Please share your wedding stories (buy, relatives, penny, property)

[regarese]

I was married in the fall-October (6 years ago). I picked October because I didn't want to be all how and sweaty in my wedding gown. Joke was on me-it was 80+ degrees in October the day I got married. LOL. We had a bigger wedding, but our parents paid for most of it. If I had it to do over again, I would have done it a lot different (smaller), but I really really wanted to wear the gown (which was comparatively inexpensive) and have the church ceremony. We had a DJ b/c a band was too expensive. Ours was expensive, but we paid a lot less than a lot of our friends did at that time. I think our dinner was $60pp-friends of ours paid over $100pp and the food was not that good. But like I said, in hindsight-probably wasted a lot of money. We had a neighbor do our photographs (he did photography on the side) and he did it for his cost, and my uncle videotaped all the parts I wanted taped. I-with the assistance of my aunt and a couple of friends-made the favors so we saved some money there.

[Baltic_Celt]

Looking -

Absolutely gorgeous pic! You look beautiful! Thank you for sharing your pic. You look so nice & slim waisted in your dress! Just a lovely pic.

Thank you for the book referral. I had NO idea weddings were so expensive. I've heard in the past what people have spent & I thought they were being extravagant in some way - either too many people, open bar (or open too long!), 30-tiered cake - something extravagant. Great tip on contacting the dress manufacturer directly.

ILNC - According to all this, you did have a great price! Many of you did. Good for you all!

And, for those of you who did it for $3K, you should start your own wedding planning biz's, seriously.

Makes me glad I've never gotten married, only because, I'd have been divorced 5 times by now (not good in the boyfriend picking area, I'm afraid). According to Looking/Maria's stats, that's $75-100K that I've saved.

Still, someday, I'd still like to have a small, intimate wedding. Maybe a "no present/no food" wedding. Or, the presents would be each guest contributing in some way - your photographer friend, your cake baking friend, your seamstress friend, your shoe dying friend. Or instead of RSVP on the invites, it will say BYOB. As usual, I am kidding, of course, but I have heard of dual weddings, where 2 couples married together. Same party, same guests, so wouldn't that be great were than an option?! Anyone ever attend a dual wedding?

Thanks for the stories, all.
Very lovely weddings you've all seemed to have had... Baltic_Celt

[mariatherese]

my sister and i were thinking of a dual wedding! she is "perpetually engaged" as well. they have been engaged for 12 years and have 2 kids together. LOL i think it just runs in the family. we keep putting off the wedding thing b/c it is such a hassle thinking about it.

a dual wedding would be fantastic!

[lookingfortheperfectplace]

We just did 2 kegs of beer for the bar part. Bud Light and Coors Light. If you didn't like either you just weren't drinking! My friend was suppose to bring me a bottle of Tequila to take the edge off but she forgot it. I had to do the driving when we left because my new groom was too drunk to, we didn't want a limo plus we were going to our vacation cabin in the mountains and then leaving for a road trip honeymoon, we needed our car. Anyways, we get to the bar in the small mountain community and they don't even sell tequila but they had imitation tequila, woohoo! We did get 1, only 1, drink for free as we were in full gown and tux still and they had never had that happen there before.

[BusySocialWorker]

We were married on the beach in Jamaica AWESOME!!! I would do it over just the same way a million times!!! All of our friends were getting married and we were SO traditional wedding-ed out!! We went to a Sandals Resort and were pampered!! His father and step mother came but stayed at a neigboring resort to give us privacy - we stayed for 10 days.. amazing... it was the best way to have an awesome wedding and honeymoon!! The pictures were beautiful and we did the whole traditional wedding ceremony and gown / tux flowers etc..... Highly Highly recommneded!!!

[mariatherese]

Originally Posted by BusySocialWorker

We were married on the beach in Jamaica AWESOME!!! I would do it over just the same way a million times!!! All of our friends were getting married and we were SO traditional wedding-ed out!! We went to a Sandals Resort and were pampered!! His father and step mother came but stayed at a neigboring resort to give us privacy - we stayed for 10 days.. amazing... it was the best way to have an awesome wedding and honeymoon!! The pictures were beautiful and we did the whole traditional wedding ceremony and gown / tux flowers etc..... Highly Highly recommneded!!!

was it cheaper than a traditional wedding that way?

