Well, hello! I’m Julie. I’m engaged to a seriously great guy named Adam. I’m 27, he’s 28. We live in the Canadian Rockies. I grew up on the Alberta prairies just outside the tiny little village of Erskine, right smack in the middle of the province. He grew up on the West Coast in the very small town of Port Hardy on the northern-most part of Vancouver Island.
Somehow, by a stroke of luck and no thanks to our geographical upbringing, we both fell in love with the mountains at a very young age. After finishing high school each of us set off to the hills to seek employment in the ski industry – myself in Banff, and Adam in Vernon. After a few years, the Kootenays were calling each of our names. Much to our parents’ delight, their very promising, yet very devoted ski bum children finally enrolled in some post-secondary education. We both moved to Nelson, BC in September of 2005 to buckle down at school. Conveniently for us, Selkirk College is located in Canada’s coolest ski town.
Once the winter season kicked off at Whitewater we became great ski hill friends…and not long after we became more than just ski hill friends. A little more than four years later, Adam tracked down a wee little mountain top while on a spring getaway to Montreal. While on the wee little mountain top, he popped the all-important question over a picnic of wine, scrumptious pate and the best mango I have ever tasted. I was [very happily!] caught off guard with the whole thing. You can read the whole story here.
Throughout our relationship, our careers have veered off quite dramatically from the ski hill roots that brought us together. We moved to Victoria, BC in the fall 2007 for some more schooling. I studied at the Western Academy of Photography and now I have a little photo biz. Adam earned his Red Seal for cooking and quickly became the sous chef at an incredible waterfront restaurant. In 2009 we relocated to Canmore, AB and we love it here! Adam has recently returned to the snow biz after landing a millwright apprenticeship at a local ski resort, Nakiska. I am just thrilled that my chef now has a 9-5ish gig and we get to eat dinner together once again.
We’ve had a long [& incredibly awesome] engagement – we’ve been planning this shindig since May 2010. We have decided to host our wedding close to home…at a campsite in the Kananaskis Valley. Ultimately, it will be a really stylish bushparty in the woods like none other. We’ve sent out about 60 invites meaning there could be around 120 people in attendance for the festivities and we are hoping to keep the budget around $12000.
photo credit: www.kiranelson.com
photo credit www.georgiewilson.com
photo credit: Judge Roy Bean – Jackson Hole, WY. He’s a keeper, can you believe I was actually able to convince him to do these horrendously tacky, but awesome portraits?
This adorable wedding from A&D Photography, submitted via Two Bright Lights just makes me smile from ear to ear! Janine and Colin chose to have an intimate wedding at their home for only their closest family and friends. By keeping it small, they were able to save alot of money- but chose to have a big fun Pub Party to include all their friends in a more casual setting. They really focused on what was important to them, and the result is oh-so-special! I love that they used their family’s china instead of renting dishes, and that they decided against a formal wedding party but gave boutonnieres to each of their guests to let them know how special they were to them. Such a sweet gesture! I hope you enjoy this edition of the Budget Savvy Wedding of the Week!
What was your budget? Give a rough breakdown of what you spent if possible.
We didn’t have a starting budget – just a principle to get the wedding we wanted without wasting money or time on things that weren’t important to us. We were lucky that our parents were very supportive and footed the bill but we didn’t want to spend their money in a way we wouldn’t spend our own.
Our wedding (ceremony, lunch reception and pub party) ended up costing about $6,600.00
Attire
Gown (sample sale, free alterations by Mom) – $660.00
Accessories – $135.00
Hair and Makeup (including purchased makeup) – $200.00
Tuxedo Rental – $175.00
Ceremony
Officiant fee (discounted) – $200.00
Marriage licence – $75.00
Decorations – $70.00
Flowers (including boutonnieres for all guests) – $690.00
Lunch Reception
Food (family friend hobby caterer) – $750.00
Wine (our favorite red, white and sparkling) – $165.00
Wine glasses – $30.00
Cake – $20.00
Other
Pub Party Tab (finger food buffet and 2 hour open bar) – $1715.00
Invitations (emailed pdf postcard designed by me) – $0.00
Programs/Place Cards/Favour Tags/etc. (didn’t have them) – $0.00
Limo/Car Rental (got rides from friends) – $0.00
Photography (friend discount, including engagement shoot) – $1,400.00
Hotel Room – $315.00
How many guests did you have?
25 at the ceremony and lunch reception. About 100 at the Pub Party to celebrate our marriage as well as our move to Amsterdam.
What creative or personal aspects did you include in your wedding?
