Kvetch » Cutting Costs » Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions
| Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #306259] |
Mon, 14 March 2005 12:19  |
 Melisent
Messages: 52
Registered: April 2004
Location: Richmond, Virginia |
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My dearest and I are paying for the wedding ourselves, and allowed a budget of $5K since we knew we couldnt really get it too much cheaper than that.
I will list our top 5 budget savers and would love to hear others' top 5 lists.
1. Food- 4th of July style picnic including hotdogs, hamburgers, baked beans, and BBQ. Budget- $500
2. Flowers- None. My bouquet is made already, and its silk and cost a grand total of about $15.
3. My Clothes- The dress I wanted was a $1500 designer nightmare, and it had a train that I didnt want, so I took a picture to a friend who is a professional seamstress and she said she could make it for around $300 tops. I got silk fabric for $8 a yard for the underdress and about $4 for the silk overdress. My seamstress wont add any beading (which I didnt want) or a train, so this dress will be a unique, custom dress and comes in for under $450. My veil I wanted was $370, but I have some minor sewing skills, and got the fabric (silk gauze rather than tulle) and made it myself for less than $20. Shoes were $20, tiara was bought on eBay for $20, crinoline was also an eBay purchase for $30. Huge savings all around.
4. Center pieces/Favors- I found blue vases for $1 a piece at a Salvage place, and needed only 10 at most. In them will go some white shredded/crinkled paper ($1 a bag at the dollar store), and I bought 10" sparklers (288 for $45), and it all works as favors for my guests (not a chochki to take home but still fun) centerpieces in the Independence Day theme, and a fun send off for us that isnt bubbles. I will probably get lighters from the dollar store and put a couple on each table so they can be lit.
5. Cake- I am incredibly blessed that my mom is an experienced cake decorator/foodie and she is making our cake (and some pies since my dearest hates cake) so my cake is free.
We have been incredibly blessed with gifted friends helping us out. My photographer is a friend. Our caterers are friends. My seamstress is a friend.
Our number one expense has been our church. Our parish is a Cathedral and the seat of the diocese. $300 for the basic charge (that is the half off parishioners discount), $200 for the organist, $100 for the cantor, $125 for the required co-ordinator, plus whatever we pay our priest. That has been overwhelming, so we were fortunate to cut corners in other places.
So what have been your top 5 money savers? What has been your #1 budget killer?
Trolling,
Melisent
July 2nd, 2005
http://AMadBride.diaryland.com
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #306276] |
Mon, 14 March 2005 12:29  |
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Messages: 731
Registered: October 2004
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Cost cutters:
1) Small wedding (45 guests, including ourselves)
2) Wedding dress: Ebay.
3) Invitations: used a kit from Paper-Source
4) Cake: used fresh flowers for decoration.
5) Flowers: got married outdoors in a garden. Needed very little flowers...
Could have saved more if we:
1) Didn't have an open bar during dinner--- no one used it. Total waste of money. People drank wine that was served with dinner and were quite happy with that after an open bar cocktail hour. That was plenty.
2) Flower centerpieces-- we totally could have recycled the flowers from events that were going on previously the same weekend. The inn had SO many extra flowers. I wish I had thought to coordinate with the other clients.
3) Used a cheaper seamstress. I think I paid way too much for alterations. And I could have bought cheaper shoes...but whatever.
Those are the biggies.
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #306285] |
Mon, 14 March 2005 12:34 |
halidaze
Messages: 795
Registered: February 2004
Location: at least it's blue. |
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i'll play. as an enthusiastic bargain hunter, i used to find these threads fascinating. i would highly recommend the book Bridal Bargains for even more cost cutting ideas and tricks. and with anything else in life, SHOP AROUND!!
1) Lunch reception instead of dinner, saves about $8 per person, plus we doubt people will drink as much. (we hope to host a fun, relaxing after party at our own house.)
2) my uncle (ULC) is officiating. he was already ordained for another family members wedding. saves money, but more importantly, makes for a much more personal ceremony.
3)DIY flowers. i'm doing really simple hydrangea bouquets and centerpieces and will get the flowers (~$3-4 per stem) from marisolblooms or sams club.
4)designed an invite with photoshop and will print on paper from invitationoutlet.com . luckily, i have a friend at a print shop so she'll help me with this, but otherwise we'd try them on our home printer.
5)no limo. haven't decided if we'll rent a fancy car for the weekend instead.
also, my dad's girlfriend will be doing my hair, i'm going to attempt DIY make-up, and i doubt we'll have favors.
eta. Netbride.com! i highly recommend it!
