Rebekah + Joshua by Julie Mikos

Posted May 18, 2011
by Jessica Bishop

Rebekah & Joshua

Aug. 15, 2010
Payson, Arizona

What was your budget? If you are able, give us a rough breakdown of how you spent your budget.

We had a very small budget and both of us are very crafty so we wanted to do as much as we could by ourselves.

I don’t think I can quantify the amount! So much of my wedding was TLC from my family and friends, and they paid for a lot of stuff, too. I know my flowers were about $600, and the table cloths, chair rental and cake stand were about $800.00. I spent about $150 or so on ribbon and paper and tissue paper for decorations. I spent about $100.00 on all of the vases I found for the flowers.

Josh is a carpenter so he built me all of the photo frames and we framed photos of us growing up together. I bought scrapbooking paper and cut out hundreds of paper birds and then hot glued them to ribbon.

I also made pinwheels out of the paper to decorate the hand made frames, cupcakes, and desserts. I also put the paper on wooden letters that stood atop our wedding cake. My good friend offered to make our wedding cake as a wedding gift.

We wanted to have umbrellas for the six tables we had outside. So we found the perfect ones on Pottery Barn on sale for $100.00 each. Because we had so many good family friends attending we asked if anyone wanted to purchase an umbrella for the wedding and then take it home for themselves to use the following summer (which they currently are). So my mom and I each bought one and then four other ladies did as well.

We also bought our flowers from the Flower Exchange and then arranged them ourselves. My friends and I collected all of the blue and green glass from local antique stores and thrift shops!

As for the food, one of my other good friend’s mom and dad are amazing cooks and offered to cook our amazing food. We chose to do a taco bar and let them run with that idea. They went above and beyond and made the most amazing wedding food ever!

I bought my dress at David’s Bridal for $500.00 and my bolero and hair piece on Etsy maryandangelika http://www.etsy.com/people/maryandangelika?ref=ls_profile for $90.00(bolero) and $70.00(hair).

Oh and I also have friends who do hair and make-up! So they did my and my mom’s make up and all of our hair. As you can see, I really couldn’t have done most of the without the help of my wonderfully supportive family and friends. They really made my wedding happen.

How many guests did you have?

We had about a hundred guests.

What creative or personal aspects did you include in your wedding?

My personal aspects were almost everything! Because my mom painted so many things for the wedding, those became very personal and are now hanging in my home! Also, I wore my grandmother’s diamond necklace and my good friend’s earrings. The diamond pendant on my bouquet was also my grandma’s. We were also married by our lifelong mentor and minister so that was very important to us.

What was the biggest thing you did to save money?

The biggest thing I did to save money was probably making all of my own decorations! The cut-out strings of birds and handmade flowers were very budget savvy!

What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side?

My best advice for planning a wedding is to do what you want to do! A lot of brides tend to do things to please their guests rather than themselves. Josh and I had so much fun thinking of everything and anything we wanted to do for our wedding!

What was your biggest splurge?

My biggest budget splurge was probably my wedding dress! I think it was the most expensive thing we bought…. although it wasn’t very much at all!

What was your favorite detail?

My favorite detail were my wedding jackets. It was the first thing I found when planning my wedding and sort of planned my theme and colors around them! And the paper birds, I really enjoyed making those and I think they really tied everything together. Oh, and my mom is an artist! She painted amazing paintings all around my site as well as a huge mural of two peacocks! She and my sisters also made the paper flowers that hung above the dance floor.

What is the most memorable moment of your day?

The most memorable moment of our wedding day was our wedding ceremony, it was exactly what we wanted. Josh and I also loved shooting with my very good friend and mentor Julie Mikos! Also having all of our very close family and friends was amazing.