The Budget Bride

Introduction: An Idea is Born

Zeke and I are getting married soon, like, really soon. Which means that wedding stuff has kicked into high gear.

High gear, for my wedding, means lots and lots of projects.

You see, we have a very limited budget to work with. (Limited= less than half the amount that most brides on 'Say Yes to the Dress' spend on just their gowns.) Most of the wedding will be done ourselves. As I thought about all the work I have yet to do, I found myself wishing that some other bride somewhere had made it all much easier for me. Found good vendors, came up with helpful tips, put all her DIY projects in one place.

And then I had a thought- a thought that often gets me into trouble and creates hours of work for me. A thought that makes Pinterest a very bad idea.

I thought, "Hey! I could do that!" And so I am.

The Plan

Okay. So here's what we've got. Our budget is $5,000. My parents are paying for the wedding, and told us that the money we don't use for the wedding is money we can keep. We'd like to have about $2,000 left, but that's probably a pipe dream.

The Details

We're inviting about 300 people, and are planning on about 180 guests. We both have big extended families, but they are spread out across the US.  The wedding will take place in Zeke's home church, and the reception will be at my home church. Neither church requires any kind of fee, as our parents are members. Our wedding is on a Saturday morning- at 10:00 am. We'll be having a lunch reception.


Things We Aren't DIY-ing: 

-Attire. The wedding dress is paid for, the bridesmaid's dresses too. I bought my dress on sale at David's Bridal, and the bridesmaid's dresses were $65 each at JCPenney. I really liked the looks of them- I would recommend both places for dresses.

-The Food. Well, I should say, most of the food. We will be having the reception catered, but are going with hamburgers and toppings, two sides, and a short appetizer hour to begin. No alcohol will be served at the reception (the church won't allow it, and for a lunch reception we didn't think it was necessary). Zeke's mother will be making the cake, and relatives from our families will be providing cookies and bars for a sweets table.

-Photography. We hired a great up and coming photographer. She's never done a wedding before, so her prices were super cheap. We did look at her portfolio before hiring her, and she takes very professional pictures. She is only charging us $300 for the ENTIRE day (before the ceremony, the ceremony, formal pictures, the reception, and then more formal and informal pictures after the reception.) She was a total steal, and it feels good to help her out by allowing her to use our pictures in her portfolio.

-Some of the Decorations. We are planning on using decorations that the churches already have available as much as possible, mostly big greenery-type things. The centerpieces will probably have some items (like glassware) that the church or our parents already have, but for the most part, we are planning on doing them ourselves as well.

So...
That leaves a lot yet to do. And I know that I'm not the only bride out there stressing about how to get everything done. I thought I'd share some of my experience with the world, get some of my ideas out there, hopefully be even a little helpful to someone else out there and give someone a chance to take a big deep breath.

Ahhhh.