Bridal Bliss on a Budget
Recently, my husband and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary of our first date. He's a big hopeless romantic and loves to celebrate our love for each other. As such, we celebrate the first time we met as friends, the day we started dating, and the day we said “I do”. Although, if you ask him these all occurred on the same day.
We met in a law class in August 2007 and immediately hit it off as best friends. There wasn’t a moment we didn’t spend together, making memories that would last forever. We moved in to an apartment together in December 2009 and by January 2010, we were dating. He proposed just a couple of weeks later and of course I said YES! We were married almost 4 years later.
When we moved in together, we had nothing. We had our own bedroom furniture and had purchased a few kitchen items from a 99 cent store. But that was it. We literally had nothing. We worked minimum wage jobs while trying to get through school. It was stressful to say the least.
So one can imagine that when it came to wedding planning, we didn’t know how we were going to pull it off. Neither of our parents would be able to contribute financially, so we knew it would fall on us to make it work. I had always dreamed of a big beautiful wedding with lots of guests, my very own princess ball gown, and a 5 tier cake.
When I went to a wedding expo with a few friends, reality knocked me down on my ass.
Everything I had dreamed of was quickly adding up and by the end of the day I saw that our big day was going to cost us at least $25,000. I was told that was on the cheaper side when it comes to getting married. Thoughts of eloping in Las Vegas ran through my mind as I thought about giving up and letting go of ever having my dream wedding.
My husband was so supportive and listened to me vent my frustrations. He held me and told me he didn’t want me compromising on everything on our big day. We would figure this out together and find a way to make our wedding day special. We talked about what a realistic budget was for us- as we didn’t want to go into debt. Sadly, we already had student loans we knew we would have to worry about in just a few short years. We didn’t want to add our happiest day onto that total as well. We would plan to pay for everything with cash and not take out loans or use credit cards for anything. Together, we researched and found ways to make our wedding happen at a fraction of the cost it should have been. I'm sharing our savings tricks below because I know we aren't the only ones that were on a budget, and maybe our ideas will help some of you save some cash too!
Here's what we did:
The Venue- My husband and I knew that we wanted our wedding to take place outside but we had to consider weather issues. We chose to be married in October down by the beach. But that location meant there could be rain. We searched on Google for venues that offered both indoor and outdoor areas for weddings and that were inexpensive. When we found a few we liked, we set out to look at these places in person. The one that we chose to use not only offered indoor and outdoor weddings, but they also provided a wedding planner, DJ, bartender, bridal suite, chairs, tables, white seat covers, and white table cloths as part of the package. This helped cut down the cost considerably. The total for this was $3500. The best part was that they allowed us to make payments.
The Dress- I went to a David’s Bridal to see if they had my dream dress for an inexpensive price. While DB does advertise their $100 dress sale, trying to find one in my size and that I liked left it limited. I tried on a few of these dresses, but didn’t care for any of them. My friend found my dream dress and begged me to try it on. It looked amazing and I absolutely loved it! But it was $800. That did not include many of the other things I knew I would need for the dress as well. I gave up and went home. At the time, my best friend and matron-of-honor was getting married. I asked her how she afforded her dress since she was on such a tight budget. She said she bought hers on eBay. With her help, we went on to the website and searched. There are literally thousands of listings of women selling their dresses or even offering to make your dress for you. I found my dress for $150. I sent over my measurements and received my dress a couple of months later. And the best part? It looked exactly like the dress I had tried on in David’s Bridal. I found my ballet shoes, veil, tiara, earrings, necklace, bracelet, and garter on eBay. Total for all of these was $50. My hoop skirt I borrowed from my matron-of-honor. My something old and blue was a shirt my grandpa had worn. He died right before the wedding, so I took his shirt and cut a piece of it into the shape of the Eiffel Tower and sewed it onto the back of my dress. My husband’s attire cost us a total of $100. We found Ralph Lauren suit shirt, pants, and tie at Macy’s during a sale and bought these for a total of $50. His vest and shoes I found on eBay for $50 as well.
Bridesmaid Dresses- My husband and I decided on the color purple and black for our wedding colors. I knew that many of my maids couldn’t afford an expensive dress and I didn’t feel right forcing them to spend a lot of money on one they might very well hate. I told them to get whatever dress they wanted so long as it was the color purple. They each chose a beautiful dress that they loved and were happy to be in on the big day.
Hair and Makeup- My best friend’s sister is a hairdresser and did my hair for $60. I was very lucky that one of my bridesmaids was a makeup artist and she did my make-up as a wedding gift to me.