Our wedding was all about creative and personal aspects so I’ll pick a few to share:
- we decorated our house with pictures of us throughout our relationship as well as one picture from my parents wedding and one picture from his parents wedding
- instead of renting dishes and cutlery, we used our parents’ china and silver
- we got boutonnieres for all of our ceremony guests to represent that we considered all of them our wedding party
What was the biggest thing you did to save money?
The biggest thing we did to save time and stress with the bi-product of saving money was having the ceremony and lunch reception in our home with only our closest family and friends. To include all our other family and friends without breaking the bank, we made the Pub Party very casual and simple (no decorations, dj, speeches, etc.). By having the party at a big pub we didn’t have to pay for the venue, just the food and drinks we chose to include on our tab – if people hadn’t shown up or fewer than we’d booked for, they would’ve simply released some of our tables.
What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side?
Planning our wedding in less than 2 months forced us to choose what was important to us because we just didn’t have the time to do everything that was “expected”. My advice would be to think about what you really want vs. what your parents might expect or what you’ve seen at other weddings. If you really want a first dance and conga line – make sure it happens, it’s your day and it’s worth it! If you’ve never really understood why people would spend money (or time) on flowers, don’t have flowers! It’s your wedding and you need to drop things that aren’t important to you so you can concentrate on the things that are.
One big thing we were glad we cut was a formal wedding party – we didn’t have to deal with bridesmaid drama, worrying about matching sets of male and female friends, added costs, thinking of the perfect personalized gifts or getting everyone ready on time.
What was your biggest splurge?
We didn’t need a hotel room on the night of the wedding – we had a perfectly good house sitting empty but it was it was great to have a chance to really step back and absorb the day and what it meant to us. It’s also nice to have breakfast brought to your room Another bonus was that by the time we got home the next day the house fairies (our caterer and parents) had the whole house spotless!
What was your favorite detail?
When we chose to have the wedding in our home, it seemed like a practical decision to avoid the stress and cost of finding a venue – but it ended up being a very good emotional choice. It was so special to have an intimate group at our ceremony in the house we’d carefully chosen based on our plans for our future together.
What is the most memorable moment of your day?
When my dad sang a personalised version of “I loved her first” by Heartland and made everyone cry.
I loved these dreamy images so much that I decided to bump this wedding up a few weeks in the queue. Tiffany from Bride-On-Purpose has been a faithful reader of mine for quite some time so I was so excited that she wanted to share her wedding with the rest of you! The photos from her mountain top wedding are stunning, gorgeous- all of the above! I love the plums and purples in her color scheme, and her bridesmaids outfits could not be anymore chic. Plus, Tiffany was one smokin’ bride, right? Tiffany said in her submission, “I hope the answers (if you make it to the end!!) will provide some useful info for your readers, and most of all, I hope they will inspire even one reader to be confident in her decisions as a bride, and to really identify what makes her and her husbands day unique and special and precious!!” That’s what this feature is all about- you said it perfectly, Tiffany! Thanks again for sharing your wedding, and congrats to you and your new hubby!
What was your budget?
$20,000 (not including honeymoon); we did really well staying on budget!
What creative or personal aspects did you include in your wedding?
Because our budget was quite tight (who’s isn’t right?!), all creative and personal touches were done by myself, and believe it or not, my husband! I am a computer girl, so most of the details involved graphics, stationary, color, and yes, text! I am definitely not a crafter by nature, although I love to dabble in all things creative! My strength (I think!) is in the vision, but I often find I do not have the skill to bring my vision to life. As an example, I knew I wanted a really unique, fun, and casual seating chart, and I knew I wanted to play off a trail hiking map since we were getting married in the mountains. I wanted the tables to be represented by different mountain-inspired graphics (think animals, rocks, trail markers, etc.), but I am definitely not an artist. So, I found (through blogging brides of course… the infamous Dana of Broke-Ass-Bride) a non-wedding artist on etsy, and she crafted the most perfect ‘trail map’ seating chart, all for $30!!
Admittedly, there were times when I simply did not have enough hours in the day (i.e. I was finishing my PhD thesis in time for my defense which was 10 days before the wedding!) to dream up how our wedding would be unique, and I quite honestly, copied ideas from other brides… this is of course the best form of flattery right?! You will see in the pictures some details that were born directly from images that came sent from heaven (i.e. Google Reader!), including the banners for the dessert buffet and signing table, the family photo wall, even the glitter letters on the bottom of my shoes (from BSB of course!!). In the end, I felt like I was honouring all the brides that helped me through the process, and these ended up being some of my favourite details of the day… thanks blogging-brides!!
