you can take all the videos, even if they are different media (digital, 8mm, or other tapes) and have a professional edit all the tapes to one really nice keepsake tape. Just remember to designate someone with a steady hand to operate the camera, also make sure to give him or her instructions on specific things you want taped.
I made all my wedding flowers with silk flowers instead of real; they last forever and are so much cheaper. I made seven bouquets, 2 flower girl baskets, corsages, boutonnieres, and a large unity candle/centerpiece for under $200, that includes all the accessories for them; ribbons, bouquet holders, baskets, etc. You can usually find great flowers at dollar stores in a wide assortment of colors. For my reception centerpieces I used mirrored tiles, glass bowls, and floating candles. It was cheaper to buy these items than rent them.
Don’t rule out paper plates for your reception, I know some of you are gasping in horror right now. The thought of paper plates at “my perfect wedding reception” totally repulsed me at first too, but since my husband’s family was doing the catering and they didn’t have china available and when I discovered the cost of renting china and silverware, I almost had heart failure. China ended up on the unnecessary list. I realized my family and friends would not be insulted by eating off paper plates and using plastic silverware. So I found color-coordinated plates, napkins, cups, bowls, and silverware at the local dollar store much cheaper than at wedding and party supply stores. I put them in pretty wicker baskets decorated with ribbons and silk flowers to make them look nice on the buffet tables.
Bottom line is it’s your wedding and your money. Never settle on a price that sounds outlandish, always try to negotiate, if someone won’t work with you on a price you can find someone else that will, and always keep your mind open and be creative. You don’t have to plan your wedding “in the box”. Make your own rules and make it YOUR wedding.
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