GET FRUGAL
Instead of one big wedding cake, we had a small wedding cake made for each table in our case including ours. My fiancee and I are doing vintage theme for Montana at our wedding and looking for the best ways to save money.
As someone who has given away many of my wedding decorations in garage sales, I can't stress how true this is. "Vintage theme" is a pretty good way to save money on decorations to start with. Oooh, this was one of my favorite ideas from our wedding that saved us money. In my opinion, some decorations can be rented from the wedding market, such as flowers. There was also karoke, very frugal wedding just as nice or nicer than the expensive ones, why waste the money? Also, breakfast for dinner is so much cheaper you could forgo decorations My vintage-themed wedding is in less than a month! save money on decorations by cutting out the people that shouldn't be there. We tied little bows around sprays, used them as pew decorations, put some ferns/wildflowers around the cake, things like that. They are both food people, but some of the food for their wedding looked so very simple and do-able. We also sold a ton of our DIY decorations and centerpieces through Facebook wedding swap shops. I got married at Christmas, so my wedding pictures are filled with Christmas trees, pine cones, holly, etc. I found that paper flowers used in our wedding, were cheaper, and last forever. A lot of the flowers for my wedding I collected by the side of the road/in a ditch out in the country. Here are a few things that really helped us save at our wedding earlier this year: 1. We also forwent flowers and made our own table decorations.
How awesome is it that your flowers are still growing and spreading, like love should :) Dollar tree!
We did tons of Mason jars and frugal decorations in our vintage wedding! Some of the best advice I got when I was planning the wedding with my ex was to never, ever tell anyone you're buying/renting for a wedding. I advise not going overboard on favors unless youre having a small wedding, or for the bridal party/parents.
They were really inexpensive and we got way more than I thought we would, so I actually over ordered. We saved on decorations by doing the following: Skip flowers if they aren't a big deal to you. If you have land in montana and have a late summer wedding, consider growing your own flowers. Can I suggest something my girlfriend did at her backyard wedding that was a huge hit with the guests? Actually, this isn't really just limited to decorations, but people should compare the complete cost when choosing a venue. The wedding I was at provided some drinks, bbq, and family members brought previously decided dishes. I'm getting married in December and don't want to spend a ton of money on flowers. I really enjoyed this over the traditional large cake and trying to serve everyone from it. She was so kind to help buy decorations such as tulle and silk wisteria.
but she kept the receipts and returned it to the store after the wedding.
look at your wedding invitation list and have a serious discussion with your soon to be wife about who really should be there. One wedding spent around $5,500 on everything including dress and food. Didn't do a wedding cake and had a local cuban coffee joint/bakery do mini desserts. DYI can save you money and look great, but it is also a lot of effort. We did that to decorate our wedding favors in little glass jars and it looked really nice. Married in a botanical center, couldn't of swung one of their giant goldfish without hitting flowers that were already there.
Having someone get your food at cost and saving you hundreds of dollars is an amazing wedding gift. Everyone we asked to do it loved being able to contribute to the wedding, and it cost us $0. If I hadn't been nosey and flipped the shapes over to get a closer look, I would never have known. I would also suggest you look at how Molly Weisenberg and her husband Brandon Pettit did their wedding, in her book "A Homemade Life. " You can use Google to find paper flower recipes that even a novice could put together but still look beautiful. There are websites for used wedding stuff, my wife's selling her surplus candles there.
How awesome is it that your flowers are still growing and spreading, like love should :) Dollar tree!
The one thing I would have changed from my wedding would have been the flowers.
I am also planning a wedding and all these comments have been very helpful. We had a dessert bar instead of a wedding cake. If you're interested I can search for some photos and send you a couple of examples of things they did? Also, know that most big box places will allow you to return wine after the wedding, but ask them to be sure. I've been to other weddings that have taco trucks or other local food trucks and everyone seems to enjoy it. Lastly as for the cake, don't tell the baker it is for a wedding. It was delicious, people still tell us we had some of the best wedding food they've ever had, and easy for me as a vegetarian. It was so cute and fun and I loved planning and making everything for my wedding!! We used costco flowers, and they were amazing. We also made a charcuterie table with cheeses and meats that we got at a high quality resturant supply store. Plus, my wife got to keep her bouquet; it sits on our mantle, unaged in the way real flowers would have aged. I also made sure to taste the food of the inexpensive caterer before I hired her. Our coordinator saved us a lot of money when it came to flowers and other vendor recommendations. When it was time to serve the cake, we stood up to do our ceremonial first piece then every table served themselves. My wife basically decorated for our wedding with unique crafts via etsy. com, theknot.com, and luna bazaar.
