Tieing the frugal knot

rainysparadigm · 04-02-2008, 10:30 PM

Planning to get married next year; we havent really decided on anything definite about it yet. I was wondering if anyone had 1. general wedding tips/ideas and 2. suggestions on keeping it within a budget. What things in your wedding or someone you know, that you personally feel wasnt worth the extra $$ and what aspects did you feel should be splurged?

Curious to see what discussions this opens up.

jdp · 04-03-2008, 05:40 AM

Its such an individual decision.

My sister eloped in Hawaii and had everyone to a local restaurant for dinner on her return.

I used a small historical chapter in town (they let it for ceremonies to earn upkeep $) and a local hall for a reception. Grocery store cake. Discount rack dress that my seamstress hated lol. Regular suit for the groom vs. tux. No special transportation. No special flowers. A friend did dried arrangements for us to carry and the lady we buy mums from each fall gave us a bulk discount on small ones for the tables I put in baskets I'd picked up for free. The splurge, and thanks to my dad, was the food. The best caterer in 3 states. Everyone came to eat lol.

I'd say if one thing or another is important to you, focus on that. We kept our ceremony very simple, we didn't decorate the chapel (it was beautiful the way it was) and focused on having a good time with family and friends after. We wanted everyone to come so we found room in the budget for space for that. Dad wanted everyone to be well fed. hehehe.

USCGamecocks · 04-03-2008, 05:40 AM

I think it's ludacris how people spend some much money on a wedding for all the extras and all the flair. Just K.I.S.S. and enjoy yourself. Keep it to just family and friends. Have love be the centerpiece not tangibles.

rainysparadigm · 04-03-2008, 07:53 AM

My friend recently married on a budget, and one creative thing they did to keep costs down was put disposable cameras on each table. Guests took random pictures of the wedding to make up the bulk of the pictures, and then they hired a friend of a friend who was building a photography portfolio for a fraction of the price of a "real" one. Pictures turned out just as well. If you look around, you can usually find amateur photographers who are good.

Will · 04-03-2008, 09:21 AM

Congratulations!

Sarah did a great post about how she found 55 ways to save time and money for her wedding and honeymoon. I hope that helps.

Personally, I've never understood why people hire live bands for weddings. Isn't it better just to play CDs instead of getting some weird cover of Muskrat Love?

lucille · 04-03-2008, 11:28 AM

We did ours on a tight budget of $300 and whatever we had in our extra savings account. In a way this was a huge blessing. We tossed out the idea of all the costly traditional wedding trappings and ideas and decided to just have fun with it. We engaged our close friends in helping us with it and treated it like a big party rather than a major social event. We made all the food and had friends deal with the logistics and serving it as a buffet. We were able to do both a reception type lunch AND dinner. We were both members of a medieval reenactment group at the time so we have a themed wedding in a state park. We did cheesecakes instead of an expensive professional wedding cake. We hired a friend of a friend who was trying to get his foot in the door as a wedding photographer. A bunch of our friends did a swordfighting tournament as afternoon entertainment. We made our wedding clothes and only had two people stand up with us who had their own costumes already. We made our own wedding invitations with a bunch of help from friends. We made mead out of cases of honey another friend gave us.

All the help we got and participation in the whole thing was gift enough and then some so we didn't ask or encourage wedding gifts.I think we spent under $1000 for everything.

kav122 · 04-03-2008, 11:55 AM

here's another post that is related:

http://unclutterer.com/2008/04/02/pl...imple-wedding/

rainysparadigm · 04-03-2008, 12:14 PM

Those are all awesome ideas. Definitely will be using at least some of them. Ive known ppl to spend 10's of thousands on their wedding, and personally didnt even like it - too formal. Its suppose to be a happy, fun occasion not a stiff, formal uncomfortable event.

khorrell · 04-03-2008, 01:47 PM

I can vouch for the supermarket wedding cake. We got ours from Safeway and had tons of people ask about it. It was cheap and really, really good.

StudentMom · 04-03-2008, 05:08 PM

We were supposed to elope but DH's family found out and wanted to come. Got married on Lake Tahoe, used a judge (or whatever she was, can't remember) who charged about $100. My wedding dress was found at Macys on their clearance rack for $200, I went barefoot because it was a warm October day. MIL brought the cake and paid for our nice cabin for two nights. BIL took us all out for a wedding dinner. FIL took us out the day after for dinner. So we ended up only paying for the rental car, dog sitter, dress and what DH was wearing and the judge. Very cheap and oh so perfect. Nothing beats a private beach with a few guests, wouldn't change a thing.

04-02-2008, 10:30 PM	#1
rainysparadigm Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 55 Reputation: (12)	Tieing the frugal knot Planning to get married next year; we havent really decided on anything definite about it yet. I was wondering if anyone had 1. general wedding tips/ideas and 2. suggestions on keeping it within a budget. What things in your wedding or someone you know, that you personally feel wasnt worth the extra $$ and what aspects did you feel should be splurged? Curious to see what discussions this opens up.

