Congrats! I am assuming you are here because you have recently become engaged or, maybe you know it is coming shortly. I, like many girls, had grand dreams and ideas for my wedding but didn't have that grand budget to pull it off. I am going to share my secrets to pulling off a magazine-worthy budgeted wedding.
Here is a little background; at the time, I was a part-time teacher (it is hard to land a full-time art teacher job) making $35,000 a year before taxes. On top of that, the majority of my paycheck went to my student loans. They were $1000 a month! That didn't give me a whole lot of saving money. So how in the world could I ever pull this off?
Here is how I pulled it off:
Start a Side Hustle:
I was so tired of living from paycheck to paycheck. I needed the extra money from another job if I wanted to start saving up for important things like a wedding and a house someday. As an art teacher, I love art (obviously). So I started my Sip & Paint business Vino & Vernici. Anything I made from my business went right into savings, NO IF, ANDS, OR BUTS!
I highly recommend doing something similar. It doesn't have to be something crazy big, just something to make a little extra cash every few weeks. Maybe you love baking. You could start selling decorated cookies out of your home for special events. You are an animal lover; become a pet-sitter for people when they go away on vacation. There are so many possibilities.
Weddings are so ridiculously expensive. The problem is that we tell ourselves this is our one big day. We are willing to shell out all kinds of cash for it to be perfect. One of the easiest ways to get what we want without paying the retail price tag is to D.I.Y.
Buy The Sample Dress: If you are like me and you want that designer gown, one way to get it is by buying the sample. I did this and I highly recommend it to you as well. By going this route I saved over $800. Most importantly, it brought the dress back into the budgeted price point.
Invitations: If you couldn't tell from my blog name; Mod Vintage Mama, I love incorporating vintage style and ideas into the now. My theme for my wedding was going to be vintage and I wanted to do things that others had not done before. To start that feeling right off the bat, I wanted something unique for my invitations.
I decided I wanted to do handkerchief wedding invitations. After doing some digging around, I discovered that the handkerchiefs were going to cost about $12 each buying them through a vendor like on Etsy. That was going to cost to over $700 on just the invitation. This price was not even including the stationary or R.S.V.P cards that go along with it. NO THANKS!
I knew that if I was going to be able to afford this, I was going to have to make my own.
I ended up spending less than $200 on these invitations by doing them myself and ended up saving at least $500 in the process.
Here is a little background; at the time, I was a part-time teacher (it is hard to land a full-time art teacher job) making $35,000 a year before taxes. On top of that, the majority of my paycheck went to my student loans. They were $1000 a month! That didn't give me a whole lot of saving money. So how in the world could I ever pull this off?
Here is how I pulled it off:
Start a Side Hustle:
I was so tired of living from paycheck to paycheck. I needed the extra money from another job if I wanted to start saving up for important things like a wedding and a house someday. As an art teacher, I love art (obviously). So I started my Sip & Paint business Vino & Vernici. Anything I made from my business went right into savings, NO IF, ANDS, OR BUTS!
I highly recommend doing something similar. It doesn't have to be something crazy big, just something to make a little extra cash every few weeks. Maybe you love baking. You could start selling decorated cookies out of your home for special events. You are an animal lover; become a pet-sitter for people when they go away on vacation. There are so many possibilities.
Weddings are so ridiculously expensive. The problem is that we tell ourselves this is our one big day. We are willing to shell out all kinds of cash for it to be perfect. One of the easiest ways to get what we want without paying the retail price tag is to D.I.Y.
Buy The Sample Dress: If you are like me and you want that designer gown, one way to get it is by buying the sample. I did this and I highly recommend it to you as well. By going this route I saved over $800. Most importantly, it brought the dress back into the budgeted price point.
Invitations: If you couldn't tell from my blog name; Mod Vintage Mama, I love incorporating vintage style and ideas into the now. My theme for my wedding was going to be vintage and I wanted to do things that others had not done before. To start that feeling right off the bat, I wanted something unique for my invitations.
