Wut up! I'm getting married in just a few days. Woo!
I initially wanted to elope, but the planning kept growing and growing... Now we're getting married at a local nursery which hosts concerts, we've invited 100+ guests, and we have people flying in from all over the country... Things escalated. So here we are, days away, and I thought I'd give you a list of my expenses and what I wish I could go back and change already...
Invites: We had my fiance's brother take photos of us on a hiking trail with his fancy dancey iPhone camera. We used recycled matte invites from Vistaprint for $60. These came with white envelopes, but we wanted brown ones which we ordered for $10. Consider opting for online invites. I made a Facebook page for my out of town friends with all the info, which would have served them just fine by itself. They can click the venue address and be on their way. This might be enough for everyone you invite.
Venue: I always wanted a barn wedding and I've never wanted a church wedding for some reason, despite being religious. We went with something in between-- the aforementioned botanical concert venue. I knew weekdays were cheaper than weekends, so we asked for a Friday. We got it for $3700 from 1:30pm til 11pm. An additional $270 got us set-up and take down of tables/chairs/tablecloths. *Don't be like us.* This is wildly expensive, even for a weekday. Getting married at one of our churches probably would have been free. I already wasn't getting my dream venue (a barn) because of the expense. Isn't something unwanted and free better than kinda wanted and nearly $4000? This is my biggest regret thus far, but I like the venue a lot and it will be impressive to our guests. Have family with land? Ask them to hook you up! My friends just got married on a family farm. Field, lovely yard, their restaurant... I was looking at bookstores for a while. Be creative and ask family for favors if they have a cool venue. Or just marry in a church, yo.
DJ: I knew we would have to splurge on 2 things: a DJ and photographer. I went on Thumbtack and found a fairly cheap DJ who is bilingual (as some of the groom's family doesn't speak English). He seems great, but it's yet to be seen how great. At $675, he was the second cheapest option on the site. He has little experience with weddings, which is worrisome, but how hard can MC'ing a wedding be, right?? (*She said before it went terribly, terribly wrong.*)
Photographer: I've always heard one should never ever go cheap on a photographer. We chose one from Thumbtack for $1500 based on his portfolio of great outdoor wedding shoots.
Officiant: Our officiant is a friend from out of town. We paid for a night of his hotel room, $130. You can definitely do this for cheaper or even free, though it's polite to pay even your pastor.
Cake: We ordered 4 dozen cupcakes for our guests for $150 and we're grabbing a Whole Foods cake for $20 for us to cut for photos. I'm okay with this expense, as I don't know anyone who can bake. If you know someone who bakes, of course you should pay them if you want them to do a wedding cake, or it can be their gift to you.
Centerpieces: We're putting old books from my Nancy Drew collection (don't tell my fiance that the wedding is secretly Nancy Drew themed and that's why its color is yellow......) at the center of each table with a mug atop each stack with baby's breath in it. We thrifted various mugs for $3 each, so $30. You don't need centerpieces at all. Break traditions! Do your own thing! FTP! ...
Tuxes: While I was okay with a shirt and suspenders, my fiance wanted to be traditional with tuxes for him, 2 groomsmen, and my brides-dude. For my fiance and brides-dude (since he's flying in as well), we paid $140 each for a rental. The groomsmen were okay paying for their own.
Dress: I bought my dress at a consignment shop for $99. I originally found a short but fancy white dress at Goodwill for $10, but decided to get something I'd be more proud of. There are some super cute tea-length dresses on Amazon for $40. If you look at thrift shops, stalk them like a crazy person the moment you get engaged. Perfect yet cheap dresses are hard to find, especially in the right size. Don't bother going into a legit bridal shop. The prices are insulting when you can find incredible dresses at consignment shops.
Favors: 100 succulents will cost us $187 at Home Depot, though we're still looking for better deals at local nurseries. My sister made her own apple butter for her wedding, though I imagine that was very expensive and it was time-consuming, though she bonded with my mom as they made it together. We still have time to consider cheaper options, but succulents fit our venue theme. Lots of people opt for cheap things like candy bags, bubbles, small cider bottles, spices, candles, etc.
Lawn games: I wanted some lawn games like cornhole and ladderball. I found bean bag tic-tac-toe, ring toss, and giant Jenga on Craigslist for $45 for all three. My mom is making us a cornhole set. This isn't necessary, but SOMEONE won't let me have a bouncy castle at the wedding, so I GUESS I'll settled for lawn games.
Hair and makeup: I've never ever done my makeup or hair... Fiance and I decided to be crazy and spend... possibly way too much for a professional. With a trial and someone coming to the venue to do my hair and makeup, it'll be $275. I know! Don't be like me. ;__; Make friends with someone competent with hair and makeup... My matron of honor is wearing her hair straight and she's good at doing her own makeup.
Breaking traditions:
Rings: I didn't want an engagement ring. We ordered bands from Etsy for $450 for the set. They're 3 layers each: antler from a deer (to represent the state in which we met), a stone from his home country, and wood from a tree from my home-state. They're way more meaningful than a gemstone to us personally.
Flowers: Heck flowers! We opted out of them entirely except a bouquet for my sister (MOH) and myself. We're not ordering them from anywhere-- just grabbing 2 bouquets from Safeway on the way to the venue. We're skipping boutonnieres.
Dinnerware: We're using strong, biodegradable paper plates ($30), plant-based tumbler glasses ($20), and plant-based utensils ($13). My mother is cooking us jambalaya (my side is Cajun) and mother-in-law is cooking Dominican food. We haven't approached the topic of who's paying for this yet, haha, but it beats restaurant catering.
We wanted to spend no more than $7000 on the wedding itself, and we basically did that. Including things outside the wedding like beauty, my dress, and the rings, we're at about $7800, so we're doing pretty well by our standards.
Additionally, if you're having a large wedding and think you might receive at least $500 in gifts, consider registering with Amazon which gives you a discount of 20% if you're gifted $500+. We're hoping to buy a television, though I doubt we'll be gifted enough to qualify. Other stores may do this as well.
As for honeymooning, we've never been to New England, so we're exploring Air BnB options up there.
September 02, 2018 at 11:05PM