[Updated on: Mon, 14 March 2005 12:35]
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #306320] |
Mon, 14 March 2005 12:55 |
blurry
Messages: 92
Registered: November 2003
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This was our budget too, $5000. But we are in NYC, so we knew that wouldn't go too far, given what we wanted to do. We went the other route and listed our priorities and eliminated everything else.
Our priorities were (in order):
air and hotel arrangements for parents
reception location
photographer
dinner
my dress.
I must add that ours was a "family only reception" so the total guest list was 10 people (including bride and groom). Everything else got cut with no looking back: flowers, cake, entertainment, centerpieces, favors, etc, etc. I know some people would be horrified, but you'd be surprised at how challenging it was to spend $5000 on 10 people. Trust me, this is not how I manage money on a day-to-day basis.
Our expenses pretty much evened out, I don't remember there being one "killer" to the budget. Everything was pretty much on order of $1000 - $1500, with the exception of my dress which was bought online for $400.
But it was worth it!
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #306352] |
Mon, 14 March 2005 13:25 |
clementine
Messages: 75
Registered: February 2005
Location: Dayton, OH |
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same budget here:
1) having the wedding on a Sunday. We saved $400 on the venue, and the woman who runs the B&B waived the $250 fee she usually charges for getting an outside caterer, because she's already cooking for the wedding on Saturday, and she said she'd rather not cook on Sunday anyway.
2) DIY flowers. I am getting 240 stems of gerbera daisies from The Flower Exchange, and simply popping them into some vases (see below) and having done with it. Side note: http://www.theflowerexchange.com/shop/scripts/prodList.asp?i dcategory=64 Has anyone ever ordered from The Flower Exchange before? The prices are awesome...
3) utilizing the talents of family. My mom is a calligrapher, and has designed the invites (from PaperSource) for us, as well as addressing the envelopes; my FMIL is a potter, and will be making beautiful, unique vases for the centerpieces; my brother will be the officiant (yay, Universal Life Church!!)
4) DIY music. My FH is in a band, so we will be using their PA and speakers to play mix CDs. Also, we know plenty of musicians, and we may have our friend's band play for about an hour during the reception (they've offered to do it for free, if they don't have a conflict - *crosses fingers*).
5) My dress. The Sophia dress from JCrew! I love it, love it, love it. Also, since I do not want a veil, my mom and I are collaborating on a sheer scarf (to be worn backwards, with the scarf hanging down my back)...I am making a beaded fringe to attach to the ends of the scarf.
Wow, writing this stuff out has reminded me how excited I am!!!
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #306411] |
Mon, 14 March 2005 14:17 |
Pooch
Messages: 100
Registered: March 2004
Location: NYC |
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I'm getting married in NYC, and could have probably saved $$$ if I got married on Long Island (where I grew up), but couldn't stomach the cheeze factor of most places I know. So, the Mr. and I saved money by doing the following:
1. getting married at the church Mr. Pooch works at. They're throwing in the day-of coordinator in for free too. We just have to give a little something to the janatorial (sp?) staff. So, instead of $2000 for the ceremony space, we're spending $200
2. Mr. Pooch's father is a minister, so he's marrying us and we're saving the money usually spent on a fee (would have been about $400)
3. Mr. Pooch's mother is playing the organ at the ceremony. Not only do I get to customize the music played, but I also get someone who is deeply invested in making sure the music is great.
4. My father will be driving us in his antique car (1929 Chrysler), which is my favorite car ever, thus saving us limo fees.
5. No favors. Part of me realizes that I've never gotten a wedding favor that I've cherished, and the other part of me is just lazy and can't be bothered.
6. The cheapest (and best for the price) photographer we could find. I shopped around like crazy, and our guy is 1/2 the price of the next cheapest.
October 29, 2005
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #306501] |
Mon, 14 March 2005 15:32 |
llama
Messages: 992
Registered: February 2004
Location: DC |
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We wanted a Saturday evening dinner reception, so, there was a limited amount that we could do to cut costs.
Top cost cutting measures we took:
1) We set a budget and we stuck with it. We researched how much we could spend, figured out what we would do, and didn't up our numbers for anything.
2) DIY flowers. Challenging to do right before the wedding with all of the craziness, but it saved a lot of money
3) Inexpensive wedding dresses: two wedding dresses for $360. One from JCrew, one from an alterna-type bridal salon. With alterations it was $430. Research helped a lot with this.
4) Inexpensive photographer/photographs. DC photographers are crazy expensive, and we found one for less than most. We put together our own wedding album. It suited our style more than a professional album anyhow.
5) Bought our own alcohol. Lots o' alcohol for not much money.
One more for good measure:
Our rehearsal dinner was very nice, but in a private room at an inexpensive ethnic restaurant, so it only cost about $20 a person, including wine and dessert.
