Official Brides on a BUDGET thread!

1. have a Sunday night wedding instead of Saturday. I had a Saturday, and in hindsight, I don't think it made any difference. I hope that is not too much of a repeat.

2. consider a cruise as a honeymoon alternative.

This thread is so exciting. I'll have to link my entire wedding review after its all good and done, because it was a super-budgeted affair. Here's a couple things:

1) Yes, video is important, but honestly, after having seen a few friends wedding videos, I think the most touching ones are the amateur, shaky camera footage ones. So we are just having a family member record it with a camcorder we bought. It's $300 that lets us take a camcorder on the honeymoon and capture that too.

2) DOLLAR STORES. Seriously. The other day I bought 27 white votive candles in their glass holders for $9.

3) EBAY. I'm sure everyone knows this. I'm really happy with my veil, its beautiful and has a nice satin trim that matches my gown, and it cost around $15. Ebay is amazing.

4) The book Bridal Bargains. Purchase it. It's full of infinite wisdom. I have no idea how much that book saved me, but its a LOT more than they guaranteed it will save you (They guarantee at least $500 saved by taking their advice on a few things).

5) DIY. Some of the prices on wedding things is really inflated. Flower girl basket from store: about $30. Flower girl basket I made with a cute white basket and satin ribbon: $5. I'll post all my DIY adventures (I'm not crafty at all, so it was really a learning experience!) in my wedding review someday in the very near future

1. Dollar Store and Jack's Discount Store for everything from thank you cards, place cards, flower girl gifts-- with these stores you just have to try your luck whenever you get a chance to go to one.

2. VistaPrint-- sign up to be a member-- you will get almost daily emails with offers-- can get annoying BUT -- they are currently having an everyhing free deal going on-- getting my RD invites printed for free as well as a bunch of business cards I am having printed out and use as my favor tags ( we will attach them to a box of candies we are giving out and the tag will expain the charity that we are donating too, instead of favors, ) also getting printed for free will be cards I will make to share my photo sharing website information.

3. . Invitations can be diff prices at diff places-- Party City has 30% of off Birchacraft and Carlson and Styart for example--- ON line companies can give you up to 40% off! Mediaplus.com and Notjustinvitations.com are two

Does anyone know of an inexpensive site for DIY pocketfold invitations. I have checked out cardsandpockets but are there others? I need 100 invitations.

TIA!

I'm getting all my DOJ and accessories from vendors on Etsy. Not only is it less expensive all the pieces are custom and one of a kind!

Also I've made my cardbox myself and plan on making all the escort cards, programs, and menu cards.

I posted this somewhere else but since there is an offical thread I´ll post it here too in case it helps anyone.

Other Ideas to save $

1) Save the Date Magnets:

DIY - You can buy business sized magnets ( i saw them online for about $10-15) and get the 250 free business cards from vistaprint. (I only need to make about 50 so I designed them myself and my sister will print them out and put the magnets on.

Save on postage - Because of being overseas I can only have my shower in October. After that I won´t be there until a few weeks before the wedding. I am having my sister mail them out with the bridal shower invites. Other people have mailed them out with eparty invites or given them with the favors at the eparty (if you do this you need to keep track of who was there and got one and who you still have to send it to)

2) Invites - walmart, michaels have diy ones. you can either do it yourself completly or print them someone else (ie kinkos)

3) veil - try ebay. Based on a suggestion I got for her on this site, a friend of mine bought one for a ridiculously low price. She says that she got it in and it´s gorgeous. (if you want to know which retailer she used FM me and I´ll get it from her. I´m not up to the veil stage yet)

4) Tiara - My sister had this be her something borrowed and I will probably do the same. OThers have done this with DOJ -using their moms

5) BP gifts/DOJ - Costume Jewelry. I used to sell Avon on the side when I was there and a few brides bought some really nice things. Most of their jewelry lasts a long time if you clean it well. I don´t know if they still have that type of jewelry but i think my mom still sells it. FM me if you want me to find out for you. The good things with Avon is that you can return things if you don´t like them. (the rep has to honor this but i know not all do)

Limo - don´t mention a wedding. rent it per hour (this works best when you only need it for a short time.

that´s all i can think of for now. I´ll post again if I can think of anything else.

We need to keep this going girls!! :)

BUMPPPP

Ebay! I bought:
* my necklace & all BM's jewlery
* my pocketbook/purse for day of
* my rehearsal dinner dress
* tank tops for day of & for honeymoon
* purses for all BM's and also for my mom & FMIL
* organza bags for candy favors
* custom candy wrappers
* custom water bottle labels
* bridal flip-flops for day of & for honeymoon
* cake knife & server (waterford)
* waterford bride & groom for cake table
* swarovski cake letter monogram
* signature picture frame for engagement picture
* garter, guest book w/pen, flower girl basket & ring bearer pillow (was a 5 pc set)
* swarovski hair pins
* swarovski crystals for bouquet
* husband's swarovki crystal cufflinks (wedding present)
* waterford picture& invitation frame

(and I am sure I am forgetting some things...)
Sadly I knew I was losing my job about 1/2 way through our engagement to the wedding - I was unemployed for a month & 1/2 before we got married. I had to be really careful with how much I spent on things & ebay was a life savor!

Good Luck & congrats!

hehe...

oh yeah - we got our save the date magnets & our custom beach table #'s from ebay too....I knew I was forgetting stuff...lol

Great thread!

I know I am doing my own invites and escort cards which should save some money.

I'm going to use the menu cards that the RH provides

I'm hoping I can find a dress I love at David's Bridal, but I haven't gone yet.

Thanks for all your ideas ladies!

