Just read in my local paper that the winner of the Ms Cheapo contest is a budget minded bride...she went around the day before her wedding to all the local funeral parlours and collected all the floral arrangements being discarded....she %26amp; her sister re-did them for her wedding......she also bought a discounted white prom dress to wear and held her ceremony/reception in a park where a swing band was performing, so her music was free.....have no idea what was on the menu, tho....your thoughts? And does any thrifty bride out there have some tips of her own? Would be great to share them....
How Budget Minded Is This For a Wedding?
Oh, wow, I think she's brilliant! But then again, anyone who's seen most of what I answer realizes that I'm doing things way cheap myself.
I don't think I could do the funeral flowers because I'm the kind of person who's very embarassed to ask for things. Not because they're creepy. I mean, if I were driving by a dumpster late at night and no one was around and I couldn't be seen...I could take them, I'm sure. But I don't generally want anyone to actually know how hard things are.
I've known of lots of cases where people have used white prom gowns, and I've seen lots of them that look just like wedding dresses (so much so that I've wondered why people want to wear something that looks like a wedding dress to a prom).
The band thing...awesome!
I'm doing all my own flowers (silk), and got a gorgeous dress and gorgeous rings off eBay. (I know a lot of people are hesitant to go that route, but my experiences were good...did my research before doing it, though.) For food we're ordering platters/buying stuff ready made from the Wal-mart deli and bakery, and skipping alcohol at the reception (wedding is at a public park, so alcohol isn't allowed anyway). I did my own invites with pretty blank-inside notecards, colored paper, and tracing paper. Yes, tracing paper! It looks just like rice paper and is so very much cheaper. I just stumbled into that idea by good fortune...I couldn't find rice paper in my small town anywhere, happened to see a $2.00 pad of tracing paper, and realized it would work great. I probably spent $15.00 on the invites at most.
I'm particularly proud of my idea for the cake. I've gotten thumbs down for it before, but I know it will work. I've made wedding cakes for people before, but I don't want to put the time into doing my own, so we're getting half, quarter, and eight sheet cakes from the Wal-mart bakery (it has some really pretty design options, too) and stacking them myself. I'm getting them with no top borders, so they'll look right. The only thing I'm a little worried about is the cake boards showing, but depending on how bad that will be I think I can take care of it with either some flowers to fill in the gaps or an X-acto knife to trim the boards and a little white icing to "paint" over the cut marks. Obviously I'm hoping I can do it with the flowers; that would be simpler.
Reply:I couldn't do the funeral flower thing either. I'm going to not use a florist for my wedding. The only flowers I plan on having are bouquets I'm making myself after buying some flowers from the grocery store (much cheaper than going to a florist). My dress I found is only $299...it's the T8778 from David's Bridal. I'm making cupcakes instead of buying a cake. And for music instead of using a DJ I'll use an iTunes playlist on my ipod.
Reply:Nobody say's that you have to have a fancy wedding.
but going to funeral homes and getting dead peoples
flowers is over the edge !!
that's going to far I think. and Nobody say's that you have
2 have alot of flower's at your wedding either.
If you ask me? most people go to extreme's with there
wedding. don't get me wrong,,, It's a very important day
in you and your partners life. but you can do thing's to
make it less expensive.
Reply:pot luck for food.i have a tight budget and i could not use flowers from a funeral though.check clearance racks or sales after prime wedding season you can find pretty much anything. dollar stores are great.oh yeah i got the perfect dress for me for 75 dollars on a clearance rack.the dress was a 600 dollar dress regular price.
Reply:Hmm that's quite an interesting thing to do. Not sure if I could go to a funeral home and use flowers that were in with the dead.. even that kinda gives me the willies. As far as the park and band, i think that was a very intuitive decision.
Interesting bride.
Reply:i could not collect Flowers from a funeral palour knowing that those flowers where for who ever passed on. its just wrong in my eyes!!
Reply:hey, if she needs to save the money, i dont blame her! weddings are expensive. i say save anyway you can! kudos to her!
Reply:I got my Wedding Dress at David's Bridal for $99.00 and it was gorgeous perfect for me-the alterations however were an additional 100 but I was happy-I don't think people need to go to extremes to save money but I appreciate people doing what they can afford. With a little research and planning brides and Grooms can make it work on a budget....
Too many people go way overboard for 1 day-competing for who has the best center pieces LOL! Sure for some the day is something they will always remember-but for half of the weddings they end in divorce-not trying to rain on anyone's parade but that's just the way it is. The fanciest most expensive wedding I ever went to-they were done in 8 months....WOW.
So go to bridal expos and sign up for everything! they have drawings for free products and money off limo services etc.
Reply:Flowers from a funeral? The person they were originally for doesn't need them anymore and to look at it from a different perspective If I died and people sent flowers I would be honored if someone wanted to use them and not just throw them away, give them a second chance to enjoy their day of blooming for a festive occasion! :)
That being said.....it is a little creepy!
I did a wedding where the theme was "garden wedding". we went to the local farmers market 2 days before the wedding about bought $100 worth of $5 bunches of all kinds of flowers.