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #306567] |
Mon, 14 March 2005 16:11 |
novabride
Messages: 298
Registered: August 2004
Location: Northern Virginia |
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hiya Melisent. glad to hear things are going so well with the planning for you and Sir Dearest. 
so far, these have been the biggest cost-cutters for us:
1) Not giving a flying CRAP about flowers. this is a personal preference that's ended up coming in really handy as far as avoiding the WIC. my original plan was silk cherry blossoms from Michael's if it were up to me; anything fresh could come from Harris Teeter as far as I'm concerned. but my FMIL does care, and since she offered to pay, I told her she can go wild.
2) No professional photographer. we decided we could pay $2-3K (in the DC area) for a total crapshoot where we'd get maybe one album's worth of decent shots out of several hundred, or we can ask our friends and family to bring cameras, hand out disposable ones, and end up with an album's worth of decent shots for much less.
3) Reception site. throwing a good party is our primary concern, and pretty much everything that's important to us party-wise is included in the reception package at Waterford at Fair Oaks. there's a lot in there that we would've had to pay extra for at any of the sites we were originally considering, like the Spanish ballroom at Glen Echo.
4) Ceremony site. the Buddhists, perhaps predictably, are asking very little for the use of their temple-- we didn't even know that before we picked the place.
5) Rings. my cousin Pat at Celtart.com is doing our wedding bands, and we're getting a family discount. 
our number one budget killer? the cakes. I cannot bring myself to skimp on food, liquor or dessert. the food and liquor, as I said, are included in the reception package, but the cakes are coming from an outside vendor... it wouldn't have been that expensive except I had to do a bride's cake AND groom's cake, with Celtic designs on both. but then, Zero and I are extraordinarily lucky to have our wedding bankrolled by parents. I really admire the ways in which you've cut costs in order to focus on what's really important to you. very creative and cool.
for dark discussions, come to the Abyss...
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #306885] |
Tue, 15 March 2005 00:07 |
2blueshoes
Messages: 441
Registered: December 2004
Location: Saint Paul, MN |
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This is a topic very near and dear to my heart, since FH and I are being total tightwads about this wedding thing. We've budgeted $5,000, but since FH's parents have offered to help with food, we're spending less than that. Here's a couple of my cost-cutting moves:
1. Rented a city park for the ceremony and reception. The park has an enclosed pavilion that was built in 1929 and has a very cool feel to it. The park itself is pretty secluded and filled with trees. Total cost for 7 hours was only $325.
2. DIY flowers (I'm probably just going to buy them the day before and whip up some simple bouquets - nothing to fancy). DIY invitations, too. And my mother is making the wedding arch and some jewelry.
3. Afternoon reception, so that cut down on catering costs. FH's mother offered to find the caterer, so I let her. She ended up picking the same caterer that did her and FH's father's wedding. The caterers are supplying the reception decor - nothing fancy, just flowers or candles, but whatever. One less thing to worry about.
4. No DJ - just our own CD's. Probably won't have much if any dancing, since it's in the afternoon.
5. Asking friends and family for recommendations/help has been the most beneficial to me. FH's neighbors recommended an officiant who's doing the ceremony for a fourth of what others were asking, FH's mother found the caterer... Everybody knows SOMEBODY who does something - use your connections.
That's all I could think of now.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing - H.Keller
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #306898] |
Tue, 15 March 2005 02:25 |
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1. The big one is our mini guest list. We're having only 10 people (including us). We both have small immediate families. If we'd gone beyond this, we would've had to have a really big wedding, due to the 'if you invite X, then Y has to come' factor. I know the small wedding can't be done for everyone, but it's been such a $$ and sanity-saver for us.
2. The venue (a small beach resort) is really beautiful, so the only flowers/decorations we need are my bouquet and corsages/buttonholes for our guests.
3. We're only hiring a photographer for an hour.
4. My future brother-in-law is a jeweller and is making our rings as our wedding gift.
5. My dress, although from my favourite designer, was still cheaper than any of the frocks I liked from traditional bridal shops, and is more likely to be re-worn. The future mister wears really natty suits to work anyway, so he is just buying a new tie.
The most expensive thing that we probably could've cut costs on was the accommodation, as we're paying for everyone to stay (complicated family wealth-disparity politics here).
And also, we're doing a lunch with my extended family a couple of weeks afterwards that isn't strictly necessary and has inflated our budget.