I decided I wanted to do handkerchief wedding invitations. After doing some digging around, I discovered that the handkerchiefs were going to cost about $12 each buying them through a vendor like on Etsy. That was going to cost to over $700 on just the invitation. This price was not even including the stationary or R.S.V.P cards that go along with it. NO THANKS!
I knew that if I was going to be able to afford this, I was going to have to make my own.
- I went onto the internet and found vintage looking reproduction handkerchiefs that I liked.
- Next, I designed how I wanted it to look using Photoshop. You could do this on Canva too.
- I had a local print shop that creates t-shirts and apparel print them on them for less than $1 each.
- I created the stationary on Vista Print along with some round stickers for the tag.
- I purchased a large circle paper punch to create my tag. I then placed the round sticker in the center. Next, I put a small hole punch at the top and threaded it with a vintage-looking twine. This tag tied all the stationary and the invitation together to add a nice little vintage touch to it.
- Lastly, I bought some brown paper bag looking envelopes to contain all of it.
I ended up spending less than $200 on these invitations by doing them myself and ended up saving at least $500 in the process.
:Wedding Program:
Again I wanted to be unique with everything I could in my vintage wedding. I tried to think of a fun way to incorporate something here. I created these vintage-looking newspapers for my wedding program. I wrote about how we met, put in some fun games for our guests to do while they waited for the ceremony to begin, and I also created some old-timey looking ads to give it that old charm feeling. I had them printed at Staples. I saved some money by finding an ad cheaper online. If you receive a quote cheaper than what Staples charges, they will match the price. That is exactly what I did to save some more money.
Brooch Bouquet:
If you haven't read my other blogs, I am a very sentimental person. I love incorporating things I can keep afterward to remember a special event. I wanted to do something sentimental with my bouquet but also make it unique as well. I asked all of my female wedding guests to bring an old brooch to the shower. We explained that we were creating a brooch bouquet so that we had a piece of everyone important to us as I walked down the aisle. I had my florist add them to my bouquet. The only thing I did not realize was how heavy it would make it in the end. But it was worth it because it was stunning.
Pro-Tip: I suggest using succulents in your bouquet. Not only are they super trendy, but these plants also are resilient, and after the wedding, I placed them into some dirt in a pretty glass container, and they started regrowing! I still have them today, and they are now thriving in my son's nursery.
Hire an old fashioned car:
This was really fun. I hired an acquaintance of my father to take us to the church and our photo spot after the ceremony. This is the only thing I am kicking myself on is we didn't take pictures outside of the car after the wedding.
Pro-Tip: Being raised by a classic car fanatic, I knew that we needed to beyond respectful in this car. Car people are very protective of their rides. PLEASE DO NOT EAT, DRINK, OR SMOKE IN THEM!
Unplugged Ceremony:
I highly encourage anyone that is getting married to consider having an unplugged ceremony. Not only will it bring you back to the pre-cell phone era, but it also guarantees that your photographer will be able to capture your big day without cell phones in it.
Unexpected Photo Location:
This one is going to throw everyone for a loop. For my wedding, I decided I wanted to do something different with the photos too. I chose to take our wedding photos before we arrived at our reception at a cemetery. Mount Hope Cemetery is one of our nation's earliest cemeteries and is quite beautiful. We took pictures by the fountain and chapel, and they came out stunning.
Again I wanted to be unique with everything I could in my vintage wedding. I tried to think of a fun way to incorporate something here. I created these vintage-looking newspapers for my wedding program. I wrote about how we met, put in some fun games for our guests to do while they waited for the ceremony to begin, and I also created some old-timey looking ads to give it that old charm feeling. I had them printed at Staples. I saved some money by finding an ad cheaper online. If you receive a quote cheaper than what Staples charges, they will match the price. That is exactly what I did to save some more money.
