One of the key parts to the budget-savvy side of our wedding has been maximizing our connections through family and friends.  It’s one of the biggest things the blogging world points out as a way to save money, but to be honest I thought there was no way we could do that.  I don’t conveniently know any fabulous graphic designers and or caterers.  But as we go farther and farther along in the planning process, people have started popping out of the woodwork.  (And when I say “we” I really do mean David – somehow he’s the one with all these awesome connections; I’m just along for the ride on this one!)

One of the first things that happened was that one of David’s co-workers offered to DJ for us.  He has a business on the side and comes with all his own sound equipment and everything!  DJing is one place where we were definitely willing to cut some corners.  David’s brother plays guitar and sings (and will, in fact, be singing for our first dance) and said we could borrow his sound equipment to hook up to an iPod if we wanted.  Luckily Chad awesomely offered to basically let us name our own price.  (Chad doesn’t have  a website or anything so I don’t have any information to pass along but let me know if you’d like his contact info.)  We plan on keeping things pretty simple music-wise – a first dance for me and David, me and my Dad and David and his mom, but no garter toss or bouquet toss.  David’s family is Polish and mine’s Italian so there are all sorts of bridal dance traditions.  I really am trying to get out of the dollar dance (where you pay a dollar to dance with the bride … so not my thing) but I think the one where David breaks through a ring of people to “win” me might be a keeper.  It’s all about compromising!  So we’re glad we don’t have to DIY the music with an iPod because it’s much less work for us, but we would’ve been happy to if it hadn’t worked out.

The next thing that we managed to save money on was our rehearsal dinner.  It’s traditionally paid for by the groom’s family, but since we already had the house for Friday, we figured we’d just do dinner there.  There’s not really much in in the way of civilization in Spotsylvania County, especially way out where we are.  I was concerned we’d have everyone drive all the way out to the Tiki House, do the rehersal, drive back to Fredericksburg City for dinner and then back out to the house again for last minute prep and to sleep.  That’s just too much for me.  Then, David’s sixth grade teacher (now an awesome family friend) offered to cook dinner for everyone as our wedding present.  Mini makes awesome Indian food and we’re so thrilled that she offered to do this for us!

Lastly, and definitely not least, is all the work David’s mom is going to do.  My future mother-in-law is a fantastic lady and is also superduper talented.  She’s going to make our cake and do our flowers!  We’re going to have a simple chocolate with vanilla frosting cake that she’s going to make right at the house.  And her cakes are SO DELICIOUS!  She makes them for all sorts of family occasions and I swear I could eat whole ones myself.

cake inspiration - we'll probably decorate with the flowers from the bridesmaids' bouquets

Also on the dessert front are my awesome-and-crazy grandmother and great aunt.  As I said above, my side of the family is Italian and one of the big traditions they have (this might not be a real Italian tradition, but rather an Italian-by-way-of-Pennsylvania tradition) is that the bride and groom serve cookies to all of their guests.  Now THIS is a tradition I can get behind.  A lovely way to get to see all of our guests and I like the humbleness of feeding our guests.  My grandmother managed to find the same bakery that did the cookie trays for both my mom, my uncle and my grandmother herself and is willing to drive all the way up to Wilkes-Barre, PA to pick them up for us.  When my mom told me it made me start crying, it’s so sweet.  Aw, family.

white mini-hydrangeas for me

And lastly, in words sure to get me shamed in the wedding world forever, one thing to know about me is that I’m not a big flower person.  At all. This means our flowers are going to be a really small part of our budget.  I’m planning on three bouquets and three boutonnieres.  The end!  I know this would’ve have been fairly affordable with a florist as well, but from Wegman’s and with David’s mom’s help, it should run us around $50 total.

alstroemerias for the bridesmaids and boutonnieres

It’s amazing and humbling how all these friends and family are willing to spend their time and money helping us pull together our big day.  It makes me want to work extra hard to pull everything off!

What kind of help are you getting from family and friends?

