"But you only get married once" is the typical and common reasoning for dropping all that dough. Well yes, that's supposed to be how it goes. But these days, it seems like with most marriages, third time is a charm. (If that)
Nope. Not with me. I am only getting married once. Sorry Tony, you're stuck with me. But for me, that is no reason to max out my credit card. When Tony and I got engaged, we discussed priorities. What is most important to us are the things we are willing to spend most of our budget on. Some of these things include: My dress, venue/food, honeymoon, rings, and music.
Thanks to Pinterest and Etsy, everything else is DIY (Do it yourself).
Two weekends ago I was headed to Pittsburgh for a very blithe and productive weekend with my mom and aunt. In a four day time span, we made all of my centerpieces (27 of them), my bridesmaid bouquets (6 of them), the boutonnieres (6 of them) and a small addition to my purchased veil.
There's my mom putting together the centerpieces.
Multiple glasses of wine accompanied us into the early morning.
Once the centerpieces were done. We did some research and found inspiration for the bridesmaid bouquets. After we clipped a few coupons, we headed out to hobby lobby for the necessary supplies. 50-some dollars and a few more glasses of wine later, all six bouquets were completed.
Crazy, right?! I promise they look good! We were not completely impaired while making them! ;o)
The crazy thing about weddings is that flowers can easily account for 1/4 of your total budget. Although some may find freshly arranged flowers a priority to spend a lot of money on, it definitely was not one of mine. In all reality, they die in a week. For me, I just couldn't fathom the idea of spending so much on something that will just get thrown away. I reckon that guests will look at the centerpieces for maybe 10 minutes, then head to the bar, order a drink, and shimmy on over to the dance floor... I hope... fingers crossed. I guess we will see come November! But with my handmade centerpieces, guests can take them home if they like and display them somewhere! High five!
Next?
Ahhh yes, my Grandma's broaches. Quite frequently I am convinced I was supposed to live in the 50's. In my opinion, I have a very vintage style. Since my Grandma is no longer with us, I wanted to incorporate and include her on my very special day. I accumulated (or as my Grandma would call it, "tackle boxed") some of her broaches while in Pittsburgh and decided to use some in my veil and on my bouquet. My Grandma was a very crafty person. That broach with the rose in the picture above is one that she made. It is made out of an egg shell and she painted on the rose. Creativity must be hereditary because my wedding is very "DIY". I only hope she will be smiling down at me when I walk down the aisle!
While crafting I found a handmade apron of my Grandma's with me and my sisters on it.
Of course I have pictures of the finished products, but I can't post them on here until after the wedding. I don't want to give all of it away or else people won't come! ;o)
So Jo(W)anna know what? Planning a classy and unique wedding in today's economy is not impossible. In fact, DIY wedding's are the "cool thing" to do these days. Truth be told, even if it wasn't the "cool thing" to do these days, I would still rather spend hours with my family crafting, rather than spending thousands of dollars on something just to get it checked off my list. At one point over the weekend in Pittsburgh, my two cousins, my aunt, my uncle, and my mom were all around the dining room table cutting, arranging, and wrapping my centerpieces. I wish I had a picture of this to share with you, but it is definitely an image that will always stick with me.
So when it comes time to plan your wedding, remember to include your family in the planning process. They will appreciate it more than you'll ever know. A wedding isn't about how much money you spend, it's about who was there by your side to help you plan it. And it absolutely warms me up how I can say my centerpieces, bouquets, and my veil are made with love.
Ain't that the truth.
Right there with you on this one!! Between my parents and myself, we are doing so much of my wedding ourselves. Saving us HUGE amounts of money...but it's also been awesome to have my parents so involved :)
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