Wedding Planning Tips?

[shockponie]

I was a DIY bride on a budget almost 2 years ago. My colors were purple & lime. I single-handedly made most of my decorations/centerpieces/favors/etc by myself over the course of about 6 months. The most expensive things were the venue and my dress.

I don't know how DIY you plan to be or how much you want to spend, but my best advice is to see if you can buy anything in bulk online.

*I decorated my whole reception & the gazebo where we got married with tissue paper flowers & flower garlands for less than $30 including shipping. I made MASSIVE amounts of flowers and strung together a ton of them. They overtook my livingroom and part of my diningroom. They were elegant - not tacky or like a kindergarten project - but very time consuming.

*I got white roses, white gerber daisies, purple tulips, and lime button poms from samsclub.com (not affil.), bought wholesale rectangular vases online (for way cheaper than I would have if I used coupons at Michaels or Hobby Lobby), and two huge spools of ribbon for centerpieces & bouquets.

*I made ribbon-loop pomander balls with green raffia bows to hang from the aisle chairs (again, styrofoam balls in the store are very expensive, but online were way cheaper).

*I bought my card cage from Hobby Lobby along with the decorating supplies (raffia, faux-moss, little birdies... used the previously-purchased ribbon & flowers) with coupons. I also bought the tulle used to tie bows on the backs of reception chairs with coupons there.

*I made my invitations for the price of cardstock/ink. I cut out a side-view dove shape, scanned it to my computer, styled and placed the font in that area, printed it out a bunch of times on the cardstock, and glued 2 birds together so that the wings would be splayed/3D with a ribbon loop in the middle. I hung the invites on the doorknobs of local friends/family and mailed the rest.

Also, make sure you dedicate enough time to interviewing photographers and officiants. I thought it'd be easy, but (maybe I'm a weirdo magnet) we met with a slew of VERY interesting people who have their own styles and ideas (that they often wanted to force upon me).

We also saved a bunch of money by booking a place that allowed us to do our own "catering." So we had a family member leave right after the ceremony while everyone was sitting around talking or taking pics, to pick up food platters from our favorite restaurant and set 'em up at the reception.

Don't let people tell you what you "have to have" (like expensive post-wedding rehearsal dinners, etc). My cousin (maid of honor) tried to do that, and I had to tell her politely that it would be how I wanted it to be.

My wedding was woodland-ish, and came out very cute/pretty. The main thing is setting rough budgets for each category of items you want/need. Congrats! Hope that helped!

[lisey_baby]

I was a DIY bride on a budget almost 2 years ago. My colors were purple & lime. I single-handedly made most of my decorations/centerpieces/favors/etc by myself over the course of about 6 months. The most expensive things were the venue and my dress.

I don't know how DIY you plan to be or how much you want to spend, but my best advice is to see if you can buy anything in bulk online.

*I decorated my whole reception & the gazebo where we got married with tissue paper flowers & flower garlands for less than $30 including shipping. I made MASSIVE amounts of flowers and strung together a ton of them. They overtook my livingroom and part of my diningroom. They were elegant - not tacky or like a kindergarten project - but very time consuming.

*I got white roses, white gerber daisies, purple tulips, and lime button poms from samsclub.com (not affil.), bought wholesale rectangular vases online (for way cheaper than I would have if I used coupons at Michaels or Hobby Lobby), and two huge spools of ribbon for centerpieces & bouquets.

*I made ribbon-loop pomander balls with green raffia bows to hang from the aisle chairs (again, styrofoam balls in the store are very expensive, but online were way cheaper).

*I bought my card cage from Hobby Lobby along with the decorating supplies (raffia, faux-moss, little birdies... used the previously-purchased ribbon & flowers) with coupons. I also bought the tulle used to tie bows on the backs of reception chairs with coupons there.

*I made my invitations for the price of cardstock/ink. I cut out a side-view dove shape, scanned it to my computer, styled and placed the font in that area, printed it out a bunch of times on the cardstock, and glued 2 birds together so that the wings would be splayed/3D with a ribbon loop in the middle. I hung the invites on the doorknobs of local friends/family and mailed the rest.

Also, make sure you dedicate enough time to interviewing photographers and officiants. I thought it'd be easy, but (maybe I'm a weirdo magnet) we met with a slew of VERY interesting people who have their own styles and ideas (that they often wanted to force upon me).

