A friend of ours (Sandy) used to be a florist and graciously offered to help out TREMENDOUSLY with the labor on our flowers. For anyone familiar with the huge cost involved in flowers, this was a really big deal. We used non-floral centerpieces to save some money, but still needed bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres. I had set a preliminary budget of $300 and am extremely pleased with myself for staying within that. Sandy provided a lot of the supplies that we need, the direction we definitely needed, and coordinated the whole deal. Here are a few things to take into consideration when taking on such a huge DIY project:

1. Ordering. There is a little more to this than you may initially think. Cost is obviously a very large factor. I ended up getting a bulk order of white & green mixed roses from Sam’s Club, and wholesale white ranunculus from GrowersBox.com. It’s important to do your homework on this. You need to ensure that the flowers you’re planning to get will be available at the time that you’ll need them (if you’re picking things out months in advance) and that they’ll still be the same price (prices can change based on what’s in season) at the time you order. Timing is also something to keep in mind. To cut any doubts, calling whatever companies you decide to use may be the best option. Flexibility is also something to consider. If you pick out a very intricate bouquet online and expect to replicate it exactly, and on a limited budget, you’re likely dreaming.

2. Delivery & Storage. When you order flowers online and they’re delivered, they’re typically not opened up yet. You don’t want to order things too late to where they’re not opened up when they need to be, but you also don’t want them to be past their prime on the Big Day. In our case, the flowers were delivered on Tuesday, we arranged on Thursday, and the wedding was on Saturday. The timing went perfectly. Flowers also need to be refridgerated both before and after arranging, and take up a lot of room. The lower temps will help ensure that the flowers don’t open up too early, and keep them more fresh. Of course someone also needs to be available when the flowers are delivered (they shouldn’t sit out in extreme temperatures or you may have a disaster on your hands). The stems will also need trimmed, and everything will need put in water, which can be job. In our case, we were able to have them delivered to Sandy’s house, who also had an empty extra fridge in the basement and was able to cut and put them all in water.

3. DO YOUR HOMEWORK! We were fortunate enough that Sandy knew her business and was able to show the helpers that didn’t know the ropes. You’ll need a lot of helpers, a lot of tape, you’ll need to know what shape of bouquets you’re trying to make, you’ll need greenery/filler (we purchased ours locally for cheap), wire, etc. It may also be helpful to research the types of flowers you’re using, and how easy they are to deal with. Our roses were a piece of cake, but wiring the ranunculus was a complete nightmare, as their stems were soft and hollow like a dandelion.

4. Don’t put yourself in a time crunch. The flowers took a LOT longer than I had expected. My mom, Jill (our coordinator/ Sandy’s daughter), Sandy & myself started on flowers early on Thursday morning. After hours of labor, my Mom & I ended up having to go to other appointments. Luckily Jill & Sandy were troopers and finished up.

I was very pleased with the way that everything turned out.  In my eyes, the bouquets were perfect, and hard to get rid of after the fact.  Although we didn’t follow these tutorials, here are a couple of online resources that I’ve found that seem similar to how we did things:

Bouquets

Boutonnieres

*Photos courtesy of The Perfect Pear.

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Consistently throughout our planning process, I tried to scour Craigslist on a regular basis. For the most part this didn’t work out for me too well, because I tend to exhaustively research to feel that I’ve found the “best deal.” By that time, typically the item listed is already gone. I did luck out in one VERY budget-savvy way… Our cupcake stand!

The before…

A past bride was selling a very sturdy cupcake stand from her recent wedding, and I was able to snatch it up for only $40! It turns out that a friend of the couple was a professional welder and had constructed the stand as a gift. “Heavy duty” is an understatement. This thing is STOUT, disassembles for easy storage, and its parts could easily serve as a weapon if needed. While originally a flat white, a good friend of mine offered to shabby it up to more fit the vibe of our wedding, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! In addition, a friend getting married in October is next on the borrow list.

The sneak peek…

To match our burlap runners, she cut squares of burlap with a hole in the center that fit over the center rod of the stand. She made sure not to glue or secure these, as they laid better and could also be taken off for future use, or if I decided I didn’t like them. The horribly time consuming part was the painting, which I feel could be a great tutorial for any BSB’s who don’t mind to get their hands dirty. While Lin is a pro at this, CLICK HERE for a YouTube tutorial that uses Elmer’s Glue.

