Tip of the Week

Reduce Stress whenever you can...  Weigh the pros and cons of saving money in certain scenarios.  Sometimes, you can save a lot of money and have a lot of fun doing something yourself.  Other times, it isn't worth the stress, so you'll want to consider all options.

For example, you can find very reasonable invitations online that will be printed with everything you want (and you can order a sample first to make sure it's what you're looking for).  If you need 100 invitations, you can easily find options online for $2 or less per invitation-- printed and ready to go.

You might think, why don't I just get some blank invites from a craft store and print them myself for $1 per invitation?  Yes, you are saving $100, but if you aren't the most computer savvy person, you could end up pulling your hair out, or worse- ruin the invitations because they print out with the writing half off the page.

Say your wedding budget is $12,000.  In the scheme of things, $100 is not that much.

On the other hand, if you can save $10 per plate by picking a different style meal or different time of day, that might be something worth considering- it doesn't involve stressing you out; it's just a change of theme.  That's a savings of $1,000.

Just consider your priorities and time commitment and make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew :)

Have a great weekend!

Photo Credit: messed up wedding invitation

SUMMER GIVEAWAY!

Right now, we're doing a $40 giveaway sponsored by CSN Stores.  The gift card will be good for any of their 200 stores, featuring dining room furniture, kitchen appliances, housewares and a ton of other stuff.  All you have to do to enter is follow my blog publicly and post a comment on one of my blog posts. 

 

I will collect these new blog followers up until August 8 and then draw a name out of a hat.  It's that simple- good luck!

 

*Shipping charges and international fees (for Canadian readers) may apply.

Finding A Discount Wedding Ring

There are a lot of hidden costs that pop up when calculating your wedding budget. One of these is the rehearsal dinner- one that people are usually careful to factor in if the in laws aren't covering it. Another is the bridesmaid luncheon- this is seldom planned for and can end up costing over $100 that wasn't originally accounted for. The one that will really cost you, if you don't plan for it, is the wedding ring(s).

Photo Credit: http://www.purelydiamonds.co.uk/purelydiamond/pics/PDM027W.jpg

If you and your husband are covering the entire cost of the wedding yourselves, you've surely thought about this... But people whose parents are helping out often forget that this is not something the parents pay for. This is on you and your future hubby. Wedding rings are not cheap, either. They are certainly less expensive than the engagement ring, but the combined cost of both your wedding bands could be well over $1,000.

Here are some ideas for keeping the cost of the wedding bands down...

Online jewelers- Of course, do your research. If you're not trying on the ring and looking at it on your finger, you'll need to go to a jeweler nearby and see what you're looking for, get your exact size and make sure the style suits you. Then, you'll need to research the company. There are several great online jewelers out there, well worth the savings, but you don't want to get scammed either. Read reviews, make sure there is a contact person if you aren't satisfied, and make sure they have a good variety and selection.

Alternatives- If you have your heart set on platinum, but it's just not in the budget, there are alternatives out there that are still good quality. Look into palladium for guys (in the platinum group, doesn't tarnish easily). You could go with white gold (looks similar, but tarnishes a bit more). Nix the diamonds; you already have one in your engagement ring anyway. You could also go with a mixture of different golds welded together for something beautiful but different.

Keep it in the family- Talk to your family members to find out if there are any rings that are being stored away from grandparents/ ancestors who have passed on. They don't even have to be wedding or engagement rings- just see what is there. Vintage rings are hard to come by and very beautiful. What better than a free ring with sentimental value?








Photo Credit: http://cs.artjewelrymag.com/artcs/blogs/artjewelry/KSSRingBefore.jpg

Pros and Cons of the Ipod Shuffle

It is certainly becoming the new craze to ditch the DJ and go with an iPod playlist for the wedding reception.  While this is a great way to save money, it's important to consider the extras you will need to run this show on your own.  Like all DIY ideas, it is absolutely crucial that you test it out before the big day.  Here are some things to consider...

• An Emcee- you need someone to announce the important events of the evening including:

• entrance of the wedding party
• first dance
• father daughter dance (and other planned special dances)
• call tables up to the buffet line
• cutting of the cake
• tossing of the bouquet/ garter toss

Make sure this person has a lot of personality- preferably that goofy uncle or a family friend who knows a lot about you.

• A microphone & speakers- you can rent an AV package with these items for less than $150.  This sounds like a lot but compare that to $800 + for a DJ.  Make sure your AV equipment includes a hookup for the iPod and that the speakers transmit 100 ft or so from the source.

•  Make sure you put together a really good variety of songs.  DJs know how to feel out the crowd, so you'll have to anticipate how your crowd will act.  I generally recommend 4 feel good, high energy, dance worthy songs for every 1 slow song.  Oldies always go over well at weddings, so I would also recommend 1 oldies song for every 1 newer song. 

