Bride on A Budget (7,000.00 WEDDING CHALLENGE)

[TiarraBeautyJ]

Originally Posted by shugapop1 

 

 

These are such great tips. So far herr is some of my breakdown: 2500.00 for all inclusive resort. All oceanview and privste balconies

Fight will be abouy 960.00

Did free pckage at resort with few add ons.

Bouquet upgrade for myself, bridesmaids bouquets, guys boutineere, decorated gazebo, private dinner for two on nite of choice and hr long cocktail and hot and cold hors' divers (lol) 860.00

Bought wedding week survival kits from anothet bdw bride 25.00

Only doing oot bags for wedding party.

Guest will recievd messsge in as bottle favors 31.00

Save the date /50 for 6.00 (shutterfly) had 20.00 coupon from davids bridal.

My dress 199.90 from davids bridal. Only one left lije it in entire chain.

For my photos we decided to do custom weddi g disosable cameras. Allkw guest to take picture as they see us and pass around and we go develop.. made it little more personable. U did opt to do cudtom invites. Because I hobedtly didn't want to do. I chose passport invitarions with boardi g pass rsvp.264.00 so I've still kept it pretty low

Very nice Breakdown!!! 

I love your disposable camera option that will save you tons of money.

I chose custom invites in which I created them all by myself I ended up spending 32.00 printing them at office max and 8.50 shipping them off.

I am having a very small wedding with under 30 people.

[TiarraBeautyJ]

Originally Posted by AnaSteele58 

 

 

Oh okay...lol! No need to feel embarrassed. My budget isn't quite what the title of the thread suggests either. Same as you, my photographer will throw me over the line. I'm still enjoying this thread though

Photographer definitely will cause the budget to go over the line!!!! LOL But photography is very important and is something that is everlasting.

[TiarraBeautyJ]

Originally Posted by Recy 

 

Sounds like I need to get on tracking my budget.

LOL!!!! Definitely every bride should be tracking the budget. The earlier the better.

[TiarraBeautyJ]

Originally Posted by Sehausle 

 

I have found a few budget saving tricks as well, thought i'd share:

 

1) Forget the linens. White is elegant and classic...and included! You think that bright orange looks great now, but it doesn't stand the test of time and will most likely look dated when you look back at photos. Save your $$$ and let your sorroundings speak for itself.

 

2) Vista-Print! Seriously I was able to do 100 invites/envelopes/address stickers, and 25 seals I custom designed to say thank you Brad & Shauna Mexico 2013 for about $60 including shipping - just use retailmenot.com for a coupon code ( I am re-purposing envelope seal stickers to go on cake boxes I bought for $5 off Amazon that could easily double as a favor but I am just using them so guests can bring a piece of cake with them back to their hotel room since my package includes dessert also)

 

3) skip OOT bags if you're at an all-inclusive in lieu of a cheaper weekend wedding survival kit. I did 24 of them for $80 ...shop around for deals! Who needs bottles of water or snacks when you're at a resort and can eat and drink for free! I think it's nice to offer a thank-you or welcome gift but this is a fairly new concept so if it's not in your budget don't stress. Speaking of favors...shop around! Again, I used retailmenot.com and was able to afford the more expensive favor because of it (we did starfish wine stoppers since were having our reception in a wine cellar) . Many places offered discounts but eventually one was cheap enough so that I was able to do 24 favors and tags for $80- that's $160 for all my favors combined, not too shabby.

 

4) Ask for an off-the-rack price...and call price/compare when it comes to your dress: It worked for me..called several stores that carried the Allure line and saved over $200 off of my dress, the worst they can say is no.

 

5) Don't get too caught up in personalizing...chap stick, water bottles etc. it may be cute but it's really only THAT exciting to you so don't waste money on the little things that aren't all that important. If it's cheap or free to personalize it-go for it but otherwise no one (I promise) really cares that it has your name on it. Also, doing tags may be cheaper than engraving or stickers. We found a bunch of cute favor tags on ebay for $7!

