My kid sister, A, made the announcement last week that she was getting married! I am absolutely thrilled for her! My sister has been through a lot over the last few years, which is really sad to say since she's only 22. She has dated alot of real creeps and I know this sounds very protective big sisterish, but I never approved of the last guy she was engaged to. (That engagement lasted a couple months) The jerk used her for her financial stability and put her into serious debt. (No bueno, in my book) But her Fiance is perfect for her and treats her like a queen! Hurray!
Not to say that the two of them haven't had their issues, but they have gotten over it and worked things through. But can I say as excited as I am for them to get married, I'm already finding that I'm not exactly thrilled with helping plan it. I don't think either of them realized how much work it takes to plan a wedding and I feel like my poor mom & I are planning it all. I have been finagled into making the wedding cake (yikes!) and doing the slide show for the reception. Now, as much as I'm already worn out by helping and its not even been a week yet, I still am willing to assist in anyway I can. I'm a SAHM and so I have the time that my sister & mom lack to work on things like this.
We are trying to do this wedding on a very minimal budget, and so we are pulling as many favors for inexpensive or free things as possible. We're reserving a local Church House (free!), I know several people have offered to help with flowers, I'm doing the cake & slide show, we are making & preparing the dessert bar ourselves (and having a decorating party to do it.) So, many things and so little time to do it. (two and a half months, if I didn't mention it)
I'm open for ideas and suggests on how to give my sister an awesome, but inexpensive wedding!
So Easy, A Wreckerator Couldn't Do It
21 hours ago
I ordered invitations from 123print.com. They have some VERY tasteful invites that I embelished with things from a craft store. I bought ribbon, punched a hole through the top of the invite and tied a bow on each one, in addition to cutting and adding a piece of colored velum on top of the invite. This way, the bow attached (held together) the velum to the invite. Make sense? My mom also made my garter from a garter she got free at a bridal show (they were giving them away). Again, she embelished the free one with things from a craft store. My bouquet was made of silk flowers and I got to keep it, which is a GREAT momento of the day. My bridesmaid's flowers were silk arrangements too, very simple. My centerpieces were silk at $20 each including the vase and mirror they sat on. I bought the vases and flowers half off at a local craft store. I wrote on each vase with a paint pen and gave them as gifts to my bridesmaids and other essential people who helped my day go smooth. So, be looking for half off or at least sales at your local craft stores, they are a gold mine! Hope some of these things help! I got married 6/26/10 on a budget of less than $5,000, but over $3,000 of that was my church, DJ, and reception location/food. So, she can have some nice touches without spending a lot. Oh, and my mom made my veil, which again, we embelished with jewels bought at a local craft store.
ReplyDeleteWe saved a ton of money by getting help from family friends, doing things ourself, etc. We bought invitations at a craft store, and I designed them and printed them all by myself. I had my aunt take the pictures with her digital camera, and they were all great. I made CDs of all of the songs we wanted, and had a friend DJ for us for free.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many great ways to cut costs and still have a beautiful wedding! Good luck!
Thanks for all the ideas! ;)
ReplyDeleteI had a local printer print my invites and it cut down the cost like crazy and I also did the programs myself with a kit form michael's. I got so many compliments on them! I also did my own tags for our favors which were measuring spoons and measuring cups, i tied the tags on with really pretty super thin black ribbon. That helped cut down cost as well! Good luck!
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