Cutting Costs (on Paper)

For you savvy pursuers of blogs, you may have noticed I added some new things to my blog, namely the Cutting Costs Lists and a Check off List. And a super cool countdown widget. We'll be a year away in a few days!

Anyway. I must say, I'm pretty proud of the ways we are deciding to save money. Some things didn't take much thought. Actually, most things didn't. I love paper products (stationery, journals, etc.) but it seems that paper is where we're skimping the most. For instance:

We won't have Save the Dates. All 20 or less of my family members that would attend the wedding know the wedding date because I have personally told them. I also have access to communicating with them over the internet to remind them. My fiance does not feel the desire to send save the dates to his side of the family (he even said he'd resort to phone calls if he really had to. I laughed). So, since he doesn't want to send them, and I don't need to send them, I honestly don't feel compelled to stress out over sending save the dates to people that are going to come anyway. He's the first of the "grandkids" of his enormous family to have a wedding, so I'm sure they'll show up anyway. They all live in Arizona or California, so transportation would be simple. Plus, what are invitations for, anyway?

Another thing we've decided to forego (well, I did- I doubt he really knows they exist) is programs. As much as I would love them, I know no one is really going to be interested in reading them. I don't feel like going through the headache. We're having a simple ceremony. I will probably make one as a keepsake for my scrapbook, though.

Menues. Again, maybe I'll make one for my scrapbook. But we're not having servers. The food will be buffet style, you can see it right in front of your face. No menu. Easy as that.

No Guest Book. My fiance went to his uncle's wedding two weeks ago and said NO ONE signed the guest book. That means they probably won't feel compelled to sign ours. I may leave some pretty paper out for people to write well wishes and drop them in the card-box, but no guest book for us.

Maybe hearing some of our reasoning behind cutting costs will help you re-consider or reaffirm some of your own decisions on what to include in your wedding.

In Lieu of Table Numbers...

These little beauties were purchased at the $1 section at Michael's. They are notecards, and I totally bought them on a whim.

I LOVE the idea of table numbers, but considering our informal but formal wedding, they just didn't make sense for us. I don't feel like assigning grown ass people seats.

When I saw these notecards, I thought they would be cute to adorn the tables with, as both my fiance's first name and mine starts with "N." $1 for a pack of 8 cards, so there's more than enough to go on every table.

Floral Decoration Idea

I've made a lot of purchases for the wedding already. The $1 section at Michael's and Dollar Tree have become my best friends, lol. I'll post them as we go along. Pictured here is a little beauty made from love. I really want to hang things and I saw this in the window of a floral shop and decided to recreate it.

It's a foam block with the heads of fake flowers in our wedding colors cut off and stuck inside. I also made holes to put the ribbon through. We will hang them using the ribbon by tying a knot, and I strung the ribbon through the bottom for a hanging streamer effect.

My camera doesn't do it justice, the colors are much more vibrant in person. I plan on making a few to hang amongst a sea of white lanterns for the reception. I'm excited! The whole piece cost around $4.

Some tips if you decide to make it is find a good way to secure the flowers. I would use a hot glue gun or cut the stems long enough to securely stick them in the foam. And make sure you arrange properly to avoid gaps between the flowers!

Horse & Carriage

A business in the area of our venue offers horse-drawn carriages for special occasions. Pictured above is a bride and groom who actually used the service on their wedding day. I think the idea is SO cute.

If we were to use it, I would have to figure out how to time it. The ceremony and reception are in the same place, so where would we travel to? I could use it riding up to the ceremony, but that would mean I would get ready in the bride's dressing room, attempt to sneak out of the back and into the carriage and ride around to the front to make my entrance. The problem with that is the guests seating has a perfect view of the door I would sneak out of. Awkward. Lol.

Maybe we'll use it at night, after the reception, to go away. I just thought it might look better to have a daylight backdrop for the picture of us in a horse carriage. It sure would make me feel Cinderella-ish.

I checked out the prices, and there are only two categories for pricing. Weddings which cost $300 and Birthdays which cost $150. Lame! My birthday is five days before my wedding, so if I DO use the service, I'll be damned if I'm charged the $300, lol.

On a side note, I'm even MORE glad that I decided to order my dress online instead of going with David's Bridal. I instantly recognized the dress of the bride in the picture above from the catalog AND in-store. Not knocking any ladies who do go with David's Bridal, because it makes sense, but it really seems to be the go-to place for Arizona brides (especially in the west valley).

Could This Be the Dress?

I won it on Ebay. Now I just have to see if the seller comes through on my sizing and I hope this experience goes well. I actually just won it on ebay, it comes out to under $200 including shipping. BUT. I've never bought clothes on Ebay. In fact, I thought buying a wedding dress on ebay was a great idea, but not for me.

That all changed once I went dress shopping at David's Bridal. A bridesmaid and I went yesterday, and after about 9 dresses, only 2 were okay, and of the 2 one I kinda liked was like this dress, but $400. So, I found this on ebay and thought, why not? I haven't paid on it yet. I'm waiting to hear back from the seller. Needless to say, I'm nervous.

Our Wedding Venue! Part 3

This is the bride's dressing room. It really made an impression on me and looks MUCH better in person. The antique chairs give it such a warm feeling, I know I'm going to feel gushy inside getting ready with my bridesmaids. There is a dressing room for the groom as well, a little smaller and with red walls. So, now you've gotten a look at the place where it's all going down!

Our Wedding Venue! Part 2

This is where the reception will be taking place, and it has room for a dance floor. These pictures are from the website, and I don't think they look particularly great. The venue space is fairly new and so far the weddings I've seen hosted there were, well, tacky in my opinion. But my wedding will be the one to change that! Maybe I'm being too judgemental, but I'm pessimistic. I probably would not have chosen this place, but we'll make do with what we have!