cincybride09's Green wedding

that has to be the prettiest thing i have ever seen!!!

As absolutely gorgeous as all those pics are, its mostly flowers that will die in the next day or so after their use. I know it's stunning, but I say save or maybe choose one or two things to splurge on. Like get an elaborate cake or really special lighting for the reception. You'll spend the least amount of time at the ceremony so I would say do something special but not super over the top. Love those pics!

Save, save, save, lol. Invites would have been $300, my FI and I couldn't justify that because people throw them out, so I'm DIYing for $50, photog is $900, and he is amazing...a lot of other photographers were $2000 or more. Dress I bought a sample gown for under $500, and everything else I have come in at or under budget. You just have to find creative ways to make things happen.

Budget, Budget Budget!
I would say my whole wedding is DIY. We did the food tasting and it was great and they give you nice portion. That will cost us $34.95 a head. So you figure that's where the money is going. I did decide to splurge on a photo booth. I think that would be really fun, plus most of the people love to take pictures.

I would say I'm a saver in every possible way...I don't think there is anything that I'm splurging on...seriously I can't think of anything!!  But you see my wedding was originally gonna be this December and now it got moved to May 9th, 2009, because I had some major car problems that needed to be fixed, and unfortunately that took away from the majority of the money that my fiance and I had been saving up and we're responsible for coming up with half of the wedding budget and then my parents will match whatever amount that is.  So now we're back to saving money all over again, and so that kinda forces us to not be able to splurge, but I wasn't a really big splurger before having to change the date either though.  My invitaions and response cards will be about $100 from annsbridalbargains.com, I'm only spending $100 ($1 per person) for favors, my photographer is $650 and he was actually my top pick!! (But that's for only 4 hrs. of time, not the whole day.)  We're really cutting costs by not having a caterer, and besides it's a beach themed wedding in May so it will be a nice and light meal, so instead I'm just ordering a bunch of meat and cheese trays, and fruit and veggie trays to serve 100 people for right at $1000 (and we're not serving alcohol).  Also, my good friend Veronica, who is the best man's girlfriend, works at a florist and so she's going to arrange all of the flowers for the ceremony and reception and she's not even doing it through the florist she works for because they are still too overpriced, so instead we are ordering all of the flowers from a wholesale florist and she will help arrange them as her wedding present to us!!

This is a great post.  You are right in deciding what is important for you and your guests.  Photography, great food and open bar.  

Now you and your FI and guests will always remember your wedding.

With such a high quality meal, it is acceptable to skimp on favors I think. It is possible to do some inexpensive - a couple of candies in a litte tuille bag ( cheap at craft stores, even found at some dollar stores) Or share something personal like a poem or something that you enjoy on a bookmark (that you can make super cheap) People may not even notice their absence if you do away with them.
I am still deciding on things, but it makes sense to splurge in the areas that matter to you, and save on the things that are easily forgotten or can be done yourself.

We are really lucky cause we are getting married in a small town where wedding stuff don't cost your arm and leg. I think everyone should do what they can afford and what they are comfortable with. Everyone has different priorities in what they save and splurge on. Here is our splurge and savings:

Reception cost per person: $15 (Plus no fee for the hall or anything else).

Dress: $950
Shoes: $30

Rings: $12,000 (This included my engagement ring and both our wedding bands). Definitely our splurge!!! We will have them forever and see them on a daily basis.

Cake: $100 (3 Tier real chocolate cake with icing)

Photographer: $250 (This is photographer cost but we pay for the printing ourselves)

Video: $550 (Our video guy stays for the entire wedding and reception plus we get 15 DVD copies at the end with personalized casing and CD with all our photographers photos included).

Invitations: DIY $80 (with no response cards- response by email or phone).

Table Cards: $6

Flowers: $515

We also didn't do things like "save the date cards" "aisle runner" or "favours". These are things we just decided to cut costs on for our budget. We also wanted a nice honeymoon so we splurged a little and upgraded our room to a Suite.

All of you ladies have given me fabulous ideas!  Thank you so much, all of you. I will keep everyone updated on how everything is working out with my budget.

Congrats to you ladies that have found AMAZING deals! $100 for a cake, WOW! Good luck with all of you bargain hunting and be sure to let me know about it! :-)

Deciding on priorities for saving and spending was one of the first things I did when I started planning.  I can't justify dropping fistfuls of money on the "extras" like carriages or massive flower arrangements everywhere.  

