Flowers. A friend from church has agreed to arrange them. That means I can buy wholesale! Also, I am only having one bridesmaid, so it will just be my bouquet, hers, and decorations.
Corsages/Boutonnieres. The HTB and best man will wear pocket squares. The ushers (and male helpers) will wear ribbons. The female helpers will wear felt flower pins. Only the moms and grandmas will get real corsages.
Cake. My roommate is making it. And not just a top cake on top of 2 layers of icing-covered styrofoam. A full cake. Not sure what the ingredients will cost for this, but I plan to reimburse her for the costs. And I told her I don't want a wedding gift from her. This is more than gift enough. (She's actually really excited to do it--her mom used to make wedding cakes all the time, and she's been wanting to try, so I don't feel too bad about having her make it.)
Food. Hoping to have folks at my church help out with food prep. There's one lady in particular who does a lot of weddings for the church, so she would probably be the one to get. I'm told other people were able to have her do the food for about $12 per person. But we're thinking very simple, inexpensive breakfast foods--sausage, egg, & cheese casserole, french toast casserole, cheese grits casserole, hash brown casserole, maybe some quiches, and then some pastries and fruit--so I am hoping we can get that down to $10 per person.
Reception Hall. Using a community building. It's affordable to begin with, but the HTB is a county resident and he gets an extra discount. Tables and chairs are included, and you can rent the warming kitchen for a low hourly rate.
Bridal Accessories/Decorations. It seems like someone gets married at my church every weekend. I plan to beg, borrow, and, well, borrow everything I can. This includes veils, jewelry, flower girl baskets, vases, etc.
Other Decorations. I'm sure we'll have to buy some stuff to decorate the church and reception hall. But I am going with a very simple style for the wedding, so fewer decorations will be perfectly consistent with that theme. Also, the church and the reception hall are fairly pretty to begin with, so that should help.
Music. I am hoping to have my brother help out with music during the service, and maybe one of the church pianists. And another friend from church might be the DJ (or the overseer of the iPod). Of course, I would still give them thank you gifts, but it will be a lot cheaper than hiring musicians and a DJ. (Essentially, I am trying to get friends to do stuff wherever possible--labor in lieu of gifts. We'll see how it pans out.)
Photography. We're using a girl in our church who's sort of new to photography. She's been the second shooter at a couple weddings and done some engagement photos, but this will be her first time as primary on a wedding. As a result, we're getting a great deal.
Videography. We might not have this at all. If we do anything, we'll just use the church's video equipment (they record the sermons on Sunday) for the ceremony--very low-tech--and then have friends informally get video of the reception.
Rings. His will be titanium. Mine will be white gold, maybe with diamonds, but fairly small and simple and not too expensive (I hope). We're going to pay extra for engravings, but still, it counts as cutting costs.
Dress. I think I want a shorter dress. And simple--not much in the way of lace or beads or anything. In theory, this should be cheaper. However, since most dresses are long, so if I can't find one already short, transforming a long dress into a short dress will likely cost an arm and a leg in alterations. Also, I tend to prefer natural fibers, which are more expensive. Then again, I think I am, like, morally and psychologically opposed to paying an insane amount for a dress I will only wear once. And for like a day. I want to check out this place--you can mix and match silhouettes, including short ones, and they use almost exclusively natural fibers! If it works out, it could be totally doable.
No comments:
Post a Comment