May 23rd, 2012 by christen
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Oh, man. You guys. Have you ever seen one of those weddings where you’re all “HOLY CRAP I want to be friends with them,” and then audibly “D’awww” at the photos? Well, Bianca and Andre are one of those couples. This is one of those weddings. These two truly rocked a Broke-Ass-style event ($400!!!) and made sure their time and energy really went into all the right aspects – and they both smiled their way through their garden ceremony and cheesecake reception. Bianca also played it super smart by utilizing her resources: Marrying in a friend’s garden, trading services for the photography, having her best friend officiate, etc. They focused on what the day is really supposed to be: A celebration of one another, their loved ones and their future.
Name: Bianca & Andre
Occupation: Birth and Wedding Photographer & Server.
Wedding location: Friend’s garden in Tempe, AZ
Wedding Date: February 29, 2012 “Leap Day”
Budget*: $400
How would you describe your wedding: We had a secular ceremony that was simple and sweet. I wrote my vows while getting my hair done the day of and he totally winged his at the ceremony.
What was your favorite part of your wedding? My favorite was our vows.
What did you splurge on? André’s outfit.
What did you save on? My dress! I bought an expensive $100 dress and hated it! I went to Ross Dress 4 Less and found a gorgeous lace baby doll dress for $10 by Miss Chievous.
Was there anything you would have done differently, in retrospect? I would have started my planning a little bit earlier to avoid the last minute stress that I had.
What was your biggest challenge in planning? Everything. There are so many choices in themes and it got a little overwhelming. Our color scheme was purple and orange and from there I chose vintage for me and music for him.
What lessons did you learn from planning or from the wedding itself? To have fun with it all. Making the decorations and seeing everything put together was amazing. People are always surprised when I tell them our budget.
What were your top 5 favorite things about your wedding? Both of our outfits, the garden, personal vows, having it small, and having my best friend marry us.
Top 5 least favorite? Last minute planning and walking in those high heels. I only fell once though so I think that’s pretty impressive.
What was the worst piece of wedding advice you received? Go all out. You will only do it once and it’s your big day.
The best? To make it about us and how we wanted “our” wedding to be.
Any other bits of wisdom? Don’t get caught up in the wedding aspect of thing but the true meaning of why you are really having a wedding in the first place. Don’t spend money where it doesn’t need to be spent. You don’t want to return home and look at how much you spent and realize you are now broke. You never know, you could return home to a car whose clutch went out while you were on your honeymoon like I did. And lastly, good luck on your marriage. I wish all the happiness in the world.
Budget Breakdown?
Dress: $10 Miss Chievous
Shoes: $20 Bakers
Jewlery: $20 Charming Charlies
His Outift: $200 Men’s Wearhouse
Decorations/Invitations: $50
Cake: $30
Hair: $55 Deja at Bella Melange Salon
Photography: Puruhito Photography
Congratulations and all the best to you to.
Interested in featuring your radtastic wedding to Broke-Ass Bride? Email us or submit via Two Bright Lights.
xoxo
- Christen
May 15th, 2012 by christen
One of my favorite summer activities is watching the huzface cook up a frittata, sipping on a mimosa and enjoying the summer sun and the company around me. There are few things that make me feel more glamorous. So I figured, if this makes me feel all “I can be amazing and light and airy and graceful and comfortable and free,” why not translate it into a wedding? The plus side: Brunches can be done on the super cheap, whether it’s actually at brunch time (which saves you money on the whole Saturday night deal) or it can be held at night and be a whimsical escape into morning loveliness.
Whether you decide to have your brunch-themed wedding at the standard brunch time or shift it into the evening for a quirky twist, there’s some amazing, brunch-tastic wedding inspiration out there.
I perused my own (and, let’s admit it, EVERYONE’S) Pinterest feed and came up with some pretty snazzy ideas.
Via Pinterest via Bleu Soiree
OBVIOUSLY, since it’s a brunch, you’ll need mimosas. No brunch is complete without.
But why not also do a bloody mary bar? Save on bartending costs (if your venue will allow) and buy bulk bottles of vodka, big old jugs of tomato juice and stock up on some Tabasco sauce. Arrange with platters of celery, pickled asparagus, limes, lemons and whatever else you deem necessary and let the guests mix up their red bevs to their own desire.
Since you have all that tomato juice, why not get some cheap beer (or a keg?) and do red beer? Heck, you also have some orange juice, so brass monkeys (equal part beer and OJ) could also be on the menu.
But what about noms? Well for brunch, quiche and fritattas are the smack-you-in-the-face answer. Some of my personal favesies recipes come from Epicurious.com. And they’re great because you can make them a couple of days ahead of time. Get your whole brigade to chip in and you could feed ALL THE PEOPLE!
Via Pinterest via The Family Kitchen
But, um, you’re going to have some DUDES at your shindig. Chances are you’ll need MEAT. So … how about some bacon cups? These would need to be made soon before consumption, but I can tell you from experience: Soooo goooood.
Once I started rolling with the idea of personal servings, the options became endless.
A muffin bar would give your guests a plethora of options. Put them in nifty cupcake wrappers, and advertise the options with sweet little signs.
Take any of your favorite foods and make it mini! Little French toast corners served in a cup with maple syrup. Same goes with pancakes and waffles. Stick a toothpick in ‘em and eat up!
