I am thinking about doing my own flowers for the wedding. Everything bouteneirs, bouquets, centerpieces. Who has done this and was it hard? Any tips you could give me would be great.

my maid of honor and i did mine but, we had a small wedding . good luck, and start early! we went to michaels, but hobby lobby and waccamaw are also good craft stores to shop at.

We are having 2 receptions (one in uk and one in australia) so need to cut costs as much as possible.

Any tips will be appreciated?

There are so many things you can do to cut costs for your receptions.

- have the receptions earlier in the day. Most places can give you a discount if you are out of their location early and can rent it out to another couple in the evening. The food costs are cheaper earlier in the day because you dont really have to offer a full meal (depending on the time). If the reception is held around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, it is right past lunch hour so guests will be full from that. You can offer hor dourves or have a dessert reception. Both are fine.
- If you have to have it in the evenings, stick to 2 entrees, one being chicken and the other a vegetarian option. Buffets usually are the best way to go about the whole thing, but make sure to negotiate childrens pricing or you will end up paying adult fees for a childs plate. BBQ family styled meals are good, cost saving events.
- location is everything. It is cheaper to rent out space at a community center or local area park than to have it at a 4 star hotel ballroom. You can also try using a family or friends house or see if there are homes for daily rentals to host your party at- some mansions are rented or historical places. If you become a member of a VFW or Legion (i am not sure if they have those in the UK or in Australia but all it is a place where veterens of wars go to) you can save money because those are usually very cheap.
–Alcohol. The earlier the reception, the less need for it at all. People for the most part wont get hammered at 2 in the afternoon versus 8 at night. If you want to limit the open bar to wine and beer, or have 1 signature drink or just offer champagne, that is fine as well. Everything else can be a cash bar, or you can just make it non alcoholic.
- If you have it in a location where you can provide your own foods or alcohol, buy in bulk froma local wholesaler.
- have family and friends take pictures to save on photographers fees.
–centerpieces can be really simple. Buy 2-3 votive candles and tie a bright sparkly ribbon (or wedding color ribbon) around it for a very beautiful centerpiece.
–favors arent necessary, but if yo umust, make it something edible.
–enlist the help of family and firends. If you know someone who is a DJ, see can you get them to do your receptions. If your 3rd cousin is a baker, see will they make the cake for you.
–stick to your budget and you will be fine

above all else, SHOP around the internet. It is amazing just what and how much you can get online for a very small fee.

Good luck and congrats!

So I'm thinking about doing a fantasy land garden theme for my wedding. I still haven't decided if I want to do it outside, or in a church. I was thinking that my colors could be purple and green. Does anyone have some good ideas of how I can pull this off? And what type of decorations/favors I could use. I was thinking 5,000-6,000 for a buget. We are poor as you can see! LOL. What are some good penny pinching tips?
Yes as in the play….but not really. Nothing with the donky or any of that….just more like a fantasy garden type.

Purple/Lavenders are beautiful colors for a fantasy garden theme, That color popped in my head before I finished your question.

1. Lots of candle light, lighting is important, make sure it's pretty dim so that the light off the candles really pop.

2.Incorporate candles in your center pieces. Buy glass bowls fill them half way with water, put a few flowers in it with floating candles. If you don't want to put whole flowers you could just put flower peddles to cut down on cost.

3. In craft stores they sale bags of fake leaves & flowers, you can buy rope then hot glue the leaves & flowers to the rope (more leaves than flowers, it looks better) then string them around like vines, you could also make like a canipy type thing over dance floor or tables, just string up a few christmas lights with the ropes to make it pop ( not too much remember the candle lighting).

4.I don't know where you live but look for a mom & pop florist store they have better prices than the big chains. If you decide to have any floral bouquets done.

5. At the craft store Michaels they sell fake bouquets, for the bridesmaids if any. My friend did that & in person nor in the pictures could you tell they were fake.

6. Favors I would buy cute little boxes & put them in a candy station. Its not expensive, Just buy a few dozen bags of candy hersey kisses, peanutbutter cups, etc..etc.. My sis did this for her wedding came out to be like maybe $200 dollars. Its alot cheaper than most favors. Put the candy in different size glass bowls & jars it looks nice.

I HOPE THIS HELPS, WHEN YOU DECIDE ON A FEW THINGS COME BACK & POST THEM FOR MORE FEED BACK. GOOD LUCK & CONGRATS ON FINDING THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WITH!!!!

I need any time of information for having a beach wedding in either Ponce or San Juan Puerto Rico. Any tips? I need anything from where I can find a great hotel for my family, to where I can get a great cake. Attractions, best time to have a wedding, best beach. I'm really interested in any information, I would really appreciate it!!

Have to be on the Beach?

Cause in Ponce you could arrange to wed on Serralles Castle (Castillo Serralle) and they have all inclusive details for the wedding , actividadesmcs@yahoo.com . Also you have near hotels to stay.

At Old San Juan, also could wedding at El Convento (Old San Juan Hotel ) just in front of the Cathedral. http://www.elconvento.com/

Beach , I recommend you Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa, is wonderful and the beaches, sunset and everything.