• Put your own flavor and personality into the playlist.  This is probably the major pro to doing the entertainment yourself- you're in charge and you can really think about what you enjoy dancing to.  Have fun with it!

Myths About Saving on Weddings

It can be very tricky learning how to make certain alternative routes work to save you money on your wedding.  In actuality, some of them can and do, but many of the themes and ideas can really end up costing as much, if not more than the traditional route.  Make sure you do a full cost comparison before you are lead to believe that something is the least expensive option.  Here are some to keep an eye out for...

The hors d'oeuvres wedding

When it works: limited variety of options, very little seafood and meat, lots of dips and things that can be scooped as opposed to little finger foods that are individually prepared, served in buffet dishes- not passed

When it doesn't work: too many options (more work for the chefs), individually prepared apps with meat and seafood (i.e. bacon wrapped scallops, roast beef on a crostini with a dollop of horseradish mayo, crab balls, etc), lots of passed apps (more waiters, more work)

The "At Home" wedding

When it works: very small guest list (smaller tent, less rentals), perfect weather (maybe you don't even need a tent!), lots of helping hands (so you don't have to pay for prep and clean up)

When it doesn't work:  lots of guests= lots of money for rentals (a large tent costs more than $2K!  Probably what you would have spent on a banquet hall).  Also, don't forget you'll need to rent silverware, linens, tables, chairs, dance floor, porta johns, etc.  If the weather is bad, you might end up paying for side covers for the tent (another several hundred dollars), as well as an archway/tunnel tent leading to the bathrooms so guests don't get soaked.  If you haven't considered how you're going to get all the tables, settings, etc set up and broken down, that costs a lot of money for hiring a crew.

Alternatives to the Wedding Cake

Ahh, the cupcake tower.  This is a HUGE misconception in the wedding world.  Cupcakes need a lot of individual TLC.  They are frosted individually and decorated individually, then stacked on an intricate tower often times with a fake display cake on the top.  Intricacies= Money.  Don't be deceived into thinking that cupcakes are a cheap alternative.

Photo credit: http://thefuntimesguide.com/images/blogs/spring-wedding-cupcake-tower-cake-by-American-Candy-Stand-Cupcakes.jpg

When it works:  family and friends make a variety of pies the day before the wedding; having a small display cake and a large sheet cake behind the scenes to feed everyone; having a candy station using a variety of chocolates/candy bought in bulk and displayed in fun jars/ vases

There are definitely a lot of great and creative ways to save money, just make sure you think of all the caveats and work involved before you take that plunge!

The Intimate Wedding Party

One of the factors that can push that wedding budget over the top is something that most people don't even take into consideration.  You've cut out the videographer, made your own favors, set the event earlier in the day, etc... but did you ever think about making your wedding party smaller so you could splurge somewhere else?

I can't tell you how many times I hear brides talk about feeling "obligated" to have certain people as their bridesmaids.  Before you know it, they have 8 or more girls marching down the aisle with them.  I know because I was one of them!  You're not obligated to do anything on your day- only what you want to do.  If you cut your wedding party to 2 or 3 bridesmaids (including the maid of honor), people will understand that you are only including your absolute closest friends/family and they won't be offended.

Photo Credit: http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID10494/images/David_s_Bridal.jpg

Here's how you'll save:

• wedding party gifts (typically, people spend $30-100 on each bridesmaid)

• limo (instead of getting a stretch limo for 20 people, now you can get a smaller one for 8)

• flowers (a bridesmaid bouquet typically costs between $75-150)

• photographer (the more people in the wedding party, the more variety of shots and angles the photographer has to take.  I'm not talking about money on this one, but more the amount of time you have to spend away from your event to get all those shots)

• rehearsal dinner (less heads to pay for)

All costs aside, making your wedding party more intimate means more quality time with the people who are most important to you and less running around trying to get everyone doing what they need to be doing.  It's really less of a headache and more of a good time if you don't have to worry about dealing with a huge wedding party.

What could I do with all that money??

When you're stuck on a tight budget for your wedding, it can be somewhat of a downer. Going with the "glass is half full" state of mind, I thought I might list some motivators for all the good things about keeping your wedding costs from spiraling out of control. Think about what that money you saved could be put toward...

1) Credit Card Debt- whenever I can't pay off my full credit card bill at the end of the month, it looms over me until I finally can... except it usually just gets worse and worse. Once I let myself go $100 over, the next month I seem to be in $200 debt and it spirals out of control. Think about the headache if you had a bunch of wedding charges lingering on that credit card :(

2) Student Loans- you can never start paying those off early enough. The sooner you start pitching in toward that, the sooner you will be able to relax.

