Bride’s Attire: $777.50

A Special Touch- Dena Bathgate
$550- Dress (a real steal, considering my dress was made from dupioni silk.)
$80- corset bra- (I could have gotten this for way less if I had done my research on the brand and where to buy it. I found the same product on ebay brand new for $40!! I totally got ripped off. Boo)
$60- crinoline- (I should have borrowed someone else’s or checked ebay as well. Total ripoff for a piece of netting and tulle. But the dress shop sold me these items and I didn’t think about looking elsewhere.)

Garter: Julianne Smith
Free gift from Juli ($42 value)

Veil and Fascinator: Kasia Fink
Free trade- I designed her logo!  ($70 value)

Jewelry: Candy’s Art on Etsy
$37.50- jewelry
Shoes: Nine West: $50

Groom’s Attire: $330
Suit- Brooks Brothers- $300
Shirt and Tie- $30 on sale at belk
(I didn’t include E’s wedding clothes in the final total since his suit is something he can and will wear again (and already has, actually) but for the sake of keeping crazy readers who just want to point in my face when I am wrong I am disclosing what we spent on it. )
He already had the shoes he wore, they weren’t new!

Wedding Day Attire:  $1107.50

Photography: $500
When we booked with Evin Photography, we chose a $2500 package that we customized- it basically included the wedding coverage, an engagement session, and the disc of images. But when I got laid off in December, we had no idea how we were going to pay for our wedding, and the photography was eating up a huge chunk of our budget. It just so happened that when I told Evin about my employment situation, that she was looking for someone who did the kind of work that I do. So we worked out a trade. I worked off my balance to her by doing design work and editing photos. Basically all we paid was our deposit- which was $500. The fact that we were able to work out this arrangement is the only reason we were able to have the wedding. PERIOD. If it weren’t for this it wouldn’t have happened for another year… or we would have had a lot of credit card debt. So thank you Evin Krehbiel! Of course the fab Evin had already been booked for our date so she contracted Chris and Adrienne to shoot our actual wedding but they did a phenomenal job and we couldn’t be happier with the results.

Alcohol:  $530
We bought all the alcohol to serve at our reception, instead of hiring a bartending service to come in and do it. If you can find a venue that will let you provide your own alcohol you will save a BUNDLE. I would say this is a MUST if you want to save some cash. We saved by purchasing wine from Trader Joe’s for super cheap, and one of E’s groomsmen was in the army so he got our beer for us at the PX for a discount and no tax. We hired a bartender who came recommended from a friend to serve the alcohol, as that was a requirement in our venue’s contract.

$280 on wine- Trader Joe’s 2 Buck Chuck
$130 on beer
$100- bartender

I also spent $19.49 on 20 pages of ink-jet printable Waterproof labels from OnlineLabels.com to  put on the wine bottles. I had no idea that they existed, but this was a MUCH cheaper option than getting them printed somewhere else. Trust me! I designed the labels to match our other printed materials and printed them on my HP C6380 and the labels held up great- even in a bucket of icewater!! E and his dad peeled all the labels off the 2 Buck Chuck, and my mom and her friends affixed the new labels to the bottles. It worked out great!

Day of Coordinator: Tara Milam, Lavish Events : $500

Tara of Lavish Events contacted me way back in the beginning days of my blog… we go WAY back. She sympathized with my situation and offered me a discount on her services in order to help me have some peace-of-mind on the big day. Her services included vendor management 2 weeks before the wedding- Tara was the point of contact with all of our vendors in order to take the stress off. She handled making sure the vendors all received their final payments on the day of the wedding. She also coordinated the rehearsal, ceremony, and reception including overseeing the set up/break down of all vendors and decor, as well as kept everything running according to our planned timeline. I definitely recommend having a day-of or week-of coordinator- the cost is worth your peace-of-mind!

Flowers: Tara Milam, Lavish Events : $400

Because our budget was so tight, Tara basically did all our flowers for cost. I realize that this might make my budget seem unrealistic… but like so many others have said, ‘my budget is not your budget.’ Everyone has different circumstances, ya know?  Anyway, Tara ordered flowers from California, and although there was some mix-up with the delivery, the flowers were stunning. She really did a lovely job- I LOVED the bouquets, boutteniers, and the centerpieces. Our flower cost was SOOOO very low compared to most weddings… but there were plenty of flowers! The simple, eclectic centerpieces looked full even though there weren’t a ton of flowers, and the gladiolas decorated the altar nicely. It just goes to show you what you can do if you go to a wholesaler and DIY your flowers.

Coordination and flowers total: $900

Classic Party Rentals- $2,561.02

We rented enough tables, chairs, and linens for 150 people, a bar to serve drinks from, a dance floor, and a tent to cover it. Originally there was a BIG tent on our order but because of the large amounts of rain in the days before the wedding the ground was too wet for us to have the reception under the big tent. On the night of the rehearsal we had to change the plans to have a small frame tent with a raised floor to keep it out of the mud. It ended up working perfectly and we had the ceremony and reception under the covered porch and on the dance floor. The rental company was 2 hours late the day of the wedding to set up- which I was quite upset about, but to make up for it they helped set up the tables and chairs, which would have cost me an extra fee normally. I’m not really sure if  the tent I paid for was worth what I was charged, but they did accommodate our last minute changes so I guess there’s nothing that I can really complain about.

Dishes- 123.47
We rented our dishes from my dress maker, who does rentals and coordination on the side- her prices were WAY less than other rental companies in town- as in .25 cents apiece cheap! We rented plates, water goblets and wine glasses for 150 people for this price. The dispensers we served tea and lemonade from were borrowed from a generous friend and I love the way they looked. Although I will say one thing we forgot the day of was the lemon slices to put in the jugs. I had picked up a bag of lemons at the grocery store that week but we left them in the fridge at home! C’est la vie!

Locaton: The Sam Davis Home : $1,000

This fee included the rental of the facility for the day of the wedding as well as use of ‘The Creek House’ which is where my bridesmaids and I got ready and hung out the day of the wedding. The staff at Sam Davis Home were easy to work with and very prompt about answering any questions and I was really pleased with the location- it had a lot of interesting areas for photos and is a beautiful property.

Total Rental Cost: $3684.49