Our Wedding and Tips for Keeping Wedding Costs Down

Created On: May 6, 2012 | Updated: May 6, 2012 | 18 Comments

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The musicmaker and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary this month and because I haven’t really shared my wedding here and because I love looking at other people’s wedding pictures pretty much any time, I thought it would be fun to share some pictures with you as well as some reflections for those of you who may be planning a wedding of things I noticed while going back through the pictures.

It’s funny when you blog you learn to document all the little details. I wasn’t blogging back then so as I look through my pictures I’m bummed that we didn’t get a cool shot of the chocolate bags and hand dipped strawberries we made, or a few shots of all the people so we could point to face after face and tell stories but hey that’s how it goes right?

I married a pastors son so we had a relatively big wedding, you know inviting the whole church and all. And on my side we had many family members and friends make the trek over so it was a fantastic reunion of sorts. We had a dessert reception and dancing and a big rehearsal dinner the night before (pretty much the most of the people we would have had at a smaller wedding).

One of my favorite parts was the guest book. We bought a couple photo albums and had people sign by one of the picture slots and had other friends take their pictures so now we have a book with everyone who came and their picture that we put right next to their notes.

Even though it was big I wanted to keep costs down. We did a lot ourselves. Since we were having the reception in the basement of a church and I didn’t want to to feel like an after church potluck my mom and I sewed covers for all the chair, maybe a bit crazy but I think it was worth it. My mom brought these awesome hand painted parasols from Thailand and we hung them every where. We also used a lot of candles and petals everywhere which looked really nice. Unfortunately we don’t have a single picture of the tables laid out or the room finished and decorated. But you know we had a wedding to get to ;)

I love this picture of us. Oh and have I mentioned I still love my dress so much. Not that it is any where near fitting but I love it.

And since I feel like I learned a lot since then I wanted to share my thoughts for the future brides out there.

Tips for Keeping Wedding Costs Down
It’s was just one (well two) days. It was a fun party but I’ve been to weddings that cost tens of thousands of dollars and our cheapo one did the trick and was a blast. It was so much fun and really between the rehearsal and the actual wedding and all the people that we celebrated with and fed it was a bargain.

We did a lot ourselves. Between food, decor, invitations and programs (yup I designed them then printed them off at staples and had my family members punch and tie ribbon through them) most of what other people ordered out we did. That saved a lot.
We bought flowers by the bulk instead of arrangements and then my gave my grandma the job to make the flowers look pretty. It was nice to have something important for her to do as well.
We did a few mix CD’s with our favorite songs instead of hiring a DJ or musicians we cut the cake to The Postal Service woohoo, and our first dance was Here, There and Everywhere by The Beatles.
The veil was just some tulle that my mom glued pieces of lace that matched my dress to and and then hand stitched it to a comb. And it looked so pretty. I couldn’t believe how pricey veils were.
And my dress was made by a lady that sewed my banquet (our equivalent of prom) dresses. I sent her a picture of a designer dress that I adored and she sent me a chart with where to measure and she made it in Thailand for 250$ and my mom brought it here and it fit perfectly. Crazy scary right? But really having someone outside of the wedding industry make a dress for you can save a ton, not only can you get just what you want you can save the insane mark up that comes with the wedding label.

What I Wish I Had Done

Looking through our pictures for this post I wish I had more pictures. More detailed shots documenting all our hard work and all the little pieces that made up those days. More group shots and more action shots. I wish we had made a list of shots to get because that day it was so busy and having a friend do the pictures I feel like we missed some.
Since we did so much ourselves there was no clean up crew. To this day I feel bad that many of our guest stayed to do so much clean up that took much longer than anticipated. I wish I had planned that out better.
Of course I’m happy with how it was for me but now that there’s Etsy and Pinterest and of course my own maturity, if I had to do it again I’d probably think way more outside the box. Like less traditional bridesmaid’s dresses. And I’m loving all the photo booth ideas people have.

Any ways that was our wedding and my thoughts as I look back.

Those of you who are married what would you do differently and/or what did you do that you loved?

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