My fiance and I only have a budget of $10 000 for our wedding for 150 guests. We can't cut the list any more because my future husband has a HUGE family and there would be a lot of hurt feelings and a major uproar if we excluded anyone else. I also would like it to be a nice wedding. A back yard cook-off or a cheapo cocktail reception doesn't appeal to me (and wouldn't be fair to guest who are travelling far for our special day!). I think I can pull it off, I just need to pull out every trick in the book!
Here is what we got so far:
-I found a lovely banquet hall which will cost between $4000-$5000 for 150 people. This includes decorations, food, set up and take down, cake cutting, sparkling wine for toasts, etc. However, it will be a cash bar.
-my fiance's uncle is a professional DJ, and will dj our reception as a wedding gift.
-my fiance's family has a close friend who is a professional photographer, who will only charge us the prints of our pictures.
-a cousin works at a cake decorating shop, and can give us a great price on a wedding cake (though I may look for an even cheaper option).
-my fiance's father is a minister. He will be marrying us in his church so we don't have to worry about paying the officiant or renting out a ceremony venue.
-I'm trying on dresses at bridal shops, then buying the dress I like online for a savings of 50%. I have had friends who have done this with a particular company and have had great success.
-I will be baking sugar cookies using a bell cookie cutter (wedding bells) and decorating them with our initials and wedding date, and use them as wedding favours.
-I want to make my own flower arrangements and bouquets, but I need to find a good wholesaler of either silk or real wedding flowers (preferably silk so I can make them way ahead of time to save myself stress)
-I plan to make my own centrepieces but I'm not very creative so I need ideas that won't break the bank!
-I hope to make my own wedding invitations and programs but I need a place that will sell inexpensive and nice card stock, envelopes, program paper!
-I will have people RSVP via phone or email to save myself money on response cards and postage.
Would anyone like to help me with what I have so so? Or does anyone have any other cost saving tips? Thanks. 
Wow…. I think you covered a lot. Anyway, my advice to you is get out staring Friday and hit the After Holiday Sales. All kinds of paper, decor, candles, stationary and such will be on sale. I was in Pier 1 a few days ago and they had lots of stuff for 30%-50% off and I'm sure they will mark them down even lower. A majority of the stuff has a strong holiday theme, but there is plenty of things that can be used throughout the year as well. I would suggest using gold/red or gold/black as your colors? Lots of holiday candles and stationary will have gold as a color, but isn't themed to Christmas or any specific holiday. It just look festive more than anything. But, you could definetely get away with using it for your wedding.
Look for additional coupons in the newspaper or even online.
I think you could do your stationary, centerpieces and favors for way less than $1,000,maybe even less.
December 31st, 2008 at 11:40 am
Go to Vegas and elope. You'll be happier in the long run.
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December 31st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Wow…. I think you covered a lot. Anyway, my advice to you is get out staring Friday and hit the After Holiday Sales. All kinds of paper, decor, candles, stationary and such will be on sale. I was in Pier 1 a few days ago and they had lots of stuff for 30%-50% off and I'm sure they will mark them down even lower. A majority of the stuff has a strong holiday theme, but there is plenty of things that can be used throughout the year as well. I would suggest using gold/red or gold/black as your colors? Lots of holiday candles and stationary will have gold as a color, but isn't themed to Christmas or any specific holiday. It just look festive more than anything. But, you could definetely get away with using it for your wedding.
Look for additional coupons in the newspaper or even online.
I think you could do your stationary, centerpieces and favors for way less than $1,000,maybe even less.
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December 31st, 2008 at 1:19 pm
It sounds like you are on the right track. I like that you are spending the bulk of your money on the venue and food. Food and drink is what people really care about (the only suggestion I would make is remove the bar entirely and have non-alcohol wedding because I find cash bars tacky), and since you got a nice location you wont have to spend a dime on "decorations" and extra flowers to spruce it up. Well done.
Centrepieces can be candles floating in water with perhaps a few orchids or flower petals. I do urge you to use real flowers instead of silk, I find even the best-quality fake flowers are still fakes. I think in the case of flowers, a little goes a long way. You dont need giant centerpieces to make an impact.
Go to paper-source.com for your card stock. They have several sizes and colors to choose from, and it is very printer-friendly. I used their papers for my DIY invitations and programs (which my guests thought were professionally made). Also, have a look at their videos for ideas on the programs and invitations.
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December 31st, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Wow, you seem to be on the right track!! You are very fortunate to have so many "connections" for your wedding. As far as wedding invites, both Target and Wal-Mart both sell DIY kits that come in plain styles and very stylish ones too. As for inexpensive centerpieces, you can go to your local dollar store and purchase glasses/vases and put small candles in side. You could also fill a shallow bowl with water, add a drop of food coloring, and put some floating candles in also. Both of these ideas can be surrounded with rose petals. Also, you can wrap your decorated cookie favors and secure with ribbon and place at each setting, and that will also look very nice! You can also save some money on RSVP's by creating a fun wedding website at:
http://www.ewedding.com/
There, you can give guests info about your wedding, registry, RSVP, etc. And it's free! Good luck! You seem to be on the right track!
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December 31st, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Have you tried csilkc.com doubt you will get much better price than her custom pre-made packages $65 for a 2 piece set, up to $175 for a 34 piece set and these are already finished so you don't need the supplies which will add cost, and it saves your time. You might want to give them a look first.