A lot of bulk glass and decorations from weddings ends up at garage sales. If your venue allows you to serve your food yourself, that is the most frugal way to serve dinner. Added a lot of color for free and let them stick to white candles and simple greenery for the centerpieces.
It was humiliating having to listen to the grumbling in silence when it was too late to buy a bouquet. I guess the takeaway is, go with things you love and go very, very simple but true to what you love.
We also used quite a bit of decorations from our house. Jewelry wire from the craft store is thin and strong enough, then a ribbon or whatever else you want to cover that. I cannot recommend cake and punch enough, especially for a vintage wedding. I'll have to see -- we had an amateur photographer and she didn't take pictures of a lot of things :/ But I will look! When my wife and I got married, we didn't want to spend millions on flowers.
I'm talking vases with those half marble looking things, vases with sand, a ring pillow, faux flowers, and other goodies. Also it was huge and everyone got to try multiple flavors :) We used cheap colorful vintage tablecloths, quilts, blankets and saris as table decor. Depending on the vendor and what they are doing telling them it's for a party instead of a wedding reception could be a breach of contract. They were $12 a table, looked good, and were saved after the wedding. Otherwise, have your wedding at a non mealtime and serve coffee and cake. I've seen a lot of people choose bare rooms that when you had in tables, catering, chairs, dinnerware, decorations etc they didn't really save money but added an immense amount of extra work. I think the total came to about $10 per table and I loved how they turned out. I once attended a beautiful wedding at a ranch in Texas. We got so many compliments on them and everyone thought that they had been professionally arranged. After the wedding, we just really wanted to get rid of it all.
Small wax paper bags with those really cheap electric candles inside and a bit of gravel to hold them down.
We had everything from pies to cakes to banana pudding, but I also know people who have had pie bars only. Also, for food, we ended up going to a restaurant but there are lots of cool food truck options we considered. I provided the pots, took them to her about a month in advance, and went by to pick them up the day before the wedding. That being said, I didn't go overboard on the menu and shopped around for the best prices. My wife learned how to make folded paper flowers and we saved a ton on traditional flowers as centerpieces and in the ceremony. Bride and groom should be dancing, not troubleshooting :) Ditch the real flowers and do paper flowers from etsy.
Congratulations and don't forget to eat a big plate of food and a big piece of your cake! If the guest list is small and is all your closest family and friends, then this is a great and tasty option! If you know your friends enjoy participating and don't have to travel excessively then it's definitely an option. Also, has anyone found a way to save on food for catering? Took a couple months of going in occasionally before I found enough, but I was able to get them all for about 50 cents each. On the wedding day they were filled with wild sunflowers and they looked gorgeous.
My sister's wedding had the best food by far. Burlap roses in white and dark brown, some sela flowers, bouquet jewels, and some natural fillers from hobby lobby. I checked out our local thrift stores and picked up teacups and saucers that I filled with water and put a floating candle in each. The price was the same as a 3 tier cake but it took the place of coming up with center pieces for each table. They are one of the best frugal wedding tips ever! Her bouquet was a cluster of pearls instead of the traditional bouquet, which saved money. We bought 7 cake risers at Ross for $10 each and the cake was the center piece with a few cheap loose flowers laid around underneath. We used potted flowers for our centerpieces.
I splurged on my bouquet and main floral arrangement, but needed 20 tabletop arrangements and didn't want to break the bank. I've been to a lot of weddings with nice favors that were customized for the bride/grooms names and no one ever used again. Maybe, it can save much money than buy something. Great way to buy mass quantities of decorations you probably won't use again.
Great fun and a tiny fraction of the cost, but it does mean a less formal setting. She set up an iPad and used something like Simple Booth and let guests take their own photos. In both cases we got all the "real" flowers at Costco and had family make them into bouquets.
We just set up an area with props and signs and people had a lot of fun with it just the same. I even still have some in my home today over 2 years later that look okay. Since we had chalkboards and chalk everywhere we ended up with some really neat table art! I think it cost us about $150 for the cake , plus maybe $30 in craft supplies to make the cupcake stands, and it was lovely. We are planting herbs instead of flowers and using these as centerpieces. They had a wide mix of wildflowers and more traditional ones and put them in vintage vases and bottles.
I'm a DIY kind of girl and everyone just kept talking about how it looked so much like me!! Most of the local weddings in my area do this even when they have over 200 guests. Again, you can get fake ones at Michaels for cheap and make a nice arrangement in water or gel. The reception was in the back yard, the tables draped with quilts loaned by family and friends, covered with clear plastic for protection. He works in the restaurant business and was able to get all of our meat and seafood at cost.
How awesome is it that your flowers are still growing and spreading, like love should :) Dollar tree!