Brooch Bouquet:
If you haven't read my other blogs, I am a very sentimental person. I love incorporating things I can keep afterward to remember a special event. I wanted to do something sentimental with my bouquet but also make it unique as well. I asked all of my female wedding guests to bring an old brooch to the shower. We explained that we were creating a brooch bouquet so that we had a piece of everyone important to us as I walked down the aisle. I had my florist add them to my bouquet. The only thing I did not realize was how heavy it would make it in the end. But it was worth it because it was stunning.
Pro-Tip: I suggest using succulents in your bouquet. Not only are they super trendy, but these plants also are resilient, and after the wedding, I placed them into some dirt in a pretty glass container, and they started regrowing! I still have them today, and they are now thriving in my son's nursery.
Hire an old fashioned car:
This was really fun. I hired an acquaintance of my father to take us to the church and our photo spot after the ceremony. This is the only thing I am kicking myself on is we didn't take pictures outside of the car after the wedding.
Pro-Tip: Being raised by a classic car fanatic, I knew that we needed to beyond respectful in this car. Car people are very protective of their rides. PLEASE DO NOT EAT, DRINK, OR SMOKE IN THEM!
Unplugged Ceremony:
I highly encourage anyone that is getting married to consider having an unplugged ceremony. Not only will it bring you back to the pre-cell phone era, but it also guarantees that your photographer will be able to capture your big day without cell phones in it.
Unexpected Photo Location:
This one is going to throw everyone for a loop. For my wedding, I decided I wanted to do something different with the photos too. I chose to take our wedding photos before we arrived at our reception at a cemetery. Mount Hope Cemetery is one of our nation's earliest cemeteries and is quite beautiful. We took pictures by the fountain and chapel, and they came out stunning.
The Unconventional Bridesmaid Bouquet:
I love antique cameras, specifically Kodak cameras. Kodak was started and owned by George Eastman (who grew up in my hometown) and is the man responsible for the modern-day camera. If it was not for him, we wouldn't have cameras on our phones. His company invented the digital camera as well. I love this piece of history about Rochester, and I started collecting one or two Kodak cameras before I met my husband. Well, Tom fell in love with them too, and he caused my collection to explode into an obsession. I now own about 30 different antique Kodak cameras.
I am all about being different. I wanted my bridesmaids to walk down the aisle with the cameras as their bouquets. These cameras are a symbolic part of our relationship. Using the cameras instead of fresh flowers would save me hundreds of dollars.
Unfortunately, I did get a lot of push back from both my mother and mother in law about not having the traditional floral bouquet. I compromised and had my florist attach flowers to my beloved cameras. Even though that was extra money I didn't want to spend, I found a way to make it worth my while.
Repurpose Your Decor:
This one is huge! Using the same decor is a great way to save some money. With having to spend money on my bridesmaids' bridal floral bouquets, I made sure I could use these bouquets somewhere else. I not only had them used for walking down the aisle, but I also repurposed them as centerpieces for the reception. Oh yeah, killing two birds with one stone!
I still also needed to have to cover the rest of the tables with another type of centerpieces since I didn't have enough bouquets for all the tables.
This is where the lanterns came in, and guess what? I did it in reverse as well too! To justify buying these beautiful rustic lanterns, I needed to use them for more than just the reception. I ended up having our florist put flowers on these as well and had them used at our church during the wedding ceremony. I enlisted one of my uncles to transport them for me to the reception after our wedding ceremony.
I love antique cameras, specifically Kodak cameras. Kodak was started and owned by George Eastman (who grew up in my hometown) and is the man responsible for the modern-day camera. If it was not for him, we wouldn't have cameras on our phones. His company invented the digital camera as well. I love this piece of history about Rochester, and I started collecting one or two Kodak cameras before I met my husband. Well, Tom fell in love with them too, and he caused my collection to explode into an obsession. I now own about 30 different antique Kodak cameras.
I am all about being different. I wanted my bridesmaids to walk down the aisle with the cameras as their bouquets. These cameras are a symbolic part of our relationship. Using the cameras instead of fresh flowers would save me hundreds of dollars.