 

6) Re-use decor...splurging for fresh flowers for your pews or chairs ? Have someone transfer it to your tables to double as centerpieces. You get the luxury of having fresh flowers at your ceremony and reception for only half the cost.

 

May not be for everyone...but we also decided not to have a wedding party. We only have 24 in our group so were going to keep it to our parents. It cut down on cost and didn't make me pick favorites between an already small group of my best-friends/family. If you're worried about not having a shower or bachlorette party ...don't! I had SEVERAL people ask to do this, many of whom couldn't be at my wedding but wanted to do something special for us.

I love your tips!!!!! VERY NICE and I have a small wedding too!!!!!! 

[brownsugarbride]

I know that some of you ladies are using silk flowers. For those of you that aren't, you can also save by getting flowers delivered by an outside vendor. (Flowers at resorts are often insanely overpriced.) Just meet them at the gate to avoid any outside vendor charges.

[Recy]

Originally Posted by TiarraBeautyJ 

 

Very nice Breakdown!!! 

I love your disposable camera option that will save you tons of money.

I chose custom invites in which I created them all by myself I ended up spending 32.00 printing them at office max and 8.50 shipping them off.

I am having a very small wedding with under 30 people.

 

Where did you do your custom invites. I want a small wedding and under 30 people would be wonderful. I makes it more personable.

 

Yes. I will be doing the disposable camera on every table and have ppl taking pictures for me. I love that idea. 

[Recy]

Originally Posted by brownsugarbride 

 

I know that some of you ladies are using silk flowers. For those of you that aren't, you can also save by getting flowers delivered by an outside vendor. (Flowers at resorts are often insanely overpriced.) Just meet them at the gate to avoid any outside vendor charges.

GREAT idea...

[brownsugarbride]

Originally Posted by Recy 

 

 

Where did you do your custom invites. I want a small wedding and under 30 people would be wonderful. I makes it more personable.

 

Yes. I will be doing the disposable camera on every table and have ppl taking pictures for me. I love that idea. 

 

My 2 cents: You know I'm big on photography and would definitely recommend a professional, even if just for a few hours! People tend to only want to take pictures that THEY are interested in, not of the whole day! However, you can save money on the disposable cameras by using an app for people to upload their pictures.  Most of your guests will likely have some kind of smartphone, and they will take better pictures than the disposable camera.  There are a couple in the link below that are cheap or even free:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/wedding-photo-apps_n_3519413.html

 

I hope this helps!

[brownsugarbride]

One more thing about photo sharing.  I'm planning to use this wedding website (featured in an article here on BDW):

http://www.appycouple.com/about

 

The nice thing is that for less than $30, you can get a wedding website AND a personalized app for your guests for each of the wedding activities.  In addition, there is a free photo sharing app that allows you to collect (and delete!) guest photos on your website:

http://www.appycouple.com/features

 

You can get it for even cheaper by using a coupon code from Style Me Pretty:

 

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2013/07/22/appy-couple-wedding-website-and-app-a-discount/

[Recy]

Originally Posted by brownsugarbride 

 

 

My 2 cents: You know I'm big on photography and would definitely recommend a professional, even if just for a few hours! People tend to only want to take pictures that THEY are interested in, not of the whole day! However, you can save money on the disposable cameras by using an app for people to upload their pictures.  Most of your guests will likely have some kind of smartphone, and they will take better pictures than the disposable camera.  There are a couple in the link below that are cheap or even free:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/wedding-photo-apps_n_3519413.html

 

I hope this helps

 

Oh No. I'm not doing those camera to opt out of a photographer not at all. I just like the idea. I went to a wedding last weekend and they had it and I loved it. Maybe I will give it to folks to use for the entire time not just my wedding day. hmmmmmm  I will definitely be having a photographer!!!!