Planning a weddding - Money saving tips?

[Patrick425]

I'll second the Community Center idea.

My wife and I were married over 16 years ago and had our reception at the Dousman Community Center. I think we spent about $3,000 total on our wedding when it was all said and done and to this day we have friends and family tell us that it was the funnest and most memorable wedding they have ever been to.

We decorated the place ourselves the night before right after the rehearsal dinner. We had a buffet (nothing fancy turkey, beef, something like that iirc) and a DJ. It was almost 2am and everyone was still there having a great time. The people running the community center finally had to tell us that we needed to "wrap it up".

I just think people are more relaxed and comfortable when it's not one of those "Cinderella" weddings. Although, this is what some brides really want. Fortunately for me, my wife and I both were looking for the same thing. Save the money for a nice honeymoon, or better yet, a down payment on a house.

[davego]

If you get married in a church and really want to go low on the cost, you usually can get the basement and kitchen areas for near nothing.

[tristarscoop]

I also hate pie.

 

You can buy something now called a cupcake tree that will hold the cupcakes in a pyramid of sorts and makes it all fancy and pretty looking. This also allows you to have various types of cake and frosting combos.

 

Don't bother with favors. No one uses them ever again. I recently went to a wedding where they had a candy bar. They filled some jars with various types and had small bags to fill. They then said that instead of favors they made a donation to the Humane Society and please take a small doggie bag to remember them instead. Cute and cheap.

 

Use your friends and family. You have crafty friends and relatives, I promise. Ask around. They'll help you. We all know how expensive it can be. Make a day of it. Buy some pizzas and beer, have them over and make a party out of making invites.

[jrodbrewcrew]

Here's my thought on saving some money: set up a budget with what you feel comfortable paying. Then, when you go to look at flowers, cakes, photographers, etc., tell them, "Here's what our budget is, what can you do for us?". For example, we did that for our flowers, told them that we have a budget of $900 (that included corsages, bridesmaids, decorations, etc.), and they actually came in under budget. Another neat idea my wife had was to have individual cakes at each table, and that was the "centerpiece" for them. People loved that idea, and it was much cheaper to get those done than some big, elaborate cake. All in all, with some help from our parents, money from guests, etc., our bank account looks the same as it did before we started planning the wedding. Also, in my opinion, don't skimp on pictures. I've talked to some people who don't even want people to look at their wedding album because they hate it so much. Also, with a good photographer, he/she won't take 15 minutes to get group shots done. I hate posing for pictures, but she got us through all of the poses and group photos so quickly. All the groomsmen enjoyed that too; it was less time away from drinking after the ceremony was done.

[Buckylovesbeer]

Where were you planning the wedding? My wedding last summer doubled in cost because of the location......

[Jimbo]

Our wedding only cost a few grand, but we made sure to get a professional photographer and videographer. Glad that we did. That's going to be the record of your event. Don't leave it to amateurs!

[Menotti80]

I am getting married in June, and am on a very tight budget.

 

We are getting married on the beach at an amazing resort in Riviera Maya (Mexico)

 

the only costs for us are as follows:

- airfare and the hotel (7 nights - $3,800). (if you are going on a honeymoon to somewhere warm for a week, this means 0 cost towards the actual wedding)

- 2 passports (if you would be honeymooning outside the Us, you would need one of these anyways...)

- 2 blood tests (required by the resort)

- <$300 in other misc fees/paperwork

- got invitatons at hallmark. you can design your own invitations/cards at the store and they print them in the store. cost us $95 for invitations.

- no reception. just a dinner with our guests at one of the restaurants. saves big time $$$.

- my fiance got a very inexpensive dress because it's on the beach. and no shoes! - we will be barefoot http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

- very minimal flower/decoration costs. like less than a few hundred.

 

so all in all, the actual wedding itself will be costing us between $1,000 and $1,500. we cant wait!

[dadofandrew]

My in-laws paid for the wedding, but told my parents the entire thing cost $2700...this was a dozen years ago, however. The caterer charged $3 a plate (seriously), but she passed away a few years ago...she was in Durand, so she would have been perfect.

[Bikeage77]

Tito, that sounds like a great plan. Especially the band part. Though I'm sure yer friends would play for free...however halls and parks close at a certain time, whereas venues are open until 2.

 

The Opperman's had the problem when Lakefront closed at midnight and the Ergs were headlining a show and flew in from New Jersey to play. THE ERGS! and the were cut short (only by a few songs though). Guh.

[Nottso]

We have a heart-shaped flower garden on our property, and our Pastor married us right there. Afterwards, we had a pig roast, done by a friend. I printed the invitations, and did all the music via my computer. Pastor said that after he announced us as husband & wife, something "happy & upbeat" should be played for our trip back up the aisle together. We pleayed the "Peanuts" theme and danced back up the aisle. We spent almost nothing, had between 200 and 300 guests, and just about every single person there said (and says to this day) that ours was the best wedding they've ever attended.

