In honor of our 2 year wedding anniversary, and the fact that it is now officially wedding season, I decided to give you guys details about how we planned our wedding on a budget! Not every little thing will necessarily work out the same for you as it did us, but that's what's fun about it- it's such a rewarding challenge for each individual couple. If you have an endless wedding budget I am jealous, and please feel free to click out of this right away. I'm not bitter or anything.
We got engaged at the end of December 2016 and were married on May 20th, 2017. I'm a psychopath, I'm aware. I was just so excited to get the show on the road that I (we) planned the whole thing in 5 months. Honestly, I wouldn't do it any other way. What I learned about wedding planning is that it's basically just making a lot of big decision and not looking back.
1. First things first: decide what type of guest list you can afford.
This is one of the most difficult decisions to make, but it is so crucial for your budget. Having a 300 person wedding would have been an absolute blast but we would have had to cut costs so much everywhere else. Instead, we wrote down our immediate family, then our bridal party, then extended family, then coworkers, and then any extra friends that we were able to invite. With our budget we were able to invite 140 people. It was so tough, and I do constantly think of people here and there that I wish we could have had there, but at the end of the day we had to do what we had to do. I like to think that most people understand these days what goes into a wedding financially and tend to be more understanding. Honestly, if they're not understanding people they probably shouldn't be invited LOL.
Tips:
-I work in a salon of 20 + women, and I love them all! Unfortunately if we had given them all a plus one, that would have been over a quarter of our guest list. Instead, I did a large invite to the whole salon saying"I'm sorry, no plus ones- enjoy girl's night out!" Tacky? I don't care. Gotta do what you've gotta do.
- We also said no kids, other than infants or those in the bridal party. People don't understand that an extra seat is an extra meal, no matter what their age. Again, people get it and should be understanding. I don't hate your kids. I love kids. I'm on a budget. Instead of writing "no kids" on the invite, we had a section that said how many seats we were offering for that family.
Example:
___ out of 2 will be attending
___ out of 2 decline
2. Decide what your overall budget is.
Blake and I worked our asses off for 5 months to pay for this wedding, and it was worth every penny. We weren't in a position to ask our parents to pay for the entire thing, so we asked them if there was anything they would be willing/able to contribute. We are forever so grateful for everything our mothers/fathers gave us. It would not have been anything close to what it was without their help. It helped knowing right off the bat what we were going to have to come up with on our own. Keep in mind most venues require a deposit, but after that you can make payments. Same with most of the other vendors.
3. Prioritize.
Make a list from top to bottom of what is most important to you. Whatever is at the top is where most of your money will go, and whatever is at the bottom you can either eliminate or get creative. For example, mine went a little like this:
Venue
Photography
Florals
Decor
Dress
Food/Cake
DJ
Bar
Hair & Makeup
Videographer
Transportation
Now, don't get me wrong: the things at the bottom of the list weren't unimportant to me- I just either had the hookup on these things or I had something that was a bigger priority. For example: hair and makeup were gifted to me from my close friends. My videographer was something I wanted but couldn't fit in along with the photographer. We ended up finding a high school student who did it for the experience. Get creative! I would have loved to go from place to place in a limo but our venue was in town so it wasn't a priority. We ended up taking an Uber XL after with all of our friends and it was a BLAST, the driver had lights and everything.
My list can look very different from your list, and that's okay! It's just the idea of writing your priorities out in front of you that helps you visualize where you want to spend more.
4. Think outside the box.
By box, I mean traditional wedding box. I'm all for tradition in some aspects, but in others I say throw it out the window.
We had a food truck, Quesadilla Gorilla, for our dinner. It was SO delicious and it was literally less than half the price of any other caterer in town. A nice four course meal would have been amazing, but it just wasn't an option for us. This also gave our wedding a little touch of our personality, in my opinion.
Instead of having a traditional pastor, we had my step dad officiate. He's one of the greatest men I know, and it just felt so right having him marry us. It also saved us money on an officiant.
We took the sample size of my dress, which gave us a discount and we didn't have to wait for it to come in. A family friend did the alterations. My shoes were from DSW.
Cut corners where you can, and decide what details are important to you!
5. Let the venue set your vibe.
If you find a venue that you love, decor will be one of the things that you will spend the least amount of money on. I remember looking around once everything was set up and thinking "Wow, I didn't need half of this stuff." Don't get me wrong, I loved all of my decor. But between the lights, greenery, and florals? That would have been enough. Trust me, don't overdo it. Choose a few key pieces that you want and let the venue do the rest.
6. Borrow, borrow, BORROW!
How many people do you know that have gotten married, had a baby shower, or thrown some type of party recently? I guarantee that you know someone! We borrowed tall flower vases (one of my favorite details), cutlery, glass dishes, glasses, chargers, and more from close friends. I know that I've offered my decor to my clients and friends after the wedding- people hate to spend money on something that will never be used again. I guarantee if you ask around, people will be more than happy to let you borrow something.
7. DIY what you can, hire what you can't.
I knew I wanted a sitting area, I just couldn't justify paying $500 for a sign on Etsy. We asked our handy friends to make the sign out of wood, and then I hired a local calligraphy artist to paint it. The sign with the hash tag was less important so I did that myself! Also, those chairs were found by two of my close friends who just know my taste. One was $5 and the other was $30? I don't know. It could have been less. My friends know me too well, and these were perfect for our back drop. A lot of the decor was our home decor. Two birds, one stone.
And here's a picture of Blake crying. Because Blake cried. !!!
I hope I didn't forget anything major! I will list all of our amazing vendors below. As always, if you have any questions let me know! Feel free to comment or message me on Instagram!
Photography: @heavenlyrhoadesphotography
Venue: @thegardenstulare
Dress: @miabellacouture @miabellabridal
Hair: @hair_by_kimberly
Makeup: @moonchild_makeup
Cake: @royalty.sweets
Woodwork: @grainonthebrain
Calligraphy: @jolenespalette
Catering: @quesadillagorilla
lovelovelove, Tanner
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