Wanted: Wedding tips for the financially challenged

[Thunderfoot]

My wife and I got married on $80 (No that's not a misprint). But you have to be creative - you said the house was too small, but do you have a back yard? go with an outdoor affair and the rent is free - have a friend do the cake (there are some talented folks out there - or look into a baking/cooking school - have one or more of the students make your wedding/reception a class project. They get the experience and you get the goodies.

You have the dress taken care of - how about his tux (or suit) in some cases the groom's is free if the groomsmen all rent from the same place. 40 isn't really a lot of folks, we had 65 stuffed in a 12' by 15' living room, just keep the ceremony short and have everyone stand - no chairs means less space. Just some ideas. You haven;t really specified if there is a theme or what not so maybe coordination doesn't have to play that big a role either.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Sorry for the late post - I didn't see where you had the finals listed.

Congratulations BTW!!!

 

[Ampolitor]

oriental trading

if you have the time go to oriental trading company, I think its like orientaltrading.com or something. You can get great party and wedding favors in bulk for CHEAP! I use it for when I have big parties or when I do my annual haunted house for the kids. Good luck.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

So, sniffles, are you going to the HP Lovecraft Film Festival this weekend? I'll see you there if you do go!

 

[sniffles]

It doesn't seem likely at this point, but anything's possible! If I do go, how would I find you?

 

[Desdichado]

Congratulations, fellow Texan!! (I grew up in the panhandle area)

Panhandling may be a way to increase your budget too...

 

[Azul]

We went very simple and non-traditional. The whole thing cost us a few grand and much of that was the rings and the short honeymoon afterwards.

- we rented the local Universalist Unitarian church and crafted a personalized ceremony with their pastor
- we got modestly priced rings (white gold and platinum but small diamonds) and my wife made a very non-traditional choice for her wedding dress (an Indian sari -- nope, neither of us is Indian - she just wanted something different and wow did she look striking in it)
- we limited ourselves to 25 guests (only immediate family and closest friends)
- we decided to skip having a formal reception and instead had a dinner at a nice local restaurant (private room)
- we asked guests to cover their meals instead of giving us gifts (many still gave gifts - my folks actually too the money they'd saved to help pay for our wedding and surprised us with a new car... yeah, a car... we freaked too)
- instead of hiring a photographer, we bought disposable cameras for all the guests and let them go nuts (the end result was a mixed bag but included lots of great shots - in addition two friends brought video cameras and several brought their own cameras so we got plenty of photos and footage)
- the UU church had a nice little meditation garden where we took photos

The end result was a roughly 3 hour long affair from start to finish. Very short and sweet. No one had a chance to get bored and we got lots of compliments on how tastefully simple everything was. Best of all, by the end of our wedding festivities, my wife and I weren't totally wrecked. I've had several friends tell me that ours was the "least painful wedding I've ever attended" and one told us he'll probably mimic how we did it if he does wed.

Both my wife and I are not fans of formal ceremony, so that wedding was just right for us. Whatever you do, you should have your wedding express your own tastes and personality. Keep control of your wedding details (we had to fight my family's constant attempts to make it a bigger and showier affair) and you'll be all the more happy, but do feel free to delegate to friends and family you trust to do what you want.

 

[sniffles]

Thanks, Azul! It's kind of nice than Barendd resurrected this thread, as I'm still agonizing over this. The money I intended to use for the wedding ended up going toward a hospital bill to prevent them from garnishing my wages.

A friend of mine has offered several times to have the wedding at his house, which is fairly nice size and has a deck and decent size yard. But I'm uncomfortable with this because it would put my friend and his wife to a lot of effort. His wife is also a bit of a perfectionist and control freak, and I fear the desire to make everything "just so" would make her explode. Plus, while he's one of my closest friends, I'm not really friends with his wife. And I don't want children at my wedding, but I'd feel uncomfortable asking them to keep their kids away when the wedding was at their home.

Anybody have any ideas of how we can get customized rings without paying an alarming amount? I've found lots of places to get reasonably-priced rings, but they're also very dull. I'd like to have something really unique. Anyone know any jewelers? I know one but she doesn't do rings.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

That sounds a lot like what I'd like to do, except for the midnight buffet - I can't stay up that late!

Aside from the location question, we can't figure out what to have the groom wear. I'm going to wear a gown patterned after Eowyn's white gown from LotR - Two Towers, and a garland of silk flowers instead of a veil. Hedrin (my fiancee's screenname here) has a pirate greatcoat he'd like to wear (not exactly coordinated with my gown, but who cares?). But we don't know what else for him to wear. He's rather girthy and can't find a pirate shirt to fit. Maybe the friend who's sewing my gown can make him a simple pirate shirt - then we'll only have to figure out pants & shoes for him.

I found a pirate shirt at our local ren fair that was roomy enough for those with "plenty of girth". That shirt was HUGE! It was enough for me to fit in and probably another person as well, and I'm not a small gal at all....

I like the bubbles & jellybeans idea for guest favors - I'd thought of something similar. I wish we knew a jeweler so we could have a friend make our rings. That would be cool. We do actually know a jeweler but she mostly does earrings & pendants, & she's not a close enough friend to give us a good deal on rings (or do them as a gift).

That's what some friends of mine did for their wedding. They had the bubbles. And catering was basically sandwiches, finger foods, cake and punch.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Money savers from my wedding:

Made my own dress with the help of my mom, hubby bought a new "interview suit" and wore that rather than renting or buying a tux.

wedding attendants just wore their nice clothes, no coordinated bridesmaids dresses or tuxes.

disposable cameras to be used and returned.

No bar

music was a celtic harpist, it was the main thing I considered a splurge. Totally worth it.

Printed our own wedding invitations, you can get a nice looking set of cards and envelopes to print on at Staples.