Wedding on a Budget
I have received so many emails about yesterday’s style board. And lucky for us, Erin (the bride), has been sweet enough to offer her top ten tips for creating a beautiful, but budget friendly wedding! Even better, we have a few more photos to share!
From Erin…
My complete #1 was remembering that I was going for a vibe – and that that superseded getting wrapped up in lots of little details, that quite frankly no one (including me) would remember.
But in saying that…
#2 was research research research research. I LOVE the internet, and what I love most is finding the most gorgeous sites and being able to budget hunt. I was amazed at what great finds there are out there without spending a ton. i.e, our table cards, all the things we needed for our favors – all came in at under $40.
#3 Having our wedding at our favorite Brooklyn restaurant (Frankies 457) saved us a ton of $, and more importantly stress. We knew we loved the food, the atmosphere, the staff. No worries of catering, linens, etc. This was where we saved the biggest chunk of $. And our wedding was still on a peak Saturday night in NYC. I really encourage people to check out restaurants. Also – it’s a gorgeous space so it kept decorations down.
#4 – Keep the numbers down. We knew we wanted a really intimate feel and having a restaurant with a guest list cap of 90 helped us stay on track. We ended up with a total of 79 guests.
#5 – We skipped the limos and whatnot. We’re lucky that in NYC we can easily call car services. We rang for Lincoln Towncars 20 minutes before we had to be at venue. Price per car – $30
#6 – Do it yourself! You don’t have to be crafty to do a few little things here and there. And save yourself stress – do things EARLY! I loved our little favor boxes, but they were a total pain to make. I invited 3 friends over, got a few bottles of wine and had them done 3 weeks before the wedding.
#7- Consider doing your own flowers. Bud vases are gorgeous (we had 70 at 70 cents each at IKEA) and bought all our flowers the day before at a local flower market. Price for all the flowers (mainly orchids) $300. My one regret is that I also didn’t do the same all the bouquets. I thought the stress would be too much to do these myself, but in hindsight it would have saved a lot of money and been more my style.
#8- Hunt for a sale on your dress. (or at least find it cheaper) I found my dress at a really swanky boutique in Manhattan and sighed at the price. My sister convinced me to go to a huge warehouse store in Manhattan to see if I could find something similar. I found the same dress as at the boutique for $200 less. Every little bit counts.
#9 – Photography. I LOVE a good photograph, but I couldn’t see spending $4000 on photos. We found our photographer on Craigslist, checked his references (a must) and booked him. 8 hours for $700 and over 1500 photos. Love it. Oh, and for anyone wondering, his name is Aaron Almendral.
#10 – Be willing to let things go. I really tried to focus on what were my priorities – great music, great food, and great friends. The
little stuff after that I was willing to let go.
I'm so glad to hear it's possible to do your own floral arrangements. I wonder if dyi floral is a growning trend. Great advise. Also, what amazing photos!
Beautiful photos and great advice, thanks!! I was just wondering what dress you wore. I love the fabric!
Hi, thanks again. My dress was by Marisa - sadly, they don't make it anymore. It's posted here as well www.adriennesny.com and I know they are still carrying it here for a bit longer. It was silk shantung.
So beautiful! I love the relaxed feeling. Do you mind me asking what was inside your favor boxes?
thanks for all of the tips! i'm trying to pull off a very similar brooklyn wedding next year, and your tips give me confidence that it can be done -- with style and panache! -- on a budget.
Carrie - if you want tips you should e-mail me. I was part of a bridal collective of all brides who helped each other out in Brooklyn and had gorgeous weddings on budgets.
Inside our favor boxes were chocolates - American and Kiwi since my husband is from New Zealand. The boxes were from papermart.com
thanks so much for sharing this post with us. it gives me great hope that i can pull off my big day with so much DIY in the works and not feel like i'm losing out (one of the joys of internet!) i'm from malaysia, btw and the wedding's on august 8th in a small little colonial english manor in the centre of town for only 100 guest. i feel so much more confident now that i'll be able to pull it off on a budget =) thanks!
