Real Wedding, II
I really wanted to share a bit more from Ameleah’s gorgeous and affordable wedding. For those of you that are dying to know how much this wedding cost and what exactly “budget-friendly” means…well (drum roll please)….Ameleah planned and executed this stunning wedding for a grand total of $12,331.
And just look at the sheer beauty and the chic style that she designed…it could grace the covers of any major bridal magazine!
More from Ameleah…
I tried to tackle as many DIY projects ahead of time as possible. I already mentioned the invitations, programs and save the dates but I also made moss covered monogram letters to decorate our reception doors (picture to come) and crepe paper poppers filled with freeze dried rose petals for guests to shower us with as we walked down the aisle.
I also did most of the flowers myself. I ordered our personal flowers from a florist, but I did all the centerpieces, decorated the arch for our ceremony, made nosegays for the aisle, two wreaths, and arrangements for the escort card table and guestbook table in the two days prior to the wedding. Flowers were one of my priorities, I wanted tons of flowers at my wedding, but when I received the quote from the florist I knew we couldn’t afford it. I also didn’t want to compromise on this. I wanted green orchids and masses of cream roses with pink and brown accents. I know this isn’t for everyone, but I love flower arranging and I knew that I could save a ton of money by doing them myself. I shopped around a lot on the internet for the best prices, did a lot of research and made trial arrangements so I felt comfortable recreating them before our wedding. I recruited my mom and bridesmaids to help with the prep work. I actually ended up liking the arrangements I made myself better than the professional bouquets from the florist.
I also did a lot of comparison shopping on the internet. I knew what I wanted and I wanted to get
the best price possible. Some of my favorite online vendors are Jamali Garden for vases, Romantic Flowers for ribbon and Envelope Mall for envelopes for save the dates and envelopment style folders.
More great tips and ideas from Ameleah to come later today!
Great job on a beautiful wedding! Staying under budget can be tough but quite exhilarating. I love the challenge of a budget as you are forced to get creative! I am mostly impressed by your gorgeous flowers! Thank you for sharing your wedding...would love to see up close pictures of the arch...and centerpieces?
Great job on a beautiful wedding! Staying under budget can be tough but quite exhilarating. I love the challenge of a budget as you are forced to get creative! I am mostly impressed by your gorgeous flowers! Thank you for sharing your wedding...would love to see up close pictures of the arch...and centerpieces?
We'll have more flower pics later today:)
I would love to know how many guests you had? I am planning my budget/wedding and am in awe how you were able to create such a beautiful event and stay with in your budget.
This was worth the post just to get the two website referrals! Thank you.
Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments. I had so much fun planning our wedding!
Jennag - we had about 90 guests at our wedding. I have to admit that we did go a bit over budget, our original goal was $10,000, but I think the money was well spent. I hope my dad agrees!
Just beautiful. Where did you find such a beautiful flower for your hair? I absolutely love that image. Thanks!
beautiful wedding, and the flowers are terrific. I am getting married in may, and one of my best friends is doing all of my arranging. do you have any online suggestions for wholesale flowers? i am trying to plan my wedding while living abroad!
With the economy draining many bank accounts, many couples are putting off wedding dates until their finances can get replenished. It's good to see you braved on and planned a beautiful wedding, while reining the purse strings. As you know, strain on the checkbook leaves more money for a bigger ring or even a down payment on a starter home. Paper tableware and decorations are a big part of a smaller scale alternative to renting the big hotel ballroom, and are very "budget friendly", too. Take a look at some of our wedding decorations as well as our fabulous party supplies at Party Supplies World.com . The prices are discounted well below what you'd find in local stores and we can delivery worldwide.
What a fabulous wedding, especially given the budget. Did you also have dancing or did you have a dinner only reception? I too am trying to plan a budget friendly wedding and am having difficulty figuring out where to cut costs.
The flowers and details are so gorgeous, I'm honestly in awe of the arch of flowers you created. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful, inspiring wedding.
Angeli - I wore a fresh gardenia in my hair. I ordered a pack of 3 from freshroses.com. The quality was great, but gardenias brown easily so I planned on changing it out throughout the night. I never actually got the chance to change it, but it lasted long enough and I ended up just taking it out when I changed my dress for our first dance.
Brooke - I used three different sources for our flowers. I was happy with the service and quality of flowers we received from all these sites. We ordered orchids and garland for the arch as well as filler flowers from http://www.theflowerexchange.com " rel="nofollow">http://www.theflowerexchange.com > , we used http://www.freshroses.com/ " rel="nofollow">http://www.freshroses.com/ > for the gardenias and I ordered all of our roses from our local Costco warehouse. I have also ordered roses from costco.com in the past, but I found that the quality is usually better if you order directly from the warehouse.
Citymouse - We did have dancing. We had a dj that my husband found online for $300. I believe he was an amateur dj, or just starting out because his prices were far below what everyone else quoted us. He also was not very good as far as dj's go. He didn't announce the father daughter dance and we had to specifically ask him to play the song for our first dance. He basically just played music for us, but the dance floor was still pretty full and many of our guests told us they had a great time. If you are flexible regarding how “professional” your dj is, I would recommend looking at places like Craigslist.
how did you make the rose petal poppers ?
i would love to know the DIY on that please : )
thanks,
how did you make the rose petal poppers ?
i would love to know the DIY on that please : )
thanks,
Hi Ashley! The rose petal poppers were so simple to make. I used cardboard toilet paper rolls and filled them with freeze dried rose petals that I ordered off the internet, then I wraped the rolls in a few layers of tissue paper and tied the ends with colored twine. You can play with the ends to see what sort of look you like, there are many possibilities. It also helps to run a glue stick around the edges of the roll before you roll up the tissue paper. This makes it so that only the ends tear off instead of the entire tissue paper wrap. I just didn't like the idea of my guests being left holding a plain toilet paper roll. Then attach tags instructing guests to tear the ends off the poppers and shower you with the petals as you walk back down the aisle. Hope that helps!
Wow this wedding is amazing. I'm seriously embarrassed at how much I'm over-spending (it feels like, looking at this!) on my wedding. You are blessed to be so talented and artistic.
And your dress itself looks like it could've cost half your budget;)! Was your hair and makeup done at a reasonable price too? Wow.
Hello,
I love the style of your wedding! So pretty! I was wondering where you found the men's suits?? I am looking for a similar style and have been unable to find anything affordable. Does anyone know where I can find similar suits? Thanks so much!
WOOW Excellent post!!U have done nice piece of job. Thanks a lot buddy for sharing with us.
keep up the work.
"could grace the covers of any major bridal magazine!"
Yep, great cropping by the photographer - or just focus on the positive. Budget doesn't impact happiness for sure, it'll shine through no matter what!
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