Flowers- I made all the bouquets and boutonnieres for the big day. I purchased fake flowers, that were incredibly realistic looking, ribbon, DIY bouquet holders, diamond pins, sequined ribbon, and Eiffel Tower charms. I was able to make all of these for under $40. The flowers were purchased on clearance at a Michael’s, the ribbon from Walmart, and the sequin ribbon, diamond pins that go into the center of the rose bud on the bouquet, and Eiffel Tower charms all on eBay. Check out Pinterest if you need help deciding how you want your flowers to look.
Photographer- My husband’s childhood friend had recently started a photography business. She took our engagement photos to help build her business. After we saw how amazing they came out, we asked her to take our wedding ones as well. She only charged us $300. Consider asking friends or family you know if they would be willing to do this for you. If you do not know anyone that is a photographer, considering advertising online for one that is trying to build their business. Look over their work first before you decide to hire them on.
Invitations and Save-The-Dates- For this, we went on to the website Groupon. A company called Vistaprint had a special where you could buy a $15 Groupon and get $45 worth of product. They give you the option of either using one of their designs or creating your own. I chose to use one of their designs since it fit our “A Night in Paris” theme. I was able to get wedding invitations, save-the-date cards, dinner menus, couples shower invites, envelopes, stickers, mother and father of the bride shirts for that price with some money left over. I used the remaining balance to make my graduation invitations. My husband and I sat down and threaded a 100 Eiffel Tower charms with purple ribbon and then glued them onto our wedding invites. It was time consuming, but well worth it. They came out amazing!
Catering- We placed an ad on Craigslist looking for a caterer. We specified that it would be for 100 guests and that we could only afford $375. So, we asked what a person could make for that price. Several caterers contacted us with menu ideas. We chose a few and sampled their cooking. In the end, we decided on a Mexican food meal. It didn’t exactly go with our theme, but we were in love with the food and the caterer could make it for 100 people with no issues. She was also able to provide the plates and flatware. We purchased wine and champagne from Trader Joes, 2 liter bottles of soda and water bottles from Target when they had a sale going on, and glasses from the Dollar Tree. Because we were able to save money, we added in a cocktail hour so that guests could enjoy some wine, cheese and crackers while we did wedding photos. In total, this cost us only $425!
Candy Bar- We kept this simple and found an outlet store that had candy at a discount. Glass bowls, jars, and vases were purchased from the Dollar Tree. We dressed up the area with a Candy bar sign and a beautiful purple table cloth. Total spent on this was $40.
Wedding Décor- This was hard to make happen, but we somehow accomplished it all within budget. Since our theme was a “A Night in Paris” we felt it our center pieces should reflect that somehow. We decided to go with a travel/love theme and made our own. I purchased decorative boxes/suitcases from Ross and we filled them with berets, scarves, passport books, a DVD of our life together that was created from Animoto for $5, a romance book to read, postcards from Paris, the lyrics to our 1st dance beautifully written in calligraphy and travel brochures. 10 Sheer purple table overlays and 100 chair ribbons were purchased on eBay for $25. Each bridesmaid groomsmen, and immediate family had a Kate Spade Eiffel Tower seat card holder that they got to take home with them. These cost $40 by winning auctions on eBay. The other guests had their place cards in wine corks. I found a bulk of 100 corks for $10 with shipping on eBay. Fake purple rose petals were scattered on tables and along the aisle that I walked down. We added candles floating in vases along the aisle and fake diamonds to the tables to give it a more magical affect. This cost us an additional $30. The rose petals and diamonds were found on eBay and the candles and vases were found at Dollar Tree.
Wedding Cake- My Matron-of-Honor dabbled in cake decorating and after seeing her work, I asked her if we could pay her to make ours. She agreed, but ended up making ours for free and giving it to us as a wedding gift. We purchased the cake knife and server on Amazon for $20 along with the matching Toasting Glasses for an additional $15.
The Minister- Our dear friend got ordained on the internet and married us for free as his gift to us. He did such a wonderful job and took his time to ask us questions and get to know us even more so that the ceremony was even that more personal.
The Guest Book- Many people do not use a guest book now at their wedding, but for us we still wanted one there. We wanted to be able to look back and see all the people that shared in our special day, but we didn’t want it to be in the typical way. I found a book at Barnes and Noble on clearance for $10 called, “Letters to Juliet”. We placed it on a table and asked guests to write us a little note so that we could read them on our honeymoon.
In grand total we spent $4,850 for our big day. Although we were not able to do all that we wanted, we were still able to have a beautiful wedding without breaking the bank. We did not put ourselves into debt which was the goal to begin with and still had a wonderful time. Keep in mind that doing a lot of the work yourself can and will save you a considerable amount of money. You can find tutorials on YouTube or Pinterest if you are not sure how to make items yourself. Consider having a party and inviting friends and family over to help you make items ahead of time. You will not only save money, but it will be a memorable experience that you can share together for the rest of your lives.