My trusty spreadsheet tells me we're currently looking at spending around $5200. I'm sure this will blow out as we get closer to the date.
long-time lurker Mara
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #307055] |
Tue, 15 March 2005 10:25 |
long gone
Messages: 1587
Registered: October 2004
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Our wedding budget is a LOT more than $5000, but because we are having between 220-250 guests (we both adore our big families and have a lot of wonderful people in our lives with whom we want to share this crazy thing, so it was either have 20 people or 200+) we are working hard to keep things within the budget we do have. Here are my top 5:
1. I'm wearing my mom's dress, which is gorgeous silk and pretty much the line I'd have chosen anyway. The top is being remade to be more my style. Total cost for alterations is about $225.
2. My dad is officiating, because in CO the couple can "solemnize" their own vows for license purposes and anyone can conduct the wedding.
3. The centerpieces will be made from scrap flagstones, stacked to resemble the Flatirons that are a local highlight and one of our favorite climbing areas, surrounded by flowers (mockup photos in GriGri's album in the ofoto acct). We've been buying up the flagstones at a local stone place for 2 cents/lb. - roughly 30 cents/table. The flowers will be used along the ends of the chair rows for the ceremony, and the florist will then move them onto the tables during cocktail hour.
4. DIY invitations. We used some expensive papers, but bought them in bulk and are printing, cutting, and assembling ourselves so they work out to less than many of the DIY kits.
5. Our site is a bit expensive, but allows us to bring in our own alcohol, with no corkage or other pass-through charges. This saves us a fortune and more than offsets the site cost compared to all-inclusive sites, esp. because our caterer has a special discount with a local liquor shop, on top of the standard case discount.
one more - 6. Our caterer is a huge find. Her food is exceptional, she does a lot of decor and other little touches as part of her package, she has terrific staff, and she's a blast to work with. And very surprisingly affordable (about half of what most of the others quoted us, and for much better and more generous food), because she hates the WIC and refuses to be a bitch just because people will pay a lot for weddings. (She also has a wealthy husband, so doesn't "need" the $$, but whatever). She doesn't advertise, you have to find her via word of mouth, but she does a lot of charity events and isn't exactly hiding from public view. I really recommend that when looking for a caterer, see who's done the annual galas for organizations you support and find out whether they do weddings.
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #307082] |
Tue, 15 March 2005 10:34 |
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1. dress - was $99, on sale from $1000 - one of a kind and fits perfectly (with a bustier, which will cost a pretty penny)
2. potluck - not sure whether this is a good idea or not, since i have a massive family. but in order to afford it, it's the only option. if i have time, i might make the cake - i like the carrot cake idea. if i don't have time, potluck desserts it is. we'll cover the booze, though.
3. picnic - yep, blankets and everything. byo-lawnchair. in our backyard. this is cheaper but also allows for a bonfire and a big garden (thus a very small flower budget - since our yard is still bare, I'm asking folks to donate extra plants in spring. this thursday is the garden-planning party)...
4. music/dj - we both are/were dj's on campus radio, so we'll do the mp3 thing.
5. decorations - won't need many with the garden, but are borrowing everyone's christmas lights (white lights are nice, but colourful is lovely too), hanging up some double happiness chinese lanterns (FMIL is from Hong Kong) and making aluminum can-candle holders to hang from the trees.
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #307651] |
Tue, 15 March 2005 17:43 |
rubytue
Messages: 94
Registered: February 2005
Location: Prison Overlook, VA |
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I'm still working on this, but I'm on what is considered a miniscule budget for the DC area.
1. Bought my dress on eBay. For a variety of reasons, the last thing I wanted to do was be in a bridal shop trying on dresses that don't fit and with me bald. So I found someone that sells Maggie knockoffs, and waited until the one I wanted in my size went on her weekly $99 sale. Turns out, the auction closed on Christmas Day, so that might have deterred the last minute bidding. $130 shipped! My seamstress estimates about $70 for alterations.
2. DIY up the wazoo! Invites, cake topper, centerpieces, decorations, etc
3. Sunday afternoon reception. Saved ~24% bit on rental costs. Mostly done for scheduling conviences. I wasn't able to do much planning (see earlier bald comment and read between the lines) until very recently.
4. No DJ. Using mp3's and my moh's husband. He gets grumpy at social events unless he is busy anyway. So this gives him something to do and saves us money. He has a bit of previous expierence dj'ing college frat parties. The music has changed since then, but hey can keep a crowd moving.
5. This isn't so much *my* savings, but my bridesmaid's insisted on matching dresses (despite me saying - pick what you want). So I went out with them and found awsome dresses on clearance, plus an extra 50% off sale. So $20 each.
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #307800] |
Tue, 15 March 2005 21:14 |
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1. My stepfather ( a professional photographer) took pictures as his gift to us.
2. Teenaged nephew was volunteer deejay (no corny talk; just kept music going.)
3. No limo (ceremony and recpetion at the same site.)
4. No video (didn't want it!)
5. Lunch reception catered by an Italian deli (cold cuts, cheese and bread for make your own sandwiches, green salad and potato salad.)
