Dress
Weddings can be super expensive, especially in the city. The last way that you want to cut the budget is from the dress, but sometimes you don't have too! Sample sales are all the rave lately. I was very nervous picking out my dress. I thought I'd attend a sample sale at the infamous Kleinfelds in NYC. I didn't know what I'd expect, but I certainly didn't expect the line outside to be down the block like it was! I waited outside knowing that I didn't want to spend a fortune but that I wanted something beautiful especially because this was a very special moment! :) The line became less and less and I was led into the room with literally hundreds of dresses. There were so many women, the guard at the door had to hold people back from going in until someone came out. I found 2, one on the 500$ rack and one on the 1000$ rack. All these dresses were originally upwards of 5 thousand dollars, I knew I couldn't spend that much, nor did I want to! I had hope with the discounted dresses. I heard horror stories about these dresses, some that they are dirty because other brides used those to try on, others that the brides had tainted the dress because they had already worn it, but I said what the hey and started trying the 2 on! The first one was alittle too tight, and the second I remember fit perfectly. It was amazing how perfect it fit! Kleinfeld's sample sales usually happen around July, this year it was held July 27th at the Kleinfeld's store. It is a great find if you can make it! Dresses are discounted up to 70% off!!
Makeup
Shannon from Milk and Cuddles and her husband Michael had a gorgeous September 9th wedding in Texas. She had a genius idea to, instead of overpaying for some ridiculous amount, have a student do her wedding makeup! And I can attest, her makeup looked absolutely beautiful. Shan lucked out and found the student by visiting a makeup store at the mall to get free makeover, she liked what she did and asked her if she would consider doing her makeup on her wedding day. Looking back she now suggests going to a makeup school directly to ask about using a student. Her makeup artist was very reasonable, she paid her $75 dollars and that included her coming to the hotel and then meeting Shan at the reception to do touch ups after the ceremony. How great is this idea!! and how gorgeous does she look!?
Favors
My beautiful sister Stef from lbibeachgreetings married John this past June. They are a perfect couple and I love them both! She was frugal with her wedding favors and made her own! While some people bought the finished package ready to go and be put out on the tables, she diligently bought each item seperately and put them together (well we all did that day!) It was great fun putting the favors together. She had a ceramic swan, made by my grandmother, with a bag of chocolate covered almonds, all bought seperately. She also gave small terracotta pots with seeds in them. She bought the terracotta pots at the dollar store and then bought the seeds seperately, with a little note on the seed packets that says their names and the date of their big day! And last but not least, she bought about 5 bags of hershey chocolates and made her own labels with their names and the date that fit overtop of the chocolates! It was beautiful and everything perfectly placed! She also bought her tablecloths seperately on sale! The venue didn't have the colors that she wanted, so she had them place white on the tables and then had them place her tableclothes on stop. How pretty does she and the table look!?
Invites, Flowers, Hair & Budget
Laura from Lavender Labyrinth and her husband Dave's wedding was so wonderful and beautiful and was held last September in Pennsylvania. All of their closest friends and family were there to celebrate their special day and Laura has some great tips on how she and Dave stayed true to what they wanted while being frugal with their wedding! Dave and Laura did their own invitations and save-the-dates, they bought boxed sets at Michaels and formatted them and printed them at home which saved them a ton!
She went with local and seasonal flowers and asked their florist to only use local and seasonal, which she was really happy to do as they were easiest to get and had the most vibrant colors and she knew they would last. Laura says "Seasonal and local are the most environmentally sound as they are native plants that didn't have to travel on a truck across the country to get to us". Laura bought hair pins instead of a veil and that saved hundreds of dollars! And a personal message from Laura "Mostly deciding that our wedding was ours and that we could plan the wedding however we wanted and within our own budget. Some wedding sites/magazines/lists can make a soon-to-be-wed person feel like there are so many things they HAVE to do if they want the perfect wedding and that's just simply untrue - those lists are there to encourage spending. My best advice is to let go of the idea of wedding-day perfection and to plan enough so that your guests are not confused and so that you're ready to go for the big day. Beyond that, make it your own and stick to a budget. Your marriage will be better for it :) And those are my two (or five) cents :)" Laura is wonderful and very environmentally conscious which I appreciate, and looks so gorgeous!
Invites, Save the Dates & Thank You Cards
and last but certianly not least is Danielle from Danielle's Meandering Thoughts and her fiance Kevin who are engaged to be married next July! We are so excited for her big day and all the fun planning that goes along with it! Danielle says that many of her friends bought printable invites from Joanne, AC Moore, Michaels and they have cute ones and depending on the color scheme could totally work! The above stores also have like 20-40% off coupons in the paper weekly so that saves money too. She suggests downloading invitation templates from the Wilton website (http://www.wilton.com/wedding/wedding-invitations/), and then just paying for ink! She got lucky and got them on clearance and went to a few stores to stock up.
Thanks to all the awesome bloggies who stopped by today with their frugal tips! If you have a tip to share, please leave it in your comment below! I hope you're wedding is a frugal and fabulous one!
Nikki, you are so sweet! Thank you for a lovely tribute to all of us in your blog :) Sending you loads of love from PA :)
ReplyDeleteSuper great post today!! love all the tips and ideas you shared:)
ReplyDeleteHave a Fabulous day!
Statements in Fashion Blog
Enjoy your Anniversary, tomorrow is mine! 11 years.....
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm following you!
ReplyDeleteKristin :)
Keenly Kristin
Hi Nikki Bicci!!! Happy Anniversary this weekend- hope it's very romantic! Sending you lot's of love- what a great blog- enjoyed seeing everyones pictures! HUGS!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for following my blog! I'm your newest follower. :)
ReplyDeleteHave a great day!
Renee
www.aglimpseofbeautiful.com
Happy Anniversary!!!! Love the tips, even though I am an old maid!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all--Super Happy Anniversary and I wish I could get married again to use these tips! :)I've been a follower for a while but must have missed your posts recently. Your bloggity blog is super duper cute!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips!!! My first wedding was a big wedding but we did an all-inclusive thing the second time around. I just didn't want to deal with all the planning!
ReplyDeleteOurs is tomorrow!!! 17 years. Doesn't seem possible. Happy Anniversary to you both.
ReplyDeleteThanks lady loved seeing the pics!:)
ReplyDelete