Wedding Dilema

karenjoy

wow, I wish things were that cheap here, my Wedding cost a LOT LOT more than that...and it was two years ago and I did a ton of stuff myself. I think that US prices are lower than here. My dress cost over $1600, but that was my choice, and I could have got a cheaper one. We married in Church, but it is where I went as a child and my Mum is buried in the Church yard, and if we married in a different venue it may have been cheaper, it also meant we had to have a car, and that cost etc. But we saved money in other ways. So it was swings and roundabouts for us.

My suggestions are do as much yourself as you can, I did all my own order of service booklets for the Church, we brought all the Church flowers in the supermarket and for a small donation the Church 'flower ladies; decorated it for us and it looked fabulous. I designed and made the menus for the reception, we brought all the alcohol, mainly champagne as my own groomzilla insisted that he was getting married once and wanted good champagne, I had a bespoke dress, but got my veil, shoes and tiara second hand from ebay, I made all my own table centre pieces and also decorated the tables for the formal Wedding breakfast, or sit down meal myself the day before the Wedding, I made labels for the confetti cones and the favour boxes myself and made up little poems as a thank you to people as part of their menu, I designed the table plan and had it printed at Staples rather than a special Wedding place. I shopped about for all sorts of things, but don't compromise on the photographer, we paid more than you, but things are more expensive here. But I love my pictures and the video, it's what I have of the day. Why not ask people for contributions to a Honeymoney fund as a present? We already had a home and so we asked for vouchers or contributions to our honeymoon, we got a hot air balloon trip from out Best Man. I know from marrying a Canadian that Weddings are pretty different on your side of the pond, but money saving is the same. You can add me if you want, I could talk Weddings all day lol

Oh our favours, as I have lost my Mum to breast cancer and Hubby lost his Dad to a heart attack, we made a donation to Breast cancer and heart charities and gave all our guests a pin, the pink ribbon for the ladies and the gold heart from the British Heart Foundation for the men, we put them in little envelopes with a note explaining what we had done and why, it was received very well by people, if you looked carefully at my Wedding pictures, you can see that I am wearing a pink ribbon pin on my dress and Bill is wearing a gold heart on his cravat. x

auntdeedee87

I think the florist is overcharging.

Maybe find an independent photographer who charges less

Good luck!!!

I already put the deposit on the photographer, but i get a lot of stuff with it:

8 hrs of continuous photography coverage
dvd w/ jewel case and copyrights
12 months online hosting of images
basic image editing- color balancing and cropping
1-professional album design with 2
1- 10x10 deluxe wedding album w/ 24 sides
1- 16x20 print
2- 11x14 print
2- 8x10 print
4- 5x7 print
2- 2x3 print (8 wallets)
1- 10x10 leather wedding album box

That's a pretty great package for the price!

auntdeedee87

Yeah i think the obvious place to cut here would be the photog. Just because you're using a student doesn't mean you can't screen them. Photog students/apprentices are always looking for an opportunity to expand their portfolio. It likely won't be difficult to find someone to do it for $500 or less (including the processing), for which you'll get the original and own the license. You could then let them choose 10 or so of the best to use for their portfolio and advertising?

If they charge you $500 or less (including the processing) they are either selling themselves WAY short and you've found a diamond in the rough, or you are going to get screwed over.

This is ONE DAY. You don't get a do-over.

Photographers charge what they do for a reason.

Of course they charge that for a reason--they're professionals and their time is worth something. But how do you think they got to that point? Do you think they just woke up one day and someone said "Hey, I want to pay you $2,000 to shoot my wedding"?

Almost all wedding photographers start off as an "apprentice" to an established photog by trailing along and shooting a whole separate set of photos from the hired photog for free. They will also volunteer their time and will sometimes offer to do it for free because they have to build experience and a portfolio.

I'm not suggesting that she put an ad in craigslist saying "hey anyone out there have a point and shoot? bring it along and take some pics!"

I'm suggesting that with a little time and effort, it shouldn't be too difficult to find someone with the chops to beautifully shoot a wedding.

And notice i said originals and licensing. I didn't say prints. You could get those done on your own, and only get the ones you wanted rather than paying a premium for hundreds of pictures you dont need in printed formats.

Photography is largely a 'You get what you pay for' field.

I have been shooting weddings for 7 years. I just did one last month and charged $500. I was there for 9 hours. I have spent about 5 hours already processing those photos and still have 600 more to wade through. It's gonna be 20+ hours of work when all is said and done. Assuming it rounds off to 25 hours, that means I made 20 dollars per hour. Discounting the expense of driving to the event, then to the reception, batteries, payment for my second shooter to cover all angles,and props that were suggested and I made even less.

That's dirt cheap for someone with 9 years of experience in the field.

I sold myself short. I will be raising my prices in the new year because of it.

If you can find someone truly talented, great. But if they have the chops, the deserve to be compensated for their time. And less than $500 simply doesn't cut it.

Slimithy

We did our wedding 12 years ago on a very cheap budget and planned it in a month. Much of the items you list were given to us as gifts. My parents paid for the cake and photographer (who was much cheaper than yours listed). My MiL paid for the catering. We paid for the venues. My grandfather (ordained minister) officiated. The wedding dress was a hand-me-down as well. I think total out of pocket was something like $1500 or maybe less.

Slimithy

And even after all that and saving the money we did, we still wish we'd just saved the money and went to the beach and invited everyone to join us. The ceremony was beautiful and wonderful and we remember it fondly; but it was one day of out whole lives together. It is over before you know it and the money is gone. Just saying...

auntdeedee87

I tend to be passionate about the subject of photography. Part of my charm.

Captain_Mal

I need to cut my wedding cost, my original budget was $9,000 but I need to cut some more of the cost of the wedding. So far this is what I have done.

Dress

---

$314 from David's Bridal
Veil

---

$171 from David's Bridal
Ceremony Venue

---

$100 The Emmanuel Chapel at Penn State Mont Alto
Reception Venue

---

$475 The Wood Center at the Capitol Theater in Chambersburg
Photographer

---

$1,585 from David's Bridal

I have gotten quotes as well
Flowers

---

$730 at a local Florist
-bouquet----16-24 red roses with stephanotis
-toss bouquet---12 red carnations with mini white carnations
-boutonnieres-- Groom->1 red rose w/ 1 stephanotis, groomsmen->1 red rose, best man-> 1 white rose, Dad-> 1 red rose w/ white sweetheart
-corsages--wristlet for jr bridemaid doubles at ring bearer .---- white sweetheart roses
-centerpieces---- white alstroemerias in 5"-6" vases
-alter decorations--- 2 red roses
-bridesmaids bouquets--- 3 roses 2 red 1 white with silver glitter.
-6 pew bows-- white with greenery.

Catering-- 32.95/ person+ 6% tax+20% gratuity= $2,096
cheese and tomato crostini
cheese and fruit display
prime rib
chicken cordon bleu
roasted red potatoes
chef salad
roasted veggies
coffee
soft drinks
lemonaid
tea

I am trying to figure out invites and other ways to cheapen the wedding, plus the GROOMZILLA wants to give red champagne glasses as favors... help... the honeymoon is not included in this budget, though I am thinking about not taking one because of the fact that I just don't want to spend that much money... ugh!! frusterating

Pretty sure I wouldn't spend more on my flowers than I am on my dress. You can cut some off of the flowers for sure. The photographer quote is pricey. I'm almost certain you could find another local photographer that would do it for almost half of what your quote is. Look to trim the photographer cost.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I need to cut my wedding cost, my original budget was $9,000 but I need to cut some more of the cost of the wedding. So far this is what I have done.

Dress

---

$314 from David's Bridal
Veil

---

$171 from David's Bridal
Ceremony Venue

---

$100 The Emmanuel Chapel at Penn State Mont Alto
Reception Venue

---

$475 The Wood Center at the Capitol Theater in Chambersburg
Photographer

---

$1,585 from David's Bridal

I have gotten quotes as well
Flowers

---

$730 at a local Florist
-bouquet----16-24 red roses with stephanotis
-toss bouquet---12 red carnations with mini white carnations
-boutonnieres-- Groom->1 red rose w/ 1 stephanotis, groomsmen->1 red rose, best man-> 1 white rose, Dad-> 1 red rose w/ white sweetheart
-corsages--wristlet for jr bridemaid doubles at ring bearer .---- white sweetheart roses
-centerpieces---- white alstroemerias in 5"-6" vases
-alter decorations--- 2 red roses
-bridesmaids bouquets--- 3 roses 2 red 1 white with silver glitter.
-6 pew bows-- white with greenery.

Catering-- 32.95/ person+ 6% tax+20% gratuity= $2,096
cheese and tomato crostini
cheese and fruit display
prime rib
chicken cordon bleu
roasted red potatoes
chef salad
roasted veggies
coffee
soft drinks
lemonaid
tea

I am trying to figure out invites and other ways to cheapen the wedding, plus the GROOMZILLA wants to give red champagne glasses as favors... help... the honeymoon is not included in this budget, though I am thinking about not taking one because of the fact that I just don't want to spend that much money... ugh!! frusterating

I printed my own invitations with all the inserts and matching programs and place cards, picked the stationary out at either Michael's or Office Depot. The glasses would be a nice touch, but for what purpose? just do the sugar coated almonds in the sack like everyone else. Do you need a veil? They're grossly over priced, I wasn't going to do one but my mom did made it for me. You could always get some tulle, beads, glue, and make your own (iron the tulle). You photographer is grossly over priced unless it's also video. I used a momtographer, I didn't get a print package, but I did get a disk of my 600 pictures to make my own. I know nothing about flowers except that they are plants, however a circular mirror with a bowl of floating candles on each table may be cheaper or varying heights of vases with floating candles (the vases with ribbons). Your catering is actually reasonably priced, but why have a chef salad with all the other proteins when it may be cheaper to go greek or garden?