We've been engaged for one year and 7 days. At first I thought a long engagement was the way to go...lots of time to mull over ideas, save up money, etc. Now that we're so far into our engagement, I've realized that most planning happens within a 6-month time frame.
We had our city wedding venue booked in May of 2011. Since then, we've been sitting pretty with nothing to do until now, and finding the motivation to actually do stuff is proving to be the most difficult part!
Adding to the difficulty is the fact that I was badly injured at work so our income has taken a hit. This has forced us to really look at the budget to figure out where we can cut costs, and also meant that we'd be taking on lots of DIY projects.
Immediately off the list were chiavari chairs. I never thought someone could be so in love with a chair, but then I saw them and knew the had to be mine! Unfortunately, at $8/chair with a 150-person projected attendance, these puppies had to go. Next up, dress. What was initially a $2,000 budgeted item is now down to $500. My mother graciously offered to pay a few hundred as well. This means David's Bridal will likely be the place! Our floral budget was initially $2,750 but after visiting with a flower wholesaler at a Boston Bridal Show, we realized that the ideas we had for our florals were actually very simple and easy to DIY. Lastly, invites. I am going to the place where ever bride before me has recommended not to go: DIY invitation suite. As I am not particularly crafty, I will be downloading the templates from Download & Print, a website of a fellow WeddingBee user who began a service of offering wedding invitation templates after her own experiences with DIY invites. This is bringing our budget from $820.00 for invites down to...well, I'm hoping to around $300 for all paper-related wedding expenses. We've also chosen to downgrade our photography package in some way to save a few hundred additional options.
Saving money hasn't just come in the form of downgrading our budget and taking on projects. We've also made the decision to put off expenditures that aren't entirely necessary for the wedding day. For instance, we plan to take our parents to a very nice dinner to thank them after the wedding (when we are feeling more flush!) rather than purchase gifts for them for the rehearsal dinner. We are going to DIY our own wedding album, or at the very least, have it done 6-12months after the wedding when we can better afford it. I think the biggest money-saver is on our rings. My fiance received his grandfathers wedding band, and I will be using either my mother, for FMIL's wedding band as my own for our ceremony. We figure we can get a custom-made band for me after the wedding.
Now, back to our first dilemma: finding the motivation to actually do all of this stuff! We're certainly choosing to take on lots of projects.
What have you done to save money on your wedding? Has anyone else had to shift their vision in the middle of planning due to a change of circumstances?
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