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My complete #1 was remembering that I was going for a vibe – and that that superseded getting wrapped up in lots of little details, that quite frankly no one (including me) would remember.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.
