What were some challenges you faced planning your wedding?
“The biggest challenge for us was staying within the budget. Weddings are very costly and you have to decide how much you’re willing to do yourself and how much time you truly have to do it in. We also paid for things as we went along. In doing this, we ended up not having to pay a huge bill at the end of the wedding that we had not saved for.”
Describe the bride/bridesmaids’ Attire
“My dress was all lace with a key-hole back and small train. My shoes were a soft turqouise peep-toe wedge. I had my hair all up in the back with baby’s breath in it. The bridesmaids all wore the same one-shouldered chiffon dress but in different pastel colors.”
What types of flowers did you have?
“We used many different types of wild flowers. We used daisies, pink astilbe, hydrangeas, pink ranunculus, and lisianthus. We also used a few different varieties of mums. The flowers were all different shades of pastel and white. I didn’t want to stick to just one or two colors.”
Any tips to share with brides planning their own wedding?
“We used a wedding planner app and book to keep organized. If you can afford a professional wedding planner and/or day of coordinator, definitely hire one. The last thing you want is to be swamped with details and questions from vendors on your wedding day.”
Which pieces of music did you use during the ceremony?
“The bridesmaids came in to Best Day of my Life by American Authors. I walked in to Better Together by Jack Johnson, and the recessional was Say Hey by Michael Franti. I really wanted to have different and up beat music for the ceremony in keeping with the celebratory feel of the day.”
How many guests were invited and what was the final guest count?
We invited around 175 guest and the final count came to 110.
Was it difficult to narrow down your guest list?
We didn’t find it too difficult to narrow the guest list down. Tom and I set out to include our closest friends and family. We personally knew everyone in attendance, which gave it an intimate feel.
Best advice you received planning your wedding?
It’s your day and not anyone else’s, so you have to make decisions based on what you want and not what others think you should do.
What was your budget?
“We started with a $15,000 budget and I really thought I could keep it under that. We ended up spending $20,000 when it was all said and done. That covered absolutely everything and we even ended up with a lot of the alcohol from the bar afterwards. We saved by using Vistaprint for our invitations. We also used an on-line RSVP on our wedding website, which saved a lot of time and stamp money. We worked with our caterer and provided our own alcohol for the open bar and simply had them pour it for us, which saved quite a bit of money.”
What were the highlight from the ceremony & reception?
“The best part of the reception was definitely seeing all our guests enjoying the games and entertainment we had set up for them. They danced to the band and played cornhole and Jenga all night long.”
Tell us about your Wedding Invitations
“I explored printing the invitations myself but in the end the time and effort involved wasn’t worth the small savings to me. So many times I have received elaborate invitations with paper inserts and I end up throwing most of it away. We just wanted something simple and memorable for our guests. I ended up using a template I found on Vistaprint. They turned out perfect and I spent less than $225 for 150 invitations including the postage.”
Where did you go on your honeymoon?
“We haven’t gone yet but we have a trip to Spain booked for our honeymoon.”
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