Speaking of France, you could set up a crepe station. Have a stack of crepes and spread out an array of fillings — onion, bacon, berries, you name it. Make sure you have a canister of powdered sugar to top it all off!
Of course you never want to leave out sausage. It’s a breakfast and brunch staple. Enter pigs in a blanket: Easy, cheap, and always a favorite.
For the more health-conscious, fill small mason jars with fruit, yogurt and granola for an individual parfait. Decorate the jars and they can double as wedding favors.
Via Pinterest via Reluctant Entertainer
To get more ideas and inspiration, feel free to check out my Pinterest board.
What theme ideas do you have in mind? Would you be down for doing a brunch wedding?
xoxo
-Christen
May 11th, 2012 by liz
Two pieces of lavender. Simple, and beautiful.
Most of my brides come at the whole wedding flowers thing in one of two ways: They know exactly what they want, or they have no clue. They’re either focused on one particular tree or overwhelmed by the forest. And yes, I made a little botanical metaphor there.
The funny thing is, both end of up changing their minds. Certainty slides into flexibility, while cluelessnes gives way to very firm choices. And it’s the same process – finding out what they don’t want, which leads to deciding what they absolutely do want. Do yourself a favor right now, and #1 – Accept that there is a process. #2 – Don’t be afraid of it!
Start before you even meet with a florist and pull all the basic numbers. How many guests are you having? Divide that by 10 (or 8 or 12 depending on the size of your tables), and that’s how many centerpieces you’re going to have. You need a bouquet, your bridesmaids need bouquets, and all the groomsmen need boutonnieres. Do you want your parents to have bouts or corsages, too? How many of them are there? How about the flower girl or ring bearer? These are the same questions any florist is going to ask you, but writing it down beforehand is going to make you feel a little bit more in control, and it’ll bring up questions that you haven’t thought of, like, what size tables your venue has. Smaller tables = more tables = more centerpieces. But then again, smaller tables can mean smaller centerpieces, too. Something to ask the florist about if your budget is a consideration. And if it is, write down whatever 5% of your budget is. That’s what you want to try and stick to flowers-wise.
Another idea...
If you know what you want right now, collect pictures to bring to your floral consultation. Print them out, bookmark them on your smartphone/tablet/computer, but bring the visuals. If you’re not sure what you want, then ask yourself this: what don’t you want? Do you hate roses, do you hate peonies, does the thought of a cascading bouquet give you hives? What’s your color scheme, or what is it definitely not going to be? Nine times out of ten, going through this exercise is going to give you a little more clarity.
And, now, it’s on to the florist.
The great thing about florists is that they actually know what they’re talking about! If you say you want white flowers, they can point you in the direction of ranunculus, dahlias, tulips, and half a dozen other blooms that you never even thought of. A lot of times, they have examples of each of these flowers in their shop. Ask as many questions as you can, and definitely ask all the questions that you have. Don’t worry about what isn’t possible, just find out what is.
Get a proposal or estimate, if you can. A good rule of thumb is to stick to the basics. Personal flowers and reception flowers. The florist is probably going to ask if you need any arrangements for your ceremony, or for the place card or gift table. A small vase for the bar? Remember, you can always add these later, if you want. But, don’t get sucked into any of it now!
And most of all, enjoy it. Enjoy all the pretty, embrace all the options you have, because there are a lot of them. There is no way you won’t find what you need to have the beautiful wedding that you want.
So, did your wedding flower vision change after you got started? Or, what finally pushed you to realize what you really wanted? Or, are you still stuck and could use some help? This is the place to share – let us know in the comments below!
See you at the end of the aisle,
April 18th, 2012 by christen
You guys ever run into someone that you feel could be your wedding twin? Well, here’s mine. Erica and her partner, Eric (E-squared, yo!!!), had a retro-cool, Blues Brothers-styled rock fest. They found a nifty way to DIY their stationary (Ticketmaster?!?), they spent money in all the places deemed right to them (brooch bouquet instead of flowers, booze, pictures), they chose some rad photographers (same ones we had) and made sure everyone had the most rockin’ time possible. Because this was a second wedding for both, they pulled out all the stops to ensure it was all them, all the way. Erica also has some seriously legit organizational tips, so those of you in need of chaos-clearing, pay attention!
Name: Eric & Erica
Occupation: Owner of an electrical contracting company (Eric), writer/editor (Erica)
Wedding Location: Seattle
Wedding Date: October 1st, 2011
Budget: Less than $15k
How would you describe your wedding? Since we consider ourselves to be pretty unique individuals, right away we recognized that our wedding was going to be different from anything we or our guests had ever seen. As the second wedding for each of us, we benefited (so to speak) from our previous experiences during planning because we had already gone the “traditional” route the first time around, developing strong likes and dislikes.
Enter, “The Ball and Chain” Tour!
We walked down the aisle (up the stairs, actually) to AC/DC’s “Back in Black” and Billy Idol’s “White Wedding,” recited the vows I had written and toasted each other and the crowd that was gathered around us, all in less than 15 minutes. No sooner had we said our I Do’s, the beverages really started pouring and the dance floor filled up. I don’t remember one song that didn’t get the crowd going, thanks to our great DJ.