I am paying for a wedding package that is about $450 which includes the outdoor ceremony the officiant, photographer, marriage license and certificate. The priest is part of a church, but we are not marrying on the church site. I read that it is rude to tip officiants, while others say to tip at least $50. For paying for this package, should I tip him or the photographer for what will seem like a 20 minute (tops)ceremony?

It's appropriate to write the priest a check for his church, even though you're not getting married there.

Any tips would be most welcome. Also if anyone has stories about how they planned their weddings I'd like to hear. My parents aren't going to be able to pay for it like a lot of people do so we will have to foot the bill ourselves and want something small and inexpensive.

I have planned 3 very cheap weddings that turned out wonderful.
Go for silk flowers and do the boquettes yourself. Its amazing what you can do with ribbons that will make flowers look great. THey are really easy to design.
I sew dresses for fun, and I know that theyre other people out there that do it cheap and good. Ask around, a friend of yours might have a grandmother/mother that would love to make a few extra dollars to make the dresses (I would not offer less than $10 an hour for this route). Or buy a used dress, and have the bridesmaids buy their own dresses (this is acceptible).
Do you know anyone who decorates cakes? Go to the craft shop and find out when their Wilton classes are and then ask a student if they will make your cake. You will get a really pretty cake for a cheap price (students won't charge that much cause they are looking for pictures for their portfolios).
You can make invitations on your home computer for the cost of ink and paper. You don't have to include a rsvp card if you don't want to. It is now considered 'ok' to have them reply to an email account (but it is poor manners to email wedding invites).
Music is a cd and a friend to push play. Or if you have family that can play an insturment, ask them to perform at your wedding. I'm sure that you can dig out a keroke fan that would love to sing infront of guests for you.
For the dinner… Do a desert buffett. Have the reception 1.5 hours after the cermony and tell guests that you will be serving desert at this location. Dinner isn't a MUST at receptions. Also if you MUST have a bar, do a CASH bar, an open bar can cost you up to the thousands depending on your friends.
For a DJ you have a friend that is a music geek and can spin his own CDs for you (doesn't everyone have a friend that has so much music and stereo stuff that they should be a DJ?)… And have your friends make you CDs of their favorite music so that you will have a nice veritity for everyone.
Table decoretions can be as simple as a floating candle and streamers in your wedding colors.
I once did a wedding for 500 for less than $4500… so it can be done

I'm still in my teens and still at school. Next year I'll finish my exams mid-June and as well as getting a summer job, I was thinking of starting up a wedding card business to supplement my income. It would be fun and a learning curve, I love crafts and am good at deadlines. Thing is, I have no idea where to start. I have given myself a year to sort of prepare - I would be too busy this year with exams anyway.

Any craftspeople out there for inspiration? Or keen businesspeople?

Make sure you get everything the people order on time. Late inviations are a no no in that business.

Hello I just wanted to let anyone know a few websites I used to purchase my wedding things that really saved me money.

http://www.envelopemall.com/
I ordered all the translucent paper, card stock and envelopes at a very resonable price, and they're high quality and shipped everything pretty fast.

http://www.houseofbrides.com/home.php
my wedding dress I bought my dress at the actual store, but they have a pretty good website, aswsome selection and decent prices.

hope this helps.

thanks for the first website I have been searching everywhere for quality cardstock, etc. but everything was so expensive this site is more reasonably priced. Thanks again!

We are doing our own flowers for the wedding. I'm just wondering how many flowers need to be ordered for the outside…and what ideas do you have for doing that? I thought about having a hupdha(sp) or a terrace filled with greenery and flowers, do you have any tips? TIA

I would use silks if you are doing it yourself. Not cheap dollarstore silks….high end ones from someplace like Hobby Lobby or Garden Ridge. If you catch a sale (which they run ALL THE TIME) it can be half the price of real flowers, if not more and look just the same.

1. flowers need to be refregierated….what are you going to put all those roses in
2. are you experienced enough to make sure they are at their best blooming time on wedding day. From your questions..probably not
3. do you know enough not to choose a flower that will quickly wilt in the heat or make sure the smell doesn't overwhelm the room you put them in?
4. if you start putting together something and realize "I don't have enough" you can simply run out and pick up some more. Can't really do that on wedding day.

Plus with silks you have your choice of either keepsakes or reselling them to get some dough back and everything can be made weeks beforehand which really takes the pressure off. Splurge and have real flowers for something like your boquet but other wise….silk.

right now my Fiancee is Deployed and we'll be getting married when he gets back…….i'm not sure if we'll have a Military wedding or a traditional wedding……I need some tips on what to start on first when planning a wedding and which wedding will be cheaper a military one or traditional I was told that a military one is cheaper..we will be getting married in San Diego,Ca which area in San Diego is cheap?…..need advice please

I think you should start calling around. There are wedding planners, are you going that route? Maybe call some hotels and see if they do weddings, I know some bigger ones do but I'm sure it'll be expensive.

You should start by looking up phone numbers in the phone book.

Find where you want it and then book it. Then there's about another million details. I think it's easier to go to Las Vegas, that just 1 phone call away and cheap.

Good luck with your wedding!!!