I think, overall, the most creative AND personal aspect of our wedding was the SOUL!! The whole process was carried out with one goal in mind… to create a truly personal day that reflected not necessarily our hobbies/interests (i.e. no golf tees cause Ian likes to golf, or salt and pepper shakers cause I like to cook), but our LOVE OF FAMILY! We had a small venue that necessitated CLOSE seating with family-style service, we served ribs and cornbread so people would use their hands to eat like they would in their own homes, we had our whole wedding weekend (including a welcome BBQ the day before and a brunch the day after) in a huge house in the mountains, so we could all hang out like a big family. By the end of our wedding weekend, our guests truly felt comfortable chilling out on a couch, or out on the deck with a beer, and I truly believe this resulted in one of the most WARM weddings I have ever been to. It’s crazy to see my family and close friends now adding Ian’s family as friends on facebook and chatting with them and making plans to get together… this is testament to how well people got to know eachother at our wedding… exactly what our goal was!!
What was the biggest thing you did to save money?
I am sure most brides will have the same answer to this… we got our hands dirty!! We did a LOT ourselves, but even more importantly, we asked for and got a lot of help from our friends and family!! Backing up though, the first very integral decision we made in order to save money, was to have our wedding at a large house. We found an awesome house (it was built as a single family residence, but at 11,000 sqft, it is definitely a lodge!!) that we rented for 4 nights. We were able to not only have our entire bridal party and immediate family stay with us (the house had room for 30 heads!), but were also able to have ALL of our wedding events here. We started with a Friday night games night, then a Saturday welcome BBQ (lunch… my mom and step-dad cooked the most amazing steaks, homemade baked beans and buns, and salad for ~90 guests), the wedding ceremony AND reception for 115 people, and a day after brunch (my new in-laws honoured their Danish heritage with a feast of open-faced sandwiches for ~80 guests!). We were able to bring in our wine (vinted by my grandparents) and booze, food for cocktail hour, desserts (we asked our moms, grandmas, and aunties to bake something for our dessert table, so this was of no cost to us, and was the most amazing dessert buffet I have ever seen… our guests LOVED it!!), etc. Although the lodge was a big up-front cost, we recovered ½ of the cost from our guests staying there and at some of the additional houses we borrowed from our friends in the area (since we distributed the cost of the lodge and a couple other houses we got free of charge, we were able to make the accommodation very affordable for all of our guests… only $80/person for the entire weekend!).Another big one was flowers. I had my bouquet and those for my girls made by a lady I found on craigslist. She was a very experienced florist, but was just getting back into the business after a couple of years off, so the cost was about ½ of the quotes I had got from other flower shops. For ALL other flowers, I asked my mom and step-mom to grow wildflowers and herbs. I was using the simple and rustic mason-jar/wildflower theme, and honestly would have been happy with a couple of sprigs of rosemary in each mason jar. I can NOT describe to you the lengths these two women went to to make our tables SPECTACULAR. They went beyond what I could ever have dreamt up myself, and it still brings tears to my eyes thinking about the work they put into it! We spent a total of $400 on flowers!!
I know I am rambling here, but the simple fact is this: the people in our lives made this day happen for us! For music, my father-in-law and brother-in-law played guitar during the ceremony… in fact, Ian’s dad wrote us a song that he played while I walked down the aisle!! Ian’s brother played Patience (Guns n Roses) for our first dance, and my sister’s husband DJ’d for us using Ian’s uncle’s DJ equipment (see what I’m saying?!). My mom made the burlap table runners and with my step-dad made the logs for the aisle decorations, my sister loaned me all of her candles from her wedding for table and room decoration, my cousin photographed all of our family photo wall pictures, another cousin played videographer for the day, my friend’s daughters were our babysitters, my brother, cousins, and friends that were staying at the house all worked TIRELESSLY at setting up, rearranging chairs and tables, and decorating, my bridesmaids made baskets for the bathroom… OK, I am stopping myself here because I could go on forever about all the help we had!!
I have to mention one last bit though… I bought my dress on ebay, sight unseen. I took a gamble on a Nicole Miller dress that I LOVED, and really trusted would work on my body, and after NEVER stepping foot in a bridal salon, and $500 later, I had the most perfect wedding dress!! EBAY saved the day many times, as did etsy!! Bargain hunting is a past time, and I wouldn’t have been able to put on the wedding we did without it!
What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side?
