10 questions about your WEDDING...

1holegrouper

1, How long did you plan? 3 months

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? $3,000 (1986)

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? 500/400+

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? free lunch

5. What season was your wedding in? Summer

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? Saturday noon

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? nothing

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? Photography. As I'm a photographer outside of my day job, lol. I had to hire the best. yes

9. What were your colors? Peach, pearl

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? I planned and delegated the cerimony. My wife planned and delegated the decorations and clothes. A wedding like this today would probably cost, without volunteers over $100K I would estimate that at the time (1986) that we received over $10,000 in free services; preachers (yes 2), bridesmaids, groomsmen (10 each paid for their own clothes), 2 maids of honor, best men (same), free flowers, free building, free live music (including a famous musician), lunch catered by MIL, getaway car etc... We were poor but we were rich with friends. This was a HUGE wedding.

dlyeates

1, How long did you plan? 10 months from engagement to wedding, heavy planning for about 8 months.

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? My parents paid but I'm relatively frugal so we got some really good deals and our actual wedding was less than 100 people. My parents also threw a 2nd reception for us for my side of the family and I'm sure that cost more but that was their decision!!!

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? about 75-80

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? Little bells for them to ring and jordan almonds

5. What season was your wedding in? November---Winter.

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? Friday, day after Thanksgiving, 1 pm wedding, 4:30 reception.
(able to decorate the church with Christmas lights)!!!

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? Would have been legally married 6 months earlier and not listened to my sister's whining about it. Also would have gotten a different photographer. He was kind of an *kitten* but the pics turned out great.

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? The 2nd reception. Yes!!!

9. What were your colors? Girls were in black dresses (the tops were sparly with silver thread woven in and purple flowers.

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? We put the cards on the bells, we made our unity candle with the program and a DIY candle from Michaels, lots of stuff at drastic discount from ebay.

tiffanylacourse

1, How long did you plan? - About 1 month.

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? - Approx $1,000.00 (Including dress/shoes/etc, tux, reception hall, food, EVERYTHING! =] )

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? Invited Almost 200/Showed up probably 90

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? Didn't have them.

5. What season was your wedding in? Fall - October 1, 2011 - we did the fall theme and it was beautiful.

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? Saturday at 5pm

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? The only thing that would have made it better was if time had slowed down some - it went WAY too fast!

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? The hall - and yes - it was beautiful

9. What were your colors? Orange/Brown/Deep Red - Fall colors

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? I did all my centerpeices, made all the food except the cake. Between my mother-in-law and myself, we did it all!

corndog33

1, How long did you plan? 3 months

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? 2k

3. How many people were invited / how many showed up? 80 / 75

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? don't remember

5. What season was your wedding in? Winter

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? Saturday afternoon

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? I would have saved the money for honeymoon and eloped if mom would not have freaked.

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? dress and yes

9. What were your colors? black and white

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? In a way. Cousin is a florist. His gift was the flowers for wedding, family, attendants, reception (for free). Family cooked for reception. Uncle is a photographer. His gift was the pics.

zeebruhgirl

Hasn't happened yet but I can answer most of these.

1, How long did you plan? 14 months, February to April

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? About 1500 dollars, right on track with where I wanted to be.

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? 50 have been invited, we'll see who shows up.

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? I'm giving out sandalwood fans, candies and seed packets

5. What season was your wedding in? Spring

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? Wednesday, midday between 11 and 1, haven't decided.

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? N/A

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? The photography, and not in a way you'd expect. Our friend is a great photographer so we bought a great camera for him to use on our day :]

9. What were your colors? Blue and yellow

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? EVERYTHING I'm doing is DIY. Decorations, chair backings, invitations, save the dates, food, cake, drinks/desserts. EVERYTHING. haha

SF2514

1, How long did you plan? Aprx.8 months

2. How much did you spend? Six thousand? I'm really not sure, my mom paid for everything lol.

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? I'm not sure, but a lot of people showed up haha.

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? Personalized tins with mints.

5. What season was your wedding in? Spring

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? Evening

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? I would have liked it to be cooler.

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? The Dress.

9. What were your colors? Lilac, Plum, and Black

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? The mint tins and the centerpieces.

Qarol

I planned for about 6 months. Spent about $5000 but that also included honeymoon...that was EVERYthing. We invited 4 people (my parents and his). No favors. We got married in Spring. On a Tuesday. At 4pm. In a garden in Savannah, GA.

What would I change? I would NOT have invited his parents. They behaved horribly. After they begged and begged to be invited.

