Non-Floral Florals

I just found these on Martha, and I am in love



I have been searching for ways to add flowers without the cost. Plus the Fiance has bad allergies and too many flowers would not make him happy :) These would look so cute at each table setting.

I POD

So I am struggling with entertainment, and searching for stories of people who have used I-Pods and if they have had success with it.

I am currently playing around with the idea. I think it could be totally worth it. I have some really creative and fun friends who would love to be involved.

Plus we could include a space on our RSVP's for requests, like this couple.

why "budget" advice drives me crazy

Everywhere I turn (with the exception of some of the great blogs out there!) budget wedding advice is all the same. Limit your guest list, have your wedding during the week, have your wedding in an off month, ect.

And then I think back to all the weddings I have had to miss because the wedding was on a Friday night and I couldn't get off of work in time, or all of the times I have been to weddings where I can tell the bride and groom wished more of their friends could have been there.

And then I just think all of that advice is crazy talk. Those aren't the only ways to save money and in fact they are probably the worse ways to save money.

Smarter ideas are, don't have flowers, don't have a videographer AND a photographer, don't buy expensive dresses, ect. Having your wedding with all your friends and family during a great time of year on a date that the most people can come is what weddings are all about. Its not about your theme its about sharing your day!

Sure those ideas can help some couples out but I just think there are a million ways to save on weddings and I determined to find them all :)

Fontaticism

Fontaticism means extreme obsession with fonts. (I just made it up). Being on a tight budget means I love free things and dafont.com has just that FREE Fonts!

My personal favorites are Jellyka, Saint-Andrew's Queen and Jane Austen.

The Fiance used You Are Loved to design his proposal cards, and they turned out amazingly. If you are going to design your own save the dates, invites, seating cards, or anything else definitely check out dafont.com.

One too many

I have a large family and a small budget. This presents some problems. In fact it may be our biggest problem.

We are already holding a semi-destination wedding (both of our families live in a different state than us). Which will hopefully cut down somewhat on the number of attendees but we still have a large guest list. I am searching for ideas on how to feed a large wedding (200+) and still stay within our budget.

Since it will be a destination wedding of sorts this also limits us since Friday evening and Sunday weddings would be incredibly inconvenient for our guests.

So we have 200+ guests that we have to feed on a Saturday evening (afternoon).

Here are some ideas:
Brunch
thinking mimosas and waffles


BBQ
thinking french fries and kegs
brides cafe

Picnic
thinking sandwiches and wine
Elizabeth Anne Designs

The Ring

We struggled for a long time on the engagement ring. The most economical choice would have been inheritance of a family heirloom; but for us that wasn't an option, neither of us had fortuitously fashionable grandmothers and I come from a very big family so there would have been a lot of politics surrounding any ring interceptions.

So we had to come up with another idea. We decided on an antique ring! It was perfect we are huge fans of antiquing and we are both righteously obnoxious so we wanted a ring that was both green and conflict free.

Buying antique saved us a lot of money too! The ring is appraised for double the value we purchased it at. It takes time and can be a little frustrating since you can't just walk into a store and find what you are looking for, but its fun and totally worth the wait.

Welcome!

I wrote the previous post before I was officially engaged. I obviously had a strong inclination that the proposal was coming but it has taken a few months for the actual proposal to come!

Now I can officially post! I started this blog to share some of my thrifty, money saving, realistic and sensible ideas with other brides or soon to be brides out there that are struggling with the same issues. I also want to hear what other brides out there are doing and how they are balancing the cost of weddings with their own budgets.

The average couple in our area spends between $14,840 and $24,733 (not including engagement rings or honeymoons!) on their wedding. We hope to come in under these figures, both because we think these numbers are a little high and because we love being able to spend less for the same value! We are paying for our own wedding too so the more we can save on the wedding the more we can save for our lives together.

I understand that everyone has their own budget, ideas, values, and credit limits. This blog is not meant to tell anyone how to spend their time, money and resources. This blog is just how WE plan on spending ours, and hopefully in the process we can connect with other brides and grooms!