My dress was my one big expense so far and before alterations it came in under $1300.  Which is still a lot though!  I wanted a nice location with decent food, but trying not to go over $50 a person.  Photographer is still killing me!  I found a local photographer who costs $1200 and you get to keep all the negatives, but she hasn't returned my emails!  GRR!!

Invites are a nightly diy project.  Gives me something to do while watching tv.  Programs, centrepieces, etc. are all going to be diy too.  Luckily my brother just married a floral designer last month and my aunt is a professional pianist so I'm going to enlist their help!!  Sourcing out to friends and family is a huge money and stress-saver!

When we first got engaged and began the wedding planning process, we each decided on one thing that meant most to us. We decided that those things would be the "splurge" for each of us and the other had to keep their mouth shut. :-) Brian couldn't decide between the food and the bar. Luckily, my dad quickly offered to pay for the bar and is shelling out $3,500 to make sure that it is top notch...Thanks dad! So Brian is getting his good food (even though I felt my heart drop to my feet when I saw the price) and I get my photographer. Everything else MUST come in under budget. If it doesn't, we move on to the next vendor. So far, it's worked out great!

Something I wanted to add to my other post is that the thing I find most beneficial about this site is that all of us brides are trying to help eachother create the wedding of our dreams by using our creativity. I really appreciate seeing everyone's DIY projects & ideas, etc.. Thanks girls!!! :-) Also want to say that for me photography is very important. Where I live I didn't find anyone under $3000. I chose to go with a package from my favorite photographer that was $3700. This was my splurge. I feel that everything else will either come in right on budget or greatly below. Happy Planning all!!!

do splurge on things like.. food, alcohol, photographer, and music.

I got my favors for 1.39 a peice. I ordered my dress through pearls place online and got an alfred angelo for 317 that was 599 at the bridal shop. the flowers will die. buying them wholesale loose and having mom do the centerpeices is a winner! The invites... they are selling nice kits now at Michaels and even Wal Mart (Martha Stewart Brand). We are making our own. My fiance is excellent at templates and the paper is fantastic. We only payed about 110 dollars. For invites.

You're right. There are some things absolutely worth cutting down on.

I loved this post and Kimmyb your getting married at wedding cost paradise!!!!!

Well i didn't see that you mentioned bridesmaid gifts but i wanted to mention to you that we make bridesmaid sets for all budgets that way you won't feel like you skimped out on giving your girls a nice gift. Check us out we can accomated all colors it might not be featured but pick out a style and  email me your colors i'll send you all the details.

www.firsttimecharm.com

Dress W/alterations  $410
jewelry  $40
shoes  $25
underwear $25
make up $60
hair $40
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dj $450
singer $200
cake $400
videographer/photographer $1600
decorations $1000
church $500
church decorations $50
feather fans  $60
bridemaids jewelry $60
rings  -mine 3k  his $350
kids' medallions $80
kids' outfits $80
kids' shoes $40
guys' gifts $100
invitations $150
stamps $50
thank you cards $5.00

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our venue was given to us b/c his grandparents owned a restaurant but without that it would've been another 3k or more

we paid for an open bar with just a few cases of bottled beer and a few bottles of wine...which cost about $500-we also sold them back to the restaurant once the wedding was over...

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Total:  $6275.00

if we were to pay the restaurant -it would've cost us well over 10K

if we were to go anywhere else, it would've been 6k just to rent the place and food.  

I did a lot of DIY on my own and cut a lot of the middle men LOL!


I did quite well.....

People are still talking about it!!!!!!  I can't wait to post my pictures up!  Still have to wait because of all the storming that is going around with these darn hurricanes!

I'm finding myself splurging on quite a few things

Splurge: Photog, Food, Alcohol (open bar is a must), rings, shoes, makeup, hair, bridal party gifts, honeymoon, decor (i consider this a splurge even if I didn't spend a lot of money because there are things i bought that i could have lived without but really wanted), day of coordinator, candy table (this is truly a trap to spend a lot of money), reggae band (just added this), favors (way to much but couldn't say no to this)

Save: dress (got it on a discount), all paper things are DIY, flowers (aunt is doing), no flower girl or ring bearer, cake (free from venue, well its included in the cost of the food), videographer (will use amateur), DJ (friend of FI), veil, ceremony music (will use churches people), transportation, tux (will be free), wedding night (going back home!)

After the wedding I will be posting a whole cost breakdown with all vendor info.

I think you're smart to splurge on the photographer - you spend all of this time and money on your special day, and you want to have quality "footage" of your memories for years to come!