As far as themes go, Eric is all about rock ‘n’ roll, loves Star Wars and his dirt bikes, while I love jazz, crafting, sparkly things and most anything retro. Naturally, we married (ha!) all the things we love into a totally eclectic and rockin’ theme. I wore a white polka dot dress, my girls wore black and the boys dressed like the Blues Brothers: Ray-Bans, white socks and everything.
We set out to plan the party of the year for our family and friends and, not to brag or anything, we’re pretty sure we succeeded.
What was your favorite part of your wedding? That everything about the night was very “us,” and watching my newly-minted husband dancing to “Soul Man.”
Plus, six months after the wedding, we still hear how great of a time people had.
What did you splurge on? My bouquet, transportation and photography. Ok, and maybe my second dress (but that was NOT intentional).
Instead of fresh flowers, I opted for an AMAZING brooch bouquet made by Jen Diehl of The Ritzy Rose, who also designed Miranda Lambert’s bouquet. She took my color inspiration (red and aqua, with silver and gold accents) and theme ideas (mermaids, cherries, roses, stars, anything retro) and ran with it. I could not have asked for anything more unique for our wedding festivities.
We opted for a limo to transport the ladies up to the Ballard Locks, our first group photo location pre-wedding, and also to drive the entire party to the venue. After the wedding shenanigans were over, we hopped in a vintage Austin London Cab (complete with a bottle of sparkling cider), took a short drive around Ballard and then drove to our hotel. When we left for our honeymoon the next morning, we were picked up in a Lincoln Towncar, which was so much less stressful than having to pack the car, jam in our bags, wait for the valet, etc., not to mention the money we saved by not having to park at the airport for nine days. I say we splurged because we could have easily relied upon family or personal vehicles to move us around, but I wanted to decompress a bit before and after the wedding. Any relaxation time you can get is priceless!
Our photographers, Kat and Justin, were exactly what we were looking for to capture all the special details of our party. My mantra? FORGET MOST OF THE FRILLY STUFF, BUDGET FOR AMAZING PHOTOS. We didn’t interview many potential photographers, primarily because we didn’t need to. We clicked immediately with Kat and Justin, trusting in their expertise, professionalism and beautiful portfolio. When I’m old and wrinkly, I will still be able to look at our pictures and be brought back to that day and how incredibly happy everyone was.
What did you save on? Attire: Instead of fresh flowers, I created guitar boutonnières for the boys and gifted my gals with a clutch to carry instead of bouquets. No worrying about floppy blossoms for this bride! The girls bought their dresses and shoes from chain stores and the boys rented tuxes from Men’s Wearhouse. I also created my own fascinator out of tons of Swarovski crystals to bring out a little bit of my inner pin-up girl.
Decor: We used existing decor in the venue to set the mood, taking advantage of the old brick walls, exposed ductwork and beams overhead and the well-worn hardwood floors to really pull it all together. At the time of our wedding, the venue was even showcasing colorful, glittery paintings of ’80s cartoons on the walls, which was so awesome and fun!
Favors: We made our favors at home using CDs and plastic jewel cases bought at the office supply store. In keeping with the rock-show theme, we used a clip art picture of a 45 record adaptor and made our very own personalized wedding “demo” CD. Our guests were all over 21, but I hear the kids at home got a kick out of the songs too. Also, no show is complete without backstage passes, so we created and laminated VIP badges on lanyards for each guest. Now they’re a collectors item!
Food and drink: Since an open bar wasn’t in the budget, we covered beer and wine for a specified period and purchased several mixed cases of wine from our venue’s distributor. Having in-house catering also helped, since we were able to avoid having a per-plate charge that could also have blown our budget. Instead, guests filled up on the variety of yummy finger foods we picked. When we rented the upstairs room at the BalMar, they included the price of food and drinks toward the amount of the rental, so we didn’t have to pay an additional flat facility fee.
Stationery: I’ve seen people spend hundreds of dollars on their save-the-dates and invites, but we cut that back significantly by using customized tickets from Ticketmaster as our save-the-dates and by designing the invitations ourselves. For the invites, I had a hard time finding anything I LOVED that was in our budget. Inspired by some of the amazing (and worth it, if you’ve got the money!) designs I saw online, I put together a “wedding poster” in PowerPoint. We found some old pics of iconic Seattle landmarks and put those as the background, and played around with several different fonts, layouts and wording. Several versions later, voila! A one-of-a-kind invitation suitable for framing and/or stapling to your nearest light pole. You don’t get much more rock ‘n’ roll then having show tickets and posters to announce your wedding!
Was there anything you would have done differently, in retrospect? I wish that I would have let myself relax more during the planning phase. I became so Type-A and emotional and let myself get overwhelmed by all the details that I kept adding. Eric sat me down and we laid out a better budget and knocked some things out of the plan that were superfluous.
Since we spent so much time keeping a system of organization going and knew where we stood with regard to finances, I don’t think there is anything we could/would have added or removed to change our wedding in any way.
What was your biggest challenge in planning? Patience. I think that part of the fun of planning your wedding should be taking the time to read through magazines, go to bridal shows, etc., to see what’s out there and establish a vision for your own wedding. Buying everything the second you see it doesn’t always work out, as you may change your mind at some point and discover you may not have needed 400 personalized cocktail napkins (a la my first wedding). Let your friends or family help when you start to feel besieged by all the details and give yourself a break; there’s a reason you don’t plan a wedding for yourself every year.
What lessons did you learn from planning or from the wedding itself? Centralize your planning details: I bought a bright pink hardbound planner (bonus: it’s pretty and the color made it easier to find when things got messy) with 2-page-spread of months to write down all of our appointments and payment due dates. This came in handy when I was at work and received calls on my cellphone from a vendor that wanted to set up a time to meet. The only downside for me was when I left it at home! I bought the 8×10 size that would fit into my purse or workbag relatively easily and still have enough room to write info down inside each date box. Business cards were taped inside the front cover and then entered into my phone for quick reference. I wasn’t a big fan of the wedding planning albums you can buy in-store because I prefer to make my own lists that better reflect the needs of a nontraditional bride.
Keep track of what you’re spending: I put an Excel workbook together for major purchases and religiously maintained it. Receipts all went in a zippered pouch that traveled with me everywhere (along with my planner), so each time I bought something, in the pouch went the receipt.
Sort those emails: I also created a folder in my email account that I put every single email regarding the wedding planning details into. It was easier than trying to categorize them all by type.
A small flash drive on a lanyard (also in a bright color!) was where I stored my checklists, copies of contracts received through email, important notes, inspirational photos, the final versions of our invites and copies of the guest list and addresses.
What were your top 5 favorite things about your wedding?
Save-the-dates and invitations — much fun to design and see them displayed on refrigerators and bulletin boards before and after the wedding!
Cupcake toppers — we bought Han and Leia peg people toppers from a gal on Etsy. They were adorable and I plan on keeping them forever.
My dress — I love polka dots and big poufy skirts!
Eric’s ring — I had his ring custom-made in titanium by an metalworker on Etsy, created to look like a “knobby” dirt bike tire and inscribed with a mushy little message.
Our first dance as husband and wife — to a remake of the Beatles’ “In My Life” sung by Storm Large.
Top 5 least favorite?
To be honest, I can’t think of anything other than 2 super minor things. First, I’m gluten-intolerant and I should have picked out some more GF cupcakes. Oy. Second, if I designed my dress again, I’d probably have kept the straps from the original design. Your husband eyeballin’ you in your wedding dress that makes the most of your “assets” Great! Nearly flashing the entire crowd while dancing with your new father-in-law? NOT SO GREAT.
What was the worst piece of wedding advice you received?
“Oh my gosh, thank goodness you came in now! Dresses can take several weeks or months to come in and you don’t want to be dress-less at your wedding!” ~ consultant at a large bridal shop
It was only January when I went in and this lady freaked me out so I felt pressured to buy a dress on the spot. I was so mad at myself when the dress came in 2 weeks later. There I was, in February, 7 1/2 months to go, with a dress that wasn’t everything I wanted. I later purchased a custom designed gown from Dolly Couture four months before the wedding and it was BEAUTIFUL.
The best?
“Relax. Everything always turns out in the end.” ~ my darling husband (though I hated hearing this at the time).
Also, create a registry at a few different stores, even if this is your second wedding. We let our guests know that gifts were not at all expected, but some people buy them anyways. If you’re going to get a gift, you may as well choose some things you’ll both love.
Any other bits of wisdom?
Do not underestimate the limits of your own creativity! If you have a vision and you can’t find somebody who already makes it (or, like me, you can’t afford their prices), you can often make it at home for a fraction of the price. If you aren’t up to the task of bedazzling your fascinator with hundreds of tiny jewels, ask a friend. Chances are you know somebody who would love to help out and be a part of your special day.
If you buy things for your wedding online, check for coupon codes before you commit. I am the online coupon-clipping queen now. Sometimes just signing up for newsletters will get you a 10% off (or more!) coupon to use and save yourself a few extra bucks. I hate paying for shipping too, so I looked for every single free shipping option possible.
When creating our stationery suite, we purchased a large pack of clear adhesive address labels from the office store. After we had the guest list finalized, the names were printed out on the three-label-wide sheets so we had the first column for save-the-dates, second column for invites and the third column for thank-you cards. It worked out great and we didn’t get confused by whose envelopes had already been tagged and mailed.
I’m a HUGE fan of checklists and I cannot sell them to other brides enough. The only thing I love more than making the lists, is checking things OFF! And, like I said before, the premade wedding planners you can buy didn’t really seem to jive with our outside the box wedding.
Vendors:
Dress: Dolly Couture
Veil: Tiffani Saxton Designs on Etsy
Bouquet: Jen Diehl of The Ritzy Rose on Etsy
Bolero jacket: French Sugar Vintage on Etsy
Bride’s shoes: Iron Fist
Bride’s jewelry: Swarovski
Bride’s rings: Blue Nile
Groom’s ring: Stonebrook Jewelry on Etsy
Men’s attire: Men’s Wearhouse
Men’s accessories: Ray-Ban glasses, Express ties
Women’s attire: David’s Bridal and White House/Black Market
Bridesmaid accessories: Coach clutch, Swarovski jewelry
Garter: Heather at Sugarplum Garters on Etsy
Officiant: Julie Cooper
Photography: Kat and Justin Speyer of Persimmon Images
DJ: Adam’s DJ Service
Venue and catering: The BalMar
Cake toppers: PeanutButterBandit on Etsy
Cupcakes: The Yellow Leaf Cupcake
Mini pies: Shoofly Pie Company
For more photos, check out Persimmon Images’ blog here.
