There are so many new brides that I blog with and I was just wondering how long their engagement and planning has been? I know a few of them are getting married very soon...Congrats!! And congrats to all brides and grooms!
We got engaged in July of 2008 and right away we were thinking of a Fall wedding for 2009. I really loved the fall colors, pumpkins, and the weather during this season. However, after we found our
venue, which was the only one we had a meeting with and actually took a tour of, we knew that we needed more time to
save money. We knew what it would take to really pull off what we really wanted....so our fall wedding of 2009 turned into a
Spring wedding of 2010! It took two years and right up to the minute to save, plan, make invitations, bathroom baskets, a card box, a sign for the amazing
Adesso Polaroid guest book, find the right
cake topper, and make the seating chart for our venue...that was one of the worst things I had to do for our wedding, trust me it sucks!
Many couples have their reasons for their wedding date...some don't have the money or time to save so they plan for a 6 month engagement and some couples like us are lucky enough that we can save for two years for a
$20,000 wedding. There are ways to plan and
save for all kinds of weddings. Here are a few things about our wedding that may help you plan yours.
1. Our
photographer including album was $1200, the
DJ was $500 and our
videographer was $800.
2. Our venue (
Glen Foerd Historical Mansion) cost half of our budget at about
$11,000...most amazing time! Package included 5 hours, 5 different hor d'oeuvres, dinner, open bar, chairs, tables, silver, glassware, plates, pasta station, fondue station, our own bridal attendent, use of their beautiful bridal room to get ready, ceremony on site, and a beautiful historical mansion to take pictures at and walk through! 3. I bought our
invitations for
$60 at
Michaels and
printed them at home. (Takes time so plan for this)
4. My
Allure W205 wedding dress was
$1,000, which was a
gift from my mother. PS it's not on their site any more!
5. Our
centerpieces,
bouquets, bout. and mother's flowers cost about
$2000 and were very beautiful...we loved them!
6. We bought the
MOH and
bridesmaids dresses (
Mori Lee)..my two bridesmaids were my now stepdaughters. The dresses were about
$200 each with alterations.
7. We
rented all the
tux for the bestman, two groomsmen and my dad...total was about
$400 with a free rental for the groom.
8. Our
honeymoon was in
Naples, Florida at a beautiful beach front hotel for 6 days, we had a car rental, and air fare for about
$2300 not including what we spent there. Best vacation we've ever been on!! Our honeymoon was amazing!
9. His
wedding band (the same as
Mrs. French Fry's hubby!) was about $300, it's a handsome
tungsten by
Triton that we got at
Robbin's Diamonds where we got both my engagement ring and wedding band. My
wedding band was $880 I believe.
10. Everyone had their own transportation....no limo or wedding bus needed!
11.
We had an amazing sand ceremony that included my now step children (two daughters and one son), it was one of the moments I will remember forever...because it was about our new family being bonded together forever. And no money can buy that!
Every wedding is beautiful and unique and as bloggers and brides we see these photos online and want to know how they made it happen...and this is how we made it happen!! PS...no budget for a wedding planner...so that was my duty!
Another peek at our wedding day....Getting Ready at Glen Foerd!(
Pictures in a Snap)
My
flower headband (the headband part is covered up) was about $12.00 at
Claire's and my
pearl necklace I believe is from
Kohls for about $18.00, and my veil was about $120...I bought it at the same
bridal shop where I got my gown.
I did my own makeup...very light colors, very natural.
No matter what your
budget is, how
stressful things can seem, how long your check list gets, don't worry about the little details and things you forgot because in the end its about what it all really means: Your
marriage, your
committment, your
bond, your
lifetime together.
