Looking for supplies for your meal and/or bar

You don't have to have an ugly wedding to have a cheap one, you just have to get creative.  One place to find savings at is the supplies you need and use for your meal and/or bar.  Yikes, Right?!  It's not a place you think about spending when you think about a wedding, but is very important to the day!  So, it's time to get creative!

How to save on Venue's!

There are many ways to save on Venue's, but still have an elegant wedding.  It can be so tempting to spend a large portion of your budget on the location!  This is where the photo's, memories, and celebration will take place.  It makes sense for it to be a good portion of your budget, but you don't have to let it brake your bank.  My biggest suggestion: THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!

Final 3 Venue's Overview

Since I was not in town, I had to trust the eye of others in making my venue choice.  This can stress a bride since it's harder to visualize in pictures and you'r idea's may be different then others.  Looking at budget first, then number of guests, then preferred decor, availability, and allowance of children whittled down my choices quickly.  That the West Coast wedding was in the winter with a very close ceremony date to the rental made for a smaller list as well.  Here were the final 3 venue choices!

How to make a hair piece

As a bride we want to look good, but not all of us have the cash.  So, since I plan on ponying up the cash to have my hair professionally done, I won't have the cash for any hair accessories.  This is when I bust out my inner savvy bride and figure out how to make something.  First mission, find supplies!

West Coast Bouquet

 I love the brooch bouquet's with fabric flower look, but I couldn't afford it on my budget!  What is a bride to do?  Well, this bride stayed up for months and made it herself.  Along with the flowers for the bridesmaid bouquets and the table settings!  A lot of pin pricks later and I think I came up with something beautiful!  Check out the final products!

How to Make a Flower and Brooch Flower

I love the look of the fabric flower bouquet with brooches!  It has a classic elegant look and I won't have to worry about them staying fresh looking or making sure I dry them properly.  So, I figure others will love this look as well!  Problem is, some of these bouquets can cost upward of $1,000.  Naturally, I took to doing what I do best and made it myself, here is how:

Capture your wedding!

So, every wedding should have a few splurges!  One splurge I can get behind is ways to capture the memories!  Now, if you are lucky enough to have a friend or family member willing to gift their photography skills to you then you have some options for those candid moments!  You can purchase a bunch of camera's and set them on the table.  Another option that I think is fun is to rent a Capture Pod!  

Playlist, What is your jam?

So, I'm planning another wedding for the other side of the family.  No specific date yet, just in the next few years.  To save myself the stress I'm trying to get everything together far in advance so there isn't any last minute buys.  I'm trying to recycle a lot of the items from the first wedding into the next which should help out on cost, except the colors are completely different.  Some items will have to be redecorated accordingly if possible.  One thing I want to re-use is the play list.

Wedding Veil West Coast!

I wanted a long veil on my wedding day, but I didn't want to spend a ton of money!  So, I did what many of us do and went to look at the costs of doing in myself.  The cheapest I could come up with was $10.00 after embellishments, comb, and material.  I thought I could better than that.  I contacted a few places to see if I could work out an exchange of a review for a discount or free product, but didn't hear back from anyone.  So, what is a girl to do?

What is a title loan?

Sometimes in life things come up and the savings isn't always there.  What happens if something happened to my dress/venue/ring right before the wedding and I needed some cash to pay for a replacement until insurance or extra funds came through or kicked in?  So, I've thought about a title loan on one of the cars.  Would that be an option? What is a title loan?  

Table Runners Challenge! West Coast!

Ugh!  I just can't realize I need something without finding out that it comes with a serious challenge!  My latest issue, how to you find, buy, create table runners for tables you can't measure and don't know how long they will end up being?  Fantastic!  Planning a wedding away from home really bites sometimes, planning two can give a girl a headache!

Cake Plate Display

Pre-wedding I did a review for Suzy Q's Vintage Shop Cake Plate.  You can see my review HERE.  I absolutely love it.  Not only is it a great keepsake, but I can re-use it for other family get together's or I can put it in a display case with other wedding keepsakes and set the bouquet on it or the cake toppers.  My mom was able to make a few of her own to put the cupcakes on.

How to have an alter that is both beautiful and inexpensive

I loved how my arbor and the alter area looked.  It was simple and elegant, better yet, it was created with love.  The most expensive thing is the backdrop that we created.  I did a review for a company on my mom blog not to long ago that had given me a great idea. Why not create a Saying Board?  I went online and found a large saying that expressed Love in a beautiful way.

Garter Reveal

I did a review pre-wedding for a handmade garter by Roselipsbud.  You can see my review by clicking HERE.  Check out this photo of my carter being put on!  It was perfect.  I love that a garter is an easy way to be adding a little bit of blue to your wedding and something made this unique adds even more to the garter reveal if you are doing one or photo's you may get taken for your wedding.  Check out my West Coast Wedding Day Garter Photo!

It's finally here!!!! Dress Reveal

So, I asked you my readers to help me pick out which dress to wear on my West Coast Wedding Day.  I also asked for your help to pick my bridesmaid dress.  Both of these were splurge items in my budget.  I did have the unfortunate luck of getting my dress having it fit perfect, but by the time I went to have the bustle done by a local Arizona alterations guru, I had dropped almost a full size and needed about $200.00 to make my once perfect fit dress fit again.  Most brides want to loose weight, but when your dress fits perfect, the last thing you want is to have to pay to make it fit again down the road.  Lucky for me I found an amazing woman to do my alterations who make my dress fit just as it had before and was so honest and friendly that I sent my groom to her for alterations on his tux as well which ended up costing around $70.00 (he didn't need much done).  This brought my total cost of wedding dress to $399.00 (including alterations and the dress itself) plus shipping tax.  It brought my total tux cost to $159.00 plus shipping and tax. On with the reveal:

Bridal Tip: Protect Yourself!

Bridal Tip for February: Chances are when you plan your wedding you are going to be using your iphone, android, tablet, or whatever other portable device you choose to track your wedding supplies and to-do lists.  Lately, there have been a lot of virus's out there linked with these devices. This makes it important for every bride to protect herself before she gets started.  The last thing you need to add to your already busy plate as a bride is a virus on your phone or tablet!  Check out great programs developed for these devices like Stopzilla to protect yourself and take one less worry off your plate!  Whatever you do, don't go out there unprotected or you may literally watch all your plans disappear in an instant from a virus!