Wedding Forum

[jacnhurf]

What a great idea! Thanks for that.

[babekitty]

I recently did hair and make-up for a wedding and the bride had corsages for her bridesmaids - they looked fabulous! As she didnt have a massive bouquet, it looked amazing as the girls didnt take away from her but they all had the flowers incorperated and it gave her some colour without being overcrowded from all the colour the bridesmaids have.

Another thing I would suggest to brides who want to cut costs, is get a bridesmaid gown in white if you want a simple gown. Alfred Angelo does all their bridesmaids in white and ivory (and being a previous retail assistant for a store that stocked them, I know their stock WELL). The fabric is a very high quality satin and you wouldnt need to wear a slip underneath any of them. Practically all of them have boning in the breatplates as well, and for an average of $275 - $400 per gown, it is TOTALLY worth it if you want something simple (or are a good sewer and want to dress it up).

Also, lace-up gowns cut the cost of pulling in the bust and waist

[Kaz85]

Well I'm not ready yet, but I would have done more simplistic invitations... would have forgone the enclosures but the RSVP. Just wasn't worth the time, energy spent stressing or the money. And no one seemed to really appreciate them anyways.

[Thatter4eva]

Wow, great thread! I have been busy reading through all the different threads since I got engaged in Dec 2011 and have only found this today!

I have 11 months to go until the big day but being a bit obsessed with planning I've already organised and booked a lot of things.

This thread has confirmed a few things I have decided not to spend money on which is very reassuring:
Cars - our ceremony and reception are in the same location and photos were going to be taken in the gardens of the venue. The only need for a car is when we're leaving the reception so my FH will just drive us to our hotel in our car
Videographer - Both my FH and I hate being filmed and I've been to plenty of weddings where the videographer just got in the way of everyone!
Disposable cameras - as much as I love 35mm cameras and the great quality photos they take I also now how expensive it is to develop them! I went to a wedding recently where the bride and groom actually had USB sticks at the tables so that guests could download their digital photos and send them back. A great idea considering a 2G USB stick would only cost a few dollars.

My biggest money saver is on stationery. Card making is passionate hobby for me and I have been looking forward to making the invites since day one! I can't believe people are spending in the excess of $9-$15 per invite for companies to make them when it doesn't cost anywhere near that much to actually make! My invites are actually quite complicated but still only costs me $3 per invite to make, it's just time that I am investing to make them.

My next decision at the moment is whether I want to spend money on centrepieces and if so, what the centrepieces would be. My venue can provide flower centrepieces but it will be whatever flowers they can get in the days prior so not necessarily in the colour theme. Some should I buy my own flower centrepieces, hire some centrepieces or make the cnetrepieces myself?

Looking forward to the continual fun of planning!

[jag04]

Thatter4eva, have you talked to your florist about centrepieces? You can get them fairly cheap, my centrepieces are $18 per table, which is probably what I would have spent if I made something myself.

[alexandrawr]

Wow some awesome tips and advice! Great thread!

I'm 12 months from the wedding and we've already saved $3,000 on stuff we don't need to buy.
We're using the BM bouquets as centerpieces for the reception - noone will notice so we saved a huge amount right there. Wedding cake is dessert and is saving us about $12 per person at the ceremony - plus I love cake!
We're DIYing a lot ourselves like invitations, centerpieces (layouts), iPod shuffle vs DJ etc

One thing I wish we didn't have to pay for - limo. I'm not having one as the girls and I are getting ready at the venue (some are staying the night too so noone will even see us arrive). But FH has 7 siblings who need a ride; limo hire under $1000 is cheaper then 3 Brisbane taxi return trips apparently!
I'm trying to justify the costs for hair and make up but I just can't do it! Anyone regret paying for hair and make up?

[skittles88]

Hi everyone ( sorry I'm new here but haven't bothered to introduse myself )

my big question on saving is...

who do you get to decorate the reception???????

without spending so much frikin money!!!

[lauralou]

Where are you located, skittles88? The girls may be able to recommend someone?

We used a friend who had her own decorating business so she gave us a massive discount, plus used a lot of my sister's supplies (she is a decorator but was my moh so didn't do mine).

The other alternative is to have a friend or family member set up for you?

Sometimes the venue will do some (or all) of it for you too?

[skittles88]

Sorry yeah a location would probably help, I'm in Perth

[soon to be Mrs. K]

We can get access to the venue the day before, so we're going to do the setting up ourselves for free

When we were looking at other venues, I heard about companies that do rentals that also do set ups (for a fee of course). I'm sure in a big city like Perth, there'd be plenty of places offering similar services - just shop around until you find a good deal.

Loving this thread! I'd already decided against disposable cameras. There are a few wedding apps available now that people can take photos on their phones and they automatically get uploaded for you. I was thinking about doing guest cards - to stick in the album instead of having a separate guest book - now I think I'll just give it a miss.

I'm making the save the dates, invitations, place cards for the reception, programs for ceremony, etc all myself and my Mum is making the cake (she is self-taught but she is wonderful, she did my best friend's wedding cake and it looked amazing!) and my dress so we are already saving heaps. Just as well because we are living in Japan and have to pay for flights for us and his family to Australia Keep the good ideas coming!!