Posts in the 'Budget' Category
January 30th, 2012 by dana h.
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Image: Kauai Wedding Photography
Many of us agree that photography is a HUGE part of your big day. After all, your photos stay with you forever! As if pictures weren’t prominent enough in the wedding biz, they’ve taken a step further into the spotlight with the introduction of photo booths.
So what’s the big deal with these anyway? Obviously, a photo booth lets your guest take home sweet photos, sure to bring up memories of the fun they had at your wedding. But pictures aside, photo booths keep guests’ spirits high. After the pomp and circumstance of a formal ceremony, it gives your guests a chance to cut loose and express themselves in a humorous way.
Now, let’s get real for a minute. Yep, we have to start thinking about the dreaded b-word. Photo booths for weddings typically rent for $1000+. And when you’re on a budget, well, that can be a lot of dough to dish out on a novelty. But let’s step back and think about the concept of the photo booth. You want to give your guests an easy way to capture wedding-day memories. You want to provide them a fun setup. Thinking about it this way, having a photo booth – without actually renting one – is totally doable.
A couple ideas:
The Polaroid Setup. This requires very little work from you. All you need is the camera; a small table to set the camera on (along with extra paper and batteries, if you have a large guest list); and backdrop (whether it’s a folding screen, or pretty fabric tacked to the wall if your venue allows). Make it fun and set out a box of props, too!
Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera, $299 at Polaroid.com
Polaroid cameras are easy to operate, so guests can take turns taking pictures of each other, or hold up the camera to take pictures of themselves.
Tip: If you don’t already have a Polaroid camera, register for one! Make sure it’s on your registry early and maybe, just maybe, you’ll get it before your wedding. If not, cross it off the registry and pick one up yourself. It’s less than a third the cost of a photo booth, and you get to take it with you on the honeymoon! If $300 is still too rich for your blood, you can grab an old school vintage Polaroid for a fraction of the cost of a new one on Etsy, and source film for it from The Impossible Project!
The Laptop Setup. To get closer to the real deal, you can purchase photo booth software (like Spark Booth, $59) that takes the pictures through your webcam. By bringing in a laptop and printer, you can set up a photo station that snaps your guests’ photos in a single keystroke and prints them out in photo-booth format. Brilliant! Interested in the details? See the step-by-step and results from a real wedding here.
You can take these ideas a step further by using the pictures in your guestbook, as an alternative to signatures. Set out markers for the guests to write messages on the prints, and mounting squares to stick their snapshots in a scrapbook. (Your crafty girlfriends will have fun with this, too!)
Image: Emmaline Bride
How are you getting creative with photos at your wedding?
January 29th, 2012 by katie
After we got engaged, I did what any newly engaged girl would do and hit the internet to start obsessing over wedding inspiration boards and details. Immediately, it became clear to my novice eyes that the wedding cake is a big deal.
So, I started collecting inspirational pictures from the interwebs for discussion ad infinitum with my mom, the maid of honor, the mailman, the waitress at Bertucci’s who complimented my ring and so on. I hoped a local bakery would be able to recreate something that resembled one of these astronomically expensive cakes:
Cake-spiration 1: Ron Ben-Israel Cakes
Photo by Antonis Achilleos via www.theknot.com
Cake-spiration 2: Gail Watson Custom Cakes
Photo by Antonis Achilleos via www.theknot.com
Cake-spiration 3: Sylvia Weinstock Cakes
Photo by Antonis Achilleos via www.theknot.com
Cake-spiration 4: Martha Stewart
Photo via www.marthastewart.com
So now I had my folder of inspirational photos, and I just had to find a bakery that could make a budget friendly version of my dream cake. No problem, except….except, I was having a really hard time wrapping my head around the whole idea of the wedding cake. As I mentioned in my last post, we went way overboard with the venue, leaving a very narrow budget for everything else.
Plus I must confess here, among friends, that I don’t really like wedding cake. Actually, I’m not really wild about cake in general….and I’m particularly tepid about ridiculously expensive and slightly stale cake covered with inedible fondant. Also, the thought of putting the brakes on the whole party just so that my groom and I could awkwardly feed each other seemed, well, very awkward.
