Bride's....be Prepared for things to not go your way & do as much as you can to avoid these things. Its a promise: someone wont be where they are suppose to be, something will be late arriving, something will be forgotten, your cake may tip over (you do have permission to be upset if this should occur.) You can't prevent accidents & everyone's actions, there's a lot of people involved in your wedding & it would be an enormous undertaking to think you can.
What you can do is do your best to make sure everyone knows what's expected of them the day of & where they are suppose to be at the different times. I give all of my clients a Timeline which I really stress for them to fill out. It gives them a better & more realistic idea of how long things are going to take. A lot of people forget to add 15 min le-way in case someones running a little late, or they don't add drive time in between locations etc. All this adds up really fast. Another thing I put on the Timeline is a list of all the vendors & their numbers & the addresses for the church & reception locations. If the cake doesn't show up everyone in your Wedding party should have the number on their paper & they can help you with keeping things on track.
Make sure to assign people to help you throughout the day. Theres a lot of little time consuming tasks throughout the day. Make sure you ask your Bridesmaid or someone else ahead of time to help you pack presents into the car at the end of the night & that you have room in a car for them in the first place! Assign someone to help cut cake if your caterer won't be doing it, someone to serve the champagne, someone to keep the DJ stay on track of when to play songs. Make sure you also give the DJ a list of what songs to play & when you want them played (like at exactly 7pm or right after cocktail hour switch to dance music or play the couple first dance song etc).
Remember that some of the things that go wrong will be the memories that you'll laugh at later so just be in the moment. Some of the worst moments end up being the fondest. I've seen the ring bearer run screaming & crying down the isle, the brides trip (yes it really happens its not just a horror story), the Dj play the wrong song etc. I always tell my brides to remember, your wedding is a party but more importantly its all about you marrying the person you love, being with the people you love & to remember all the other small stuff is really not important at the end of the day.
Save Money
Some people are very well off & it's not a burden planning an expensive Wedding, if that's you congratulations, you are the 1% skip this section. For everyone else, even if you saved up for it all, months in advance....it's hard earned money & seeing so much of it go for a Wedding can be scary. A lot of woman want their Wedding to be perfect so they get the 'Spare No Expense' mentality. If you didn't save up money in advance & will be paying your Wedding off a long time after it's all over please trust this. A lot of the things that get purchased for the Wedding are unnecessary expenses & things that get forgotten...skip them & save hundreds of dollars. Here's a list of things I've heard Brides say they wish they'd spent less on:
The Bouquet: Save up to $200-800
Bouquet's are beautiful & can add a lot to your wedding. Don't skimp here but be smart about your purchase. Don't ask for 30 different varieties in your Bouquet when 5-10 will do. Ask the florist what flowers are in season & be flexible. Yes Peonies are great but if they aren't in season & she can suggest something similar that is, take it. Also consider a cheaper filler flower in your Bouquet. Babys Breath & other flowers can be really beautiful & are actually really trendy right now versus some filler flowers that are barely noticeable & can cost $20 a flower.
Don't go small either. I see a lot of Bouquets where you can hardly see them in pictures & they end up looking cheap. Try to pick some nice big flowers for your bouquet that will take up space so you can have a thicker Bouquet with less flowers. A really cheap way to add size & drama to your bouquet is with ribbon. Go to the craft store when they have ribbon 60% off which is a lot (or go online) & pick a nice large ribbon that you can add to the bouquet.
Another thing to try is sticking to only 1 flower. There's lots o of beautiful bouquets ideas with 1 flower. You can always add a second flower or greenery to spruce it up if the idea of 1 flower scares you, succulents are a beautiful & modern greenery.. There's so many great places to find inspiration on the internet & TONS of them are money saving ideas. Pintrest is one of my favorite places for finding amazing inspiration that's also very affordable.
Guest Favors: Save up to $200-800
Guest favors can add another $200-$600 to your budget fast & a lot of the times what you'll get for that amount of money is complete junk. People have enough things in their house they want to get rid of. Don't waste your money on something that's going to be thrown away in a month.
If you HAVE to have a favor find creative & useful things to give them that aren't expensive. Consider giving them a CD with main songs from the Wedding. Another great idea is to buy bulk candy bars (Hershey's with Almonds is a great one), remove the wrappers & re-wrap with a custom wrapper you can make yourself. Personalize it by adding a picture of you & the groom or with text like thank you & your Wedding date. Vintage weddings are very popular right now & if your throwing one consider doing a seed packet or small succulent plant. Seed packets can be super cute & tied into your wedding with cute saying like "our love only grows" etc. You can find really inexpensive craft paper or tiny burlap bags which can be customized by stamping your saying on each one.
