Monday, November 16, 2015

DIY Wedding under $7000

So, I finally got hitched.  We were engaged for what seems like FOREVER.  We already had the marriage but I wanted the party.  We have never had a lot of money, we like most people live pay check to pay check.  So I knew I had to set a budget and stick to it.  Of course somethings don't work out that way, but with me making a lot of the things and buying a lot from thrift stores we were able to keep the cost down.  

The beginning of this year we decided we wanted to get married.  I had help from my mom and loved ones and I got started on planning. I had a busy semester at school so I didn't start contacting vendors until summer time.  So in all actuality, I had about 4 months to plan it.  I lucked out and a guy I worked with was getting married a few months before me and he gave me the number to his caterer and D.J.'s.  Who in turn gave us a discount.  

For the decor, I scoured pinterest.  Pinterest was my best friend.  I got so many ideas from there.  I know I wanted vintage with a lof of sparkle.  I know I wanted a tea length gown and bird cage veil.  I read on some budget blog about having silver platters with candles as table settings and it grew from there.  I knew because it was a fall wedding I would want fall colors.  Which are my favorites.  I picked purple and gold as the main colors with pops of dark red, dark orange and lime green as accents.  For the vintage theme I wanted lace on all the tables and I didn't want anything to match.  Everything was different. From there it just grew.  My mom, friend and I went to thrift store after thrift store in search of lace table cloths, silver platters (had to be tarnished, no shininess at my wedding) different sized jars, milk glass and vintage champagne glasses and flutes.  





Oriental trading was my second best friend. My mom wanted things with our names and date on them, so we ordered mint tins that matched, we had beverage napkins with our name and date.  For favors I decided on a candy table because my husband loves candy. I got the candy for just under $100 at oriental trading and on the site you can break it down to color which helped a lot.  I ordered lanterns for the dais decor and a bubbles for the exit.  




For my dress I was going to buy online, I searched and searched.  I found one I absolutely loved but I was a little hesitant because what if it didn't fit? What if it was not pretty?!?  I decided lets just go to David's Bridal and try on a few dresses to get a feel what tea length and floor length gowns and go from there.  Well, they had maybe two tea length gowns and we fell in love with one. It of course was out of my budget, but my mom said she would split with me so it was in my own budget. 

For the tux, we rented.  I was afraid that he would look frumpy because it wasn't tailored specifically for him but it was perfect.  He looked very handsome, and it included everything.  Much cheaper then buying a tux.  It was always a lot less stress then trying to go to all these different stores to piece together a suit for him at a good price.  

Flowers for the wedding, we found a whole sale florist and I did them myself.  I didn't want bunches and bunches, I wanted them sparse and just hanging out in jars.  Flowers cost us under $200. I made my bouquet from brooches from my grandmas collection and a few from my mom.  For my maid of honor and my daughter, we threw some flowers together and made them small.  I used baby's breath for outside ceremony and then for the baby's breath inside I spray painted it gold.  I only had one rose per table so I only bought one bunch (which was 25 stems).  I found a dark purple carnation, which is what cost me the most but they held up very nicely. 

The cake, I was toying with the idea of making one myself but in the end I didn't want the stress.  We used a local bakery and the cake was small.  Delicious and simple and I absolutely loved it.  That only cost us under $300.   


I will have more posts with breakdowns on DIY and cost.  

~Allie 




 

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