By the way, we had 65 guests and a budget of $3,000. Got my tea-length, ivory Alfred Angelo "informal" (no train) gown from JC Penney Bridal for $175.00
Rev. Frankie
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #307919] |
Wed, 16 March 2005 06:19 |
maple-tea
Messages: 161
Registered: September 2004
Location: Long Island, NY |
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1. DIY flowers (ordering them wholesale on the internet, arranging ourselves). Mom is worried we'll never pull it off but I think it's going to be beautiful.
2. DIY invites (I'm a designer, so designing them myself; paper from paper-source.com).
3. Our photographer is a fantastically talented, just-starting-out, no-studio-therefore-no-overhead 23-year-old. With an amazing portfolio. (I plug her every chance I get so here I go again: www.angelicaglass.com. Email me if you decide to contact her!)
4. Dress was a discontinued store sample, 60% off.
5. Ceremony and reception will both be held at a historical society (wedding in a field, reception in the barn).
Pooch: You might not have saved that much money by having it on Long Island! I just read that the average price tag for weddings here is $40,000.  I think that is caused both by the ridiculously high prices of everything and the lavish "standards" of LI weddings (the latter of which we are ignoring; the former of which we can avoid by ordering over the internet for some things, but not for catering, which is costing more than I ever imagined.) There is a crazy message board for Long Island weddings which I check sometimes for vendor references/ideas, and every once in a while somebody starts some thread about "OMG, I attended an out-of-state wedding and people just do not know how to do weddings outside NY!"  I grew up here but holy cow, I hope I don't end up raising my kids around those kinds of values.
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #308050] |
Wed, 16 March 2005 09:46 |
spot
Messages: 320
Registered: June 2004
Location: MN |
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Let's see...
1. Got a $99 discontinued dress from David's Bridal that I actually like, shoes from DSW and my mom's knitted a lovely shawl for me.
2. Kept the guest list to 30.
3. Found a site at a small town about 1 1/2 hours away from the city - venue is much cheaper than I could find around here.
4. Utilized talents of friends; traded services with a friend who's also a professional cake baker, so our AMAZING cake will be free; friend ordained by ULC will officiate; same friend who used to do wedding flowers for a living will be doing the flowers.
5. Skipping the DJ, dance, live music type stuff.
The main thing that's hurting the budget right now is that in order to involve the 70-80 people who aren't invited to the ceremony, we're having a reception a few weeks later. That's doubling the cost of invitations, and I have another party to provide food/drink for. Ouch.
be careful what you don't wish for
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #308764] |
Wed, 16 March 2005 18:25 |
Marken
Messages: 5352
Registered: June 2003
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1. bought a dress from an outlet store.
2. Skipped the limo and the carriage my dh wanted.
3. My husband made the centerpieces (bookends made of shelving brackets with our books in between)
4. Shopped around for a venue that didn't require valet parking and for the caterer to buy the alcohol. We bought a great selection of wine and beer from Cost Plus World Market that was so popular we ran out.
5. Didn't go with a traditional vendor for our invites.
6. Didn't go somewhere traditional for our honeymoon. We went to DC instead.
"Members of Congress should leave town...No need to spend money on a dome and pillars -- just pitch two big circus tents...bring in FEMA trailers for housing, and let's see if we can't get more work out of these people."--Garrison Keillor
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #308792] |
Wed, 16 March 2005 19:09 |
Tactful Cactus
Messages: 1698
Registered: February 2004
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1. Our DJ was iTunes with occasional help/monitoring from the best man. Saved us at least $700
2. DIY flowers through freshroses.com. Saved a ton of money, and they got to be exactly what I wanted them to be.
3. eBay Wedding dress - floor sample in wonderful condition.
4. eBay and Internet Store decorations -- paper lanterns, runner (which we forgot to bring), galvanized buckets, etc, etc. I probably saved at least a couple hundred dollars buying things on line
5. Finding my photographer on craigslist instead of typical wedding lists. She was relatively new, but very good, so her prices were 1k to 2k less than comparable photographers I researched. (I'm in the Bay Area-- photographers are exxxxpensive)
I DIYed my invitations and found I didn't save much money at all. Although I'm glad I did them myself-- they were exactly what I wanted, and were more personal that way-- if you're doing it just to save money, research everyting you'll need to purchase ahead of time, and get some regular invites quoted. It might save you the hassle of DIY if it isn't your thing.
It's L.D. under cover. The Lord loves a working man, don't trust whitey, see a doctor and get rid of it.
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #308888] |
Wed, 16 March 2005 21:14 |
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We have had SO MANY freebies...