PS: Flower images from www.wholeblossoms.com and cake image from www.stylemepretty.com

_________________ Thanks for reading The Family Discounts from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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Hi everyone!

I know I’ve been kind of absent blogging-wise and I wish I had a good reason, but the truth is I’ve been suffering from wedding fatigue.  David and I dated for six months and have been engaged for the next seventeen.  Now that it’s getting down to crunch time it feels like all we worry about, spend our money on and even bicker about is wedding-related.  Sometimes I just miss having a boyfriend, you know? (And of course you guys do!)  On top of all that mess, my bff and David’s bff are marrying each other next weekend!  We’ the maid of honor and best man, so there’s been lots and lots to do related to that as well.  Not that I’m down on weddings at all – I think I just hit one of those points where, for my own mental health, I needed to stop, take a deep breath and readjust my worldview a little bit.  It’s been remarkable!  So now I’m back and ready to jump in all over again!

To me, paper products (save the dates, invitations, menus, programs, escort cards, etc.) are one of the most fun and versatile parts of creating your wedding.  I was super excited and spend a lot of time looking online at all the beautiful, creative things you can buy.  And then I looked at the price tags – not so budget-friendly.  I’m a scrapbooker, so I love paper of all kinds and knew that although I couldn’t afford my letterpress dreams there are still lovely, lovely options out there.

One of the best resources I found was www.printablepress.com where you basically pay for an image and then print your own!  Some of the early contenders were:

I thought they went well with our outdoor location and natural inspirations.  Still, I wasn’t quite sure they were personal enough.  Then, after following a link that leads to a link that leads to a link (as you do) I found this:

For those of you who aren’t Shel Silverstein fans, it’s based on the book The Giving Tree.  I thought it would be perfect and when I showed it to David he agreed!  It was perfect – I love books and reading but he really doesn’t, but The Giving Tree just happens to be his favorite.  And the best part is – it’s free!  That’s right!  With a comment or an email Adam that you’re going to use it and then it’s yours.  I downloaded a free test trial of Adobe Illustrator and went to work.  We made a few changes, including coloring in the leaves and replacing the little circle around the date with a red apple stamp.  We’re also planning on modifying it to use for the invitations and (possibly) the programs.  I took them to Kinko’s and got them printed on heavy-weight paper for approximately $.20/page, and two could fit on one page.  If I hadn’t grossly overestimated the number of envelopes we needed it would have been even cheaper (I think I doubled the number I needed.  What can I say? I was nervous. (: )  I also scored linen envelopes on clearance for $2 and after that all I bought was stamps.  I set up a mail merge on my laptop and ran off the addresses on my puny little desktop printer.  I think the most painful part of the whole process was sealing and stamping those envelopes!

For the invitations I hope to do something a little fancier, but I’m not quite sure what yet.  I’ll come back with the answers next week!!

Have any of you suffered from wedding fatigue?  
How did you decide what kind of stationary you wanted?

-

Images from: www.printablepress.com; http://www.merrimentdesign.com/giving-tree-save-the-date-wedding-announcement-for-fall.php

_________________ Thanks for reading Wedding Fatigue and Paper (part i) from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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I’ve already mentioned a couple of times that we’re going to get married at a lake house.  I’m super excited because as a non-traditional venue it gives us a lot more control over everything than anything else we would have found.  Starting out, David told me some things that would be important to him for our wedding and one of those things was that we get married somewhat close to the home we’re building together.  I happily agreed, thinking (naively) that with Richmond and D.C. both within an hour’s drive from Fredericksburg finding a venue would be a piece of cake.

Then several things happened.  First, we realized that going much north of us into Northern Virginia (aka: the D.C. metro area) made everything prohibitively expensive.  There also aren’t many plausible venues available in Fredericksburg City for a wedding of the size we’re planning.  There are a few country clubs (too formal), lodges (too informal), hotels (not for me) and private estates (crazy rules!) but we couldn’t seem to settle on anything.  My parents had generously offered to pay for our wedding location, and we wanted to be doubly cautious that we were getting the most for our money.