Here’s the final product:

Final photos by The Perfect Pear.

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_________________ Thanks for reading A+ Bridesmaid’s Luncheon from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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With one successful craft day under our belts, we came back for more and knocked out the centerpieces.  I have a few photos of the process to share, but unfortunately don’t have a great shot of the finished product yet… I guess that’ll be a teaser for our wedding photos coming later!

I had found a few examples of things that I liked using sticks, and decided to go that route.  As we all know, fresh flowers can really blow the budget, plus I just liked the way the curly willow looked.  I loved the nature of this:

We started out by making a lot of paper flowers.  Here is a tutorial that was helpful, although we ended up snipping off the extra circular end part that would usually close in the spiral and then hot gluing to hold everything in place.  This enabled our flowers to slip over the sticks.  We used three or four different shades of green high-quality paper to add depth to the centerpieces.  The flower-making process was very time-consuming, and we ended up having extras left over.

For the sticks, I ordered two colors of curly willow from save-on-crafts.com and found some straighter sticks with little sola flowers on them from Michael’s to mix in.   I researched the idea of somehow finding my own curly willow branches, soaking them, stripping them, etc.., but it sounded like a disaster waiting to happen.  I had also found a guy selling several curly willow centerpieces on craigslist that I could have disassembled, but they were snatched up before I got there.  Needing a little more “grit” to the arrangements (after all, the wedding WAS in a Barn),  we strapped on our wellies and cut/gathered some wild sticks to mix in as well from a friend’s wooded area.  This involved absolutely no preparation of the sticks afterwards (although we had initially considered dipping them in varnish to add a more finished look, but scrapped that idea), so it wasn’t much of a headache at all.  I also had some sola shell flowers around the house that I had bought for another project and not used, so those mixed in nicely as well and tied in the other sticks with the similar material (holes were stabbed through them with a screw driver to allow them to slip over the sticks).  For my vases I ended up going with wine carafes.  I LOVED the appearance and character, and was able to find them more cost effectively by ordering online through a restaurant supply company. Also, with the untamed nature of the sticks themselves, fitting them into a narrow vase without breaking them would have been very tough.  Some rafia was tied around the carafes to add some texture.

With a lot of trial & error arranging to pull things together, I was very pleased with the way the centerpieces turned out, and could have NEVER done it without careful planning and help from such supportive bridesmaids!   I would say that in the end I probably spent a little shy of $200 total on 23 centerpieces (which was the majority of our decorating expenses).  The icing on the cake was when a bridesmaids overheard a guest gush “I wonder how much they spent on these centerpieces.”  BINGO!…  About $8.50 each!

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Wedding day has come and gone, but while we’re waiting on our pro photos I will share some of our crafty adventures in DIY with you! I baited four close friends/bridesmaids with brunch & mimosas, and then roped them in for a good old fashioned craft-a-thon prior to the wedding.  We worked from about 2p-8p and really got a lot done.  Our guest numbers somehow crept up to 200, which meant a lot more time dedicated to DIY, and a little budget bump.  Our main projects for the marathon craft day were programs, cutting runners, and assembling favor bags.  I had Bridesmaid Whitney take some photos, so these are actually nice to look at, as opposed to my usual ugly ones.

PROGRAMS

As a gift for my bridal shower, Whitney designed my programs.  We used the wedding logo that we’ve consistently used on EVERYTHING (inspiration from Sweet Life Designs) for the front, then listed the ceremony information on the inside, and tied some bakers twine around the binding (these photos were taken before the twine was added).   I spent about $105 on supplies total (stamp, paper, printing, ink, and bakers twine), which was roughly 50 cents each.  Considering how great they look, I’m okay with this, and we saved ourselves $100 on the covers alone with the DIY option.  Here are a few findings/details:

The Front:  As a lot of you have probably picked up on, good quality printing on quality paper is EXPENSIVE!  To sidestep this a bit on the programs I had a custom stamp made at Casey Rubber Stamps in NYC, and was extremely pleased with the outcome (I actually had two stamps made there for the wedding…keep reading).  One of my bridesmaids, Rebekah, lives in Brooklyn and was able to pick up the stamp(s) and ship them to me.  The stamp shop only takes cash or check, and I’m not sure if they ship things or not, but for our purposes it worked wonderfully.  He charges based on the size of the stamp.  The prices can seem a little high, but depending on the cost of the printing project and how often the stamp can be used on other wedding things, it was totally worth it for us.  Because a stamp pad this large would have meant an extra $30, we bought an ink roller at an art store, used quality ink and an old cookie sheet to get the job done.  For the cover I ordered 8.5″ X 11″ Kraft brown paper bag paper (65 lb. weight) off of Amazon and cut it in half myself, prior to the gathering.  Sizing programs to fit 2-up on a regular sized sheet of paper saved us some money as well, and we liked the cute little size.