STOP… you know, stop pouring over inspiration, stop second guessing yourself, stop worrying about what other people will think… STOP! I have to say this was relatively easy for me, since I really did not have time to agonize over decisions. I saw a dress on ebay and bid on it… it wasn’t an impulse buy though. No, it was definitely a rational one, and I never looked back. I never felt bad that I didn’t try on 100 dresses. I can definitely appreciate how many beautiful gowns there are out there, but once I made a decision, I never looked back. I see so many brides agonizing, and maybe I am doing that now, post wedding, as I still read many wedding blogs, but at the end of the day, most of us will still see thousands of ideas we LOVE (yes, even AFTER the wedding), but it is what we chose for our ONE day that will end up being perfect. Be comfortable with your decisions, try not to look back, and give yourself the “ok” to reader your Google Reader, and say, “wow, that’s beautiful”. Period. End of statement. Beautiful for them, doesn’t mean you need to change your mind, cause your choice is already beautiful!!
Another tip I have… write up a DIY “dream list”. This helps to organize what projects are on the forefront, but more importantly, it will help you prioritize. I scratched a handful or two of projects with about 10 days left, because I started to realize that they really weren’t necessary, and no one would miss them. Give yourself the freedom to use a SHARPIE… cross them off with really dark ink, so they can’t even haunt you from under there!!
ASK FOR HELP. You will hear it from tons of people, and I even got nagged to get more help… in a really nice way of course, from people like my bridesmaids that really did want to help more! But, you will reach a point where you realize just how important it is to relieve yourself of some of the pressures, but also to include your special people… they want to be a part of your day!Identify the SOUL of your wedding. For us, it was family. Simple. Every decision we made centered around our family… not meeting their needs, but creating an atmosphere that would bring family together in a way that was as special for them as it was for us! If you want elegance, fun, party, casual, or formal as the soul of your wedding, keep that in mind throughout the process. At the end of our weekend, I knew that it was family that made our day a reality and truly spectacular!
I am by no means an expert in the subject, but I know one thing for sure, and that’s that I had to keep ‘me’ feeling protected at all times. Weddings are a time of judgement. A lot of people don’t like to talk about it, but when you host a party for 100+ people, all the emotions are heightened, your choices are on display for all to critique/evaluate, and you are the centre of attention. That can breed insecurity (yep, I just said it!). It is evidence on wedding blogs (in a good way too… we support each other; but in a difficult way in that now strangers are even weighing in on our decisions!), and in most brides I know. We want everyone to have a great time, appreciate our efforts, even compliment our style etc. etc. etc. I found it really important to not ask for too many opinions. I lived in a different city than most of my family, including my mom and all of my bridesmaids, so most wedding decisions were made between myself and then-fiance. We presented the options to eachother, weighed the pros and cons (our biggest factors were budget, time management, and how the decision affected the SOUL of the wedding). From there, we informed other people about our decisions, and tried not to seek approval. Of course, this didn’t happen every time, and I definitely hoped (and yes, sometimes even asked) for approval on some items/decisions, but usually looked only to my sister (and MOH) for this approval… the more opinions you ask for, the more you will get… leading of course to AGONIZING over decisions!! And the end of the weekend, Ian and I really felt that we had succeeded in creating a wedding weekend that was fun (non-stop laughter, seriously!!), family focused, on budget, and we were both really quite confident in most of the decisions we had made ?
What was your biggest splurge?
Hands down, photography was our biggest splurge. We swooned over the work of 6:8 photography, and at 20% of our total budget, we knew it was a big decision. But, there is absolutely nothing I feel better about spending the money on than Kevan and Duane. Not only did they provide us with the most beautiful ART from our wedding day, they are people we feel honoured to support. They are the epitome of professionals, but more importantly, they are friends. Kevan was with me and my bridesmaids the whole day, and witnessed a bit of family drama, nakedness , and when I was stressing about the rain, it was him that put all my worries to rest. We had an amazing time shooting with them before the ceremony, and the memories and emotion they captured are truly invaluable!!
The second splurge that comes to mind was our hairpieces, corsages, and boutonnieres. Myself, my bridesmaids, and my mom all had custom Myra Kim (twigs n honey) hair pieces, as did my groom and his boys, and our VIPs (parents and grandparents) received beautiful corsages and bouts. I absolutely LOVED my veil and headpiece, and I really hope everyone else cherishes their pieces too! Other than that, we really do not have any other detail that cost us a lot of money… budget budget budget!!
What was your favorite detail?