[christina0001]

We were married October 1, 2005, at 1pm. We did not have a wedding party. I had a traditional wedding gown (although I did choose ivory, not white); he wore a grey suit. We invited 42 people and 38 came. We invited very close family and only our very best friends, because we wanted a very intimate celebration. We had a typical church ceremony at the church I was christened in; my grandmother and greatgrandmother still worship there. Then we all went to my mother's for the reception. We had a white tent w/ tables and chairs, and a catered meal (a late lunch/early dinner being that it was about 2:30pm), typical wedding sort of food (beef/chicken/fish). We played music from CDs we burned, and the only dancing was us dancing twice to our two favorite love songs. We decorated country-autumn; brightly colored mums everywhere, a few bales of hay, and white pumpkins galore. We had a beautiful wedding cake, red velvet with white frosting, covered with fresh autumn-colored roses, which matched the roses in my bouquet. It was a beautiful day, warm and comfortable. I was hoping the leaves would have turned color a bit but they were still fully green. At night, when it got cool, we served hot apple cider. It was a very peaceful and relaxing celebration, and because it was small we got to spend a lot of time with our loved ones on our special day. It was perfect, exactly our taste.

[rtmsal]

I am not sure if you have gotten married yet, I noticed the date of the post. If you have congratulation, if your still planning, we got married in October for $5000, invited 200 guests. We had a caterer, a DJ, flowers, a reception hall, all of the things that we wanted. Where we cut costs was on decorations, we used natural elemnts, such as a lot of greenery, you do not need a lot of flowers which can be one of the biggest expenses, we spent $300 I had lillies and special ordered mums, talk to the florest to find what you like, but also what is inexpensive that will provide fillers, mirrors on the tables with candles for centerpiesces, instead of a photographer friends and family took photos, and we later converted them into an old style movie with our song in the background ourselves. We did many of the things ourselves which may seem a little overwhelming, and at times it was, but for $5000 all inclusive to have the perfect wedding, it was worth it. The possibilities are endless if you get creative and relax. It will be perfect, because it is your day. Also, it is so important to remember it is his day as well.

[Mrs.Bewitched]

Originally Posted by mariatherese

I would like to hear some wedding stories!

I will be getting married within a year or two- the date hasn't been set yet, we were waiting until I finished school. Now that I'm done, I'ts time for me to start thinking about it.

I am not sure what I want to do- we both have very large families and very small budgets (we will be paying for it ourselves). We have discussed eloping, which I would do. Also a small wedding on the beach (10-20 people). Or, perhaps I could get away with the big one I really want... but as my fiance says, I have "wine taste on a beer budget." I am very picky. Also a bit eccentric and untraditional.

Has anyone ever had a wedding in the fall? Or some time other than summer? I would love to do one in the fall.

Did you have a band? a DJ? I would love to have an old swing band at my wedding; I adore music from the 30's & 40's!

What about untraditional dresses? Before the Victorian Age, I believe, it was custom to wear brightly colored wedding gowns. I would like to do that!

Any tips on how to save money? What about decorating ideas?

Oh the more I think about it, the more I realize its not going to happen the way I picture it. If having a big wedding means it will be really low budget and distasteful, then I'm not going to have one. Besides, why spend so much money on one day? I just can't justify it to myself. But, I like nice things (see- wine taste on a beer budget). Maybe I will just do it tastefully, but small... the beach idea.

OK sorry for the rambling

Even if your wedding story doesn't relate to one of my questions, I would love for you to share it! So, what was your special day like?

***I had my wedding in the winter and had it winter themed. Colors were shades of blue, white and silver. Snowflakes on many things. Flowers were winter themed (branches spray painted to look like snow....)

***DJ

**My wedding dress was a large ballgown- but it had light blue flowers throughout. Bought it new on ebay for $225!!!!! Here are pictures of part of the front (sorry, but almost all wedding pics are not online) and back:




***Made my own invitations (had the winter card for the background and frosty white vellum paper with the printing, attached), map cards, RSVP postcards. Winter themed. Here's pics of the set:


I saved money by buying whatever I could on ebay, or making it myself. And, by having it in the winter, which is the cheapest time to have a wedding.

[Tek_Freek]

We were on a budget, a very strict budget.

But we managed to have a really nice wedding. My mother, a very talented lady, made all the bouquets and flower arrangements. Most of the flowers and plants were wildflowers she picked.

The main flower was Queen Anne's Lace, which is know to most as the Wild Carrot. She dyed them blue to match our wedding colors. Saved us a lot of money, and was the best gift we were given in both our opinions. We could not have had even 1/2 the flowers if we'd had to buy them.

Queen Anne's Lace grows wild throughout most of the US and every time we see them growing in a field or ditch it's a reminder of our wedding.

Most interesting wedding moment: I'm 6'-2 and she's a tad over 5'-0. When we kissed at the end of the ceremony the entire group started laughing. Priceless.

35 years and counting...

Did you all notice the very attractive lady in the previous post? If you didn't go back...