Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Getting married this summer?

Are you getting married this summer? I am. I'm down to my last 5 months of planning and feel like I'm a little behind. I don't want to get into huge amounts of debt but I want to make the day as special as possible.
Where do you scrimp and where do you splurge? If you've already had you wedding I think we would all love to hear any snippets of wisdom you can give us up and coming brides. Where did you get your dress? Who sells great plus sized wedding dresses? How about the cake? Did you find the perfect venue. Did you spend tons of money or did you do it frugally? Is there anything you would change now that you know better?
Us brides-to-be need to know. Why not help a girl out?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Instead of a cake, which would have been a ridiculous amount of money, my sister's friend volunteered to make her (absolulely amazing) cupcakes and used a cupcake tier. They were delicious and you didn't have to feel guilty about eating more than one.

It ended up costing only the ingredients of the cupcakes and freed up a huge amount of the budget.

Also, with the wedding dress, you might want to ask a dressmaker to make it for you. My sister found that she ended up saving (depending on how much you were planning for the dress) around $1,000.

Cynthia F said...

Sooo exciting Barb!!
I made my dress, it cost all of $100! We had the wedding & reception at my gran's house (free) and after dinner time so we didn't need to feed everybody a huge meal, we just had appies, sandwiches, and small things.
We also made our cake a bit ahead of time & froze it until it was time to decorate it- Martha Stewart Weddings issue always has yummy recipes.
One thing you can do is to ask your friends to donate their services or talents as their gift to you. Most people are super cool about it as then they can give you something special rather than another toaster or fondue set.
Our best man was in the movie industry, and our Halloween wedding got the full special effects treatment as his gift to us. I think the whole thing all together cost about $1000 and people are still talking about it 12 years later!
I know your day will be amazing!!! Do it your way and have fun!!

Joanna said...

My friend just started her cake making biz and she makes AMAZING cakes for a pretty good price. She made these vanilla bean cupcakes for Easter that were to DIE for and she made my son's 2nd birthday party cake in the shape of Lightning McQueen. It was chocolate filled with chocolate ganache and it too was SINFUL! So you can Facebook her: Danita Davis and just message her that you heard about her cakes. I'll also tell her that you're looking. Congrats, btw! Im getting married next year and Im not even REMOTELY close to being ready. O! And about the dresses: google plus-size wedding dresses. Alot of consignment stores have them at pretty good prices and keep in mind that wedding dresses usually fit 2 sizes bigger than regular clothes. So, for example, if your street clothes are a size 18, you'll probably wear a size 20/22 wedding dress. Good luck!

yoyohanna said...

Congratulations!!!

Tiffany Plus Bridal on Hastings (at Boundary) has wedding dresses for sizes 14+. I purchased my stunning gown there and it just arrived yesterday! Gonna pick it up tomorrow... Can't wait to have that baby showing off what God gave me!!! Their prices are quite reasonable in terms of wedding dresses but definitely way more than what I was planning on spending (less than $200). Good thing "the moms" (mine and his) decided to split the cost with me!

My biggest budget advice is to hit up your talented friends for all they're worth. Our photographers are friends, our caterer is a friend, my sister is making the cake, my friend is doing the flowers for next to nothing.

As far as prioritizing funds I heard a good piece of advice... think back to weddings you've attended in the past... what do you remember most/touched you the most? The cake? Splurge on the cake. The dress? Set aside more money for the dress! The vows? Lucky girl! Those are free!!!

Hope that helps!

Anonymous said...

Have the ceremony and reception in the same location, this saves money on rentals and transportation. I think the most important advise is to ask your friends for help, and get a great DJ, they set the tone for the event if your event is the more traditional sit down dinner and dancing. The other thing is have it on a Friday night, cheaper and easier to find a venue.

hayleycreates said...

Don't forget to give your MC a list of people to say thank you too. Don't leave them hanging with nothing to say. Help them out. Also make sure you give your photographers a list of pictures you want. Other than that, relax and enjoy your day!