I had found a lovely venue (Ingleside Vineyards) that was just close enough but a little on the expensive side, but oh it was perfect!  I was finding a way to broach the topic with my parents – we could pay half and they could pay half? We could get married on a Sunday, or a Friday? – when I got news that my parents had lost their house.  See, my dad is in commercial construction in the D.C. area and that industry got hit really hard by the recession.  He’d found a new job after about nine months working side jobs for friends who’d pay him under the table, and we were venue-hunting about four months after he’d gotten his new job.  And so on.  Needless to say that finding a venue for our wedding was the farthest thing from my mind for a while.  And then it was the holidays and then it was February and OHMYGOODNESS that’s-less-than-a-year-and-we-still-don’t-have-any-idea panic started to set in (I’m an early panicker – can you tell?).

So we buckled down and heard through the grapevine about a lake house that had hosted weddings before.  Lake Anna is a beautiful area in Spotsylvania County that’s a large attraction in this area of the state.  There are public parks, campgrounds and private lake houses galore!  When we pulled up the gravel road to the Tiki House we knew we might have scored on a really awesome deal.

The house sits back off the main road right on the lake.  There’s a little cluster of four houses behind and to the right of it (we’re getting married after Labor Day, so there’s little chance of other vacationers crashing our party) but the Tiki House is by far the largest and closest to the lake.  Although it doesn’t look it in the pictures, the yard is quite large.  We’re going to have to do some shifting around to get the dance area set up (it’s going to be where the ceremony chairs will sit) but it’ll easily accommodate our crowd.  I’ve tried to sketch out the basics of how we’re planning on setting up the yard below.  (And don’t judge my paint skills! They’re amazing (: )

As you can see, the area is basically a blank canvas.  To us this clearly means an opportunity to DIY as much as we can.  David and his dad are going to build our tent, we’re going to craft our own dance area as well as some other decor stuff we’re still working on finalizing.  It was an easy house to fall in love with since it provides so many of the things we need.  Space for catering? Check.  Rehearsal dinner location? Check.  Somewhere to stay the night before the wedding? Check!

We ended up renting the house for Thursday through Sunday for $1600 (including a security deposit).  I know it’ll be a little more work to have to provide everything ourselves, but we feel at ease with the price (important), how ‘us’ it feels (very important), and how well it’ll work towards the vision we’re going for.

Mostly, just look at those lake views.  Aren’t they gorgeous?

Jenna

PS: These pictures were taken in January – things look a lot more alive now!

PPS: That two-story dock? An outdoor, built-in bar.  Score!

_________________ Thanks for reading {Jenna} Tiki House! from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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As I slowly cross things off my checklist and gain a bit of confidence over this whole Wedding Planning Business, there is one thing that looms large on the horizon: our huge guest list.  When we started out, I wanted a wedding of approximately 80 people.  Although my hopes and dreams were soon given a reality check (each of David’s parents is the youngest of seven), I still held out some small hope that we’d get away with anywhere between 120 and 150 people.  We sent out our save the dates about two weeks ago and figured that if everyone comes, and anyone out of college gets a plus one, we’re at 208 people. TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHT!  I held my cool, mostly, with David, but have been slowly panicking ever since.  I didn’t PLAN for an over-two-hundred wedding.  Our lake house (while large) doesn’t have designated parking (note to self: email those neighbors about being able to use their lot to park in) and we didn’t sign any kind of insurance documentation.

On top of this, David and I have been together just under two years.  His entire family lives out of state and I’ve met approximately seven of them, and three were under the age of ten.  My family is also mostly out-of-state but several of them do live within two hours of us.  Our wedding is essentially going to be a huge getting-to-know-you-party.  With alcohol.  And a lake.  Given the fact that our respective parents haven’t been in the room with each other for more than thirty-six hours and the ensuing awkwardness that accompanies that … well.  It should be interesting!

