Real Wedding: Simone and Wesley, III
I try to show a little something for everyone here on SMP…some weddings more modern than others, some more lavish than others. All of which fall under the oh-so-chic umbrella. Well, my friends, this wedding is SO Style Me Pretty. With the dusty, vintage style photography, the perfect details, the bride that is all about approachable elegance. Loving every little bit!
From Simone…After the ceremony, guests were greeted into the cocktail reception with champagne coupe’s filled with Prosecco and ate hors d’oeuvres from Culinary Capers. Music from the 30’s and 40’s played in the background, (via ipod). I wanted it to feel very Gatsyesque. There was croquet and bocce on the lawn. In lieu of a guest book we had a old typewriter. Our photographer set up a photo station for guests to take there own photo’s. Instead of a cake or a favor guests were given a trio of truffles in Celo bags and placed on square tiering in the shape of a wedding cake.
all photographs by Sakura Photography
I got an email from one of our loyal readers today, reminding me that many, many brides are working on budgets for much less than $17,000 as Simone and Wesley spent. So, for those of you that are wanting to keep your budget happy and stress-free, here are some really great cost cutting tips that Simone put together for us…
- We found a venue that allowed us to bring in our own liquor
- We had an open bar for the whole Cocktail Reception which was 4 hours long, then it was a cash bar at the After Party (more on the after party coming up next).
- We ditched the cake and favors and had take home truffles, two birds one stone!
- We found a beautiful space. The mansion that we got married was beautiful so we needed minimal decor.We also picked a location that was fitting with our theme.
- I choose a dress that was not considered a wedding dress but was just as good of quality but did not have the heavy price tag.
- We used an ipod and speakers for the ceremony and reception music, easy and I was able to have to music that I wanted.
- We shopped around. We ended up getting such a great photography who at the time had only been in business for a year so she was substantially cheaper then others.
- We didn’t get married on a Saturday. Our wedding was on a Sunday and we had the ability to negotiate with vendors because they were not booked and mostly would not be booked.
- ssshhhhh! We bought fake rings! We will get the really thing eventually but before the wedding we thought it was wiser to spend the money elsewhere. We bought my Husband’s band on ebay, it was $0.89, I love that!!
this wedding is beautiful...I LOVE LOVE LOVE the BM dresses!
I love all your cost saving tips! Can you share a little more about the music part, though? Did you do the first dance and father/daughter dance? If so, how did you do that with the iPod (and get everyone's attention)? Did you have someone that was "in charge" of making sure everything was working correctly for the ceremony and reception? Any more details you can provide would help b/c I think this is a great way to save money and have everything feel more "us" but I'm a little stressed about how it would actually work... Thanks!
Gatsby-esque, correct? Very cute and fantastic cost-saving ideas!
I love your event details and your dress! Can you tell us where you found the dress?
Love this! We are planning on using an ipod and speakers for our music, too. I am interested if anyone has any great recommendations for speakers with sound quality and high volume control.
Thanks!
Carey
this wedding is incredibly beautiful.
a lovely wedding! i love the dress advice. i also want to just use an ipod/computer with my own playlist but i'm scared something will go wrong. did you have someone in charge? any suggestions or recommendations on length of playlist or anything like that? did you rent a microphone/speakers for any announcements? i see some other questions above like this, so i'm sure we'd all appreciate your wisdom!! thanks!!
I think I am in love. The images are just breath taking and the advice that was given made me smile.
What is that backdrop made of? GREAT cost saving tips. Thank you for sharing!
I just have to comment on the email, because while people are planning wedding for much less, some are planning them for much more. So, it's nice to see a website that features a well-rounded selection of real weddings. Just like everything shouldn't be the top of the line, most expensive thing out there, not every wedding that is featured should have to be done on a small budget just because there are people out there planning for less. That being said, those are great tips and it's nice to see how they saved money. No matter what the budget is, it's always nice to save money.
I am so in love with this wedding. Every single detail is perfect!
Beautiful wedding! I was wondering with the iPod music... did you still have to pay SOCAN fees?