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Posted by NY2009
you can get a reduce fee for pre-cana How? i called them and they just told me to reg online!



I am really surprised that there’s know similar thread (that I know of) so I thought I would start one. Many of us can not afford to spend 20K (or are unwilling too) on a wedding, as much as we would like. So we need to get create and help each other out! What are some of the things you are doing?

1. Flowers. Consider going to a local florist rather than using a more “wedding related” type florist. Not only is support you little local store a great idea but you can save money as well! I found a local florist in Glendale, Queens where my tulip bo-k will be under $100 and the bridal bo-ks will be under $40! I am using candles instead of flowers for RH tables, which is a big savings. And because I am getting married during Lent my church does not allow flowers inside the church during this time. But I think I would have decided against flowers in the church anyway.

2. For those getting having a Catholic Church wedding, you can ask for a reduced fee for your Pre-Cana; I had to call the Douglaston Pre-Cana office to do so. Otherwise is $195 per couple fee. And my Church is also willing to give me a reduced fee as well.

That’s all I have to offer right now. Can’t wait to share ideas!!!!

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How did you get reduce rate for you rpre cana?

Some great card stock places that sell in bulk

Paper Paper - I'm getting mine from here because they offer a 10% discount for orders over $100.

Cards and Pockets

Paper and More

Stylish Paper

Papermill Store

Discount Cardstock

Some great DIY websites!

Wedding Clip Art

Templates

I can definitely relate to some of you girls. One of my best friends from childhood was also a bride on a tied budget to say the least. She spent almost a couple of thousand bucks flying her parents over from South America. The last thing she wanted to think about was spending more and more money.

We found great deals on wedding favors at www.BuyCheapWeddingFavors.com mainly for table decoration and let me tell you, they looked soooooo cute! She also got some flower arrangements from Amazon.com, believe it or not. Her wedding coordinator couldn’t be happier. We couldn’t find the variety we had in mind in local flower shops. Plus, she already had a gift card that somebody had given her while ago and didn’t know what to buy with it – it sure came handy –

This was from budget brides hand book, some research tips when I was planning my wedding a year ago. This means certain things have to be sacrificed if you want to stick to your budget.

1) For Food & Cake: go with catering schools/institutes that will cut your cost over 50% since they are still training students instead of working with a prestigious catering company. In addition, this allows you to bargain/negotiate to add extra food/drinks/etc to the bill that fits your budget. For ex. negotiate a set price that includes cake, 3 entrees, children meals, etc.

***For halls/venues, let them know you are having a reunion party or bachelorette party instead of a wedding. They will charge a lot less instead of the key word 'wedding'. Once vendors/venues hear of the word 'wedding', they will automatically raise the prices. Wedding equals profits.

2) Florist: Instead of booking with a vendor, go with local farmer's market, botanical, wholesales/direct sales and arrange the CP's, BO-K's, personals yourself. This cuts down the cost of going with a florist b/c they charge for labor and flowers that are out of season, etc.

3) Photography/Video: For photographers/video, post an ad with local universities/colleges that you would like to hire a junior (develops more skills/experience at that level) who is building their portfolio and you would like to hire for your wedding. Or you can always look through craigslist.com and other sites/resources that helps brides in need of affordable photography/video.

4)Music: DJ- network helps a long way. If you have a friend who knows someone that can DJ or you already have someone in your family that is a DJ, you can hire them directly for your wedding. A lot of DJ's use IPOD's and Boss Sound systems to save time and money since it's easier to travel instead of lugging heavy equipment.

5) Limo: Go with a local pick-up/drop-off town car that can arrange a limo for your wedding. The pkgs are significantly lower than going with a limo company. Let them know you need a pick-up/drop-off service to a party, event, etc. If you let them know wedding, the prices will increase.

6) Jewelry: Wedding Bands/Engagement Rings, instead of going with a local jeweler, go to a pawn shop. Not only will they charge less but it's great for vintage/hard to find jewelry.

7) Cut down your guest list. A larger wedding ultimately leads to more of everything- food, liquor, favors, etc. Stick with strictly family, relatives, and friends.

8) For wedding gown/shoes: Go to sample/trunk sales and outlets esp out of state. Also vintage shops has great finds. And if you're looking for a simple white gown with no fancy embroidery, beading, the pricing will automatically be less than with all the detailing. Also, Ebay has bids for new /used gowns lower than retail prices.

9) Liquor: Go to liquor wholesales, will charge less when brought in cases and paid with cash. Check with your venue to see if they allow outside liquor. Usually requires a permit. This will cut down the cost of liquor dramatically. Venue will charge un-opened liquor unless you have someone there to do a head count. This way you can monitor and bring in the liquor that you want w/o having to pay for un-used bottles/liquor.

10) Set your date on Sun-Thu and off-peak months. This means anytime from June-Aug, Sept-Oct as well as Jan. are the busiest time of the year. Esp popular holidays- New Year, Valentine's Day, July 4, Halloween, Christmas. Fri & Sat are automatically higher than other days. This is when restaurants/halls usually make the most profit since most people tend to go out on Fri nights & weekends. So for a wedding, this means they would have to shut down their restaurant/catering hall and of course they would have to increase their price.

11) Travel- When you book Sun night, hotels usually charge less since most guests like to arrive on a Monday instead of the frantic travel of getting there on a Sunday. Also, on Sundays, most rooms are unavailable and not booked, meaning if you want that upgrade, you can speak with the mgr and most likely get it. They will be aching to get most of their rooms booked so they will be eager to give you the upgrade/price.

**I may have left out one or two other categories, if any of the ladies need further help, please feel free to FM me. I still have the copy of the book.

Christine