BlogHer - wedding - Comments

Tag! You're It!

maricel — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 11:16:31 -0600

I'm an LWL member, too, and you've been tagged! Please visit www.sweetposydesigns.com for more information! =)

The true meaning of weddings

mrsnicolaray — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:05:08 -0600

It's amazing how many people go into a marriage, forgetting about the fact they're getting married and instead focussing on the wedding. It sweeps them up into some kind of vortex and throws them out the other side with the realisation that they just got married and now they're husband and wife!

At least when you the wedding keep the small, low cost or simply don't get wrapped up in the wedding hysteria fuelled by the bridal industry, you can keep your perspective on what you're actually doing. It results in a much more intimate day as well as less stressful and even your guests will notice the difference.

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Plan and create the perfect cheap wedding at Cheap Wedding Success

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It'll be YOUR wedding, not the industry's.

Leighbra — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:27:41 -0600

Our wedding, with 200 people attending (my brother got married in Europe, so I got to invite all of the family and family friends to mine...yay) ran us about $1300.

The biggest individual thing was our cake, because, well, I'm a cake snob. But there's a way to be a frugal cake snob. We bought a fancy wedding cake for 80 people, and then a matching sheet cake for the rest of the servings. We also only bought 175 servings, because I've never been to a wedding where everyone ate cake, or there wasn't tons of cake just thrown away on people's plates $250

Flowers: my bouquet, Maid of Honors bouquet, 2 boutonnieres, 2 huge flower arrangements for the main hall, which we took into the reception hall with us, instead of buying all new arrangements. $200 I used local, in season flowers, which drastically opens up your budget. It's also a much greener choice.

My husband and his best man rented their tuxes $150 My mother in law paid part of the rental fee, because my husband's little brother had to have the tux to wear to prom that weekend. lol The ultimate in frugal!

My mother made my dress, and my MoH's dress: $100 in materials

Church rental $100, which included the pastor's fee. This was the one aspect of my wedding that I was upset about. My mother works at the church, and we got steamrolled. She's so damned sweet that eventually we just gave in. NEVER in my life had I wanted a church wedding.

Feeding 200 people: $400. We went buffet style. We have been going through a certain catering company for years for family things/my dad's business lunches/parties. EVERYONE loved it. The caterers brought flowers for the tables, too, for free.

A friend of ours was our photographer, so $50, then we only printed the photos that we wanted.

So that's $1300ish. And it was a beautiful wedding. I learned to say "We don't need that." I'm a very frugal person naturally, I know what I want, I also know that I don't need to spend an additional $100 on rose petals to sprinkle around the silverware on the buffet table. Even that $1300 makes me a little queasy though lol

We drove to the Oregon Coast for our honeymoon,and spent about another $800 on lodging/good food.

Don't worry yourself sick about it, really. By not having 40 people in our bridal party, we kept the price down. By doing smart things (like the cake idea, and local flowers), you can have a really beautiful wedding. It sounds crass, but people's gifts in the form of checks and money paid for most of our wedding and honeymoon in the long run. What ended up being the most important was that our families had an excuse to come together and just enjoy each other. The smiles on their faces really made the wedding for me, in a church or not.

I know that that's all very wordy, but I hope that it makes you feel a little better. Take those bridal budget lists you see and throw them out. In my view, they're total rubbish. It's like someone coming to you and saying "You can't be happy, or live in a house unless it costs $150,000,000." We wouldn't let the real estate industry tell us that, why do we let the bridal industry tell us what we have to spend in order to have a wedding?

That's so beautiful!

serahs — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:21:25 -0600

I love out of this world love stories! I just watched The Notebook again last night. Are you trying to make me cry? haha

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Getting Clean Never Looked So Good!
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Beautiful

Liz Rizzo — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:39:26 -0500

What a great story! :)

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess.

you've convinced me :)

lifeobserver — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:03:57 -0500

wow, beautiful :)

i especially was thrilled by your last words. i'm getting married next july and i sometimes feel that being single would be the best, but really you've made me convinced that i'm actually heading the right decision.

thank you :)

Diar Adhihafsari, www.gorgeousinspirations.com

Much appreciation.

apietrangelo — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:59:29 -0500

Why, thank you! It's a great memory, too!

