We’re back with another lovely wedding for you this week! First off, how can you resist the men in uniform? Accompanied by friends in navy blazers and red bowties?? I just LOVE it. I love the color scheme and the fact that they were able to pull of a wedding for nearly 200 people for $5,000! They really pulled it together with the help of family and friends. I think the ‘it takes a village’ approach to the big day is one of the best ways to save money! They were able to have a lovely wedding without putting themselves in the poor house. Congrats Zach and Neidy- and thanks for sharing your day with us! xoxo- Jessica

Zach & Neidy

March 19, 2011
Sandy Springs, Georgia

 

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

Photography- $1,500; Tessa with Light Love Laughter Photography is EXTRAORDINARY!
Invitations- $170; a friend designed them and we printed them out at Alpha Graphics!
Flowers-$300; flowers for the reception, bridal/bridesmaid bouquets, and boutonnieres were all handmade. (everything, except the flowers for the reception were made out of tissue paper. The flowers for the reception were made from Canson paper. ) I got the idea here.
Ceremony flowers were $250 provided by Atlanta’s Finest Flowers
Make-up and Hair- $200 done by Authentic Beauty
Ceremony Venue- Free; the church I grew up in
Reception Venue- $950; The venue itself was $750. Tables and chairs were included as well as trellises and there was a security deposit of $200.
Linens- borrowed from a family friend
Music and DJ- My uncle DJ’d for free
Centerpieces and decorations-$50 All handmade; I went to Binders Art Supplies and Michaels! We also had tealights, small clear vases, and red ruby jewels sitting around!
Wedding Dress- In total was $1000; I got it on sale for $700 and alterations were $300.
Wedding Veil- $60
Hair piece- $2.00; I handmade it.
Groom’s wear- It was issue to him by the Marine Corps
Groomsmen- They had navy blazers in their closets along with khaki pants! Their bowties were each $14.00 from a small store.
Catering-$800; my mom, family friends, and I cooked all the food. We went to Costco to buy all of the food!
Cake- Free; my sweet aunt made our cake!
Flying Lanterns- $50.00; www.amazon.com

So in total, almost exactly $5,000!

How many guests did you have?

About 150-200.

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

Since he’s in the Marine Corps, we didn’t want our wedding looking too patriotic with our color choice so we added a bit of raspberry to even things out! Also, all the flowers were handmade out of tissue paper which took a lot of effort, but worth every little bit!

What was the biggest thing you did to save money?

I would definitely say asking family and friends to add their talents; you never know what people are capable of doing for you! Also, we have saved a large amount on flowers just by making them.

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

Definitely don’t stress about what details get done or don’t get done. It’s beautiful in the end!

What was your biggest splurge?

Photography! It was the first thing that we decided on before planning anything! What good are weddings if you can’t remember them?

What was your favorite detail?

Definitely the giant paper flowers. They were hard to make, but I had fun making them and they looked gorgeous walking into the venue

What is the most memorable moment of your day?

Seeing my husband for the first time dressed up in his dress blues. I’m glad we didn’t follow the superstition and saw each other before our wedding! And our first look pictures definitely show it!

VENDORS:

Photography: Light Love Laughter Photography
Invitations: Alpha Graphics
Flowers: Atlanta’s Finest Flowers
Hair and Makeup: Authentic Beauty
Venue: Sandy Springs United Methodist Church (Ceremony), Georgetown Ballroom (Reception)

I know that I have been depriving you lovely readers of our favorite weekly feature, the Budget Savvy Wedding of the Week!! Glad to announce that we are back with quite a lovely feature for you today! Love love love the yummy light in these gorgeous photos of this Montana budget wedding from Amber Murphy Photography! I also love the rich purple she chose for her bridesmaids dresses, flowers, and shoes and the way it plays so well with the rustic red on the barn! Such a sweet, fun wedding that truly focuses on the important things and people!  Hope you enjoy this feature and look forward to sharing more with you in the future! xoxo- Jess

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason and Megan

June 4, 2011
Bloomfield, Montana

 

What was your budget? Give a breakdown of your spending if possible:

Our Budget was: $9,000

Rough budget break down:
Food/reception/workers: $3,000
Flowers: $300
Photographer: $1800
Bridesmaids Dresses: $650
Invites/Save the dates: $200
Wedding Dress: $1300
Decorations: $300
Cake/pedestal cake domes: $275
Silk Flowers: $100
Table and Chairs: $300

How many guests did you have?