The Inside:  Whitney took care of the design work (after I FINALLY rounded up all of the information that I wanted in there), and we were able to print 2-up, front & back, on a sheet of regular white copy paper.  With the outside being higher quality, we were able to stick to black & white printing on the inside.  For these, I just had them printed at Office Depot  to save time (they were cheaper than Kinkos or Staples, and didn’t charge a set-up fee for double-sided printing), and we cut them ourselves.

The Binding:  We didn’t have a long enough stapler, so after folding the cover and inside sheet, we just used a small dab of hot glue to keep the inner sheet in place.  Next we added some green & white bakers twine with a cute little bow around the binding, which served to better hold the program together, but was also an adorable detail that I really like.  I ordered my Baker’s Twine from Amazon also.

FAVOR BAGS

For favors I ended up ordering some flat brown merch bags online and ordering a “Thank Ya’ll” stamp from Casey in Brooklyn as well.  I also plan to use the stamp on our “Thank You” cards after the wedding too. To go inside we bought mini Moon Pies (a Tennessee “go to”) and Spirit of Nashville postcard.  Adding up my expenses, I spent right around $1 each.  After a lot of researching, I ordered my mini Moon Pies from FavoritesOf.com in Gallatin, TN and bought my 50 cent postcards from various gift shops on Lower Broadway.  While not the flashiest favors, I think they’re cute for especially the out-of-towners and we kept on-point with the budget.

RUNNERS

I ordered rolls of burlap jute from Save-on-Crafts.com and it worked perfectly.  The rolls were 14″ wide, so that saved us some cutting.  If you’re planning on ordering these at any point (they’re a good deal), I would suggest starting to check very early.  It took several months for them to have enough in stock for me to purchase.   Our tables are 78″ wide, so we made our runners 96″ (you don’t want too much over-hang to where the runners will rest in someone’s lap while they’re eating).  I had initially toyed with the idea of fraying and tying the ends, but they look just fine cut the way they are, and it didn’t seem worth the time investment.  Jess cut the runners, measuring the first one (and using that as a guideline of length for the others), marking with chalk with a straight surface, and cutting very carefully.  This is one job that I straight-up did not want!

It was a long day, but we got a lot accomplished and are still friends (maybe that’s thanks to the mimosas and food).  I can’t thank the ladies enough for being such a huge help!  Would you consider borrowing your bridesmaids for an all-day craft-a-thon?

_________________ Thanks for reading Craft Time in Nashville! from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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Eric was a groomsman in a wedding last summer, and a month before the wedding the Bride mailed a physical copy of an itinerary to everyone.  When we arrived at the Iowa wedding weeks later, a lot of the wedding party appeared to even have theirs with them.  Me being me, I thought this was a great idea!

As part of my valiant attempt to stay organized, I’ve put together a ridiculous itinerary that’s been emailed to basically everyone.  With the bulk being from out of town, I broke things down by day & time (we have things spanning Thursday-Saturday), I also noted who needed to be there, the full address (for GPS) and a link to a Google map if the individual wanted to print one.  I noted separately any times for the usher, flower girls, etc., and even threw out a disclaimer/threat to any of the groomsmen who thought it necessary to “over-indulge” before ceremony time.  I made notes and instructions where I felt necessary, and I think I probably appear borderline psychotic to the outside world.  To offset this, I tried to add in a little humor and sarcasm (as expected) as to not come off as bossy (or cray-cray).   That’s really okay, as long as everyone is where they need to be, when they need to be.

One of my bridesmaids that got married in October suggested that I turn my cell phone OFF the day of the wedding.  She said she was unpleasantly surprised on the morning of their wedding when everyone under the sun was calling to ask ridiculous questions, most of which were clearly listed on the invitation itself.  She ended up buried alive with unnecessary details, and floored by the whole thing.  To try to help with this, I listed our wedding coordinator’s phone number and email address on our itinerary and asked that if anyone has trouble with details, to just please please call Jill instead of Eric or myself.   Fingers crossed that it actually works!

