What was your budget?
We spent about $16,000 total on our ceremony and reception.
- Photographer $2100
- Catering $4500
- Venue Location $3300
- Wedding Dress $1500
- Day of Coordinator $500
- Flowers $400
- Photo Booth $450
- Officiant $200
- DJ $750
- Cake/Donuts $200
- Grooms Tux FREE (with groomsman rentals)
- Table Rentals $100
- Decorations/Linens/Flatware/Dinnerware $200 (rough estimate)
- Alcohol $750 (beer/wine only)
- We made about $500 back after wedding by selling some of our decor to a Bridal Yard Sale Facebook site.
How many guests did you have?
We had 134 guests total including ourselves and the wedding party.
What creative or personal aspects did you include in your wedding?
Megan’s favorite color is yellow so she knew that she wanted to incorporate that into the color scheme. They knew they wanted to get married by the water and knew a nautical theme with classic navy blue accents would make a beautiful theme without being overly formal which is not something they wanted. They wanted to be laid back but classy and make sure there was lots of things for guest to do and enjoy.
Did you do any DIY projects or create any handmade items for your weddings?
We made almost all of our deco and signs throughout the venue. We made table number signs, candle votives with rope glued around the perimeter, folded our own napkins and tied with rope, build our own ceremony arch, folded/assembled/glued our own program fans, steamed our own linens. Megan found many used items through a Facebook bridal yard sale website to save money on not having to buy everything brand new. Megan had boxes labeled for every table prior to set up to ensure a smooth assembly of the venue on the day of the event since they only had their coordinator for about 3 hours prior to the start of the ceremony. We also had the groomsman help with set up before the ceremony to ensure everything would get done. We did as much as we could ourselves to keep costs low!
What was the biggest thing you did to save money?
Megan wanted to keep the flowers simple: hygdrangeas and baby’s breath for the girls and the same for her with the addition of yellow roses. The bouquets were accented with navy and white striped ribbon. The same combo was incorporated into the boutonnieres. For reception flowers, there was just 2 hydrangeas in a jar on each table as well as 3 small arrangements of the same flowers around the venue. The total cost of the flowers was $400 and were done by a family friend.
What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side?
Do whatever makes the two of you happy! There will be so many people giving you opinions on what they think you should do but it is most important to stay true to yourselves. Don’t stress if you have a small budget, there are so many ways to cut costs and even though it may end up being more work, the wedding ends up feeling that much more special if you did all of the planning/organizing/decorating yourselves.
What was your biggest splurge?
We definitely wanted a venue on the water, a great photographer and caterer so those were our big ticket items (and we couldn’t be happier with our choices). Everything else was fairly budgeted out to cut costs as best as we could. The most important thing to us was making sure our guests were going to have a good time, being original by making our own decorations, as well as keeping costs low wherever we could.
What was your favorite detail?
We are not huge cake lovers so we decided to go with a donut tower instead of a traditional wedding cake. We still got a small ‘cutting cake’ for the top to knew the wedding tradition of cutting the cake at the wedding but the guests were served cake donuts!
The cutting cake was almond with strawberry filling but the donuts had a variety of about 12 different flavors from maple bacon to lemon raspberry to chocolate caramel. That way, they guest could pick which flavor they wanted!
What is the most memorable moment of your day?
One of Megan’s favorite parts of the day was arriving at the venue and seeing her vision come to life with all of the decorations assembled and ready to go for the event. However, we both loved the moment of seeing each other for the first time as she walked towards her groom.
VENDORS
Photography: Kelley Stinson Photography | Ceremony Venue: The Planters Club of Suffolk | Reception Venue: The Planters Club of Suffolk | Event Planning: Amanda Cowen | Floral: Kathy Osborn | Wedding Cake: Carolina Cupcakery | Doughnuts: Duck Donuts | Hair: Flawless on Site | Makeup: Blush Tones | Bridal Salon: Maya Couture on Main | DJ: DJ Bobby B | Catering: Alpha Pitt Smokers | Wedding Dress: Allure Bridals | Groom’s Attire: Men’s Wearhouse | Bridesmaid Dresses: David’s Bridal | Veil: Davids Bridal