[jazzytrav]

-Make a giant guest list with everyone on it you can think of...then cut it down under 100. You can also send out dance cards for the people who you want to invite but can't afford to. A lot of friends/co-workers fall into this category. For me, it was that and cousins since I have about 40 of them and i'm close with about 3 of them. The rest are invited to just the dance and don't have to be fed.

 

-Don't have any free beer. It makes things so much easier. When people have to pay for their alcohol, you're much less likely to have an incident. My wife was the one who convinced me of this, and I still didn't agree up to the wedding day, but now I'm glad we did it that way.

 

-Hobby stores are gold. If there's a Hobby Lobby around, you can get a ton of items for really cheap. If your wife wants to wear a tiara and buys it from the place she buys her dress, count on it being $100+. My wife got one for under $5 at Hobby Lobby and I guarantee that not one person would be able to tell the difference.

 

-Count on friends for everything you can. Chances are you'll have some friends that have specific talents. I happen to be a musician so we booked my best friend's disco-funk band for the buddy discount. One of my employees does wedding flowers on the side, so she did all of our flowers and we got a great deal. I work for a credit union, and one of our business account owners that I've gotten to know over the years has a photography business. We paid about half what most places would charge. So check around with friends and see who they know before you book an organist that you've never heard play for an amount that you're not sure is fair.

[crackley]

I kept my wedding under $5k.

 

I used to work in the wedding industry for a few years, so I could tell pretty quick if a place was good or not.

 

I don't know where you are, but we had our reception at muskego lakes country club. http://muskegolakes.com/golf/proto/muskegolakes/ and loved it. Chris, the boss, is amazing. Food, drinks were reasonable, and delicious.

 

I got my flowers from a friend's wife, who started her own flower business a year or so ago. Super cheap, yet great quality. Her name is Laurel. http://www.bloom-laurelflan.com/

 

Check it out.

[hawing]

Pastor said that after he announced us as husband & wife, something "happy & upbeat" should be played for our trip back up the aisle together. We pleayed the "Peanuts" theme and danced back up the aisle.

That's wonderful.

[brewers19]

I'll second on skip the videographer and even photographer - you know which friends take good pictures, so buy a digital SLR camera if your friend doesn't have one or if you don't know someone else who has one that you can borrow (they run about $500-600 on Amazon) and tell that friend that their wedding gift to you is to take pictures for the day. Have your friend take as many pictures as possible. That's all the photographer does anyway - just take a bunch of pictures with a digital SLR camera and have you pick the best ones. Develop the good ones, and have a craft store frame the ones you want.

 

 

 

The DSLRs are expensive, but it's a lot less than a photographer and you get to keep a very good camera. Or you can turn around and sell the camera on eBay. The last wedding I went to I was an usher and I took along my old 5MP Sony camera and they said that I took better pictures than the photographer.

I'm sorry, but this is absolutely terrible advice. They'd be better off just asking all the guests to email them all the snapshots they took with their point-and-shoots, because it'll be on par with the quality that they'll get from someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Granted, if the couple couldn't give two craps about photos of them and their wedding, then skimp away; but otherwise, photography is one of the last places that one should look to save money with a wedding.

 

A DSLR doesn't make someone a good photographer, and taking pictures of a wedding doesn't make someone a wedding photographer. Wedding photography is not for the faint-of-heart or the inexperienced, and that's why professionals cost [and are worth] a lot of money.

[jjfanec]

I'll second on skip the videographer and even photographer - you know which friends take good pictures, so buy a digital SLR camera if your friend doesn't have one or if you don't know someone else who has one that you can borrow (they run about $500-600 on Amazon) and tell that friend that their wedding gift to you is to take pictures for the day. Have your friend take as many pictures as possible. That's all the photographer does anyway - just take a bunch of pictures with a digital SLR camera and have you pick the best ones. Develop the good ones, and have a craft store frame the ones you want.

 

 

 

The DSLRs are expensive, but it's a lot less than a photographer and you get to keep a very good camera. Or you can turn around and sell the camera on eBay. The last wedding I went to I was an usher and I took along my old 5MP Sony camera and they said that I took better pictures than the photographer.

I'm sorry, but this is absolutely terrible advice. They'd be better off just asking all the guests to email them all the snapshots they took with their point-and-shoots, because it'll be on par with the quality that they'll get from someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Granted, if the couple couldn't give two craps about photos of them and their wedding, then skimp away; but otherwise, photography is one of the last places that one should look to save money with a wedding.

 

A DSLR doesn't make someone a good photographer, and taking pictures of a wedding doesn't make someone a wedding photographer. Wedding photography is not for the faint-of-heart or the inexperienced, and that's why professionals cost [and are worth] a lot of money.