3) A Down Payment- what better way to start off your marital bliss than by having a house of your own? My husband and I were able to save up enough money to put a good down payment on a house and our monthly mortgage is actually cheaper than most of our friends' rent.

4) Completing your registry- this is something that is often forgotten by newlyweds. Once the party is over, you may have 20-30 items that you really need for your house/apt that were never purchased as gifts for you. You'd be surprised how expensive it can be to complete that registry- even after you narrow down the needs from the wants.

5) Your sanity! Like I said before, debt can really get inside of your head and make you feel trapped until you're finally able to pay it off. Your wedding is a truly amazing, once in a lifetime event, but you can certainly pull it off without putting that kind of strain on your first few years together as newlyweds. Be creative and enjoy figuring out ways to make it work as an affordable event- you'll be happy you did once the honeymoon is over :)

Best of, Worst of Budget Wedding Planning

Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have any budget whatsoever for your wedding? You could have the most extravagant cake and flowers, the most eclectic and exotic food, an 8-piece band, you name it. I've watched my fair share of "Platinum Weddings" and I have to admit, it's a little depressing knowing that I could never have an event like that. But to be honest, I think it's kind of fun planning a wedding on a budget. It's so much more interesting. I'll take you through my favorite and most challenging/ least favorite aspects of planning a wedding on a budget.

The best thing about planning a wedding on a budget is the creativity. A fabulous wedding absolutely depends on it! On the show that I previously mentioned- Platinum Weddings- I saw a lot of gorgeous settings and spreads, but I also saw a lot of cafeteria looking backgrounds that had been not-so-successfully spiffed up by $100K worth of decor and details. To be honest, I can't understand why someone would pay double what you could do just as well yourself or with a scaled down version that looks better than the expensive one!

For instance, my specific budget wedding favorites are flowers and decor. I've seen centerpieces that will run you about $300 per table for basically a giant antique vase full of imported red roses. Maybe it's just me, but 75 red roses bundled together doesn't impress me. It's so boring and typical. On the other hand, you can fill a $5 vase with sand, water, seashells, grasses and brightly colored gerbera daisies for less than $20 per table. It looks so unique, fresh and classy and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. There are so many other creative options and alternatives to the typical centerpiece- just use your imagination!

My other favorite aspect of budget wedding planning is the bar. There are so many ways to get creative here. The first and most obvious- the signature drink. Don't provide a full bar if you're on a tight budget. Just stick to a crowd pleaser like sangria, bay breezes, or margaritas. If you are serving wine, just pick a white and a red. Don't get into chardonnay, pinot grigio, cabernet, merlot, etc. One red and one white is more than fine. For beer, your best bet is to get kegs and keep them hidden behind the bar (keep it classy ;)... Depending on how many guests you have, you might get 3 kegs of Bud Light, 2 kegs of Yuengling, and 2 kegs of Amstel Light. This is a good enough variety of flavors and they're not too expensive (Amstel Light would be the most expensive of the 3).

My least favorite things about planning a wedding on a budget are the food compromises and the cake compromises. However, this doesn't mean it can't be done well- it just means I wish I could have the most amazing food and cake around because I'm a real foodie :)

The only things about catering that have held me back actually are seafood options (and of course filet, but we can do without that). So, if you are unable to do shrimp cocktail and crab balls, try to think of cheaper ways to incorporate seafood into your menu. This, of course, implies that you want seafood, so if you don't then there are plenty of wonderful alternatives for you. If you do like seafood, consider dips or fried things- like crab dip or fried shrimp. The crab dip allows you to feed more people because most people will take a spoonful and move on, while crab balls are more intricate and people can easily "pop" them all night. Fried shrimp are a cheaper alternative to crab balls. You get the idea...

If you don't like seafood, the sky is the limit- think black bean quesadilla wedges, meatballs, mini roll ups (like sandwich wraps), chips and salsa, hot spinach and artichoke dip, mini pizzas, cheese and crackers, etc for hors d' oeuvres. For dinner, you could spice up a traditional chicken dish by making it "Jamaican Jerk Chicken" or skewers/ kabobs with chicken and beef. I also like to stray from the traditional sides like potatoes and green beans because I think it's fun to disguise that you're on a budget. Instead of going really plane jane, why not make it something really different that leaves people guessing? I like sides like balsamic pasta salad with tomato and mozzarella and grilled, marinated veggie medley. These dishes hide the fact that you're on a budget because they are so different and delicious!

Ok, for cake, it's really just the decoration that gets the kibosh- but only from the cake designer. You can find unique ways to spiff it up yourself. Think ribbons and real flowers. Just because you can't have 20 hand crafted sugar flowers or pearl borders all over the place, doesn't mean it won't look nice. I think that simple can be better sometimes, too. When these cakes get too busy, they tend to look a little tacky and ridiculous. Try to keep it classy by cascading real flowers down the different tiers- flowers that were left over from your arrangements and won't cost much extra.