You guys SERIOUSLY rocked. Congratulations!
April 4th, 2012 by christen
I don’t know about you Broke-Asses, but spring has finally sprung (fingers crossed!) in my neck of the woods. And due to such, I thought it would be a great time to break out a bright, festive tutorial. The ladies over at A Good Affair popped this bad boy in my mailbox and I just knew you’d love it. The paper rosettes are easy, fun, CHEAP and look awesome for any wedding.
How-To by A Good Affair Wedding & Event Production
Photos: Luminaire Images
Supplies:
2- 12”x12” sheets of paper
Glue stick or Elmer’s
Hot Glue Gun
Scissors
Step 1: Take your 12”x12” sheets of paper, and cut in half.
Step 2: Fold the 6”x12” papers accordion style with ½” folds.
Step 3: After you finish folding all the pieces, glue the end of one piece to the end of a second piece so that they overlap.
Step 4: After gluing all your pieces together to form one long accordion paper strip, take the two ends and join those together in the same fashion. This creates a completed ring of folded paper.
Step 5: Making sure the glue has dried and all pieces are secure, stand your ring upwards, and gently press the top edge outwards, with the bottom edge remaining on your work surface. This will form your paper rosette!
Step 6: If you are using two-sided paper, decide which side will be the front or back. The back side should be facing up. This is where you will hot glue to secure your rosette.
Step 7: To secure your paper rosette, take your hot glue gun (it sets faster) and put a dollop of glue right in the center. Make sure to hold down the rosette as the glue sets. If you are planning to have your rosettes double-sided i.e. both sides will be seen, be sure to hot glue right in the center very neatly.
Step 8: (Optional) Dress up your paper rosette with a simple circle cutout, or a coordinating embellishment! You can get creative!
Step 9: (Optional) To give your paper rosette a rounded edge, after you’ve folded your papers but before gluing, take your scissors and round off one side of your folded paper.
End Product: A beautiful 12” Paper Rosette!
Notes: Different paper sizes and fold sizes will give you a variety of rosette sizes and looks!
Pretty neat, eh? You down for some DIY awesomeness? I mean, it looks so simple even a DIY dunce like myself could prolly get it done.
Submitted via Two Bright Lights.
xoxo
-Christen
March 28th, 2012 by christen
You guys! We’ve got a SUPER huge treat today. Broke-Ass Bride’s very own Emily has decided to grace us with her very own wedding awesomeness and DAY-UM does she deliver.
via Whitney Huynh
Name: Emily & John
Occupation: Freelance writer/blogger/Etsy shop proprietor & Fisheries Biologist, respectively.
Wedding location: Decatur, GA
Wedding Date: February 18th, 2012
Budget: < $10K
via Whitney Huynh
via Whitney Huynh
via Theary Meak
How would you describe your wedding? We wanted our wedding to feel more like a big party, with all the things we love. We’re foodies, music snobs, vintage enthusiasts – and we love a good cocktail, so obviously these were our priorities.
What was your favorite part of your wedding? I had almost no expectations about things like, you know, the ceremony – in fact, I fully expected to trip coming down the aisle, or have something go terribly amiss – but looking back, this was actually one of my favorite parts of the day. It was perfect. I got a little choked up – much to everyone’s surprise – I am NOT a crier! Also, having about 95% of the people I love in this world in the same room was a big deal for me.
via Whitney Huynh
via Whitney Huynh
via Whitney Huynh
via Theary Meak
What did you splurge on? We splurged on the things that people generally splurge on when throwing a wedding – the food, and the venue. Initially I didn’t expect to spend so much on the venue itself, but it took us a long time to find our ideal venue – and because it was a community center, we felt good about where our money was going.
What did you save on? Photography, flowers, music, and my officiant. The photography was definitely the biggest save – I snagged my dream photographer Whitney Huynh, via Wish Upon A Wedding - an online charity auction site that provides dream weddings for couples who are facing serious illnesses or life-altering circumstances. I paid a RIDICULOUSLY low price for a $4K wedding package – so low in fact, that I’m too ashamed to quote it here. It included 2 photographers (but I actually got 3!), a photobooth, and even more goodies!
I also made a crazy-amazing trade with my fabulous florist, Juli Vaughn Events. I fully intended on doing the wedding flowers myself, to save money – but my mom wanted to go with a traditional florist. We brought this up in front of my caterer, who recommended me to Juli. I was about to make a cross-country move, and I had a lot of choice vintage and antique goodies to unload – so Juli and I made a swap. A bunch o’ typewriters, oscillating fans, my epic collection of mason jars, and a smattering of vintage cameras, for wholesale pricing on flowers. #WIN.
My officiant, Brenda M Owen, aka The WeddingWoman, actually found me through my blogging gig here, and gave me a nice little “wedding blogger’s discount” (Being a wedding blogger has its perks, y’all!).
We also opted out of hiring a DJ or a band – my parents were really pushing for that, but John and I both have very exacting musical tastes, so we made our own playlists for the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and dance sesh, brought our own pair of kickin’ vintage speakers and sound equipment, and even made CD playlist favors!
We also saved a TON on decor by using what we had (VINTAGE), and hitting up Target the day-after X-mas to save BIG on string lights and other doo-dads. I understand that not everyone has a giant arsenal of vintage and antique treats in their personal collection, but still…you likely have something sitting around your home that could make your event design scheme infinitely more interesting!
via Whitney Huynh
via Whitney Huynh
via Whitney Huynh
via Whitney Huynh
Was there anything you would have done differently, in retrospect? I would have invited more people. We invited 75, knowing only 50 would show. As the RSVPs trickled in, I realized barely a third of those in attendance would be under 30, and only a tiny number were single! (That made me feel seriously old.) As a result, there were fewer people on the dance floor than I had hoped – the libations didn’t turn enough non-dancers into dancers, unfortunately!
via Theary Meak
via Theary Meak
via Theary Meak
via Theary Meak
What was your biggest challenge in planning? Well, despite the fact that we’d been engaged for 2.5 years, we planned this entire shindig in 3 months. That was challenging – but what was really challenging was the cross-country move that got jammed in right at the halfway point. My hubs got a job offer he couldn’t refuse, so off we went to Reno, NV.
Also, I am pretty laid back – my mom and dad are both EXTREME worriers. It only took one parental freak-out for me to realize that I was going to have to be totally on my game with the wedding planning, so that we could all still be on good terms by the time they walked me down the aisle together.
What lessons did you learn from planning or from the wedding itself? Expect surprises – and be open to them! My wedding turned out to be much more fabulous than I ever could’ve anticipated.
What were your top 5 favorite things about your wedding?
The one thing that touched me the most was how much John LOVED everything. He had been very involved with planning, but we were both elated with how beautifully things turned out. He said “Best day ever” at least half a dozen times. And he was right!
MY FLOWERS were absolutely amazeballs. I was seriously going to make little arrangements myself, and I’m sure I would’ve been satisfied with them, but having professional arrangements, bouquets, and boutonnieres really bumped my wedding up a notch. (I have to pimp Juli Vaughn Events here again – Atlanta brides, take note!) We also rented an antique bar cart, chairs for our photobooth, and a black chandelier from Four Inch Fold. These larger pieces rounded out our vintage look quite nicely!
MY CEREMONY! Because of our big move, Brenda and I never actually got to meet until my wedding day – something she was a little anxious about (because she’s such a PRO). But everything worked out splendidly – Brenda crafted a beautiful, moving ceremony that we’ll always cherish. Also, the time immediately following the ceremony was really special. After we got hugs and kisses from all our guests, we ran out in the rain with our photographers for a few couple portraits. These photos are my absolute faves from the whole day. We were so pumped up with love.
MY BRIDESMAIDS! My b-maids were/are the 3 ladies I love most – and I was so happy they traveled from all over the country to be there! FABULOUS LADY TIMES.
THE FOOD! We queried a LOT of caterers, and we really didn’t think we were going to be able to get the food we HAD to have for the price we wanted. We lived in Athens, GA for almost 3 years before our move to Nevada, and we LOVED locavore, contemporary Southern cuisine. The menus that looked the tastiest to us were often more than double what we wanted to spend on catering, and included ridiculous, excess charges that we simply couldn’t fathom paying ($500 for a coffee service?!). Zest Atlanta Catering TOTALLY got us. They understood what we wanted, they wowed us with a totally opulent tasting spread, and when they gave us a quote, the food was SO much more affordable than comparable menus we’d seen!
via Theary Meak
via Theary Meak
Top 5 least favorite?
I really have no complaints – it was a PERFECT day. I’ve been reading about “real weddings” for so long, I was prepared for anything (and prepared not to lose my cool) – but everything was so much better than I ever expected.
Ok fine, I have one or two complaints. John and I love fancy cheese – so we had our caterer do a beautiful cheese spread using Sweet Grass Dairy cheese – Sweet Grass is a Georgia dairy farm, so we were stoked to share our little foodie obsession with our wedding guests. It was by all accounts, an awesome spread, which I did I not get to taste any of, or even see! Things move really fast at weddings, so don’t be surprised if you don’t get to stuff your face with apps between your ceremony and reception.
Also, I only had one bite of my wedding cake – on top of our dessert table, our cake was totally excessive (but still beautiful). So keep that in mind if you’re doing a dessert table – you probably only need cake for half your guests.
What was the worst piece of wedding advice you received?
Peeps – when you start throwing ideas like “wedding taco bars” around, people start to freak. My friends were freaking in a good way – others (like my parents) were slightly appalled. Be prepared to defend your stance, pick your battles, and make an occasional concession – but make sure the wedding day you get matches your wedding vision, no matter what.
The best?
“Have a cocktail.” – this cures most wedding woes!
via Whitney Huynh
Wedding Vendors:
My Dress: Venus Bridals, purchased at The Bridal Outlet of Atlanta
Bridesmaid Dresses: Nordstrom
Hair & Make-up: BB Salon
Venue: The Solarium at Scottish Rite
Catering: Zest Atlanta Catering
Officiant: Brenda M. Owen, aka The WeddingWoman
Flowers: Juli Vaughn Designs
Photographers: Whitney Huynh, Second Shooter: Theary Meak
Vintage Rentals: Four Inch Fold
Cake: Publix
Story: Wedding Story Writer (This is a rather luxe new wedding service I got to test-run at my wedding at a STEEP discount, thanks to a writerly connection I made via Twitter! Again, the perks of being a wedding blogger…)
In addition to her bloggy duties at BAB, Emily also writes for BRIDEfinds, SHEfinds, and Zankyou’s Wedding Mag. She will totally be your BFF if you follow her on Twitter.
March 25th, 2012 by katie
When we left off last week, I was yammering on about my beautiful wedding invitations. Brooke from Curious & Co. did an amazing job with the invitations, but I still felt like something was missing. More specifically, I felt kind of uncomfortable with just throwing the invitations and enclosures into the envelope all willy-nilly.
So, I set out to scour the internet for options that I could manage without too much stress or impact on the ‘ol budget. It wasn’t long before I decided that my life just wouldn’t be complete without some belly bands, and that I needed to make these. I’ve been wanting to do a wax seal for a while, and this just seemed like the perfect spot to shoehorn in a seal. Also, we saved money on the invitations by using only one ink color, so the belly band gave me an opportunity to add a little pop of color.
I’m not going to lie though, I was really nervous about taking on a craft project. I don’t have a great track record with crafts, or drawing and cutting straight lines. However, I have to say that this one couldn’t have been easier, and I’m thrilled with the final product. So, here’s how I did it:
Step 1 – Cut a few pieces of 26″ x 20″ cover weight paper in half (making it 13″ x 20″), and mark 1″ strips down the 13″ side. I didn’t want to invest in a papercutter, so I also used the ruler to line the paper.
Step 2: Painstakingly cut the recently lined paper into 1 inch strips, while explaining to your police officer fiance why you are cutting pink strips of paper for the wedding invitations. Enjoy his confused look for a few minutes, while drinking a lemon-lime Gatorade.
Step 3: Fire up the glue gun with some fancy, silver, faux wax, then just use the little was stamper to make the seal….it really is so easy. A few things though, I do recommend marking the top of the stamp somehow (I used a super high-tech Sharpie to put a little dot on the top part). Also, you definitely don’t need to invest in the special wax seal non-stick stuff, because a paper towel soaked with a few drops of vegetable oil works just as well. I had read that it’s a good idea to rest the stamper on an ice pack between stamps (you can see my hot pink icepack below), but I don’t think it was at all necessary with the faux wax.
Step 4: That’s it, all done! I did notice after I lined up a few finished bands, that I can’t be trusted to find the center of the a strip of paper on my own (see below). After I did about 10 bands, I started using the ruler to find the center marking it with a little pencil dot.
I broke the project into multiple nights, so I’m not sure how long it took me in total, but it didn’t feel overwhelming at all. I will say that Mr. Officer quickly lost interest in watching me stamp bands, and decided that chasing me around the house with the stamper was much more entertaining. Yup, it’s never dull around here!
He did really like the finished product though, so I talked him into rewarding me for my efforts with a fine Hibachi dinner and some sake sangria. Done and done!
March 21st, 2012 by christen
You guys!!! Spring has officially sprung, and while it looks like it’ll be nice in my little neck of the woods for the next couple of days, spring usually means at least two months of rain and mud. With that in mind, how about a Real Wedding that highlights the fact a little rain never hurt anyone and can actually make for some pretty great photos? Reba and Andy got married at a really cool YMCA in California. It did, indeed, rain on their parade, but didn’t dampen their spirits. And they got a visit from wildlife! Let’s check their innovative, DIY-filled rainy event, shall we?
Name: Reba and Andy
Occupation: Yoga teacher
Wedding location: YMCA Point Bonita, Sausalito, Calif.
Wedding Date: 11/5/11
budget: $10,000
How would you describe your wedding: Casual, relaxed, in nature. The officiant helped us write our own vows, which included anecdotes about us meeting for the 1st time.
What was your favorite part of your wedding? Saying “I do” of course! Kissing my husband in the rain and feeling surrounded by love and support from our friends and family.
What did you splurge on? Photographer, cake, shuttle buses.
What did you save on? Coordinator, venue (price included dinner), invitations, booze, dress.
Was there anything you would have done differently, in retrospect? Not a thing
What was your biggest challenge in planning? We really didn’t have too many. Even the wedding dress, I bought the first one I tried on. Maybe the biggest challenge was doing so much of it on our own. We really took DIY to the extreme. The day of, the groom was buying non-alcoholic drinks, and dropping them off. A few days before, I realized I needed to have some plywood to cover a very ugly fire pit where we would stand to get married. So I was at Home Depot, getting the plywood, and finding a way to make it fit into our Volkswagen, and delivering it to the Y, and making sure the tablecloth would cover it.
What lessons did you learn from planning or from the wedding itself? Friends are so helpful. Three of my girlfriends did the flowers for the tables and the bouquet. Some other friends delivered the alcohol. Having a coordinator (and her two sisters) was the best suggestion, made by my mom. They took care of everything, even cut the cake for us. And the coordinator realized just in time that the officiator had left without signing the marriage license, and called her to get her to come back.
What were your top 5 favorite things about your wedding? Everyone talked and had fun, the toasts were spontaneous and funny, the food was delicious, the views of the ocean so beautiful. We had a clothesline of photos of us, friends and family, and I loved seeing people look at them and laugh.
Top 5 least favorite? Well, it rained, so there was no sunset. But it really didn’t matter.
The best? Enjoy every minute of the day, it goes by fast! And for the groom, his friend told him not to drink too much.
If you’ve been married for more than a year, what have been some challenges? Wanting to go on a honeymoon, but not having the money to do so, but it’ll happen.