130

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

Each table at the reception had it’s own cake as the center piece. We made all of our own invites, as well as our guestbook using pictures from our engagement session. My mom was a florist before she got married so she did all the floral arrangements. Our reception was at a family friend’s yard, where we spent almost every sunday evening at growing up. I also hand painted signs to the wedding using old barn wood. The venue was back in my home “town”, which is a small farming community, so makes for a very creative venue!

What did you do to save money?

Bought flowers from Costco, and the cake pedestals were given to people who helped out as gifts,
We used some silk flowers and candle sticks from my sister’s wedding that was 56 days before mine! I’m blessed with a artsy/crafty mother who made all the floral arrangements and decorations, and a family friend did hair.

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

Just enjoy the process and be flexible! Simple can truly be better. And listen to your mother

What was your biggest splurge?

I would say my dress, as we spent more than we had planned on. I also would say we splurged on photos as I was able to have two photographers, but they were very reasonable!

What was your favorite detail?

I wore purple heals with my wedding dress and my husband wore converse. That just describes us perfectly!

What was the most memorable moment of the day?

So many! Getting ready with my good friends (bridesmaids and one of my photographers), seeing Jason for the first time, the outdoor reception (we had perfect weather )….

VENDORS

We did most of the work ourselves, but we did use a caterer for the food and bought my dress at Angeliques and the bridesmaid dress at David’s Bridal. The flowers were from Costco.

Catering: Lady J’s Catering
Gowns: Angeliques Bridal | David’s Bridal
Costco

Here’s the fun part! Decorating your venue.

I have seen so many beautiful photos on the various blogs I read, and had such a hard time narrowing it down, but here’s what we’re planning to do.

Since our Ceremony and Reception are both taking place at the same venue, it will be easy to reuse the flowers and decorations and save money. It is also a great way to tie it all together.

Instead of your typical Escort cards and Name cards the guests will find their names on an alphabetized list (in frames), and their name will be on the paper napkin ring.One great way to save money on Decor is to use the basic linens provided by the Venue and add a punch of colour with rented napkins and a beautiful centre piece.

Images 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

Our venue had the major benefit of a built-in sound system, with the bonus of being able to have different music in every room! Jon and I decided early on that we weren’t interested in hiring a DJ, partially because of the cost and partially because we’d been to our share of weddings with terrible DJs. So from that point on, we’re flying solo.

 

Once that decision was made, my only concern was that not having a DJ would disrupt the flow of the evening—not having an emcee to move things along might cause our evening to stagnate, I worried. However, one of our “better dudes” can be a major ham, as evidenced by the poem that he wrote and performed for his new wife during their wedding reception—a Dr. Seuss-style production whose message was along the lines of “Haha! You’re stuck with me now!” We decided that if anyone was qualified for the job, he was.

In the meantime, Jon has been slowly compiling the wedding playlist. He has taken on this task with gusto, as choosing danceable music is apparently right up his wedding-planning ally. I do have to keep reminding him that not everything on the dance floor can be fast-paced booty music, but for the most part, he’s doing a great job! We will also have a separate [quieter] playlist for anyone who is taking a break or isn’t interested in dancing. It will play throughout the rest of the mansion.

Music is a great way to set the tone for your event. Putting together multiple playlists (potentially, there could be different playlists for the processional, recessional, ceremony, introductions, dance floor, and more) can be a lot of work, but it also gives you complete control over the mood of each moment. It’s a lot of work up front, but putting together your own customized playlist sets up a framework of how the evening will run–and saves you from the dreaded Chicken Dance!

Think of your playlist as an outline, like you would put together for a presentation. Creating the outline can be a lot of work, but it helps your presentation go smoothly when it counts. Plan ahead, and you’ve got yourself the outline for an awesome day.

And then, when the time comes,
pump up the volume;
pump up the volume;
DANCE, DANCE!