Aww, thanks for the tips. It looks like it was a fun wedding.
What a beautiful wedding! Sarah, I was wondering if I could speak with you about your photographer?
erin -- i'd love to email you for tips, but i don't see your address anywhere. if you have a chance, i'm at cmelago AT gmail DOT com. thanks!
"our table cards, all the things we needed for our favors - all came in at under $40." Wow, did you get all the stuff from papermart?
I loved seeing the pictures of your wedding, and thank you for sharing your sources with us! I am getting married in a restaurant in Los Angeles in April, and was planning DYI flowers, too! Seeing your wedding pictures makes it definitely seem very possible, while also being very classy and wonderful. If there are any other tips to share with us, please do!!
I loved seeing the pictures of your wedding, and thank you for sharing your sources with us! I am getting married in a restaurant in Los Angeles in April, and was planning DYI flowers, too! Seeing your wedding pictures makes it definitely seem very possible, while also being very classy and wonderful. If there are any other tips to share with us, please do!!
Carrie-
I sent you an email.
Our boxes were from papermart, the table cards from www.whiteaisle.com />
Erin,
Your pictures look fantastic. I was wondering if you would answer a couple of questions I had about Aaron. Would you email me? hpd2009@gmail.com
hi erin! my fiance & i are wanting to have our wedding reception in brooklyn & wondering if we can afford to! your tips are extremely helpful, so thank you!
i wanted to find out more about this brooklyn bride collective =) any advice/help i can get from other brooklyn bride would be so greatly appreciated!
thanks and happy new year!
joan
Hi Erin,
Do you have anymore pictures of the reception at Frankies? I will be getting married there in August and just wondered what the backyard looks like in full bloom. Any additional pics you can provide would be great (and would also put my mind at ease I think). Thank You!
Hi Erin,
Would you mind if I e-mailed you about your photographer? Thanks!
Hi.. can you tell me what you did for music at your wedding?
Thanks
For those of you getting married at Frankies 457.. can you tell me what you are doing for music since they cant have any amplified music? Also I was told 75 is the maximum number of people. Is that what you were told?
Thank you.
I'm thinking about getting Married at Frankies in 2009 as well - could anyone else who is planning a wedding there email me at patricialicious at gmail?
Would love to share planning tips!
Patricia
Hi all, I stumbled upon this post (thank-goodness!) after months of endless searching with the end result being "too expensive!" ugggg- the frustration! I've been engaged since Feb, but have been with my fiance for almost 6 years, so a long engagement of planning is not for me! I am looking something unique and untraditional for a guest list of 80-85. I currently live in Manhattan - just emailed Frankie's - Erin thanks for these tips because like others have said, it has made me hopeful that i can pull it off! Anyone know further details on Frankie's event space? Anyone have any other similar venue ideas in the ny area? Any info would help!
I'm planning on having my wedding at Frankie's as well - May 2009. Do you have an advise? Did you have the ceremony there or somewhere else? I'm also curious about music and dancing. Any additional info about Frankie's would be much appreciated.
Sara
Hi Erin,
I have so many thanks for the advice that you shared. I plan to marry Oct, 2009 and we have (3) children (2) of which are in private school but have been together 10 years and engaged for 2 so it's time.So the B word is a plays a great role we were planning to tie the knot before but had a few unfortunate circumstances. So we are very excited. Do you have any other advice for a reception site besides a restaurant.Our guest list is 100 Max.
I wish you many happy years!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, I was just reminiscing and didn't realize people had still replied. Please feel free to e-mail me at erinhowell77@gmail.com with any questions. We used a band at Frankies - Michael Arenella who we loved! But you can have amplified music, just not overly loud. We had our ceremony at the Unitarian church in Brooklyn Heights and rode a school bus to Frankies. We had an amazing afterparty for the real dancing and partying at Sheep Station on 4th Avenue in Park Slope - we partied until 4am.
I have more photos so I'd be happy to forward the link.
I'm heartened by people thinking we did well since I'm hoping to venture into wedding planning in a few years. I loved it!