Wilton cake decorating supplies(wilton.com) have a 2, 3 or 4 inch plastic wedding bell that might work well combined with tulle, silk flowers and votive candles that might be pretty especially if placed on a mirror (orientaltrading co.com.) Or just corsages in your flower and color with a candle/candles and mirror. The dollar stores usually have a fairly good selection of votive holders.
You might also consider having the reception at the church as well it probably wouldn't have a bar but then that is not a requirement. You might at least weigh the merits against that 4-5K venue and see what it would cost to have just the catering done, delivered, setup and cleanup. Might be worth investigating anyway.
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December 31st, 2008 at 2:48 pm
It sounds like you already have some cost cutting ideas that will definitely help to keep you within your realm.
As far as the invitations go, a Michael's or Hobby Lobby (big craft stores) sell nice invitation cardstock that you could use. They also have options to use and have a Kinko's or printing store print your wording. I don't know if you know someone who has the Adobe Design Suite software on their computer (although if you know someone who works in Graphic Design or who works for a newspaper, they might have access to some…Quark would work, too), but if you did you could probably have them teach you the basics and design your own invitations on the computer. This way it might be easier to do an invitation and program that looks like they go with each other.
As far as the floral arrangements go, I think finding a wholesaler in your area would be good. If you do want to go with silk flowers, you might try an arts and crafts store like the one mentioned above. Hydrangeas look real in silk flowers and a lot of the callalillies look real, too.
You might also want to hit sales after Christmas for decor/centerpiece ideas. I don't know if you are dead set on flowers, but you might find some interesting things on sale that you could use instead. You definitely might find some pots to place the arrangements in on sale. You might also want to think about purchasing candles after Christmas. They go on sale and can add a lot of drama to a centerpiece.
It sounds like you are off to a good start. If I think of anything else, I will let you know.
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December 31st, 2008 at 3:03 pm
you guys can make a website on the knot, and get rsvps that way, too.
have the cake made at a grocery store, and have a sheet cake in the back to cover the rest of the guests.
as for centerpieces, i'd wait til a craft store had a sale, go get some glass bowls, float some flower petals in the water, add some tea-lights floating on top and bam… centerpieces cheap and ambiance!
appoint one or two people to take ceremony pics and some of the reception, and put cheap, cheap disposables on the tables… those candid shots usually have way more life and really capture the essence of the event.
good luck and congrats
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December 31st, 2008 at 3:12 pm
You're on to a good start thinking of ways to save. I encourage you to sit down and budget your wedding now. Think of where you can cut corners and where you would want to spend more.
Regarding the invitations try kinko's or staples. I'm sure they have nice computer paper that you can buy for those. They probably even have paper with matching envelopes. You could also try searching online. For programs, I know christian bookstores sell bulletin papers for church bulletins. Maybe they might be able to order something that is themed for a wedding. Then you can print one copy and xerox the rest off on the program paper.
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December 31st, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Look at pictures of "real" wedding from websites like projectwedding.com, theknot.com, and weddingchannel.com. Also for the DIY girl in you stylemepretty.com has some great DIY stuff.I've collected a lot of ideas that I'm going to modify for my own wedding.
Simple, cheap, 'green' DIY project I'm saving large soup cans to cover with fabric of my colors and I'll put them in the widows at the church, maybe even on the railing of the deck that'll act as our dance floor. It's a cheap Idea because I'd just be throwing the cans away if I didn't use them for flowers and no one has to know that it was soup cans because the flowers and fabric will cover that up. (I came up with that from seeing a small round vase on a florist website and I thought it looked like a decorated soup can).
Instead of a $30-50 for a guest book I'll never look at again I'm going to get a scrap book or a nice sketch book and have pictures taken of the guests and put in the book and they can write well wishes and tidbits of wisdom to us next to their picture.
Your doing most of this already but: Borrow what you can! Ebay is great place to get petals in bulk. Always ask if you can get a discount, there is nothing wrong with asking. Get what you can on clearance (like white Christmas lights are classy but safer then candles. So after Dec 25th hit the store, especially the dollar store, for a great deal). Buy in bulk when possible, tealights are done like this more then any other candle. Sign up for coupons for all of your favorite craft stores & get your friends to sign up to and go shopping with you so you can use their coupon and your own.
Good Luck and Congratulations
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Aug. Bride on an budget of $5,000 for 100 guests.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Since you will not have response cards and all…make the invitations on a postcard. Find a website you can design them online an use an engagement picture or more creative pic (your names carved on a tree/written in sand etc) as the front and have invitation wording on the back. The postage to mail all the postcards will be far cheaper than invitations.
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December 31st, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Not much I can add.
Flowers used for the wedding ceremony can be used also for the center pieces.
I used clear labels to print the names on the envelopes.
One major cost is pictures and or video.
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December 31st, 2008 at 5:21 pm
instead of everyone getting their own dinner plate have a buffet!! cocktail franks,meatballs, a little bit of everything. it went over really well with my wedding and we had over 300 hundred guests and still had some left over!
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December 31st, 2008 at 5:35 pm
The simplest centerpieces that still look pretty and elegant are floating candles. There's a great deal on them at Oriental Trading Company.
I had originally wanted white heart shaped floating candles for my centerpieces. Then my fiance saw a picture with fish bowls as centerpieces, so now I am breeding and raising fish (which I had done in high school, so I'm no stranger to it) for the wedding! My mother is also making table runners with gorgeous embroidery on them (lucky for us she has an embroidery machine).
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http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/search/processRequest.do?Ntt=floating+candle&requestURI=searchMain&Ntk=all&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&N=0