Lastly, consider this: many times people would love to have some of the professional pictures that were taken of them during the wedding but after the craziness of the Wedding is over it can be hard to track pics down for everyone that wants a copy. Talk to your photographer about posting the images in an online gallery for the guests. Add a card to the table of where they can track down any pictures taken of them at the wedding. If you are willing to spend a little more consider sending picture discs out with the Thank you's.
Unity Candles, Toasting Glasses, Cake Knife: Save up to $100-300
All of these things are nice but don't spend a ton of money on them. They are something that most people never even see. During the ceremony most people are too far back to pay much attention to what the details are on the candles or knife set. These parts of your Wedding literally last 5 minutes, your usually to nervous your self to pay much attention to them & then that money you spent on those things is over. If you spent $100 on your candles & holders, that cost you about $20 a min, YIKES! Ask any of your friends that have gotten married if they kept the knives or glasses & if they did if they have ever taken them out since the wedding? Spend money on the important things that people will see during your wedding & that add to the overall experience & resist splurging on these smaller items.
Guest Books: Save up to $100
If you really want signatures or notes from your guests another thing thats more useful is to have your Photographer make a book with the pictures from your engagement session. They can leave lots of empty space on the pages where people can sign. This is a great way to get more mileage out of your engagement pictures & have the signature book be more purposeful & something you will actually look at.
Lastly, & I got this idea from a wedding I just shot & loved it....put out cute little pieces of paper or thick card stock & have people write you a message on them. I think giving them direction will get you more meaningful messages, consider asking them to write what they love most about you as a couple & what advice they give you in your new marriage & then read them on your first anniversary. You can also talk to your photographer about making a photo box from your engagement or weddings pictures to keep the cards together in. Or decoupage your images onto a box you can pick up from your local craft store.
Fondant Cake & Complete Real Cake: Save up to $300-$900
Fondant can be really beautiful & if your stuck on having a Fondant cake go for it. Fondant can easily add $200-$500 to your cake cost depending on what your getting. Your cake usually sits at the reception for several hours before it gets eaten. Fondant after sitting out gets rock hard. All that money you spent to have a cake with a rock hard shell! Buttercream is a very tasty & cheaper alternative & I've seen lots of super elegant design done with it. Its taking over at a lot of the nice weddings. Another thing to consider if your even slightly crafty is to get a Buttercream tiered cake & dress it up yourself. Get a few extra flowers from your florist that does the bouquets & add the flowers so they cascade down the sides & consider a unique cake topper like a banner with your names & wedding date or sparkler candles (why shouldn't you blow some candles out? Way more fun than just cutting the cake!) You can find many of these on Etsy.
On the real cake vs fake cake:
Most times you go to a Wedding these days you will find that only the top layer of the cake is real & the rest is fake. Having only the top real, where you will be doing the cutting with the groom...can save you hundreds of dollars. Consider doing this & then getting the same cake from the bakery as sheet cakes to cut & serve guests.
Decorations: Save up to $100-$500
People will buy tons of small & gimmicky decorations so they get more for their money versus buying a few nice larger pieces. Small decorations get lost. Once the room gets filled up you won't hardly even see them. Designers know to have height with their decor. Having different levels of decor height wise will get you a lot more for your dollar. For example...instead of having a bunch of short decorations on the table (I see fish bowls with a floating candle a lot) consider your table marker as your shorter item, try a tall vase with spray painted branches & crystals or a tall vase with an led underneath to light it up & you can add flowers or candles inside & then make sure you have something from the ceiling or higher up like up-lighting on the walls or strings of lights above with tulle etc.
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Don't underestimate the power of Balloons & Christmas lights! You can do so much with them. Pintrest has a billion really fancy ways to use them such as putting a little led light inside so they glow, putting a marble inside to weigh it down & hanging them upside down at different heights to make a chandelier from them, taking One of my favorite ideas is to stake them down with golf tees & I've seen people line the isle with them and then throw gold glitter all over the ground for a really classy & inexpensive way to decorate that area. Colored lighting or soft lighting in general like Christmas lights or candles also add a lot to the decor so don't think you have to have a ton of flowers, use light to make an impact. To save tons of money here go just after Christmas & get the lights at 70% off or check out yard sales & craigslist during other times of the year.
Esty has a lot of amazing inexpensive details you can pick up for your wedding. And remember: if you dont get to crazy with your Wedding theme, you can sell all your Wedding decor on Ebay or other auction sites & get up to 60% of your money back, there's always going to be someone else getting married & needing the same things you needed!
