theres ALOT of brides here who plan weddings with 10k... this is very feasible concidering that all your vendors take the $ in separate payments.. You can pay each vendor a little bit every few months up until the wedding. You'll find GREAT ideas on here on how to save $!
Julybride08
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
You can definetly do it. Have a small wedding. Have it on a sunday or thursday or in an off month like december, january, or february. You will save alot there. And alo you can do without ordering albums from the photographer. They chage anywhere from $500 & up. Make them your self on shutterfly!!! And a dress you can get for less then $1000. It's definatly doable!
emcheung
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
it kinda depends on you and what type of a wedding you want. some people think weddings should be about throwing a great party and inviting as many people as they know and buying the best/most expensive things to show people how much thought you put into the whole ordeal. and some people just want close friends and family to come share an important day with you and your spouse regardless of where the shindig takes place and how much money you put into it. i think it's very possible to have a nice wedding with close friends and family without overspending and making some compromises. good luck!
BubbasBride
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
you can do it!!!
we are paying for the wedding ourselves and saving to buy a house at the same time. It took a while to get the hang of saving, but once you get going with it, the money will add up.
Make sure you are cutting back on non-essential stuff. I stopped buying breakfast and lunch everyday and cutout weekly mani and pedis. That alone added up fast
erdbeere
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
Posted by sr081906
I worked on a tiny budget. Totally doable.
First, set your total budget. That way you know what you have to spend then you allegate to each category.
Example for me:
Dress: $460 Veil: $5 at AC Moore with coupons Tux rental: $120 RH: $55/person (upgraded menu) could have gone even cheaper. Number of guests: 32 (the bigger the number of guests the $$$) No DJ Only 1 photographer No video Flowers: get more greenery. Good filler. Nobody will notice if you have 60 roses vs. 40, etc... Etc...
HTH
AND REMEMBER TO NEGOCIATE EVERYTHING.
Wow its good to know I'm not the only one with a really small wedding (I know a bunch of people think their wedding is small, but 125 people is pretty big to me).
oldladybride
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
Here are a couple of other ideas for you:
No one has mentioned Estelle's dressy dresses. They have a bridal department and I've seen prices of $399 on nice dresses - - not loaded down with beading but with some and nice embroidery and details.
You could also check internet sites if you see a dress in a store and have a designer and size. Many will exchange if the size or style is not right for you.
A.C.Moore and Michaels carry some nice invitation kits that you print yourself and that can save alot especially if you use the 40% (and even better 50%) coupons. If you sign up for AC Moore's weekly ad online they send you coupons during the week for special coupon days to get the 50%.
I don't know the area you are interested in for your reception but I've seen in the chats that the Knights of Columbus hall in Oceanside is very nice. The price per person there would be lower than some other places. The American Legion hall in Levittown also does catering.
Marconi Manor (I think around Islip) has pkg deals with varios food options for buffet to sitdown.
Silverfox photographers had a price in 2006 for 2007 of $1500 for up to 10hrs of shooting. They included a hi res dvd of negatives and 4x6 proofs with this and you did not have to commit to an album to get the negatives. If you wanted the album at a later date the owner John gave you a price freeze from when you signed the contract for the wedding which could also save money.
I hope this helps.
Kris10546
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
Honestly, RH will be your biggest % of your wedding budget. Go cheap! When we were shopping around, we fell in love with WM but couldn't do the 225 min at 125pp on a saturday night (it works out to 30k+ ) so we shopped around. WM offered us a Jan/Feb afternoon wedding on a Sunday for something like $52pp (I dont remember if there was a minimum). But you can go to an AMAZING RH and get an AMAZING price for less then it would cost you at a K of C! Good luck - but this is the way to go to cut costs significantly!
sr081906
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
Quick note on 'OFF SEASON' RH prices.
I got married on Saturday in August. I did not have to get married on a Thursday to get a cheaper price.
Just shop around!!!!
Snickers76
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
My wedding is going to cost around 15K total and i didn't really cut too many corners, I just limited my guest list. The only thing I really cut out is a dj. I am having the reception is a restaurant, but honestly, I probably would have gotten a better deal in a hall, I just didn't want a hall type of wedding. With less guest you have to get less invitations, flowers, favors, bp gifts, gm gifts, food, cake etc...it all adds up!
Rissespieces
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
Destination weddings can cost up to 4K for a full package ceremony, dinner, oficiant, papers, mraiachi band
portjeffbride
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
have a small wedding. I have very $$$ taste, and splurged on a lot of needless stuff, and we're still have an ok budget.... soley becuase we have a small guest list.