Biggest splurge was the photography. And if you're going to splurge on anything, it should be the photographer. My dress was pink, but since I didn't have a traditional wedding, there weren't really "colors." We just went out to dinner at a nice restaurant after. Then had cake and champagne back at the bed and breakfast that organized the ceremony.

rachelrb85

1, How long did you plan? 6 Months

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? Probably $12-15k

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? 75 invited, 70ish showes

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? Picture frame that was also their name plate

5. What season was your wedding in? Summer, 6/26

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? Started at 5 on a Saturday

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? I wish it was longer! By the time I was greeting some people at the reception they were getting ready to leave. Also, I wish I had drank more alcohol. Only had like a glass of wine and chamagne.

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? Probably the reception, definitely worth it (included salmon or chicken, cake, champagne toast, use of gazebo outside).

9. What were your colors? Coral and brown

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? Some things like invitations, bathroom accessories, name plates, etc. Probably could have done centerpieces to save more money but I chose a bouquet from the florist instead.

MommaKit79

1, How long did you plan?
2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned?
3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up?
4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)?
5. What season was your wedding in?
6. What time of day and day of the week was it?
7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out?
8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it?
9. What were your colors?
10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which?

1. We were engaged for a year and a half...cant say we PLANNED all that long but...lol

2. I actually just looked at this...it was 3-1/2 yrs ago and we spent ~$14,000 NOT including the Honeymoon which was a gift.

3. About 175 people were invited and about 160 showed (I Think)

4. We got Easter M&Ms and picked out the yellow, blue, & lavendar ones and made little baskets with them in it and made CDs

5. 1 week shy of summer

6. Traditionally, a Saturday Afternoon.

7. Would have prefered SUNNY insted of RAINING. And the times of everything...would have had an earlier wedding so things werent so RUSHED because of time we had to have my step-daughter back to her mom. AND, how "others" managed their time during that day since they made me late to MY WEDDING! :-)

8. Photos and Reception Hall YES!

9. Main colors were Lavendar and pool (blue turquise) with an accent of Yellow.

10. We did ALL the favor ourselves and the Decorations.

melissafaith24

1, How long did you plan? 9 months (no i was not pregnant)

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? it was a beach wedding and my parents rented a beach house for the family and immediate wedding party to stay in. the ceremony was on the beach and the reception was inside the house...family prepared the reception food...all in all, probably about $3,500

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? invited - approx 100...came - approx 40 (2.5 hr drive for most)

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? we made music cd's, flipflop shaped sugar cookies, printed m&ms

5. What season was your wedding in? early spring (April 14)

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? 12noon Saturday

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? ran like hell...kidding, i got a beautiful daughter from the marriage and i wouldnt trade her for the world

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? the house i guess. yes, but i wouldnt recommend allowing the MIL-tobe to stay there or all the wedding party. kinda stressful.

9. What were your colors? beachy blue and ivory

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? the favors, my mom made my cake and flowers, family did the reception food

millions0fpeaches

1, How long did you plan? 2 years ish

2. How much did you spend? $15k, which was only a little more than we planned

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? I don't remember exactly, but our caterer advised we plan for only about 75% of those invited to attend and that was fairly accurate

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? Boxes of dark and milk chocolate truffles

5. What season was your wedding in? Fall

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? Saturday evening

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? Nothing

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? Other than food, the photographer. Definitely worth it

9. What were your colors? Red, white, black and silver

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? Invitations/RSVP cards, ceremony programs, favors, centerpieces, monogramed aisle runner, my veil, chapel and reception venue decor...

ETA: I did all of the bouquets, too.

kdf606

1, How long did you plan? got engaged late june 2009, married october 2010... First contract was signed September 2009

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? more than the national average, less than the NYC average... spent pretty close to the expected amount - i was relentless with my spreadsheet!

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? 180/150

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? candy/cookie buffet, photobooth pictures sent with thank yous

5. What season was your wedding in? fall

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? ceremony at 4/reception at 6 - saturday

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out?
I'll give you 2:
1. We did a 5 hour long cocktail hour with no assigned seating because we wanted a party, not a dinner... Unfortunately, the servers did not do a good enough job circulating the room - some people were stuffed, others were not... In hindsight, i would have either had more servers or would have had more stations.
2. My dress alterations. I knew I wanted certain things fixed and they insisted I didnt need them done. I look at the pictures and all i see are the flaws from the missing alterations.

8. Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? The fact that we got married on a Saturday night in Manhattan - made everything more expensive. Yes, totally worth it. (of course, my parents paid for most of it, so you'd have to ask them...)

9. What were your colors? purple & red

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? anything I thought we could do on my own, we pretty much did... Since we were using a raw space and bringing everything in, there was a lot of opportunity for us to take over..
created our own logo (used on everything), designed our own kehtubah, did envelope liners (100% waste of time, IMHO), my sister made my brooch bouquet, we ordered wholesale flowers and did all of the centerpieces, bouquets and boutineers (sp), designed and printed programs, stocked our own bar (highly recommend if you can find a space that allows it - saves a TON of $) designed and printed all menus, snacks bags for the guest bus, did my own makeup, designed & stocked the candy/cookie buffet, had our families (and ourselves) contribute homemade cookies/treats to the buffet, made my veil. My aunt-in-law made our wedding cake and a good friend of mine made a surprise grooms cake...

sweebum

1, How long did you plan? 1 month

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? $250 including the rings

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? 40 ish

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? Glass stones

5. What season was your wedding in? Winter

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? Friday

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? Nothing!

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? The dress fabric, and yes!

9. What were your colors? Silver and white

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? Made the dress, favors and cake.

melsmith612

1, How long did you plan? 2 YEARS

2. How much did you spend? $15,000

Was this more/less than you planned? EXACTLY WHAT WAS PLANNED, NO ROOM FOR ERROR IN OUR BUDGET SO I WATCHED THE SPENDING VERY CLOSELY

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? 220 INVITED/160 ATTENDED

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? JORDAN ALMONDS IN SMALL FAVOR BAGS WITH A THANK YOU NOTE ON THEM

5. What season was your wedding in? SUMMER

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? SATURDAY - CEREMONY @ 4PM, RECEPTION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING (SAME LOCATION)

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? I WOULD HAVE RATHER GONE TO VEGAS BECAUSE IT WAS MY 2ND WEDDING BUT IT WAS MY HUSBAND'S 1ST WEDDING SO WE DID THE BIG EVENT FOR HIS FAMILY

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? I SPLURGED ON THE FRESH FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS AND GOT THE FLOWERS I REALLY WANTED INSTEAD OF GOING WITH THE LESS EXPENSIVE FLOWERS BECAUSE I REALLY WANTED TO SMELL THE FRESH LILIES EVERYWHERE AND INSTEAD OF SPENDING EXTRA MONEY ON THEM I TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE FACT THAT OUR CEREMONY AND RECEPTION WERE AT THE SAME LOCATION AND MOVED THE FLOWERS FROM THE CEREMONY TO THE RECEPTION AFTERWARDS, PUT MY OWN FLOWERS IN A VASE ON OUR SWEETHEART TABLE, ETC. IN ORDER TO CUT COSTS.

9. What were your colors? LIGHT PINK & DARK BROWN (MY FAVORITE COLOR AND MY HUBBY'S)

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? DID MY OWN PLANNING AND MADE MY OWN FAVORS BUT OTHERWISE I HIRED PEOPLE TO DO THE FLOWERS, MUSIC, PHOTOS, ETC. THE ONLY THING WE SKIPPED COMPLETELY WAS A VIDEOGRAPHER BECAUSE NEITHER OF US REALLY CARED ABOUT HAVING A VIDEO OF OUR WEDDING.

EDIT: For DIY stuff we also designed our own seating chart (my hubby is a graphic designer) and had it printed on a hard poster at Staples to display on an easel provided by the venue. We liked the idea of everyone being able to see who else was attending when they walked in and it was important to us that our older guests didn't have to wander around the room searching for their table number so we put most of them closest to the door & seating chart.

MandyG4557

1, How long did you plan? Enaged for 1 year/ Planning 4-6 months

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? 3000 for Destination and 2000 for reception at home.

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? Destination Wedding - 50 Reception at Home - 200

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? Cups that had our names and wedding date on them Order them online.

5. What season was your wedding in? Winter - January

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? One and During the week - Tuesday

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? Nothing loved my wedding, my husband and having all our family and friends with us.

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? Travel costs. Yes it was worth it got to relax on a beach and have a good time at the same time as marrying the love of my life.

9. What were your colors? Red and black

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? Made all the invitations by hand.

pixietoes

1, How long did you plan? - In some ways years (I was a wedding coordinator) but I was engaged for four months.

2. How much did you spend? - Everything, including reception, honeymoon and getting a new apartment? $10k. We did not pay for the rehearsal dinner.