I realized that I was only interested in picking a cake design because it felt like something I had to do, so the cake hit the wedding chopping block. Since I made the decision to ax the cake, the reactions have been a little extreme. Some people have enthusiastically applauded our money saving decision, while others have nearly started a wedding mutiny. My future brother-in-law was so outraged that he threatened to bring a Little Debbie cake to smash in my face during the reception, and a few friends graciously offered to do a homemade cake for us. For the most part though people just want to know “Aren’t you upset about missing out on that photo opportunity?”
In short, no, no I am not upset about missing the photo op at all. I mean does anyone ever really look cute while eating/smashing cake? How did this even become a tradition?
Good Old Fashioned Cake Smash
Photo by Randy + April Wedding Photography
I know there will be many other memorable moments from our wedding day (our first kiss as Mr. & Mrs. comes to mind immediately), so I’m okay with skipping this one. However, I am a little upset to miss the cake tasting, that part looks fun!
January 23rd, 2012 by dana h.
Image: Style Me Pretty. Photo by Greer G Photography.
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with DIY wedding stationery. Not only is it a great way to stick to a tight budget, but what better way to give your guests a sneak peek at your wedding style? And whether you’re going the print-at-home kit route, or cutting blank cardstock for your own creations, your invites don’t have to look plain. It’s easy to use decorative elements to pack a punch and add a bit of personal flair. After all, your wedding should be your own!
The source of my inspiration is this lovely invitation envelope. While the paper itself is your standard white and brown, it gets prettied up with vintage-style stamps and a touch of lace, both of which are easy to achieve.
Let’s start with the lace edges. The practical side of me wonders how the delicate lace on the outside envelope would hold up in the mail. A nice alternative might be to use paper doilies instead — you achieve the same effect, but with more strength. And did I mention doilies are super cheap? (You can find packs of 30 for about $2-3 each.) If you need a little direction on how to cut and position the doilies, here’s a great DIY tutorial.
Image: Sparkle and Hay
On to stamps. While there are plenty of custom postage designs on the web to choose from, they require a little more dough than you’d spend at the post office (usually double or more). And when you tally up all the stamps you’ll need to buy — for save-the-dates, invites, reply cards, and thank-you cards…well, let’s not get into how much all those custom stamps would be! That’s why it was refreshing to find that the pretty stamps on the inspiration envelope can be purchased through the post office…at every-day stamp prices. Yay!
Featuring pretty herbs, you can mix and match these 29-cent stamps at your pleasure.
Herbs stamps – Roll of 100, $29.
If vintage and flora aren’t quite your style, the “Love: King and Queen”designs are a good bet, and less ho-hum than the Wedding Roses and Rings designs.
$8.80 for 20
Or maybe you’re an unconventional bride, and you’d rather have and “pretty” isn’t a concern to you. With an open mind, you’ll find the post office carries many other choices. You might like something a little quirky, like the Mark Twain design, or even American Scientists. Neat!
How are you making your stationery special? If you’re going the DIY route, what special touches do you think you’ll add?
-Dana H.
January 4th, 2012 by christen
Hey, Broke-Asses! Christen, your new Real Wedding homie, here. I originally thought I would intro myself with my wedding, but then I saw Brooke and Landon’s pink-and-zebra country club fete oozing with tradition and sentiment, and I couldn’t resist moving them up in the queue. Brooke and her family are dear friends of Dana’s – so we’re extra thrilled to share their special day with you! These two managed to squeeze a 300-person wedding into a budget of ~$23K and its oozing with style! And feel free to get slapped in the face with the incredible amount of luuurrve you’ll get from them.
Name: Brooke
Occupation: Assistant Manager at The Buckle
Wedding location: Salina, Kansas
Wedding Date: June 3, 2011
Budget: $23,597.75
How would you describe your wedding?
Our wedding was PERFECT, at least we think so. Our day started off with me waking up at my parents’ place with my mother and father by my side in the morning with big smiles on their faces. Landon woke up at his family’s place and made sure everything was taken care of at the reception. Landon and I didn’t want to see each other at all before the wedding at 7:00 in the evening. We wanted to be traditional and not ruin the moment that I had dreamed of since I was a little girl.
Our wedding theme was different at both of our sites. At the church it was filled with cherry blossoms, white, pink and just a touch of zebra. The cherry blossoms were used in our family because Landon is part Japanese. His grandmother is actually from Japan and is such a beautiful woman both inside and out.
When you arrived at the reception site you walked in to feather-filled centerpieces, with hot pink and zebra in your face.
Our church was not a traditional church. It is actually a church converted into a blues recording studio. We wanted a church with a lot of character, and we got exactly what we asked for. The walls are covered with signed autographs of famous blues players and posters of past concerts that were held at this old church.
Our reception site was at our country club. This isn’t the fanciest place in the world but it held a tradition for me. About 37 years earlier my parents had their reception at that same country club and I wanted to dance in the same spot they had danced 37 years earlier. We had a jazz band that played when people arrived at 8 until all the people were gone.
When we arrived at the reception we went straight into our couple’s first dance, toasts, slideshow and then the cutting of the cake. We allowed people to eat before we got there so they wouldn’t be waiting on us, because we find it extremely annoying when you are starving and you have to wait on the bride and groom to get there after taking photos for 3 hours so that they can eat first. We then got to eat (a little) and then go around and see all of our friends and family. Then we got to do our father/daughter dance, mother/son dance, group dance, bouquet toss (that included lottery tickets, money and gift cards that both men and women were able to participate in). Then we danced the night away!
I did wear something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. My old was my grandmothers gold ring that my mother wore in her wedding. Something new was my Maggie Sottero wedding dress. Something borrowed was my mother’s diamond earrings, and something blue was my garter.
What was your favorite part of your wedding?
Not to be cliché, but when I saw Landon at the altar waiting for me to walk down the aisle. My hairdresser bet me that morning that he would be blubbering. I thought “No way!” As I waited nervously, hiding at the back of the church thoughts ran through my head of what he would look like, that I should try not to cry, and not to trip as I walked down the aisle. I looked at my Dad and he gave me a grin and our song started to play. I felt like I needed to pee, puke, all of the above. My father took me by the arm and started to go.
I noticed everyone standing up and all I wanted to see was my family and Landon. I turned the corner down the center aisle and saw his face. I will never forget his face as long as I live. He had the biggest grin but he was struggling trying to fight back tears.
Then, I lost it. All of my scared nervous energy went straight to a smile with tears rolling down my face of joy, that I had finally found my soulmate and today was our day. People keep telling us that when we walked down the aisle you could feel the love between us.
What did you splurge on?
We definitely splurged on our photographers, We Are The Parsons, because we wanted to be able to relive each moment of our wedding for as long as we live. Landon’s father passed away several years ago and we realized how important pictures are because they can capture a memory of a time and a place that we can go back to. We found these photographers online and knew that they were the ones. They fly all around the world to photograph weddings and we were lucky enough to have them in Salina, Kansas, for our wedding day. I hope to continue to have the Parsons take pictures as our family grows for years to come.
What did you save on?
Instead of a sit down full on steak dinner, we decided to do hors d’oeuvres and Shirley Temples. Even though it was still a lot of money it could have been a lot worse with all the people we had. We served mini grilled cheeses with tomato soup shooters, twice-baked potatoes, fajita bar, and a chocolate fountain with fruit, cheesecake, etc. We did not have any alcohol at our wedding because both of us and our families are not very big drinkers in the first place.
Was there anything you would have done differently, in retrospect?
I loved having our wedding reception at the country club, but unfortunately at the same time I had to have about four different meetings with the head people of the club to make sure that everything was ready and good. They seemed to be very unorganized and often forgot the wedding menu and timeline of that night. On our wedding day, our menu had changed a little without notice and our projector we needed for our slideshow was in a different location that day and it was our job then to find another one that morning. Luckily, Landon and my father were to the rescue. I would just make sure that for all your venues you hire someone who will keep in contact with you and who is very organized. This will save a lot of headaches.
What was your biggest challenge in planning?
Trying not to go over our budget! We planned to stay around the $20,000-25,000 range, which we did!!! YAY! But it was hard because we knew a large chunk of money was going to the photographers and toward my dress. Luckily, I had one of the best wedding planners ever and she made it happen.
What lessons did you learn from planning or from the wedding itself?
It’s really really nice to have a timeline and make sure you stay on top of it. in one of my first meetings with my wedding planner, we went over what had to be done every month so I knew what to expect. I was soooo excited about planning my wedding that we were way ahead of schedule on most of everything which was soooo nice. I know several of my friends who got married that same summer didn’t have a set timeline, and it was very challenging for them about 2 months out from the wedding since they had so much to do.
What were your top 5 favorite things about your wedding?
1. Having the most amazing wedding planner, Laura Besher.
2. Our photographers and our photos that we now have forever and ever.
3. Our beautiful four-tiered cherry blossom cake.
4. My dress.
5. The Bill McMosley Jazz Band.
Top 5 least favorite?
1. How hot the church was with over 300 people in it and the A/C was on full blast.
2. Not being able to breathe before walking down the aisle.
3. People walking in last minute right before you walk down the aisle.
4. Landon’s father and my grandfather were unable to be there physically. (But they were there spiritually.)
5. Having to decide who to cut from your close friends on the invitation list so that you don’t max out.
What was the best wedding advice you received?
We had been given this advice from several people, “Enjoy and cherish every moment you have at your wedding, because it will fly by.” This was especially true for us because we didn’t have our wedding until 7 in the evening. This was honestly the best advice because we can remember and enjoy almost every moment from our wedding because we took the time to enjoy it and not worry about the little things.
Any other bits of wisdom?
Be yourself and have a blast!! Just remember that this is your special day with the person you are going to be with the rest of your life. It’s kind of awesome.
Budget breakdown?
Cake: $872.57
Cherry Blossoms for Cake: $50.00
Unity Candle/Decorations: $80.00
Guest Book: $25.00
Hair and Makeup (6 people): $500.00
Shoes: $100.00
Wedding Gown: $1,700.00
Pastor Fee: $150.00
Pianist: $200.00
Programs: $200.00
Centerpieces/stands: $156.00
Jazz Band: $800.00
Flowers: $1,364.10
Invitations: $400.00
Envelopes: $95.00
Postage: $122.0080
Return Postage: $88.00
Photography: $4,900.00
Shirley Temples: $584.28
Decorations for Reception: $1,900.00
Food for 300 people: $5,842.80
Lunch for Bridal Party: $150.00
Vendors:
Wedding Planner: Laura Besher, Every Little Detail
Ceremony Site:Blue Heaven Studios
Reception Site & Catering: Salina Country Club
Wedding Dress Shop: Reni’s Bridal Boutique, Wichita, Kan.
Flowers:Designs
Photographers: We Are The Parsons
Hair Dresser: Terri Hajny at Hair Connection in Salina, Kan.
Cheers, Brooke and Landon! Looks like a rockin’ good time. xoxo!
The Broke-Ass Bride is always looking for rad-tastic Broke-Ass weddings to feature. Interested? You can submit via Two Bright Lights or by emailing us directly!
September 6th, 2011 by Britt
I am absolutely in love with the gown bride Alexis sent me. It’s made by one of my favorite bridal gown designers, Elizabeth Dye, and once you see it, you will dye at the sight of its epic beauty.
Hello Broke Ass Bride!
I need your help! I’ve fallen for an Elizabeth Dye dress that’s out of my budget. It’s $1200, and the most I can spend is around $600.
I love the lacy detailed bodice, yet how simple and casual the dress is overall. It doesn’t necessarily have to be tea length.
Thanks so much Broke Ass Bride! You’re awesome!
Can’t Afford It:
Get Over It:
1. Galina Exclusively at David’s Bridal. Under $600.
2. RSVP. $160.30.
3. The Limited. $99.99.
4. David’s Bridal. $99.
5. Mori Lee. $127.99.
6. Queen of Heartz. $140.
7. Unique Vintage. $168.
8. Dessy. $215.99.
9. Bridal Brick Row. $675.
10. Alfred Angelo. Under $400.
11. Alfred Angelo. Under $599.
12. Eliza J. $228.
13. Jessica McClintock. $600.
Miss any other CAI/GOI magic? Catch up here:
September 4th, 2011 by Robin
Last week I listed some of the things from my wedding that I didn’t mind spending extra money on. This week, I’m going to give Broke-Ass Nation what it REALLY wants: reassurance that you’ll have no regrets about taking the cheap route.
I can honestly say that there isn’t a single thing I wish I had spent MORE money on for my wedding. I’d bet a dollar that’s true for the vast majority of wedding veterans, so that’s something to keep in mind whenever you’re debating whether to scrimp or splurge.
But of all the ways I saved money for my wedding, I think the best was not having any flowers.
Brooch bouquets can get expensive, but I made mine as cheaply as possibly by designing them to have fewer pins and recycling wire from my sister-in-laws wedding and jewelry from my mother-in-law’s stash. They definitely cost less than professionally-arranged flowers, but they’re still as beautiful as they were on my wedding day and will be for years to come (mine is in a box right now, but I fantasize that someday I will have it displayed on my dressing table. You know, when I’m a grown-up and I have a dressing table instead of just an overstuffed closet. But I digress).
[Photo by Louis Stein]
We scrimped even more when it came to our non-floral centerpieces. We had 30 tables of many different sizes, because we got married in a restaurant. We used simple, minimalist centerpieces: ivory candles inside spherical glass bowls lined with spirals of silver and copper wire. These did all centerpieces really need to do: they filled the empty table space without detracting from the overall look of the room. And they cost less than $10 a table. We bought the materials on the cheap at a wholesale retailer for florists, and my mother-in-law and I assembled them all in one afternoon. If there’s anything better than cheap, it’s cheap & easy.
[Photo by Mike Rubino]
Do you think I’m right that there’s hardly ever something you wish you spent more money on in your wedding budget? What are some of the ways you’ve scrimped on your wedding that you’re most proud of?
-Robin.
June 27th, 2011 by The Broke-Ass Bride
Oh hello there! Are you admiring my proud peacock feathers? I thought you might be! Why so proud, you ask? Well, aside from the lovlieness of my plumes (pfffft), its because my handsome hubby is a contributing editor to Destination Weddings & Honeymoon’s Magazine in their super-sweet Groom’s Room column every issue!
We’ve always been huge fans of DWH Mag, and I had the honor of being quoted in it a few years ago… but I’m so excited for Hunter that he’s now a regular columnist. What a gigantic honor for us both!
Check out his first article, advice for destination bachelor parties. I just lurve it (and the illustration too)!
I know, its tiny… so here’s the full text for your reading pleasure!
Destination Wedding Bachelor Party
by Hunter Stiebel
Congratulations, dude — you are soon to marry the love of your life. And just as your future wife is beautiful and amazing, the spot where you’re getting hitched is too — that’s why you chose a destination wedding. I’m sure you and your partner in crime are excited for every detail of what will surely be the happiest day of your life so far, but don’t overlook what could be your second favorite day: Yup, I’m talking about the bachelor party! Instead of doing something at home like those traditional grooms, set aside some time in paradise to make some memories with your best buds. (If the celebration becomes a boozy haze, hey, at least you’ll have some great photos.) Whether your wedding is in the mountains or the heart of the city, here are five creative ideas for a destination bachelor bash.
Beach
Why drink on land when you can drink on sea with a band of bawdy buccaneers? If you’re headed to a tropical locale, pirate cruises make a great bachelor-party option, and they’re a staple in places like the Caribbean and Mexico. In the latter, Cabo San Lucas’ Buccaneer Queen offers an open bar, pirate shows and games, as well as a close-up view of El Arco, the famous rock arch.
Mountain
Nothing says male bonding like climbing rocks. Technical climbing is a good analogy to life: As you search for your next foothold, you rely on your buddy to have your back and yell, “Upward and onward!” Conquer the rock, and don’t worry about skill: Instructors at Pikes Peak Alpine School, in Colorado Springs, can customize group outings complete with helmets, harnesses and shoes. Afterward, you and your team will have earned the right to tap the Rockies at a local bar.
Wine Country
Wine has unfairly been given a less manly image than beer, but here is a quick way to up the testosterone in the vineyards: wine tours by Jeep. Forget stomping grapes with your bare feet; you’ve got massive tires for that. In Cali, Sonoma-based Wine Country Jeep Tours can do the driving while you do the drinking — ahem, I mean tasting.
City
For a big-city bachelor party, why not kick it like an all-star? Book a party bus from the hotel to your favorite stadium to watch the game in style. If your budget allows a little more creativity, rent a private suite or take advantage of the “all you can eat” seats popping up in many stadiums. Chicago’s Wrigley Field Rooftop Club has three sections of special seating, each a different price and offering perks like high-def TVs, extra-wide seats and the all-important private bar.
Resort
If you’re hosting a resort wedding, why not go old-school, or rather, back to school, with an on-campus scavenger hunt? Start off in the spa and get a clue from your masseuse leading you to a hike, a golf course, a cigar bar or whatever fun activities the resort has to offer. Get a new clue from the staff at each stop. The multiple resort bars (and drinks) along the way can be helpful clue-cracking pit stops.
Whatever you do, your party is going to be a kick-butt, boogie-down bonanza. It’s hard to believe it’s only a pre-game, but when you say “I Do”, that’s when the real party begins.
(originally printed in Destination Weddings & Honeymoons Magazine, March/April issue)
May 15th, 2011 by Robin
The original title of this post was “My Wedding Invitations: A Horrifying Accounting”, but when I started adding everything up I went past a very scary number (it starts with 5 and rhymes with “fun dread”). I immediately closed my spreadsheet with horror and washed my hands and brushed my teeth.
I spent HOW MUCH on invitations? WHO AM I?
I thought I was a budget-savvy practical bride, playing left tackle for Team Wedding Sanity. Wasn’t invitations on the lowest extreme of our budget priority list? How did this happen?
Well, friends, I went down the wedding rabbit hole, and wedding paper got the best of me.
Illustration by John Tenniel
I remember when I’d read other engaged people express their “love” for paper goods, and snicker. Really. Who loves paper? There is a reason that The Office is set at a paper company: because paper is so boring it is funny.
But as you all know, getting married brings on a whole mess of nonsense. Everything that isn’t important is, and contrary-wise, everything that is important isn’t. In Wedding Wonderland, your color scheme becomes as vital to your identity as your spiritual beliefs. The debate over fondant vs. buttercream rages like we’re talking about evolution vs. creationism. Even for people like me who are not having a cake! [For the record: I am a fondant apologist. This is part of the reason we are not having a cake.] And paper somehow becomes something to love and spend hundreds of dollars on.
So I went down the rabbit hole to Wedding Wonderland and I spent way too much money on my invitations.
I caved to my inner four-year-old and bought those pocket envelopes. I couldn’t resist shimmery metallic paper because my wedding colors are mixed metals. I bought a freaking $20 embossing gun and four different kinds of embossing powder until I found an acceptable shade of copper (I had some scary run-ins with my nemesis glitter in this hunt). And so. many. stamps. in search of the “right” swirly flourishes. As though swirly flourishes can be wrong.