Also: sun afternoon weddings are much less $$ than sat night.
try on gowns, and then buy it from gownfind or RK bridal no frills once you know they style and size.
DJ instead of band. Ours costs under 1k for 4 hours!
avoid the limo.....
practice doing your own make-up, or maybe learn some tricks from the women at the MAC counter.
avoid an open bar. Instead have a signature drink (champagne punch).... it will cost much less.
avoid a june-sept wedding. Prices are highest then for not only halls, but also vendors.
DIY invitations and favors. For a small guest list (60 people), you can end up spending under $60 for favors!
sr081906
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
Posted by portjeffbride
have a small wedding. I have very $$$ taste, and splurged on a lot of needless stuff, and we're still have an ok budget.... soley becuase we have a small guest list.
Also: sun afternoon weddings are much less $$ than sat night.
try on gowns, and then buy it from gownfind or RK bridal no frills once you know they style and size.
DJ instead of band. Ours costs under 1k for 4 hours!
avoid the limo.....
practice doing your own make-up, or maybe learn some tricks from the women at the MAC counter.
avoid an open bar. Instead have a signature drink (champagne punch).... it will cost much less.
avoid a june-sept wedding. Prices are highest then for not only halls, but also vendors.
DIY invitations and favors. For a small guest list (60 people), you can end up spending under $60 for favors!
I have to disagree.
I had a full open alcohol bar, champagne toast, wedding on a Saturday (day or night was same price), Cake, etc.... in August.
$55 per person. And that was not the cheapest menu. Included CH and reception. Full staff and full service.
portjeffbride
Posted:
Member since
Re: How do you plan a wedding...
I have to disagree.
I had a full open alcohol bar, champagne toast, wedding on a Saturday (day or night was same price), Cake, etc.... in August.
$55 per person. And that was not the cheapest menu. Included CH and reception. Full staff and full service.
woah, you did well. in general, though, the type of bar service selected can add a lot to the bill....
Pencils
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
Wow its good to know I'm not the only one with a really small wedding (I know a bunch of people think their wedding is small, but 125 people is pretty big to me).
We cut our guest list so much we then didn't have enough to make our 85 guest minimum! We still have to sit down and go over the final list, but it's nice because we can invite a few more people.
I can only repeat what everyone else has said. No one's going to look at my wedding and think we were a 'budget' wedding, but we're doing it for 10K (not including honeymoon.) We're doing it with all those methods--a Sunday afternoon wedding, a $725 gown, an inexpensive DJ, no limos, no videographer, etc. We're having the ceremony and reception at the same site, so we don't need a limo. I'm doing the flowers myself using freshroses.com with the help of some wonderful friends and relatives (yes, it's doable if you don't get too fancy--I'm only having roses, and mostly all one color.) We're not having an aisle runner, or 'tears of joy' packets, or slipper baskets, or OOT bags. We're not even going to have a rehearsal dinner, unless someone wants to order out for pizza after we do a quick run-through.
There's so many extras that have become part of weddings these days, and they're all disposable. Keep what's important to you, don't worry about the rest.
Bride4Mike07
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
I was in the same boat....First thing is be realistic w/ your goals...What is your budget? How many ppl do you want to invite? Have you visited halls and other vendors to get an estimate? After doing this, think of what is important to you, to have all these guests or to have your dearest to you on that special day? Luckily today we have the option of having Destination weddings! I was going to have one in Hawaii, but after looking at things, we realized we would come out even with all the expenses because we wanted to have a reception here for our family and friends. Honestly, we picked our vendors because of their quality of work and prices. We visited many others.. but unless you really shop around, you won't find the places that fit your budget. There are places that will give you discounts if you visit the bridal shows. Also, just plan things, when you least expect it, the money will be there, have a little faith. Good luck to you and if I could suggest any vendors, fm me.
Fuego
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Re: How do you plan a wedding...
I'm working on a tight budget too.. A lot of what these ladies said is great.. For the RH, play with the time of year, day of the week, and time of day. We got a great deal on a great place for the 4th of July, partially because it was a holiday. Thankfully, we also had a lot of help from friends and family who have special talents- my FSIL does invitations, graphic design, etc and has some great contacts for low price vendors, a friend of the family is doing favors, another is doing jewelry, we got a deal so FH's tux is free, the HM hotel was a gift as well... We're also getting a good photographer, but skipping the album for now, and will probably do one through a website later..
The biggest thing I've learned so far though is NEGOTIATE! The minute the word 'wedding' comes up, things get so much more expensive, but have the confidence to know what you what, what your priorities are, and many vendors will work with you if they want the business.