It’s not that I’m not looking forward to meeting all of David’s family (and, of course, getting to see all of mine in one place for the first time since the last funeral), it’s just that the list of things that can grow wrong grows every time I think about it.  Gulp.  Thank goodness David has a steady head on his shoulders and is willing to talk me down off the ceiling!

Another problem is that we keep thinking of people we’d love to add to our list.  Friends we’re getting closer with, some of David’s co-workers, other friends or cousins but it’s really just. not. feasible.  We’ve also decided against doing an a-list, b-list thing because it’s really just not for us. It’s important (at least in my overwhelmed thinking) to make a decision and stick to it.

Suddenly trying to figure out the catering, the rentals, and what I want my bouquet to look like seem like surmountable tasks.  In trying to find my pre-wedding zen I’m going forward with the idea that the save the dates are sent, the people who own the house won’t be there to see how many people we cram onto their lawn and it’s just too late to do anything about it.  Deep breaths have also helped.  After all, there’s no reason to panic until we start getting RSVPs right? Right?!

_________________ Thanks for reading {Jenna} Guest List from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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The very, very first thing I bought for our wedding was my dress.  No, seriously!  We had been engaged for about 5 months, but due to some job switching on David’s part we weren’t sure what day would work out best – we only knew we wanted to be married in the fall. I had been looking around, mostly on the internet, for some wedding inspiration but couldn’t make any definite plans until we knew for sure that David could get time off.   So in September, my mom dragged me out dress shopping to a little family-run bridal shop called The Barn.

My mom and my oldest younger sister (follow that?) were with me and we had a blast trying on different dresses.  Since David and I are having a small wedding party (my two sisters, his brother and best friend), having my sister with me was a great opportunity.  I tried on maybe 7 or 8 dresses – most of them strapless and satin, but my mom, who has more fashion sense in her pinky than I will ever have, insisted I try on  a dress she liked.  After trying on dresses for an hour or so, I had reprioritized a couple of things in my mind.  Going into the whole thing, I was very open about the whole dress situation and my only criteria was that I had to be able to afford it (to me, this was about $800, but everyone’s mileage varies of course!).  By the time I put that dress on, I knew I wanted a dress I could get in and out of myself, use the restroom in, and would trip over!  And of course, I wanted to feel like a knock-out.    Luckily, the dress my mom had picked fit all of these criteria.  It was beautiful and lace and had an interesting back and I felt stunning in it.  There were no tears and no ah-ha moment, but I definitely knew that even if I spent months and months searching, this dress made me feel like I was taking my first step to being able to walk down the aisle.  Also, since it was September and the end of the “bridal season,” the dress was also marked down 30%!  Doubly lucky, the dress fits me almost without a need for alterations so I could buy it off the rack – allowing me to save a few more pennies.

After setting my dress aside to pay for, we started looking at dresses for my sisters.  Lacey, who was with me, is definitely the fashionista of us (my youngest sister would rather die than wear a dress for one second longer than necessary – her agreeing to wear a bridesmaid dress is quite the wedding present!) immediately picked out a simple, floor length dress that would flatter them both.  We decided not to make any bridesmaid dress purchases until we were a little farther along in the planning process but I knew that once she made up her mind, those were the dresses they would end up with.

I had very few goals going into our wedding – to be able to pay for it, for it to be fun and beautiful, and for it to be as easy going on everyone as possible.  I really had no preference for what my sisters picked as their dresses so long as they looked good together and with my dress.  Since we were so early in the process I also wasn’t set on any colors and figured that I would let the bridesmaids’ dresses lead the way on that.  I just retained veto power over anything they chose

My sisters ended up going with a lovely dark purple with an ivory sash which I think is just lovely, especially since purple’s my favorite color!  Flash forward six months and I’m still debating about whether I’d like to match it with red or green, though.

Did anyone else go into their dress shopping with an open mind or did you already know what you wanted?

Photo credits:

Fabric Tables: http://marcusdesigninc.blogspot.com/

Glowing Lanterns: http://www.stylemepretty.com/2010/10/18/a-martha-stewart-wedding-revistited/

Cherry Favors: http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/summer-good-things#slide_31

Sparklers: http://wedding-cheesecake.com/?category_name=garden-wedding

Garden Lanterns: http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/bright-ideas-for-lighting-up-the-party#slide_27

Lavender Bouquets: http://www.bridalbuds.com/2010/11/an-outer-banks-wedding-diy-review-lovely-lavender/

Signs (pinterest): http://pinterest.com/pin/23758983/ (original source unknown)

Tree Guest Book:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/61211749/printable-guestbook-wedding-fingerprint

Purple Bridesmaid Dress: http://www.dessy.com/dresses/bridesmaid/6577/

Wedding Dress: www.watters.com

Bouquet: http://abroadstravelsabroad.blogspot.com/2009/11/hello.html

Cake (pinterest): http://pinterest.com/pin/20489254/ (original source unknown)

_________________ Thanks for reading {Jenna} Dresses and Inspriation Board! from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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Hello all you lovely BSB readers!  My name’s Jenna and I’m absolutely delighted to be guest blogging here on Budget Savvy Bride.  I’m a 25-year-old administrative assistant (read: secretary) for a local government social services agency in Virginia. My fiancé David and I have been engaged for just over a year and have been together for almost two years.  David’s a power plant operator at a large power company and has what I like to call Gardening Ambitions.  We met through mutual friends and he swept me right off my feet.  After four months of dating we were practically living together and three months after that we officially were.  Three months after that, we came home after a night of board games and were talking about how much we loved each other (schmoopy, I know) and then he asked me how I’d feel about having a husband instead of a boyfriend!

engaged! it's also the only picture of the two of us, ever.

I was totally shocked – at the time he was in nursing school and while I had made it known that if he asked I would say yes, I had figured we’d be waiting at least three more years before marriage became a real possibility.  Now, a year later, here we are!  We’ve both got ambitions (David’s, as I said, are gardening related; mine are more of a decorative sort) and practical heads on our shoulders so we’re definitely going into this whole wedding-planning shindig with our eyes on the prize: getting married.  Even now, in the midst of what feels like a moral crisis about catering options and the size (oh the SIZE) of our guest list, I just keep repeating to myself “we’ll end the day married, everything else is just icing.”  It’s kind of helping.

Anyways, enough panicking, more introductions! I’m a total nerd and a crafty, bookworm, DIY kinda gal.  In fact, this weekend David and I just replaced a toilet (ew), changed our oven hood (and didn’t catch anything on fire) and built ourselves some nightstands (without anyone bleeding).  You might gather from this that I’m also a bit of a klutz … and you wouldn’t be wrong!  I also enjoy scrapbooking, cooking and reading blogs when I’m supposed to be working.  This last habit has been particularly useful in gathering information and pretty, pretty pictures for wedding planning purposes.

Our wedding is set for September 17th at a lake house about 40 minutes from where we live.  It’s a tiki house (which will be a decorating challenge), and since it’s a private residence we’re pretty much on our own for planning and supplying everything for our 200-ish guests!

our 'tiki house' (http://www.atlakeanna.com)

We’re lucky that we’ll have help (both monetary and otherwise) from our immediate families, but we’re still going to be super budget conscious because everything else will come out of our own pocket.  We definitely don’t want to have to give up any of our long term goals because we squandered money when it wasn’t necessary.  This isn’t to say we’re not excited about the planning, the crafting and the celebration, it’s just all about keeping things in perspective, which is what BSB is all about!  We don’t have a budget set in stone, but we’re hoping to come in under $14,000 for everything (including the rings, honeymoon, and the parts we’ll be getting help with).

I’m really looking forward to sharing all the ups, downs and fun times as we navigate the next four (oh my) months!

_________________ Thanks for reading Meet Jenna! from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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