1) a friend who is a dj is doing our reception and ceremony music for FREE
2)my mom is doing the food. BBQ type stuff that can be prepared ahead of time. (i am still a little nervous aout this)
3)I am doing my own flowers, all except my bouquet- saving about $700. (nervous about this too!)total cost under $300
4)My very talented aunt made my veil, and even matched the beadwork on my dress- OMG! Beautiful!
5)My grandma's boyfriend will do our service, which is at the reception site, in the courtyard with a beautiful garden and gazebo. Free, and Free!
6)Two free photographers, between the two of them, I should get plenty of good stuff.
I probably spent more than I should have on the cake... $400 for 125 people. But its the best baker in the city, and she's a friend of the family and gave us a great deal and it's exactly what I wanted- CHOCOLATE!
Also overdid the dress... $700! But it's faaaaabulous! And my shoes were only $15 @ Target, pink is so cheaky... Love it.
Total budget was 2,500 for 120 guests. Wish me luck
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #309076] |
Thu, 17 March 2005 07:52 |
radar
Messages: 331
Registered: December 2004
Location: UK |
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Our best cost-cutting decisions
1. Smallish wedding (34 guests)
2. Only one bridesmaid (which was also good for keeping me calm beforehand), one best man.
3. No favors or centerpieces (the reception venue put out great decorative candles in the end, so there was really no need)
4. Plain dark-gold evening gown for me, 80GBP ($150) in the sale, burgundy gown for BM 60GBP. Both utterly gorgeous and exactly what we wanted.
5. Amazing bridesmaid also made the amazing cake for free.
Could have saved more on:
- church flowers, the church really didn't need them and the arrangement that we got didn't add anything. I'm sure no-one will remember it existed.
Really worth spending money on:
- professional hair and make-up. I am terrible at these things and these people were so good at knowing what I wanted without me being able to specify it properly (I do not understand hairdresser-speak). In the end my stepmom paid for the hair anyway.
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #309333] |
Thu, 17 March 2005 11:31 |
teany
Messages: 647
Registered: November 2004
Location: New York, NY |
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| maple-tea wrote on Wed, 16 March 2005 06:19 |
There is a crazy message board for Long Island weddings which I check sometimes for vendor references/ideas, and every once in a while somebody starts some thread about "OMG, I attended an out-of-state wedding and people just do not know how to do weddings outside NY!" I grew up here but holy cow, I hope I don't end up raising my kids around those kinds of values.
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Hey Maple-tea, I know exactly which Web site you're talking about!   Those threads definitely get on my nerves and are really quite insulting as OF COURSE you can have a perfectly lovely wedding without 90 pounds of food at the cocktail hour and a chocolate fountain (still haven't quite figured out what that is, and if it is what I think, then that sounds like a white-dress disaster waiting to happen...)
Growing up on Long Island, I certainly knew how out of hand the whole wedding thing can get. Since I just starting planning I have no huge cost-cutting measures to share yet, however we've planned on a few things:
-Sunday afternoon wedding, mainly for religious reasons, but figure it will save us on catering and esp. liquor. Wedding is at a vineyard so I'm thinking we may only serve the wine from there.
- Planning on DIY invites. My mom found this new craft store with some nifty kits so going to check that out.
- Ceremony and reception at same place, so NO limo. No fancy car needed, I think. Going to the wedding in a Honda would be KO with me.
- I work at a newspaper and one of our freelance photogs does mainly weddings, so we're likely using her and getting a discount!
- Father's client is a jeweler so we saved big $$ (paid cost!) on my e-ring and will likely get our bands there
[Updated on: Thu, 17 March 2005 11:40]
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #309730] |
Thu, 17 March 2005 16:10 |
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1. everything in season! fresh local flowers, fresh local food, etc. Simple wildflowers, simple grilled food instead of anything fancy. It still looked/tasted awesome because it was so fresh.
2. negotiating with our photographer. We increased the deposit amount --paid more upfront during his cash-poor slow season-- to get more coverage and more extras thrown in for free.
3. David's bridal dress. Was fine with me, looked great.
4. My sister's high school friends were an army of volunteer help-- baby sitting, parking attendants, etc.
5. actively considering every little decision and saying, does X please me? (or us?). if not, we did without and never gave it a second thought.
--whatnot
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #310286] |
Fri, 18 March 2005 10:52 |
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1) made our save the dates at kinkos and will send them out with 23 cent stamps (they are postcards)
2) Ceremoy and reception site are the same.
3) we will design and make our own invitations
4) I plan to wear a red BCBG dress that I already own...
got it to wear for my birthday last year, but only FH and 1 or 2 other people who will be at the wedding will have seen it- no special plans for shoes, or hair except a haircut right before the wedding, which I pay for regularly anyway....