We also saved a bunch of money by booking a place that allowed us to do our own "catering." So we had a family member leave right after the ceremony while everyone was sitting around talking or taking pics, to pick up food platters from our favorite restaurant and set 'em up at the reception.

Don't let people tell you what you "have to have" (like expensive post-wedding rehearsal dinners, etc). My cousin (maid of honor) tried to do that, and I had to tell her politely that it would be how I wanted it to be.

My wedding was woodland-ish, and came out very cute/pretty. The main thing is setting rough budgets for each category of items you want/need. Congrats! Hope that helped!

I agree, I made everything by hand for our wedding and it was a lot cheaper, more personal and allowed the stuff we wanted to be exactly how we wanted, rather than a shop bought compromise!

[Kiwi]

I third the above I did a lot of stuff DIY-style for our wedding. I made all the bouquets and boutonnieres, all of the stationary (invitations, place cards, table markers, table decorations - paper cranes and lucky stars). Everyone said it all came out great, and it was exactly how I wanted things to look.

[sarafina]

Congratulations!!  Looking at that Pinterest link you posted makes me want to get married all over again...I LOVE the butterfly bouquet!

I made my own wedding programs and favors and worked on lots of the decorations.  Some of my DIY crafts were:

- I used jelly-sized Ball jars for candles.  I put some pretty river rocks in the bottom of each jar, filled it about halfway with water, and put a floating candle in it.

- For my bouquet, we primarily used wild roses from my parents' yard.

- For favors, I used mini terra cotta pots.  I tied raffia bows around them and added a little tag with our names on it.  Each pot had a mini envelope in it that was filled with wild rose seed.

- My programs were cardstock...I stamped a bird in the crease of each cover, then cut it out with an exacto-knife so that it stood out when the program was folded.

[Daiyuflower]

I really appreciate all the DIY project ideas
This past weekend, I went dress shopping with one of my bridesmaids.  I'm still not sure I've found THE dress yet.  I'm very petite (5'1") and while I really liked one of the "mermaid" dresses I tried on, I'm not sure how the flare will look on me once it's shortened and made proportional for my height.  We went to two shops, but I think I'll have to go back for a second look or stop by another store.  I think a ball gown may suit my height better...

[lisey_baby]

I really appreciate all the DIY project ideas
This past weekend, I went dress shopping with one of my bridesmaids.  I'm still not sure I've found THE dress yet.  I'm very petite (5'1") and while I really liked one of the "mermaid" dresses I tried on, I'm not sure how the flare will look on me once it's shortened and made proportional for my height.  We went to two shops, but I think I'll have to go back for a second look or stop by another store.  I think a ball gown may suit my height better...

Can you try the dress on with some shoes, like the height you think you might wear on your wedding day. Will give you a better idea if the mermaid tail will fit with your height

[Crowning_Glory13]

Its all about the dress....once you find your dress things do start to fall in to place like theme and colors. I had no clue how to start until I found my dress....with it being flowery green was a great choice to have as a base and yellow was very light in the dress so it all went together. From then it was easy to pick things because the main thing is not having it clash with the dress.

Always take shoes to pick out a dress. They may not be your wedding shoes but everything changes when you have choose that would closely match your height.

Only restrict your budget when dress shopping. There were so many styles I said...I would never wear and they were some of my favorite dresses. Have an adventure with the dress shopping. Granted I thought it was fun to put on a $1500 dollar dress....way over my budget. I fell in love with it...and the store fairy said...oh that dress is on sale for only $700. SOLD! hehehe

[StarGleamer]

I'm a wedding photographer so I know plenty about weddings! However i myself am not married and have not done much in the planning area.

There are some great sites I recommend... Weddingmapper.com is a great one if you are doing a destination wedding or in an area you are not familiar. Onewed.com is another one and Weddingwire.com is also a really good one. Their forums are GREAT too. I use pinterest myself to get ideas for photography and whatnot.

You should definitely start with WHERE you want to get married, then start with the WHO.... you'd be surpirsed at how expensive it gets at $60-100 a plate... then decide on dresses, photographer next (lol sorry i think its pretty important... I know it will be for my wedding) DJ if you even want one, decorations and little things last.