I made expensive mistakes. Even though I ordered samples and made a mock-up invitation that satisfied me at the time, after I’d already ordered and cut my card stock I decided I absolutely could not abide using that color for the invitation backing. So I ordered a different color card stock and ate the $30. The first return address stamp I bought was too small for its print to be reliably legible. I had nightmares of my RSVPs all getting lost in the mail, so I ordered a new, bigger (and more expensive) address stamp. With rush shipping. I threw so much money down the rabbit hole at these invitations the Mad Hatter and the March Hare are constantly making it rain.
Was it worth it? Well, my invitations still aren’t in the mail, so I can’t show them to you yet. I think they are lovely, but honestly? I’d rather have something a few hundred dollars less lovely.
So learn from my mistake, freshly-engaged broke-asses. Sometimes things you think you don’t care about and will be able to save tons of money on somehow weasel their way into the splurge category. Plan accordingly with budget buffer. Or, you know, have a stronger constitution than I do so you don’t get caught up in wedding nonsense.
Have you found yourself caring (and spending) more than you ever would have expected on something for your wedding? How did you save your budget from spiraling into nonsense?
-Robin.
May 10th, 2011 by Robin
I knew that DIY-ing my wedding invitations was going to be a substantial undertaking. And I knew that the paper to make over 120 invitations would stack so high as to shake the conscience of anyone who has ever enjoyed the shade of a tree or syrup on pancakes or breathing oxygen. But I tricked myself into believing the invitations were a suitable use for all that tree pulp, because they were oh so pretty and celebrating our love and la-la-la I can’t hear you crying, mighty forest, because you don’t actually have a voice to sob or eyes to tear.
Still, I was not prepared to confront the trimmings from our invitation paper. A Broke-Ass does not abide waste. And here I am, only halfway through cutting our invitations, and I’ve filled a hat box with larger pieces of excess card stock and a shoebox with the little slivers I trimmed off to attempt to correct all the rough or slanty cuts I made on the first try.
So I’ve been brainstorming ideas for how to use the paper trimmings from my invitations. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
For the larger pieces:
- My first thought was wedding-friendly uses like place cards and labels for the dessert table. Unfortunately, our printer won’t take such small pieces of paper, so I’ll have to convince someone whose handwriting doesn’t look like they currently are recuperating from two broken arms to write out that stuff on these scraps.
- I’m always looking for scrap paper when my buddies come over to play a game of Celebrity. Wouldn’t it be awesome to play on linen-finish gold cardstock instead of the backside of whatever solicitation is at the top of our mail pile? My only concern is that my friends will try to class up the celebrities they put in the bowl to match the paper, so instead of having three Ke$has in the bowl we’ll have a bunch of European royals. And I have no idea how to mime Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
- Similarly, I suspect I’ll dramatically improve my diet if I start writing my grocery lists on some of the biggest scraps. Because it’s hard to imagine besmirching such nice paper with items like “snack cakes” and “ramen noodles.” I’d probably end up buying a lot more fresh produce.
- Then again, I have a least one low-brow idea for my extra fancy paper: a small stack of card stock is surprisingly effective as a shim. My favorite local dive bar has ridiculously uneven tables. Maybe they’ll poor me a free beer if I wedge some cardstock under those table legs to level things out for them?
And for the small slivers:
- If you can handle additional cutting (and if you can, you have a stronger constitution than I), with these little slivers you’re halfway to wedding confetti.
- If you’d rather vent some of your frustration out in a constructive manner, how about using these extra bits of paper as kindling the next time you go camping.
- Or better yet, line your pet hamster’s cage with the slivers.
- Or mix it in with your shredded financial records to thwart would-be identity thieves.
- I’ve seen people DIY bird nests out of strips of paper. And I’ve seen people use bird nests in their weddings, for some reason. Unnecessary birds are just part of the absurd zeitgeist of this nascent decade. If you’re hip to bird fever (the cute trendy kind, not like, the avian flu that kills people) this could be a great way to use those extra strips of paper and alleviate your guilt about killing so many trees that could have provided twigs for actual birds to use to build their nests.
Anyone else horrified by the waste from their wedding paper projects? Did you find any creative ways to use your scraps?
-Robin