5) engagement ring was in my family and wedding rings will not be expensive...
6) Our friends are making and bringing dessert (rest of food is catered)
7) We are buiying our booze ourselves for am's club and trader joe's in the months before the wedding...
Big budget busters...we will subsidize some guests accommodations...we are having and amazing photog with us all weekend ...for $2500. egads...Also, we are contemplating a similar amount for live music or DJ.
Huge budget busters!
Oh well...
logan square, not logged in
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #310623] |
Fri, 18 March 2005 14:51 |
Gemini13
Messages: 697
Registered: August 2004
Location: Brooklyn |
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1) Holding the wedding on a Fri instead of a Sat saved us $20 pp.
2) Small-ish guestlist- appx 60 guest
3) Found our photographer on Craigslist. We're paying him $400, and in exchange he gets to use our photos in his portfolio. Albums and prints are extra if we want them, otherwise we can print them ourselves from the photo cd. Did I mention he has 8 yrs experience shooting weddings?
4) My dress was a sample- I paid $300 for a $1500 gown!!!
5) We printed our own invites, using a kit we bought at Office Max. They look great, and it only cost us about $34.
6) This isn't finalized yet, but I'm probably going to be working with someone just starting out as a florist. Again, she gets to use pictures of her work in exchange for really cheap bouquets.
7) DIY centerpieces. The total will probably be about $20 each. I bought these funky blue mosaic hurricane vases from Pier 1, on clearance for $10 each. Stick a candle in them, surround with votives, and sprinkle rose petals.
8- We found a very inexpensive dj, he's charging $500 for 5 1/2 hrs.
[Updated on: Fri, 18 March 2005 15:05]
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #313878] |
Wed, 23 March 2005 06:58 |
foreverfrida
Messages: 14
Registered: March 2005
Location: NC |
Member |
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what a great thread!
we are lucky in that we are not in a major metro area. from what i've read on this board, that helps a LOT! still, we are paying for everything ourselves. i am a student, and FH is a teacher (not my teacher!) so we are trying to keep it all under $2500.
We are by no means done with the planning, but here is what has helped so far:
1) Great site. We are renting a huge old lodge on a lake just out of town. it's owned by th city department of parks and recreation, and they charge only $300 for an entire day's use of it. we are having the ceremony outside by the lake, and the reception inside.
2) my dress. i got the "grace" silk dress from j. crew. on sale! it was $69. i am completely in love with it. i want to wear it every day! Yay j.crew!
3)food. please don't cringe, but we are having a "potluck" reception. the invitation states that we are asking everyone to contribute to the day in whatever way they wish - bring a special dish, sing/play a song, read something special, etc. it's a small-ish wedding (75 people) so we wanted to keep things intimate. this contribution is , of course, in lieu of gifts.
4) photographer. FH has a friend who did another friends wedding. we were very impressed, and he charged only a nominal fee. we pay for the prints (at cost) and do the album ourselves.
5) flowers. the setting is so gorgeous, we really don't need much in the way of decorations, so lots of candles and flowers are pretty much it. (it's an evening wedding, so candlelight is key! MUCH more flattering than the overheads ) i am basically transforming fh's entire back yard into a flower garden just for the wedding. this means i don't have to give a hoot as to how it is laid out, etc. since no one will really see the flowers until they are in bouquets/arrangements. everything will be very casual, cosmos, zinnias, and torch flowers. they all grow like weeds here, and are the right color scheme.
i'm sure there's more...oh! we are having DIY invites. but that's my top five.
this is a great thread!
ff
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #315936] |
Thu, 24 March 2005 16:59 |
Li
Messages: 1810
Registered: June 2003
Location: NH/VT border |
Member |
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1) small wedding-- 60 guests invited, 48 attended
2) bridesmaid's dress in white-- $200, another $150 for alterations. No veil.
3) limited bar-- just beer, wine, and strawberry daiquiris
4) DIY flowers
5) DIY reception music on our laptop, with borrowed speakers
"What IS your fascination with my forbidden closet of mystery?"
--Chief Wiggum, to Ralph
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #317035] |
Fri, 25 March 2005 15:21 |
long gone
Messages: 1587
Registered: October 2004
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Member |
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Actually, having attendants is costing me a bundle. I'm happy to have my awesome friends up there with me, so it's cool, but it's expensive. For example, I have to pay more for flowers (seven bouquets for seven bridesmaids). I'm paying for my bridesmaids' wedding day hair and makeup as part of my gift to thank them for standing up with me. I'm also buying each of them a nifty pearl necklace (which I got at a great price from greatergood.com, because I wanted to give them something tangible in addition to the hair/makeup but couldn't spend a lot beyond the salon services). Mr. GriGri will also have to get some kind of gift for his six (may end up being seven) groomsmen.