Metallic Balloons if you want them to look extra classy
Tape balloons to the floor. You could do this around the dance floor or other area
Balloons covering the ceiling are a great way to take an ugly room & give it height for less
The design in the picture is obviously quite expensive but we not take a hula hoop, spray paint it your wedding color & then drape it with crystals, crepe papers or ribbons
For simple centerpieces using fruit or even food coloring to tint the water & then inexpensive flowers like babies breath to fill the jar or vase. Just remember the taller the better! Small centerpieces get lost on the tables & Ive seen some really beautiful ones at weddings I shot but its never as impactful as something tall
Liquor
Period. Food is important but if you want people to stay after dinner you better make sure they are having a good time. I recommend doing Champagne or Wine versus hard liquor that can cause people to get a little out of control. I've seen a $10,000 go down the drain because everyone left right after they ate their $35 plate of food because they didn't want to pay the venue $10 a drink.
Period. Food is important but if you want people to stay after dinner you better make sure they are having a good time. I recommend doing Champagne or Wine versus hard liquor that can cause people to get a little out of control. I've seen a $10,000 go down the drain because everyone left right after they ate their $35 plate of food because they didn't want to pay the venue $10 a drink.
The DJOk so now they are having a drink, relaxing a little bit but no one will dance why? Because you saved a buck on the DJ & he's horrible. I've actually been to weddings where they had the music playing from Pandora & Ipods. My favorite was the Uncle they hired who we realized had passed out drunk behind the DJ table only after the same song played three times. A good Dj will go a long way. You want to make sure your booking someone that looks professional (I've seen some scary looking DJ's), that has a good lighting setup. Lighting is important to set the feel on the dance floor. If there's no lighting or not adequate lighting it can make the dance floor uninviting. Make sure he knows your style & the type of music you expect him to play & that he's good enough to know when to play a song or not. You don't want to have a mostly older crowd at your Wedding & he's playing Baby Got Back & Back that Thang Up all night. Seriously. This happens a lot I've seen it. Make sure you guys are on the same page.
Lighting
And Ill say it again, lighting. Lighting lighting lighting lighting. Seriously! Have you ever gone to an expensive dinner where it wasnt low-key lighting? What about a prom dance etc? Its all about setting the ambiance. People want to look beautiful & have fun & low/key lighting is both flattering & what we associate in our minds with a formal or well done event. Uplighting the reception venues walls is probably the most cost effective way to decorate & have it be noticeable. If you ever watch a celebrity or really nice Wedding its all about the lighting. Candles are very inexpensive & easily add low lighting so you can shut off the bright lights. You can buy strings of white lights the day after Christmas for 75% off & they are a great way to achieve low key lighting. Uplighting. Your Dj or Event Decorator should have some you can use but worse case scenario you can get some online for not very much & they are definitely something you can get your money back out of if you sell them after the wedding.
And Ill say it again, lighting. Lighting lighting lighting lighting. Seriously! Have you ever gone to an expensive dinner where it wasnt low-key lighting? What about a prom dance etc? Its all about setting the ambiance. People want to look beautiful & have fun & low/key lighting is both flattering & what we associate in our minds with a formal or well done event. Uplighting the reception venues walls is probably the most cost effective way to decorate & have it be noticeable. If you ever watch a celebrity or really nice Wedding its all about the lighting. Candles are very inexpensive & easily add low lighting so you can shut off the bright lights. You can buy strings of white lights the day after Christmas for 75% off & they are a great way to achieve low key lighting. Uplighting. Your Dj or Event Decorator should have some you can use but worse case scenario you can get some online for not very much & they are definitely something you can get your money back out of if you sell them after the wedding.
Fun details
One thing to consider is having a photo booth! It adds a super fun element for guests. & doubles as their wedding favor if you print the image on site or have them printed & include it in their Thank You card when you send it. Also consider Wedding decor that does add a lot like spending a few dollars on a reception sign or chalkboards can be a really cheap way to add a lot of visual interest to your wedding & pictures. Here's some of my favorites:
Pennant banners are a cute way to give yourself something to hold & do in your first posed bride & groom pictures which can be a little awkward as you warm up to the camera. You can also write Thank You on them & take a picture to use for Thank You cards after the Wedding. They also double as fun props for guests during the reception. They can write little notes to you on them & then pose for a picture that will make you smile later when looking through the pictures of the reception.
Hope some of this inspires you to save money & have fun with your Wedding. If you have any tips for ways to save, pictures of your awesome wedding decor or DIY projects please share in the comments! If you liked this Blog post don't forget to share it & follow to stay in touch. Here's a link to my Pinterest Boards where you can find lots more ideas like Photobooth backdrop ideas you can easily do at your wedding or my Happily Ever After board which has lots more great examples of what's trending in wedding design & more.