Can a venue be a detail?! I really think that the venue was the most spectacular detail of them all. It really did create the intimate, casual, rustic feel that set the tone for the entire weekend. I have so many memories from spending the weekend there, that that is what pops into my head first!\n\nI would never have guessed I would ever say this, but the rain was almost a favourite detail. I came close to letting it affect my mood on the morning of the wedding, but the amazing photography resulted… umbrellas, rain boots, and later, the most dramatic clouds I have seen in wedding photos! It really was memorable!
If I go a bit deeper, I really did LOVE my veil… it made me feel glamorous and beautiful. I also really loved our seating chart… silly, I know, but it was just so fun and cute. I could seriously go on and on, cause there were so many great parts to the day, and things like the flowers, that were totally due to the LOVE of my mom and step-mom… again, I am tearing up just thinking about how beautiful the flowers were!!
What is the most memorable moment of your day?
I have two: I had walked down the aisle, truly focusing on my man waiting for me at the end, and since I had had some issues with my parents stepping on my dress (tight venue=tight aisle!), I hadn’t taken ANY time to soak in all the people around me. When Ian and I were finally standing hand in hand, and the officiant had started the ceremony, I stopped, and SLOWLY looked around the room, making eye contact and smiling at so many of our special guests. Some of the most random people pop into my head when I remember it, but it really was the moment that I thought to myself, “wow, these are the people I love the most, and they are here to witness me marry the man I love most!”… it is a moment I will never forget! The second one was as I was rushing to finish getting ready (I was about 25 minutes late for our 1st look), and my mom gave me the gift Ian sent over. In the note, he wrote that he was so excited to see me, and in his words… “you are so beautiful today, more beautiful than yesterday, and not quite as beautiful as you will be tomorrow”. This hit me hard, because so much energy is invested by brides into looking their absolute BEST on their wedding day… the workouts, the teeth whitenening, the body wraps, the hair and makeup, the dress, but really, your husband loves you for YOU. And my man truly loves ME. He thinks I am beautiful for my heart, not for how many inches I lost to look great in a slinky white silk dress! His words really helped bring me back to what the wedding was all about. YES, I had just spent ~4hrs getting ready for our day, YES, I had just done a final check in the mirror to see how I looked, YES, I had just tightened my abs to remind myself to keep my posture all day… but it was ME he was marrying, and he really did believe I would be even more beautiful the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that… we were here to get married, to commit to love eachother forever! It was going to be a fantastic day!!
Marie-éve has been a long time reader of my blog. Pretty sure she was one of my first ‘regulars.’ So I was super thrilled when she submitted her wedding for the BS-WOW. Marie-éve’s wedding was personal and beautiful without breaking the bank- you’ll be amazed when you see her total. Her color scheme (which I love, obvs) was inspired by her chic J.Crew shoes (which I have major shoe lust for) and they were married in a lovely field sprinkled with dandielions. Could it be more sweet?
Where did you get married?
In an orchard that produces ice cider in Frelighsburg, Quebec. That’s about an hour and a half from Montreal, where we live. The wedding date was chosen to coincide with the blossomming time of the apple trees.
What was your budget?
We aimed for around $5,000. I feel like a bit of an oddball because we purposely chose this small figure, not because that’s all we could afford, but simply because that’s what we were comfortable paying for an afternoon cocktail for 40. So it wouldn’t have been a real problem if we went over, but we didn’t. I’m just naturally thrifty I guess.
What creative or personal aspects did you include in your wedding?
We did our own invitations, I bought the flowers wholesale and arranged them myself, we made gift baskets with products from the orchard for guests, I prepared little buckets with toys and trinkets for each kid…
What was the biggest thing you did to save money?
My mom and I catered the event ourselves. We spent the day before preparing platters and hors d’oeuvres together. We had lots of fun and the results were fantastic! Since the reception was during the afternoon, we also didn’t serve a full meal, and we had a small number of guests.
What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side?
Enlist help, and get talented people involved. Also, good photography doesn’t have to be expensive.
What was your biggest splurge?
My shoes! They were $350, but I had to have them. They were actually more expensive than my dress, which was from Target.
What was your favorite detail?
I think the cupcake tower looked amazing! A friend lent me the stand she had used for her own wedding 5 years ago, and it was the right color already. I glued scalloped edge cardboard trim purchased at the crafts store on it, and had mini-cupcakes made in my colors. Another friend finished the look with fresh flowers and the Smurfs toppers my groom had found!
What is the most memorable moment of your day?
Being surrounded with people that were all really important to us, who showered us with love. Our son, elated at seeing his parents tie the knot, being cute and silly. Walking with my new hubby among the blossoming trees, simply feeling so happy.