I have had 5 or more friends (and my wife and I) use a friend to take pictures and I would match our pictures up against one's done by a professional. You want to test them out and see how they do, we had a friend do engagement pictures first. maybe you have seen it go poorly but everyone of our friends who did it has been really happy. So no it is not terrible advice, but you have to have a friend who has a good eye for photography.

[RyDogg66]

Dont hire a photographer. We passed on that and saved tons. Instead we had two people who we knew and trusted (with their interest in photography) take photos with our and their cameras. A couple roles of black and white and a digital....in the end we have an album full of fantastic pictures, many of which were taken by friends and family and are candid and arent overly posed. I would not have done it any other way.

 

#2 - Dont serve a meal. Im not saying dont serve food, just dont do the over-done sit down meal thing. We had 3 or 4 large tables around our reception with tons of hors d'oeuvres and apps. It was more of a party atmosphere rather than sitting a table with 5 05 6 other people, it got people mingling a lot more and I think we might have saved money on that.

[Diskono]

I'm sorry, but this is absolutely terrible advice. They'd be better off just asking all the guests to email them all the snapshots they took with their point-and-shoots, because it'll be on par with the quality that they'll get from someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Granted, if the couple couldn't give two craps about photos of them and their wedding, then skimp away; but otherwise, photography is one of the last places that one should look to save money with a wedding.

 

A DSLR doesn't make someone a good photographer, and taking pictures of a wedding doesn't make someone a wedding photographer. Wedding photography is not for the faint-of-heart or the inexperienced, and that's why professionals cost [and are worth] a lot of money.

I agree. When you pay a professional, you're not just paying for their equipment - you're paying for their experience (such as gathering people for group shots) and creativity. Not to mention, an entry-level DSLR alone is going to be pretty bad for indoor photography. The other thing is that friends and family are going to want to enjoy the wedding, not be busy taking pictures. A pro won't have any sentimental attachments, and won't miss any shots because they're busy doing what people do at weddings. That isn't to say it can't work, but is it worth the risk?

 

On the other hand, there are a lot of awful wedding photographers out there, so it certainly doesn't surprise to hear people say that their friend took better photos than the hired pro (in these cases though, that just isn't saying much). Anyone can put together a portfolio of a few good photos, so when you're looking to hire somebody, I would ask to see an entire wedding's worth of samples.

[Nottso]

Pastor said that after he announced us as husband & wife, something "happy & upbeat" should be played for our trip back up the aisle together. We pleayed the "Peanuts" theme and danced back up the aisle.

That's wonderful.

Thanks, Ms. Hawing. It really was a special kind of moment. To this day, any time that song comes on and any of our wedding guests are in the vicinity, they turn it up loud and say "They're playin' your song!" The only time it went awry was on our 4th anniversary...

 

Patti had the day off, and I let her sleep in. Normally, she has to get up and play with me or I'll do stuff (run with scissors, paint the dog, what-have-you). Anyways, around 9:00 I put on the Peanuts song really softly, kissed her gently on the cheek, and said "Happy anniversary. I love you." She opened her big brown eyes, looked up at me and said "Where's my coffee?"

 

I knew then, that the honeymoon was over.

[Thurston Fluff]

Balloons are a cheap and very easy way to decorate. We've been doing a lot more weddings this year than in years past becasue of that. It looks very elegant especially if you use pearlized balloons.

I'd have to assume there is a balloon artist in the Eau Claire area. It's a bit out of our range but if you want to take a look at some cheap easy things that look very elegant you can look at out website then find someone in your area to do it. getaballoon.com is the site. I would suggest arches and centerpieces.

Pearl Arches should cost you about $25-$35 a piece and centerpieces are usually around $5. It will give you immediate visual impact upon entering the room and most rooms can be done pretty well for as little as $100.

If you do go the balloon route ask two questions to make sure you're getting a real balloon artist. First make sure they use hi-float on every latex balloon. Second make sure they use Qualatex brand balloons. We have no financial interest in either product they are just great products. Hi-float makes a balloon that would normally last 12-24 hours last 3 or 4 days. Qualatex is simply head and shoulders above any other brand of balloon out there and, yes, there is a difference. If the balloon artist is real they will already know that of not move on.

If you make sure of those two things you will not have to worry about them being down before the end of the evening. You could even do them the day before and they would be perfectly fine.

[Blancofan1]

Any posters up in the central Wisconsin area that would have some suggestions for decent ceremony sites in the Wausua/Point area? Reception is planned at the Grand Lodge, but we haven't decided on a ceremony site yet. Very low key, non-religious ceremony planned. Actually, if things go as planned, another BF.net member is performing the service for us. We've looked into a few places, both indoors and outdoors, but haven't found a place we are in love with yet.