Ann Pietrangelo

My Website: AnnPietrangelo.com

That's an awesome story!

kazari — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:42:20 -0500

That's all I had to say, really : )

I think I have a recipe for that...

SO true!!

mariposakp — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:42:01 -0500

I'm single and struggle with weddings and pretending to be amused myself. Although I do hope to get married one day, I think I will borrow your idea of the "get out of my wedding free card." Very clever!

It's sweet of him to want to

mariecasas — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:20:46 -0500

It's sweet of him to want to come. Usually I feel bad though 'dragging' my boyfriend to weddings or friends/family get-togethers. I love spending time with him and sharing those moments with him and so grateful to say goodbye to those single days wishing I had a boyfriend to bring to these shindigs.

You have to be careful you don't say anything too... marriage-y, lest they freak out (or just freeze, and don't even tell you they're creeped out)... Ah, men.

Co-Founder, Pigmata Media
Editor, Pinoy Web Startup
I'm your go-to for Wordpress assistance.

Well Said!

Sue Walsh — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:46:31 -0500

Those glossy bridal magazines the size of bricks really put a lot of pressure on brides. I got married last June and we didn't have much money but still managed to have a nice wedding. It really should be about the two of you and your families and friends, not about how fancy a party you can throw! I'm all for unique and offbeat weddings-the cookie cutter ones the mags say all brides should have are boring!

My Blog: http://wedding-tip.com

Weddings...oy...

Zandria — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:52:34 -0500

It sucks that some people might decide not to get married, or put themselves crazy-in-debt, because they feel like they have to have the kind of wedding that pleases their friends and family. However, ff you want a certain type of wedding because it's what YOU want, then that's all good (keeping within financial constraints, of course). If I really wanted to get married, I'd have no problem eloping or having a simple ceremony if I didn't want to spend a lot of money.

Personal blog: Keep Up With Me

BlogHer blog: Life - Singles

The Wedding Industrial Complex

Pam — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:39:06 -0500

It's not surprising people freak out about weddings, there's SO MUCH PRESSURE to have a wedding that is Just So.

Poppycock. Look away from the magazine rack!

We jetted off to Hawaii and got married on the beach with two witnesses, and then spent 10 days swanning about the beaches. Total cost? WELL under 5k. I asked Mr. some time later if he ever wishes we'd gone the more traditional route. "What we did was special," he said. Awwww.

I'm watching two friends plan a wedding for this July and they are sacrificing like crazy on what they'd really like to do - fix their house, go to Paris, buy a new car - so they can have a Wedding, capital W. It's insane. The stress is making them fight all the time, they have no perspective, and hey, just as a bonus, they're driving their friends that love them CRAZY.

There's no need for any of that - it's all because they're roped into the Wedding Industrial Complex that says you have to have and if you don't have your wedding will be spoiled.

Look away, look away, look away and imagine something else. You can totally make that happen when the time comes and if you make it YOUR wedding, not some shiny commercial vision of what a wedding is supposed to be, it will be just about perfect.

Nerd's Eye View

I am loving the wedding stories!

Liz Rizzo — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:45:54 -0500

Makes me feel much better.

Also, I should probably be clear that I'm not currently planning a wedding! I'm just *so* wedding phobic that I have to stress out about it when it's not even currently an issue.

;)

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess.

The marriage is more important than the wedding

Vered — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:10:41 -0500

I completely agree with Laurie and Maria, and I too have a story to share. :)

My best friend got married in her parents' backyard. There was almost no planning involved - we mailed out invitations to around 50 friends, found her a simple, clean-lined white dress, bought a few flower arrangements, and ordered basic appetizers from a local caterer. A friend was in charge of the music. It was inexpensive, intimate and fun.

I had a lavish, expensive wedding that my parents planned b/c they needed to impress their business associates. I didn't especially enjoy my wedding. I think my friend’s wedding was way more romantic, beautiful, and memorable than mine.

Regardless of how you get married, your wedding day is NOT necessarily the happiest day of your life and is certainly not an indicator of how your marriage will be. My wedding left me indifferent, but my relationship with my husband is the most important thing in my life.

Vered DeLeeuw www.momgrind.com