Next, to tackle logistics, and organizing the family helpers….

Cartoon & other useful itinerary info from: http://www.weddinggirl.ca/blog/weddingthemes/wedding-itinerary/

Adorable pictorial itinerary from: http://bridalmusings.com/gallery/2011/10/26/cute-illustrated-wedding-itinerary/

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Men are simple creatures really, so it’s much less complicated to dress them.  You basically have suits and tuxes, unless you do something out of the norm, which many do.  We decided to go with suits.  With it being potentially “hotter-than-the-blazes” in Tennessee in May, having all of the pieces of a tux to pile on seemed like overkill and extremely hot (and not in an attractive “hot” way, although of course Eric is totally smokin’ hot).  With it being a spring, outdoor wedding we were also not feeling black or dark brown, so we decided on a tan/khaki-ish color instead.

Shortly after the engagement, my MOH and myself went to a bridal show.  Although a little overwhelming and slightly obnoxious (except for the prizes and ideas), I did find a few nice pieces of information.  I talked to a sales lady from Jos. A. Bank and she told me that they run a promotion on suits where you buy one and get two free.  AMAZING!  I looked online and there was a nice tan suit for around $235, which split three ways would make things roughly $80 each (without tax), and the guys could be responsible for their own white shirts, shoes, and we could buy them ties as a gift.  At this time Eric hadn’t even fully decided on his groomsmen yet, so we held off on ordering.  Months passed by and the cheap suits were $800 by the time we were ready to make a move.  Although owning an expensive suit for a third of the price would be a phenomenal deal, we still felt highly out of line asking the guys to each pay $270 and opted against this option.  LET ME NOTE THAT THIS CAN STILL BE A GREAT DEAL IF YOU CATCH THE SALES– CHECK THEM OUT!

After a little searching around, we decided on these suits from Tuxedo Avenue in Nashville (minus the semi-creepy model).  We can get the suits rented for $150 each (plus $10 for shoes), and they’ll include a FREE shoe rental if you “check in” there on Facebook upon pick up.  As a perk with many places, the groom gets his rental free with the rental of 6 suits.  They had some ties that looked nice with our colors too. All of the out-of-town guys and Eric will be making a group pick-up the day before the wedding, so it looks as if things will work out quite smoothly after all!

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First I checked out their website to see some of their past work, which I loved– No two weddings looked the same or generic! I appreciate the way that they capture a LOT of the moments in the day that could easily be overlooked, and do so in a creative way. They don’t shoot only the ceremony & stereotypical wedding poses, they get a lot of informal and un-posed shots too, which I love. It’s one thing for a photographer to assure you that they will or won’t do something when you directly ask, it’s another entirely to actually see what you’re looking for displayed in their previously done work.

Dane & Leslie are also both very artistic and pay attention to little details that I feel many photographers might not. Spending hours assembling cute programs or other DIYs might not be something that is later paid much attention to by all guests, but I know that these two will notice and capture the details that others may overlook. As far as the “day of,” we know what to expect and when to expect it in general (as needed for my far-too-detailed itinerary), which puts my mind at ease. From our first Skype session, they both showed a very genuine interest in coming to Nashville and shooting our rustic barn wedding, and we didn’t feel like “just another wedding” that they were going through the motions on.

Many brides have told me that after the dust settles, your pictures are what really serve as reminders of the day’s special moments– I can’t wait to see what Dane & Leslie come up with!

_________________ Thanks for reading {Emily} SMILE FOR THE CAMERA! : Choosing our Wedding Photographer from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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_________________ Thanks for reading {Emily} Our “Green” Invites from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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As I’d mentioned in a previous post, our wedding takes place on the same date as two popular happenings in Nashville– Vanderbilt’s graduation, and Steeplechase. Both are presenting challenges for us in different ways as planning progresses, but not anything that we haven’t been able to handle. We had originally thought about doing a small rehearsal dinner at a nicer restaurant in town. I’d priced several places that we like, but nothing felt like the perfect fit in both style, food selection, and price. With having a large Southern comfort food feast at the wedding, we wanted something very different from that the night before.

 

_________________ Thanks for reading {Emily} A Kicked Back Rehearsal Dinner from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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