Even with the dresses, I've covered the cost for two b/c I know they can't afford them (my bridesmaids' dresses are about $150, so not outrageous, but two friends are dealing with $$ issues). I'm paying for one's alterations, too.
I don't resent these expenses at all, but having attendants does cost more than not having attendants.
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #317039] |
Fri, 25 March 2005 15:24 |
Gemini13
Messages: 697
Registered: August 2004
Location: Brooklyn |
Member |
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| jnstarla wrote on Fri, 25 March 2005 16:13 |
I'm curious - a lot of people mention no attendants as a cost-cutting measure. How do attendants cost anything to the couple throwing the wedding? Being an attendant is expensive, sure, but I've always paid for my own stuff when I was a BM. Am I just being naive?
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I was actually wondering the same thing... the only thing I can think of is the thank you gifts? That's the only thing we're actually spending money on as far as the MOH and BM go.
ETA: Oh yeah, and the bouquet and bout...
[Updated on: Fri, 25 March 2005 15:27]
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #317708] |
Sat, 26 March 2005 23:42 |
antiopa
Messages: 54
Registered: November 2004
Location: Los Angeles, CA |
Member |
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We discovered - after finally getting a written estimate from our florist - that the bridesmaid bouquets were *more* expensive than one of the bridal bouquets. For 5 bridesmaids, that adds up fast.
Actually, the bridesmaid bouquets he put in there were much larger than we thought we were ordering, so there's a whole 'nother issue.
Also, more attendants could raise the price of your rehearsal dinner, if you're having one.
Now that couples have to choose to wed (since it's simple enough just to move in together), now that it's so easy to divorce, marrying and being married mean more, not less. ~Kate Cohen, _A Walk Down the Aisle_
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #317863] |
Sun, 27 March 2005 12:53 |
ekelly
Messages: 8
Registered: March 2005
Location: georgia |
Member |
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top 5 -
1. a friend's mother used to be a wedding cake baker, so she offered to make our wedding cake, as her gift to us. 
2. my dress is a bridesmaid dress, $210 with shipping. and no alterations!
3. the only real flowers will be my bouquet and the guys' boutonnieres. everything else is the realistic-looking spray stuff from michael's. and, after the ceremony, i've enlisted my brother and his date to move the ceremony decorations over to the reception hall (just a few buildings down, on a college campus) where they will be centerpieces!
4. ceremony and reception sites are free (art building and art gallery) because i work for them and my boss likes me.
5. i suppose that's it (oh i guess...our wedding bands were on sale, like half off)
i still can't believe the deals we've managed to get. i've been keeping track of what we've spent, and it's still less that $1,000. we're having a very small wedding (30 people or so), so it helps that we didn't want anything too over the top.
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #317995] |
Sun, 27 March 2005 20:41 |
BrideofFrankenstein
Messages: 29
Registered: March 2005
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Hey y'all~
I've really enjoyed reading your lists and want to add mine for other thrifty IBs.
1. Chose a bridesmaid dress ($130), though I had already found a bridal gown on sale for $100.00 (my folks paid for that!).
2. We opted to not have attendants, which means no dresses, shoes, gifts, hoo-has for them.
3. I am ordering the flowers in bulk and doing them myself--and only having centerpieces, a bouquet, and a bout for "Frank".
4. My dad is the officiant (no charge, natch!) and we're getting married in a public garden, which is also free.
And my favorite:
5. We wanted only one hour of professional photography at the garden, and I negoiated with the photographer to come for that hour and charge us only what she would for an engagement photo package, which includes a full CD of the pictures taken. Price is $300 versus the $1000 for the wedding package to get the CD.
Bride of Frankenstein
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| Re: Your Top 5 (or more) Cost Cutting Decisions [message #318061] |
Mon, 28 March 2005 03:55 |
radar
Messages: 331
Registered: December 2004
Location: UK |
Member |
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| Quote: |
I'm curious - a lot of people mention no attendants as a cost-cutting measure. How do attendants cost anything to the couple throwing the wedding? Being an attendant is expensive, sure, but I've always paid for my own stuff when I was a BM. Am I just being naive?
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Here in the UK I think it is normal to buy dresses for the BMs, hair and makeup, and a present. Sometimes accommodation also (especially if the MoH is sharing a hotel rom with the bride on the night before the wedding, which seems pretty routine). Also it is traditional to have kids as bridesmaids, in which case I guess you can't expect them to spend $$$ (though sometimes their parents might pay for some stuff I guess). So maybe how much you pay is a regional thing?
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