Planning a wedding on college budget

[Savin' Moola]

My daughter is planning on getting married in about 6 months. They are both still in collage. I'm looking for ideas on low cost wedding. Wedding dress, flowers etc. Also they are looking into catering to keep the cost low. Any ideas on low cost hall for the reception or is catering a better choice. They are planing on inviting family and a few close friends, which will be about 75 people. We live near Rockford, which is 80 miles from Chicago.

Thank you,

Melissa from IL

[Savin' Moola]

Re: Planning a wedding on collage budget


- I had 6 weeks to plan my wedding, my husband was overseas in the
military, so we had a little notice he was coming home for a 2 week
visit. Anyways, we had the wedding at a friends big house, my best
friends grandpa was a preacher, and the friend that owned the house
used to own a bakery. The only real cost we had were the wedding
dress, flowers, and his plane tickets home. We spent under $1000. I
also helped many others in my family save money by finding a local
park or old historic mill(I live in southern Missouri and there are a
lot of mills close by) that has a beautiful view and usually at
little cost. Is there a Davids Bridal in your area? They usually have
big sales where every dress in the store in on sale for $99, Both my
sisters get their dresses there, beautiful dresses regularly over
$300. Both weddings were during the summer time so I can't remember
when the bis sale is, it's every year though. I don't know if you
have any one that is real crafty or creative, but Wal-Mart sells
almost every thing you need for the decorations, the bouquet, and the
cake. You can buy the stuff and find someone, who knows what to do
with them, for a cheaper price than professionals. Churches will
usually let you use there banquet areas also. Depending on the type
of wedding and the level of formality the want you could even have a
local country club or restaraunt cater.
The main thing you need to do is find out what the are wanting,
a traditional wedding very formal or a more informal personal
wedding. Then, descide what your budget is. And make sure to use your
resources you already have. Got a friend with a bakery? Ask them to
make tha cake, they may even say it's their gift to the couple. I
even have a friend that owned a cleaning service that professionally
preserved my dress as a gift to us.

Good luck.~~~~Rebecca

[Savin' Moola]

Re: Budget101.com : Re: Planning a wedding on collage budget


Oh, I almost forgot - if you get married the same day as another couple, you can share the decorations at the church. Maybe you could coordinate and contact the other couple. Split the costs.

I know a few people who got married when the church was already decorated for another event (Spring/Summer/Thanksgiving (lots of fall foliage, leaves, pumpkins, cornucopias, etc.); Christmas) and the couple did not have to decorate at all.

We originally planned an outdoor wedding reception, but had to move it indoors. Good thing though - it rained buckets on our wedding day! Who knows the weather months in advance when you book though?

Herlean

[Savin' Moola]

Re: Budget101.com : Re: Planning a wedding on college budget


If you have time to go to the "Bridal Shows" before the wedding - where all of the vendors, etc. come out of the woodwork peddling their things, go and sign up for the giveaways. We got a lot of ideas from visiting and we won a few things too. We did get a lot of junk mail too, but in the end, it was worth it for the things we gained from it.

Get a Post Office Box, then get your name on some pre-printed labels (you can make them at home), and every time you need to sign up for something, put one of these labels on it. You do not have to give out your home address or home phone number.

If you are truly interested in what they are offering, take their card, make notes in a notebook you carry with you and then YOU CALL THEM.

****

Another thing, write down every thing you "want" and prioritize. You can have a lovely wedding, the full "princess for a day treatment" if you emphasize what you really want and trim elsewhere.

Order your invitations through the mail or make them at home. Make the inserts yourself. Make your own favors. Invite your wedding party and relatives to help out. People will ask what you need - say "I need 100 Hershey Kisses wrapped in tulle & tied with a ribbon"; or "I need 100 sugar cookies cut out in the shape of a heart/star/etc., baked and frosted." You get the picture.

For picture frames, you can pick up wooden ones, plain and then paint them to coordinate with your wedding colors. Spray paint and then spray lacquer over them in a well ventilated area, then let them dry before adding your pictures.

Use silk flowers. I remember wanting Tulips and the florists told me what it would cost to get them that time of year, I about flipped. Using silk, we got the gorgeous bouquets I wanted (incl. tulips in various colors) and the cost was so much easier on our budget.

Herlean

[Savin' Moola]

Re: Planning a wedding on collage budget


See about getting a sponser. Some places will give a discount or
even some things free if you put their name on a "Thank You to
David's Bridal for the Bride's and Bride's Maid's dresses, Country
Dance Hall for hosting the reception..." etc. It is advertisement
for them.

Kelly

[Savin' Moola]

There is a book:
Bridal Bargains: Secrets to Throwing a Fantastic Wedding on a Realistic Budget (Bridal Bargains) by Denise Fields and Alan Fields
I used this when I got married, although that was 15 years ago. It's full of fantastic ideas. See if your library carries it, or you can get it used from Amazon for as little as $1.
Good luck!
Deb

[Savin' Moola]

RE: Budget101.com : Planning a wedding on collage budget


First of all, CONGRATULATIONS your daughter and her other half.



I planned a wedding on a very tight budget and have also helped a couple of friends with theirs. Go to the arts are crafts store in your area and look at everything. You can print your own invitations, make your own wedding favors and even the bride and groom glass? you can make. I made glasses with my wedding parties names on them as well as mom & dads and even the band and it was probably less than $50-75 for all. That was about 20 glasses. You can make a photo collage for people to look at with your photos from birth to present as well as together, simply add your new name on it and put it on an easle. That will help familys get an idea of the others. You can even make scrolls for people to write their thoughts and use fake wedding rings, which are like 50 for $2 or so and place them at each seat with a couple of cute pens and then make a special container to put them in and you have just made a wedding capsule that you can open in 5,10,15 or 20 years. That is just the tip of the iceberg for ideas that you can do. Hope this all helped. Check on the internet or ask people that are into crafts about making them for you with the colors that you chose, and send it to you. Sometimes depending on the time issue that you have to work with, it might be worth the couple of extra dollars to have them made. That goes for anything with a wedding. You can even make your own ring pillow, bird seed bag holder and even a stand for your guest sign in book. Well I hope I have helped. Talk to you later, and good luck!

Brandy h

[Savin' Moola]

RE: Budget101.com : Planning a wedding on collage budget


My husband's grandmother did a gorgeous counted cross stitch scene on our wedding pillow. My Mom sewed the cover onto a pillow afterwards. We love it. It came out so nice. We sat with Grandma and chose a pattern, then she modified the colors to go with our wedding colors.

For our guest book, we went to the local bookstore and chose a blank book with a pretty cover.

We ordered our wedding candle out of a catalog online. It is one of those "shells" that you put other votives inside and keep re-using it. It is really beautiful.

Our cake topper, we got at the Lenox outlet. They have great prices. It is a white statue. Now, it is in a display cabinet. We did not use the "traditional" bride & groom.

For our glasses, we got two beautiful ones on sale, something like 75% for the pair.

Herlean

Herlean