My baby became a bride...

Well, the wedding came to pass on March 1, 2013, just as planned and without so much as a hiccup.  Everything was beautiful!  The bride, the church, the reception, IHOP afterwards.  Everything.  :)

As promised, here is the rest of the blog I started back in, um, October.  (Sorry about that.)  We ended up doing the entire wedding, dresses included for around $4500.  Which, to compare, is nearly $1500+ less than I spent on my first wedding almost 20 years ago!  I claim victory.  T was able to have everything she wanted, the way she wanted, with less out of daddy's pocket but no corners cut in taste and style.

I guess I'll just go down the list I started before:

The wedding decor - Trees.  Ah, the trees.  They turned out beautifully.  Just as I imagined them in my head.  However, they were not obtained quite as easily.  My dad, A, and I took a Saturday to raid my friend's acreage thinking we would go in, chop down a few treelings, and grab some BBQ.  Well, we did get the BBQ, but only after felling ten or so 30-40ft poplars.  With the denseness of the property, the perfect 9ft tree just happened to be the top 9ft of a MUCH taller tree!  But it was definitely worth it.  One BBQ lunch for 3 and about 27 cans of spray paint later.  And voila!

The break down: In addition to lunch and spray paint, I bought 9 galvanized steel buckets at Lowes for $11 each, 2 bags of cement for about $4 each, "borrowed" pea-gravel from my dad's yard, and bought 2 bags of marble rock at $4 each.  Total for the silver trees ~$210.00.  The most amazing part - I sold 7 of the 9 after the wedding for $15 a piece!  So, really, they cost less than $110.00!

Lighting.  Notice the hanging candles in the trees?  I sat one day and made 100 wire hangers out of a $6 roll of bailing wire.  The glass votive holders came from Hobby Lobby for $.50 each.  I think a pack of 100 tealights cost around $3 with my 40% off coupon (Even if you have to go back multiple times in a week, do it to use that coupon!)  I put 10 candles in each tree.  So for around $53, we had just the right amount of sparkle in the background.  And you guessed it, I sold the glass votive holders for .30 each reducing my net cost to ~$27!

In addition to the candles in the trees, we also made two umbrella chandeliers.  I know, I said hula hoops, but after careful consideration and a pinterest post later, and umbrellas it was.  Now, large golf umbrellas are not cheap, as I found out.  About $27-30 each!  For an umbrella!  However, I found a guy on ebay selling 66" golf umbrellas for $9.99 each.  I grabbed 2 and the rest is history.  These chandeliers were the talk of the ceremony.  You can see them in the picture above on the left.  See it, top center?  I used my Christmas lights (white icicle lights).  So total cost was just the umbrellas, about $28 with shipping.


The reception decor - Glass jars.  We ended up with about 30 jars.  I bought maybe 6 rolls of various ribbons and lace.  I would take an hour here and there and decorate the jars.  Some had lace, some just ribbon, some both, some sand and a candle, and some were spray painted solid.  On a few, we actually spray painted over lace and then took the lace off.  Those were really pretty.  We put on jar on each table and used the rest to decorate the fireplace mantles at the reception local.  Afterwards, we all took a jar(or several) and used them in our homes.  I have about 4 on my mantel.  Very inexpensive way to add something pretty and simple. (The fireplace candle holders were from Goodwill.  $6 each!  I kept one and have the other for sale.)

Letters. Eh, no letters.  Never got around to making them.

And finally, the dresses - Check the previous blog for the details.  But check this out...

$1500 Maggie Sottero

$395 China Replica

 

In addition to saving on the bridal gown, my dress and the bride's maids' dress all came from Ross.  Mine a whopping $39.99 and the girls' an even better $17.99.  But my favorite of all, the flower girl.  T and I had been making, or I guess I should say, knotting the bottoms of tutu costumes for a friend of T's during the months leading up to the wedding.  We had come across several tutu flower girl dresses on pinterest and decided that was the route we would go.  

We really liked this one which sells for $154.

Instead I MADE this one.  Total cost of materials $35!

The last HUGE saver were the tablecloths.  After calling a couple of rental companies and doing a little research.  I opted to buy them instead of renting.  I needed 10 132" round eggplant tablecloths.  To rent, $20 per tablecloth.  I bought them for $13 each, then sold them for $8 each.  So, I save $12 per tablecloth (thats $120!) by buying them instead of renting them.

I wish I had better pictures to post, but the real pictures won't be back for another month or so, and, unfortunately, I just didn't take very many the day of.  We had so many other areas we saved money - the sand shadow box (purchase for $70 on etsy, or make one for $12; um, yeah, we made it) and I did all the flowers (check the she said; he said facebook page for pics.  The only area I did not pinch pennies was the photographer.  After all, once everything is over, that is all you have left.  Out of the $4500, the photographer was $1825.  With that money paid, and no pictures for up to 3 months, I have VERY high expectations.  :)

Since the wedding, I have completed one room make-over and am in the middle of another.  Blogs on those coming soon!  Thanks for reading.  Hopefully, these tips and ideas will help you save a ton too.  And if you need my services, just let me know.  I am officially "for hire."