My Wedding Break Down; Tight Budget Weddings Don't have to be Tacky

Well I suppose we're all a little biased about our "big day". You ask any bride and she'll tell you her wedding was perfect and the best ever! Ask me and I'll tell you... our wedding was absolutely perfect & I loved every single detail and second of it. Honest.

So I say all that to say this, here is a little insight to our wedding & budget. Here are helpful tips I'd give to any bride... especially a bride who is worried about her budget yet wants her wedding to be beautiful and not cheap looking or tacky. Here it is in no particular order...

Elizabeth's Top Do's to say I Do:

13. Find a beautiful Venue If you find a beautiful venue you save time & money on decorating. What?! I know I love to decorate! But, put touches on things that will be remembered and reused. Candelabras & bows most likely will not be reused. Find a beautiful church, garden, house or whatever that is beautiful already and needs few finishing touches. All together (like wedding coordinator/ sound guy/ clean up this place cost me $500 (I added nothing. Seriously, not a thing to this stunning church.)

12. Take full advantage of Local Restaurants Remember #13? Yeah, same thing goes for your reception venue! This picture was taken on a normal day and I only tweaked a few things for our wedding day. We rented the entire restaurant out (on a Sunday, it's a heck of a lot cheaper)! Thankfully it was all of my beautiful fall colors and I loved the vibe. OH best part about having your reception at a restaurant? You don't have to worry about finding a caterer, table rentals, chair rentals, place settings and ALL that mess! They have it and you don't have to worry about who is in charge of cleaning and taking back anything.  It cost me $3,000... WHOA. Yeah it's like half my budget... BUT that's where we spent most of our wedding with everyone. (PS. The food was/is amazing there. If you're ever in Wake Forest, NC go to Girasole it's amazing.)

11. Find a Good Photographer Listen, you're going to want to look back at beautiful images from such an important day. Stay inside your budget... but don't just ask your friend who has a "fancy" camera... unless that friend has serious editing experience and most importantly knows when and how to capture your once in a lifetime important moments! We used our dear friend Kelly of May Photography & she did a beautiful job. (PS. I'm a full supporter of doing pictures prior to the wedding. We got married at night... I wanted outside, sunshine filled pictures with my husband. It was just as special to see him- see me for the first time & hey, we got to talk! It was so sweet, I'll never forget that.)

10. Flowers ARE important Typically the first place a bride makes changes to her budget is in the floral department. They die, it's true... but while they live they are beautiful. There are ways to save money and still have gorgeous flowers at your wedding. A.) Use seasonal flowers. B.) Find a florist that works out of their home... they tend to be cheaper because they have less to pay for themselves! C.) Tell your florist exactly what you don't want & come prepared with pictures of what you do want. D.) Back to #13, you shouldn't need too many extra flowers if your venue is beautiful BUT if you'd like some small arrangements in bud vases or whatever, tell your florist OR assign someone to pick up flowers at your local grocery store (in your colors of course) for those arrangements. My florist, Cathleen Wiley, did an amazing job with my flowers! I've dried my bouquet and it's now hanging in our bedroom as a sweet reminder of a beautiful day!

9. DIY Wisely Truth is I could have picked a million... literally a million... do it yourself projects for my wedding. Sadly there is just not enough time, money or sanity for all of them! Pick a few easy things you can do with your friends or pass off to your friends. I got a pack of wooden hangers for under $10 and used a paint pen to write "Bride", "Maid of Honor" and "Bridesmaid" on these hangers. It is something small but personal.

Again, DIY Wisely! These were the only decorations at the church. My friend Sarah and I made these and spent roughly $20 on each thanks to the great deals and great artificial flowers at Hobby Lobby! They make great gifts to give to people after the wedding or beautiful and special decor for your own home!

8. Don't blow your Dreams on the Dress of your Dreams There are plenty of people who would disagree with me on this, just watch Say Yes, to the Dress. (I love that show!) However, be smart with where you shop! I found my dress at Bridal Mart, an absolutely ghetto looking gem of a bridal store. Being the frugal gal that I am I looked at the clearance rack, I always start there (and typically end there). Call me lucky, but the only dress that caught my eye ended up being my size and on clearance. I put it on and cried, "Crap!! My mom is not even here!" You see, I wasn't even dress shopping for me. I was with my best friend and she was there for her final fitting. I put that baby on lay-a-way because when they told me it was marked down to $180.00 (!!!!!) I said it's mine and called my mom to tell her that when she came up I would take her to get my dress! Oh, by the way... that's my mom's gorgeous veil I'm wearing!