04-03-2008, 05:40 AM	#3
USCGamecocks Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Columbia, SC Posts: 123 Reputation: (19)	I think it's ludacris how people spend some much money on a wedding for all the extras and all the flair. Just K.I.S.S. and enjoy yourself. Keep it to just family and friends. Have love be the centerpiece not tangibles. __________________ Timemakeover.com - Time Management Articles & Resources

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04-03-2008, 05:40 AM	#2
jdp Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 184 Reputation: (24)	Its such an individual decision. My sister eloped in Hawaii and had everyone to a local restaurant for dinner on her return. I used a small historical chapter in town (they let it for ceremonies to earn upkeep $) and a local hall for a reception. Grocery store cake. Discount rack dress that my seamstress hated lol. Regular suit for the groom vs. tux. No special transportation. No special flowers. A friend did dried arrangements for us to carry and the lady we buy mums from each fall gave us a bulk discount on small ones for the tables I put in baskets I'd picked up for free. The splurge, and thanks to my dad, was the food. The best caterer in 3 states. Everyone came to eat lol. I'd say if one thing or another is important to you, focus on that. We kept our ceremony very simple, we didn't decorate the chapel (it was beautiful the way it was) and focused on having a good time with family and friends after. We wanted everyone to come so we found room in the budget for space for that. Dad wanted everyone to be well fed. hehehe.

04-03-2008, 07:53 AM	#4
rainysparadigm Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 55 Reputation: (12)	My friend recently married on a budget, and one creative thing they did to keep costs down was put disposable cameras on each table. Guests took random pictures of the wedding to make up the bulk of the pictures, and then they hired a friend of a friend who was building a photography portfolio for a fraction of the price of a "real" one. Pictures turned out just as well. If you look around, you can usually find amateur photographers who are good.

04-03-2008, 09:21 AM	#5
Will Administrator Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 339 Reputation: (19)	Congratulations! Sarah did a great post about how she found 55 ways to save time and money for her wedding and honeymoon. I hope that helps. Personally, I've never understood why people hire live bands for weddings. Isn't it better just to play CDs instead of getting some weird cover of Muskrat Love?

04-03-2008, 11:28 AM	#6
lucille Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 421 Reputation: (26)	We did ours on a tight budget of $300 and whatever we had in our extra savings account. In a way this was a huge blessing. We tossed out the idea of all the costly traditional wedding trappings and ideas and decided to just have fun with it. We engaged our close friends in helping us with it and treated it like a big party rather than a major social event. We made all the food and had friends deal with the logistics and serving it as a buffet. We were able to do both a reception type lunch AND dinner. We were both members of a medieval reenactment group at the time so we have a themed wedding in a state park. We did cheesecakes instead of an expensive professional wedding cake. We hired a friend of a friend who was trying to get his foot in the door as a wedding photographer. A bunch of our friends did a swordfighting tournament as afternoon entertainment. We made our wedding clothes and only had two people stand up with us who had their own costumes already. We made our own wedding invitations with a bunch of help from friends. We made mead out of cases of honey another friend gave us. All the help we got and participation in the whole thing was gift enough and then some so we didn't ask or encourage wedding gifts.I think we spent under $1000 for everything.

04-03-2008, 11:55 AM	#7
kav122 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 444 Reputation: (186)	here's another post that is related: http://unclutterer.com/2008/04/02/pl...imple-wedding/

04-03-2008, 12:14 PM	#8
rainysparadigm Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 55 Reputation: (12)	Those are all awesome ideas. Definitely will be using at least some of them. Ive known ppl to spend 10's of thousands on their wedding, and personally didnt even like it - too formal. Its suppose to be a happy, fun occasion not a stiff, formal uncomfortable event.

04-03-2008, 01:47 PM	#9
khorrell Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 336 Reputation: (35)	I can vouch for the supermarket wedding cake. We got ours from Safeway and had tons of people ask about it. It was cheap and really, really good.

04-03-2008, 05:08 PM	#10
StudentMom Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: VA Posts: 29 Reputation: (11)	We were supposed to elope but DH's family found out and wanted to come. Got married on Lake Tahoe, used a judge (or whatever she was, can't remember) who charged about $100. My wedding dress was found at Macys on their clearance rack for $200, I went barefoot because it was a warm October day. MIL brought the cake and paid for our nice cabin for two nights. BIL took us all out for a wedding dinner. FIL took us out the day after for dinner. So we ended up only paying for the rental car, dog sitter, dress and what DH was wearing and the judge. Very cheap and oh so perfect. Nothing beats a private beach with a few guests, wouldn't change a thing.