We rounded up as many vases we had from home and yard sales/thrift shops and just bunched together flowers to look like they were just picked out of a garden and put in a vase. The bouquets were just a small bunch with the stems tied with pretty ribbon. The bouts were just a flower... each guy had a different one pinned to his coat. For the reception we just did cake and punch with some nuts, mints, fruit,and veggies platters with lemonade , iced tea, coffee and tea for the beverages. We didn't have tables but had chairs arranged in small clusters for conversation with potted plants from family members homes and a few ficus trees placed around. The brides mother brought over their garden fountain and it was used as a wishing well. The total cost for the wedding, including the $350 dress was $980.
It was one of the most memorable weddings I have helped with. Something about the focus being on the vows etc and not much n fancy impressing of the guests!
best wishes.........................
Reply:Talk about recycling! Funeral flowers are a little over the edge and sort of creepy. But you have to give Ms. Cheapo credit for her ingenuity and resourcefulness.
Every bridal salon has sale dresses and there are white or ivory dresses that are always on sale that will work for under a hundred dollars. eBay is a great source for wedding goodies, as is the Dollar stores and garage sales.
I know of a bride who went to garage sales and purchased vases for a dime. She cleaned them up and put in a variety flowers from her garden. Her cost? Practically nothing for her reception centerpieces.
Reply:Okay, here was my wedding, and it was very cheap, which made it possible to get married when we wanted, rather than waiting for another half a year, or year.
Wedding cake: a one-layer one, decorated with our names from the bakery: $20
Dress and shoes: a second-hand prom dress in a luxurious, burgundy colour, altered to fit properly, that my Grandma thought was very expensive (I didn't correct her.), with gorgeous gold sandals: $25
Undergarments for the dress: $40
Jewellery: found at Zellers but very tasteful: $25
Rental car to go out of town to have wedding at my sister's: $140
Gas to travel to wedding destination: $300
Church (where my sister attends part-time) and is very small and old: Free
Reception Site: my sister's house, where we had a very casual reception with kids running around, and people very relaxed: FREE
Food, prepared my sister and my sister-in-law, as a wedding gift for us: FREE
Decorations and favours: a gift from my sister, from the dollar store, to match my wedding dress: FREE
Suit, shoes and tie for groom: from the thrift store: $40
Pastor: our gift from the pastor and his wife (old family friends): FREE
Candles and candle holders for the ceremony: found in our personal belongings: FREE
Programs: printed up on our home computer, using coloured paper found at Walmart, and clip art found by searching google: for the paper: $10
Vows and ceremony wording: found on internet: FREE
Music and pianist: my sister, who is very gifted, played for free, and sang a song. We sang two songs as a congregation.
Wedding rings: bought prior to the groom, and I still don't know the cost, lol.
Having people who loved us there, and memories: PRICELESS
TOTAL COST, EXCLUDING RINGS: $600
Reply:ok i got my dress from a consigment shop and paid $150 for it. i don't think that's being cheapo that's smart
i saw prom dresses at jcp this season that could easily pass for a wedding gown.
i'm having my wedding in a park. granted no band is playing that day but i only paid $5 to have it there.
i don't think that's cheapo- it's what we wanted
HOWEVER as for taking day old funeral flowers. it's somewhere btwn madness and genius lol
i would be happy to arrange my own flowers IF i didn't know where they came from. lol
ya know everyone is preaching green this and green that- way not to waste flowers that would be thrown away anyway.
Reply:I think the funeral flowers thing is a little too far. But I'm also creeped out by estate sales. I don't like pawing through dead people's things. Creepy. Buy silk flowers from Walmart if you want flowers that badly.
As for the Prom dress thing, why not? Many dresses are starting to look like wedding gowns - namely Prom dresses, Quinceneara gowns and Debutante gowns. I have a friend who looked more like a bride at her Debutante ball than I did at my wedding.
My first tip is the venue. Don't get married in some super pricey hotel that charges $230 per person for a plated dinner.
Cut the guest list. Don't invite every person from your graduating class and wind up with a 500-person guest list comprised mostly of people you don't know. This isn't Myspace.
Consider your food options, time of day and day of the week. As a hint, most wedding vendors have caught on to the "have a Sunday wedding, it's cheaper" trend and now have the same prices for Sunday as for Saturday.
Go silk. Flowers, that is.
Limit or eradicate alcohol. As an experienced wedding patron, I will say only this: any guest who needs alcohol to have a good time at your wedding is an alcoholic and that isn't your problem.
Don't buy customized napkins, matchboxes, napkin rings, whatever. It's all a waste of money. No one cares about the monogrammed tissue boxes.
And of course, you could always do the cheapest option available: elope!
Reply:I've gone around and gotten funeral flowers to redo for shut-ins so using them for a wedding seems like a good idea to me if you don't mind a mismatched arrangements because you'll get all kinds and colors of flowers. In the park with a swing band sounds great too! I don't think I would do a discounted white prom dress though.
We made our centerpieces using potted mini rose bushes, votive candles and fabric that I painted with glitter stars. We made cookbooks from recipes that our guests contributed for the main favor. I made my own pew bows from navy blue ribbon with silver flecks on it. I designed and made my own dress. Purchased the lace online and hand beaded it myself which saved a lot of money because that's the labor intensive part. I bought a pair of canvas tennis shoes for $3.99 took some of the extra lace, beaded it and put it on the toe, side and heel of the shoe to make my wedding tennies.
Instead of using a limo, you can rent your favorite car for the day. You can rent a foam cake that's iced from a baker. It has a small section that has a cake in it for you to cut and then there are sheet cakes in the back that are cut for the guests. Use flowers that are in season to save money.
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