7. Cakes can be Simple & Elegant First off, our cake was DELICIOUS. It was almond cake with a vanilla butter cream that made you stop after the first bite & relish all the rest! I wanted a simple cake that was beautiful and tasted good. Because I went with a 'stucco finish' it was cheaper (that was a plus because that's what I wanted to start with!) You see, fondant is beautiful... and also complicated therefore, much more costly! Rough butter cream... easy, delicious and beautiful. I just asked my florist to add some fresh flowers for interest and color & it turned out beautifully. I also took a gamble and went for a smaller cake because A.) not everyone wants cake at a wedding B.) our baker, Tartlette Treats promised us a complimentary anniversary cake! So we served the entire thing!

6. Listen to your Groom's Suggestions My Husband really did/does trust my decisions, especially in the area of wedding but he did have one request. His ONE request was that his Groom's cake be Oreo Truffles which I might add are SO good. It was a great idea! They're not hard to make & they're not costly. Also, they were great for the hungry kids who were ready to have dinner before dinner was ready! (The bride & groom may have sneaked a couple too!)

5. Bridesmaids Gift should be Thoughtful & Special I had so much fun looking for gifts for my bridesmaids! I knew what I wanted to get them but I had to hunt for them. I got each girl vintage earrings mostly from the 1950's to wear in the wedding. I love sparkles and old things so it was fitting for my wedding! Each pair was different and they were wrapped in a vintage hanky which they could hold during the ceremony. (I definitely borrowed my sister's during the ceremony!) I spent about $100 on everything.

4. Guest Books... who looks at those? So there is nothing wrong with a guest book, but if we had one I guarantee I'd look at it rarely or never. However, we have awesome artwork from all our guests which now hangs proudly in our living room where I see it daily! Each guest picked a color stamp and left their thumbprint with their name next to it to create leaves on a tree! I love it & it was perfect for our fall wedding. The entire thing cost me roughly $30 but if you're talented enough to paint your own tree you could definitely do it for less!

3. Boutonnieres are Easy Peasy This is my handsome groom & my younger brother! My sweet husband has about 198,028,456 friends & has been in literally 14 weddings (not including his own... & 2 more coming up). Honestly, I couldn't have kept up with his groomsmen OR afford flowers for that many bridesmaids so we had to compromise. We each had 4 people in our wedding party & then he had 6 ushers. Then we had 2 musicians, 3 grandpa's & 2 officiants. So needless to say that's a lot of boutonnieres aka a lot of money. My bestie Whitney (the one whose bridal fitting I found my dress at) & I made about 25 boutonnieres one night and they each cost me about 30 cents! I found a vine at Hobby Lobby (which I used the majority of on another wreath for the reception) & cut of 50 leaves. We used florist tape, wire & hot glue to construct each one. It pretty much consist of 1 large leaf, one smaller one in a contrasting color and then one large acorn & one smaller one. Thanks Whitney for your large oak tree! The great thing is... we made these 2 months prior to the wedding.

2. Make Sure Your Feet are Happy I love my wedding shoes & I wear them ALL the time. They also provided a pair of shoes to a child in Africa! The Hubs & I bought our wedding shoes for each other as our wedding gift. Best gift ever! Seriously, I was comfortable and I still love wearing them. Tom's has wedding styles but we went with classics which worked with our colors. We spent $108 on our wedding shoes, but hey we also bought 2 pairs for kids in need & we didn't just wear them once.

1. Consider Your Getaway We had an evening wedding which led into a perfect fall night & I wanted our send off to be special! We left to all of our friends & family waving sparklers! It was exhilarating & memorable... plus we got awesome pictures from it! 150 sparklers... roughly $80. 

So like I said, my wedding was perfect. I loved the entire day & even more than that I get to spend the rest of my days with my sweet husband, Nathan. To see our beautiful wedding video captured by our talented friend, Christopher Timmons, click here! OH, and our wedding was planned in 3 1/2 months... so it can be done!

Happy Planning!