Any other bits of wisdom? If you are planning an outdoor wedding, and it rains, don’t worry about it. It makes for beautiful photos, and people don’t really care. Also, it’s nice to have casual events around the wedding day. We had a yoga class and pizza party the night before at the hotel, which was inexpensive and fun. Everyone brought their own drinks and got to know each other. We also did a walk in Muir Woods the day before.
Budget breakdown? Click to view spreadsheet.
Photography: Alison Yin
Coordinator: Andrea Frenkel of Lily and Mint
Venue: YMCA Point Bonita
Submitted via Two Bright Lights.
The Broke-Ass Bride is always looking for rad-tastic Broke-Ass weddings and engagement sessions to feature. Interested? You can submit via Two Bright Lights or by emailing us directly!
xoxo
-Christen
March 19th, 2012 by The Broke-Ass Bride
I couldn’t be more excited about my gorgeous niece Candace’s upcoming wedding, so naturally I was super eager to lay down my broke-ass wedding mojo and help her as much as possible with the planning process. I’ve done my best to give her advice and recommendations whenever she needs them, but my biggest triumph so far has been introducing Candace to Kpoene Kofi-Bruce, owner and lead designer at Mignonette Bridal in Chicago. Mignonette specializes in custom dress design at beyond-reasonable prices, and I knew that my stylish niece would rock a custom gown way better than anything she found on a rack. I asked Kpoene to share her “backstage” experience with Candace and a bit of what goes into the custom dress design process for you, and I’m thrilled at the results. Candace is absolutely glowing! (and today is her birthday, too!)
Take it away, Kpoene! xo, Dana
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About 6 months ago, I stumbled onto Broke-Ass Bride. How great is this blog? Hilarious tips, great ways to manage people’s expectations as you plan your event, and, most importantly, tons of alternative options for brides who want an amazing gown in the Can’t Afford It/Get Over It section. One day I was contacted by Dana and offered the chance to make a custom gown for her beloved niece Candace. Of course, I jumped at the chance. I LOVE making gowns, and I knew that if Candace was anything like her aunt Dana, this would be a fun project.
The first thing she told me was that they would be having a very classic-sounding red, black, and white wedding. My clients tend to be girls getting married in very beautiful historic barns, or picturesque flower farms, or somewhere equally vintage chic, so this would be my first chance to outfit a wedding that was more traditional, complete with a handsome groom in a tux and everything (in other words, all chic, no vintage).
Candace and her fiance’ Matt are a wedding pro’s dream – creative, multi-talented (Candace has an uber-responsible day job and is a professional hairstylist by night), entrepreneurial, and incredibly organized, yet laid-back (I can only imagine that one is the result of the other). They planned their Winter 2012 wedding at an all-inclusive venue, the Chateau Bu-Sche’ in the Chicago suburbs, eliminating the need to organize some of wedding planning’s more headache-inducing elements: catering, linens, ceremony space, and reception hall. Oh, and decorating, because the venue is gorgeous.
Candace, a very modern girl, decided early on that she wanted color for her gown, and came armed with a boatload of pictures from magazines and websites (and a few sneakily taken with her camera inside of some wedding boutiques).
We quickly deduced that she wanted her gown to be grey, and have deconstructed, Vera Wang-esque ruffles. Done and done.
Now it was time to go fabric-shopping. I take all of my brides fabric shopping if I can. It’s a nice way to bond a little bit, and it gives the bride some additional control over her gown.
It can be overwhelming though, unless you’ve got your eyes on the prize of an airy, a-line grey chiffon gown, with a moderate ruffle explosion on the skirt, which is exactly the fabric Candace found after about 30 seconds of fabric hunting.
Bam. Done. The fabric ended up costing about $100, including chiffon, velvet for the sash, heavy satin, oh, and bright purple crepe-back satin as an awesome secret inside the gown. And because we are both very laid-back, I took her measurements in the aisle. I won’t publish those here though.
About a month later, we met for our first muslin fitting. A muslin is a rough fabric ‘sketch’ used to make a pattern of the actual garment. Muslin can be anything from lightweight cotton to heavier, burlap-weight fabric. For Candace’s muslin, I used a dropcloth of roughly the same weight as the finished dress will be. For a first fitting, Candace’s muslin turned out to fit pretty well, and she actually managed to look good in it. She’s such a good sport. In fact, it was so good that we skipped the second muslin (usually a necessity) entirely.
For our second fitting, Candace announced that she was bringing her mom, so I knew I had to pull out all the stops. I put my wife Anne on mom duty, which turned out to be unnecessary, because mom was even more relaxed than Candace, if you can believe it. It was also the day before Candace’s birthday, so I knew I needed to give her an amazing experience so that she could leave on a high note.
For these fittings, brides are trying on skirts and tops that aren’t sewn together yet, so they have to trust me and use their imaginations to get an idea of the finished dress. Candace stood very patiently and let me run around her with tons of pins and extra fabric, like the birds in Cinderella.
Here’s what we did (note that the ruffles are just scraps and are only pinned to the front for now).
Pretty good for a first draft, huh? We’ve still got several months to go, but I’m feeling really happy with where we are right now. True, the bodice is still kinda wacky (and doesn’t have any boning yet, or a zipper, but at least we are heading in the right direction! Happy birthday, Candace!