So even the tedious parts of budget wedding planning have solutions and can be a lot of fun once you get your creative juices flowing. Let me know if you have any other unique ideas for saving money on your wedding. Check out Maryland Budget Wise Weddings for more ideas: http://www.budgetwiseweddingmd.com

Save the planet...I mean Wedding

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

We've all heard this phrase from the time we were in elementary school. Usually, it applies to our daily grind- trying to limit the amount of paper we use, rinsing out jars and using them for other things, and of course putting anything we possibly can into the recycling bin. So how does this apply to weddings?

Well, I should first admit that this has nothing to do with saving the planet-- but it does have to do with saving you and your family a ton of cash. Why not use some of the resources already available to you for the wedding ceremony and reception instead of purchasing more than you have to?

Not only should you be thinking about items you or your family have lying around the house, but also items that can be transported from the ceremony to the reception. Here are some basic ideas to help you cut back:

1) Centerpieces
These days, centerpieces can be anything the mind can possibly conjure. You don't need to have a traditional vase with roses in it. People come up with the most unique, creative and fun centerpieces that really blow the traditional ones out of the water. Not every table needs to be the same, either. So think about collecting a variety of vases from your house, your friends' houses and your family's house. I think it looks really cool to have some tall vases, some short, some wide, some narrow, etc. See what you can find. When you fill them, think of things that you don't have to buy. For example, you or your loved ones may have really cool greenery in the yard that can create a gorgeous natural piece that looks really whimsical and romantic. You could also collect some sand from a nearby beach to fill the vases with. One of the most obvious free centerpiece accents is water. Filling a vase with water and some floating flowers/candles can look really cool and eclectic- you might consider getting food coloring in your theme colors and dying the water. The sky is the limit!

2) Bouquets
So let's say you have 4 bridesmaids. There are 5 bouquets, including your own, that you girls are going to throw under the table as soon as the festivities get started. Why not leave the head table unadorned until you all get there? Have the vases filled with water and ready to go; then when the bridal party arrives, you all can put your beautiful bouquets in the vases and you've got your head table decor taken care of.

3) Accessories
Don't forget the beauty of the expression "Something borrowed". If your family and friends have gorgeous earrings, necklace, bracelet, hair pieces/ accessories, ask to borrow them! You don't need to buy $500 worth of jewelry for one day of wear.

4) Rentals
If you need to rent tables, chairs, etc for your wedding, consider having your rehearsal dinner with these items. The rentals will most likely be dropped off and set up 2-3 days in advance, so make use of the time you have them! You can most likely have the rehearsal dinner catered for less than going to a nice restaurant.

5) Entertainment
Do your family members or friends have special talents? Use them! If a friend is a good singer, ask her to sing for your ceremony or reception. If your little cousins Irish dance, ask them to perform for the crowd. If your wedding party is a bunch of jokesters, put together a surprise dance/ skit to perform. You and your loved ones can probably entertain your guests much better than a stranger could and have a lot of fun with it.

Do you have any other ideas about this topic?? Please share!

And now for the second wedding bill...

Just as you thought you had your wedding budget together, you realized that you forgot about the rehearsal dinner... oh yea, that little extra thing. The rehearsal dinner is not typically wrapped into the wedding budget because it is usually hosted by the groom's family. However, families these days are doing things much differently and throwing the traditional rules and etiquette out the window.

If you (the couple) and your families are working out some kind of 3-way split for the wedding costs, it's probably going to be on you to figure out the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner dilemma can be quite a nightmare if you have a lot of out-of-town guests. At an average of $40 per head without including alcohol, you could be looking at another $2,000 or more if you invite 50 guests to the dinner!

Ok, before you have a heart attack, there are options to make this an affordable event. First, you are not required to host a rehearsal dinner for everyone. You could make it an intimate event for just your immediate relatives (parents, grandparents, siblings) and wedding party. That should cut your list down to less than 20 people.

If you are set on inviting all of the out-of-town guests, why not host a very informal cocktail type of event in someone's home or back yard. Make a bunch of appetizer/finger foods that don't require heating or cooking and let people wander around talking to each other. For example, put out a platter of lunch meats, cheeses and rolls, some pasta and/or potato salad, a cold spinach dip with crackers, vegetable crudites and a fruit tray. This should not cost you more than $10 per person and it doesn't involve an oven or stove at all! If you feel obligated to provide alcohol, consider a signature drink such as sangria. This is a very budget friendly option because it is not all alcohol- it's a mix of about 3/4 wine and 1/4 club soda (and some sugar) with fruit slices floating in it (lemons, limes and oranges).

Has anyone done this type of rehearsal dinner? How did it go?