Last night, I started thinking….seeing as how a lot of the issues I talk about here are deeply painful & many people who follow me are undergoing similar circumstances, I thought it would be a great idea to add some light into my day & your own. With that being said…..time for Favorite Things Friday! When thinking of my favorite things (*que song about whiskers on kittens), the first thing that came to mind was our wedding. It was the best day of my life & I’m still so in love with everything about it. Getting there, however, was no easy task!
When it comes to weddings, nothing is cheap & nothing is free (besides maybe a cake tasting & that’s if you’re lucky!). A few months ago when we started planning & looking at expenses, we FREAKED.OUT. Seeing the dollar sign beside things you believed would be hundreds of dollars cheaper is no easy feat. It’s intimidating at best.
So how can you still get what you want without tripling your budget to get it?
- For starters, I’m sure you’ve all seen the too cute bridesmaid/maid of honor proposals for sale at boutiques. While they’re adorable, they’re also, at least, 10.00 each (plus shipping). Since I still wanted to share the excitement & treat my girls, I didn’t skimp on these all together, instead, I made my own! I got decorative gift boxes & confetti from the dollar store, a sharpie, & four ring pops from Walmart. & walaaaa! Similarly, instead of buying, “proposals,” for our flower girl/ring bearer, I made those also.
- Bridesmaid dresses! I was able to find stretchy, “one size fits all,” convertible dresses for most of my bridesmaids for $75.00 a piece on Etsy! For two of my girls who thought they were too tight for them, they found two other black dresses at other stores for 75 dollars, or less!
The girls
- Flower girl/sign holder apparel (sign also from Etsy lol): Again, thanks to the ever fabulous Etsy, I found a ridiculously cheap flower girl dress with our wedding colors that looked perfect! Total cost–get ready-$45.00!!!!!!!!!! We also found a matching bow tie suspender set for our handsome sign holder there as well….for $15 dollars!! His mom found the rest of his outfit at a Bridal shop & had it fitted but we definitely saved here as well!
- Groom & groomsmen outfits consisted of: Black pants, a black long sleeve button up, red suspenders, & a red bow tie! This totaled around $100. Since a groom’s tux alone costs around $300-1, 500 dollars, I’d say we did pretty well here too.
- Flowers! The average cost of wedding flowers averages around-brace yourself-2,000 dollars. A bridal bouquet alone at one floral shop I called was $500. After some digging, my husband discovered Kroger’s floral department did wedding bouquets-to my surprise. For my bouquet, all 4 of my bridesmaid’s, flowers for our flower girl, flowers for my grandmother, mother, & mother-in-law, & stepmother, as well as 12 helium balloons for the getaway car the total was…….get this….$250.
- Centerpieces: Holy guacamole! I would have never imagined how much these things alone cost! In asking around & doing my research, I found the average cost of these-per table-are anywhere from 10-15 dollars. How I got by cheaper: My savvy hubby & I searched Goodwill & the Peddler’s Mall for old books (50 cents each!). We used those (3 per table), a hurricane globe (provided by our venue luckily), & a candle per table. All in all, we spent $36 dollars here.
- Photo Booth: the new wedding trend! Initially, this was something we both really wanted…..until we saw the price tag that was attached. For wedding through the week, photo booths rented for 400$ per hour. For weekends, the price ranged from 6 to 800 for an hour, or two. As it wasn’t entirely necessary & we just didn’t have it in our budget, we chose to cut it. However, we didn’t knock out the idea of a photo booth completely. Instead, we bought a bigger foam poster board & made a polaroid cutout. On it, we added our names & date of the wedding. Everyone still had a great time…..for about $6.00 & half an hour of our time.
- Card Box: a necessary evil in the wedding world..that’ll cost you 30-40 bucks…in hopes of getting some extra cash put in. With our theme being vintage, I found an old suitcase at our local Peddler’s Mall, bought vintage looking material from Hobby Lobby, & a burlap sign from Michael’s vadavadavoom! There you have it! There were similar vintage suitcase card boxes on Etsy priced at 100$ & uppp! Ours was made for $15. I also DIY-ed a vintage looking jar from Hobby Lobby with post card looking scrapbook material to make a, “Honeymoon Fund,” jar to add to the look.
- Programs: $40-100 dollars. While these numbers weren’t near as daunting as some of the above, they still seemed a bit unnecessary for us….so we made/printed our own! My husband bought some nice paper, I wrote them up & there ya have it! Our cost: 15 dollars
- DJ: $500 & uppppppp!!!! We used an iPOD…for free, with the help of handy friend who served as music changer when needed.
Where NOT to try for a bargain:
-THE CAKE: For one, know what you can & CANNOT skimp on! Initially, I had the bright idea to hire a private baker who’d previously made a Birthday cake for my husband. She’d agreed to the date & I’d been under the impression this was taken care of for months. A month before the wedding, I text her to make sure everything was still a go. I got no response. Two weeks went by, I tried calling her & left a voicemail to get no call back. So there I was, a month before the wedding, with no cake. Kind of a big deal. Thankfully, we were able to find a local bakery who was able to do exactly what I wanted with almost no notice. We ended up spending somewhere in the 600 dollar range. Long story short, if you don’t have a family member/friend whose an expert baker, this is something you just shouldn’t compromise on.
-Secondly, the photographer! Once your big day is over, your pictures are the only thing you have to look back on when the, “I Do,”‘s are all said & done. Without a good photographer, what’s your day really worth in the end?
-Last but, most certainly not least, THE DRESS!!!! Bite the bullet on this one, get the damn dress. Trust me. I spent 1100 on this & I have no regrets. None. It was pure perfection.&, especially after experiencing it myself, I wholeheartedly believe every girl deserves to feel like a princess for a day. 🙂
& that’s a wrap! What are some of your Friday favorites, loves?
The best day of my life will always be one of mine 3.14.15
Disorderly Love 