Unfortunately, I did get a lot of push back from both my mother and mother in law about not having the traditional floral bouquet. I compromised and had my florist attach flowers to my beloved cameras. Even though that was extra money I didn't want to spend, I found a way to make it worth my while.
Repurpose Your Decor:
This one is huge! Using the same decor is a great way to save some money. With having to spend money on my bridesmaids' bridal floral bouquets, I made sure I could use these bouquets somewhere else. I not only had them used for walking down the aisle, but I also repurposed them as centerpieces for the reception. Oh yeah, killing two birds with one stone!
I still also needed to have to cover the rest of the tables with another type of centerpieces since I didn't have enough bouquets for all the tables.
This is where the lanterns came in, and guess what? I did it in reverse as well too! To justify buying these beautiful rustic lanterns, I needed to use them for more than just the reception. I ended up having our florist put flowers on these as well and had them used at our church during the wedding ceremony. I enlisted one of my uncles to transport them for me to the reception after our wedding ceremony.
The Venue:
This one was the most important to me. I wanted somewhere old, vintage, and beautiful to fit our wedding theme. For us, Belhurst Castle in Geneva, New York was it. I instantly fell in love and couldn't imagine having it anywhere else. It is stunning. First of all, it was gorgeous and old (check!). Next, it was extremely reasonable (check!).
We were married on Columbus day weekend. This is a great option to choose as a wedding date. Most places will charge less on a Sunday, and a lot of people have that day off as well and won't mind staying out on a Sunday night.
Consumption Bar instead of Open Bar:
Another noteworthy option that Belhurst offered a consumption bar. Choosing the consumption bar option is also a great money saver, especially if you're family doesn't have a lot of drinkers. The venue keeps track of the amount your event consumes and charges you at the end with the consumption option. By doing this, we weren't wasting money on an open bar only to have some family members drinking soda.
This one was the most important to me. I wanted somewhere old, vintage, and beautiful to fit our wedding theme. For us, Belhurst Castle in Geneva, New York was it. I instantly fell in love and couldn't imagine having it anywhere else. It is stunning. First of all, it was gorgeous and old (check!). Next, it was extremely reasonable (check!).
We were married on Columbus day weekend. This is a great option to choose as a wedding date. Most places will charge less on a Sunday, and a lot of people have that day off as well and won't mind staying out on a Sunday night.
Consumption Bar instead of Open Bar:
Another noteworthy option that Belhurst offered a consumption bar. Choosing the consumption bar option is also a great money saver, especially if you're family doesn't have a lot of drinkers. The venue keeps track of the amount your event consumes and charges you at the end with the consumption option. By doing this, we weren't wasting money on an open bar only to have some family members drinking soda.
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The Cake:
I decided I wanted to design my cake. I found different elements from other cakes I found online or in wedding magazines and put them all together to create my one of a kind cake that I knew no one else had ever had. We did not go crazy on the size of the wedding cake. Instead, we made it big enough to have a presence but had sheet cakes in the back to make sure we had enough for each guest. Sheet cakes are cheaper to purchase, and no one will ever know except for you and the staff. Our Dedication: Another fun and inexpensive vintage touch were our dedication frames. We dedicated our wedding to our family members, both past and present. We took their wedding photos and placed them in vintage frames. It was fun to show off the wedding images from our great great grandparents. The Favors: I decided it would be fun and unique to have our guests choose their favor. I traveled around to different antique stores and thrift stores to find antique glasses. Our guests arrived and chose their glass to bring home as our thank you gift. Cash is King: If you are hoping to get a better deal on a service, I recommend offering to pay in cash. Many times a vendor is willing to give you a price reduction if paying with cash. Trade Services: Do you have a valuable skill or talent? Find a way to use it to your advantage by trading a service. I did this with our D.J. to get an upgraded package for a cheaper price. I offered to swap a paint party in return for his upgraded services. IT WORKED! A Few More Noteworthy Ideas:
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