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? Honestly I don't remember. Seems like 80 or 90.

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? Yes, when we got married blowing bubbles at the end of the reception was not yet popular and I gave away favors that included tiny bottles of it.

5. What season was your wedding in? Winter, in New England. February 1 and there had been a soft snowfall that started at the end of the rehearsal the night before and came to a stop just before the wedding party had to leave for the church.

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? Saturday at 11

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? I would have made it a much smaller and probably more casual affair.

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? The reception, I would do it differently but I would spend the same amount.

9. What were your colors? Peach and dark green

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? I made the favors, and I'm sure I made other decisions based on saving money including have the bouquets made of silks rather than fresh flowers because in February it was a cheaper way to have the flowers I wanted. I still have my bridal bouquet and one of the bridesmaid's bouquets decorating my master bath.

missy_1975

1. 3 weeks.
2. £250
3. 20
4. Didn't have 'em
5. Summer
6. Friday morning
7. Not a damn thing
8. £5 on a chocolate fudge cake (wedding cake)
9. The bride wore black, the groom wore jeans
10. See pretty much all of the above. Only invited closest mates (no parents were present, let alone random cousins). Invited people to join us for lunch in restaurant, everyone paid their own meal (and paid ours too, several times over, we left with money ffs!). A friend (who is now a professional photographer) offered to do my pictures. My dress was less than £50 and the rings were not expensive (however they are lovely and I cherish them).

I know this isn't everyone's idea of a proper wedding, but it was a fab day and everyone who came said they really enjoyed it. Each to their own I say, and good luck to anyone doing it the "traditional" way! :laugh:

mrs_schultz2012

1, How long did you plan? 9 months between engagment and wedding

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? we really didn't keep track, sorry to say, but it was expensive.....but we did a destination wedding in Vegas and then had our reception when we returned home

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? there were 13 at our destination wedding, and close to 200 at the reception

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? we did personalized can koozies for the adults and bubbles for the kids

5. What season was your wedding in? Fall (2 weeks ago actually LOL)

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? the wedding was in Vegas so we did it at 7:30pm on a Wednesday at an ourdoor lighted gazebo - so pretty! and then the reception was trhe following Saturday, 6pm to midnight

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? I would have chose a beach over Vegas - but my now husband wanted Vegas (think he would change that too if he could)

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? probably the trip to Vegas, and no, I would rather have gone somewhere else. Otherwise, I would say the cake....it was delicious so was worth it in that aspect, but we ended up with WAY too much!

9. What were your colors? Red, Orange, and Yellow

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? did all the decorating myself and it turned out great

trhjrh06

1, How long did you plan? From engagement to wedding was a little less than 2 yrs ( I was 17 when we got engaged) But the actual planning was less than 6months.

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned? My parents and his parents paid for all of it except the photographer. We had to pay for the photographer $2500 and completely disappointed with the pictures, but that's another story.

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up? Wow I can't remember but probably around 200 and maybe half or a little more showed.

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)? We had can koozies personalized.

5. What season was your wedding in? Spring (early June)

6. What time of day and day of the week was it? Saturday wedding was at 1pm if I remember right

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out? That it didn't go by so fast.

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it? Photographer, No (only because my photographer was not good and screwed me over) $2500

9. What were your colors? Bridesmaid dresses were pastel yellow and pastel green and then the reception was just spring colored flowers and such.

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which? Well my husband Grandma did the food and the table linens and silverware, but we still had to pay for it. Was cheaper though. So I guess not really lol

JenniBaby85

1, How long did you plan?

2. How much did you spend? (sorry if that's personal) Was this more/less than you planned?

3. How many people were invited/ how many showed up?

4. What did you give out for favors (if you had them)?

5. What season was your wedding in?

6. What time of day and day of the week was it?

7. 1 thing you would change about the way it turned out?

8.Biggest splurge (financially)? Was it worth it?

9. What were your colors?

10. Did you do any DIY project to save money? If so, which?

1. The entire time we were dating (2.5 years)
2. $100
3. About 10 people, they all showed up
4. Nothing!
5. Right before Fall
6. Friday
7. Nothing
8. No splurging. We just paid the preacher $100 because it was such short notice and he was a friend on my family.
9. We both wore tan. (if that counts) I wore a tan dress, he wore khakis and a tan button down shirt. No formal wedding garments.
10. We ELOPED. We actually made money off of it, because the 10 people who were invited gave us money as a gift.

Side note: We also had no reception. Just made it official and headed to our honeymoon :flowerforyou: