Ooooh great advice! Heather, love the idea of the marquee in the gardens! We too have a friend who is a photographer, we have seen his wedding stuff and it is gorgeous, so he has offered to take care of that
I have another question; I was speaking to someone IRL about having a gift registry, nothing huge, just omens things we need around the house as we have just moved into a new home etc. Anyway, she seemed to think this was a bad idea, as ''it's not like a 'real' wedding when you're 35'' with a nice reception, big venue etc, and therefore it would be rude to have a registry. I have no idea about wedding etiquette, is that true?
Bull****! If you want to have a registry then have a registry - you don't need a fancy-schmantzy huge expensive wedding to have one. I think they are awesome ideas because how many times have you been invited to a wedding and had no idea what to get someone? I know we've been to heaps! People will thank you for it because it makes their job easier.
One thing I would suggest is maybe even hiring a dress or buying a really nice formal dress that you can wear again because seriously, buying your wedding dress is overrated. I paid $1200 for mine and it has not seen the light of day since I had it drycleaned and boxed up. It is in our wardrobe taking up space. I wouldn't say it was a waste of money, but dead money kwim? I probably can't even sell it now because it's been 10yrs since I got married so it's probably dated too much.
Another thing is do you really need a place to get married in? I know May weather can be iffy, but you can get crappy weather any time of year and some of the most beautiful weddings we have been to have been with a celebrant in a park or at the couples house.
In regards to the registry I think you can do whatever you want and don't listen to anyone.
Our wedding cost $2000 (inc food, alcohol, clothes the works) and it was beautiful. We got married in a park and had the reception at my parents property. We also had a friend photograph our wedding too, they did it as our wedding present.
We had a smallish wedding, ceremony in a park & reception in my parents backyard for about 65 people. It was over $2k all up but our biggest expense was food & booze - we had a caterer come in and do the buffet type thing as well, the photographer was our other big expene but if you have a friend that will do it for you that's a bonus.
My dress cost me $350 and I did up/printed my own invites, decorations were from Ikea and ebay.
And about the gift registery if you want to do one go for it - it does help people to get you stuff you want & need if they choose to use it - just because you want a small wedding doesn't mean you can't have one.............weddings / babies / funerals etc bring out everyone's opinion on what should & shouldn't be done - do what makes you happy, it's YOUR day after all
Our wedding cost us $4000. That was every last thing.
We got married by a celebrant in a park that was free to book. We hired a hall for the night for $120 and got $100 bond back so it actually only cost us $20 LOL. Our meal was provided by Aussie Spit Roast Caterers for $12 a head, and they were so professional. My MIL did all the flower arrangements and bonbomiers (sp) we had to give her money so she could buy the stuff to do it.
A close family friend had his own hire company and the time, so we got all the linen ware and tables and chairs from him and that cost us next to nothing. We had a few friends that loved photography, so we made 1 the official photographer for the day, and another the video camera guy. We also had disposable camera's on each table.
We kept our wedding party down to just 1 bridesmaide and groomsman, but had my 2 nephews as paige boys.
I made all of our own invitations, name cards for the tables etc etc. My flowers and my bridesmaid flowers were professionally done, and the most expensive thing was my wedding dress for $750 on a clearance rack. So yeah out of $4000, $750 of that was dress alone.
Andrews aunt still to this day claims it was one of the best weddings she has ever been to, and that is even saying that after her own children got married. She said it was not over the top and really down to earth and lovely.
I like gift registry's. I don't think it matters what sort of wedding you have, people always turn up with a gift. When you send out the invites you can pick and choose who you want to put the gift registry thing in, as only you and your DP know who would not like it.
It certainly doesn't hurt to have one, and if people don't want to use it then that's fine. It helps people who unsure of what to get, they usally appreciate it.
We got married for around $1800 (although that was in 1997 so I guess you've got to allow for inflation, lol).
We also paid for it mostly ourselves (my Dad chucked in $500 and DH's parents helped with food etc) and did it all in 8 weeks - like you we didn't want a long engagement, we just wanted to do it
My dress cost $300, we hired DH's suits. One best man & one maid of honour, she wore her graduation dress (we were only 2 1/2 years out of high school).
I bought flowers from a florist but didn't tell them what it was for (ups the bucks straightaway!) I had a stem of orchids, it was gorgeous & cost around $20.
DD1 & my sister were flowergirls, mum made their dresses.
Mum's DP was a professional wedding photographer, so that was a big saving.
We bought our rings for $50 from Cash Converters
Wedding was held in PILs backyard, they had a rainforest kind of area which was very pretty. Reception was a buffet / barbecue type thing afterwards. Everybody ate drank & had a great time
and, if I had to do it all again, I'd do it all the same, bar a few small details. I have been to some big weddings over the years, and they are lovely (my sister's wedding was am-aaaazing!) but for me I couldn't justify the cost.
As for a registry... I don't understand why not? It's your wedding ... if you want a registry but not all the other trimmings why on earth shouldn't you have it? maybe I'm missing something, lol.
Another idea though is to have a wishing well, you could send out envelopes with your invitations and get people to make a donation. I know there are some lovely poems for the wording of this kind of thing...just an idea.
Anyway Congratulations! wishing you much fun & excitement in your planning, & a long & happy marriage
Ooooh thanks girls! Jasp, love the idea of a wishing well. I've heard of these, some people have honeymoon donations etc? DF and I would love this (we're taking a week off studies to honeymoon as that's all we can take). Is it rude to ask for donations instead? (so many questions, I know, thankyou for indulging me )
Your gift registry could be at a holiday booking place. Lot's of people do that these days.
I know a friend of a friend who had one for their Honeymoon to Africa!!
Congrats on the wedding....good day too....my birthday
DH and I got married at the registry office. It was a nice room, where we invited family and very close friends, I still blubbered like a baby, so the emotion was all still there. I was 36 weeks UTD so wore a nice maternity dress which didn't cost much. Got my hair done at the hairdresser...just washed and blowdried...nothing fancy. I bought a bunch of my favourite flowers too!
We had our 'engagement' party the day after we got married. So a huge party was organised with all our friends and family....most of which didn't know we'd got married the day before....our speech was where we told everyone.
We had it catered, but basically just beef and gravy rolls and salads.....we'd bought the alcohol over time when it was on special, and had 'baby cakes' as our wedding cake so all up I think we spent around $2k (and we got a bit back from the contributions from our wishing well)
We also had a wishing well....people like buying gifts or contributing in some way....so maybe just give people an option I say. It's not like you have to choose megga expensive things to go on your gift registry.....OR you can find smooshy poems on the internet about wedding wishing wells, or tell people that you have your hearts set on something (like a new dining suite) and would love a contribution to that particular thing as you've just moved into a new home.
Have your wedding the way you want it....enjoy it, and put a candle on your wedding cake and remember me!!!! Ha Ha!
I don't think it's rude to ask for donations. As some of the previous posts have mentioned a registry saves all the hassle of what to get. I agree with this, and I think a wishing well is much the same, even better in a way, because you give as much as you can afford, you know?
If you google there are sites that have suggestions for wording if you have a wishing well / gift registry that you can include with invites.......they are worded really nicely without sounding like you are just asking for money/gifts etc.
oh will you want/need wedding cars? Do you have a friend with a nice car you can use, we used my parents, just got some ribbon from spotlight and my bro was the chauffer
I think the wishing well thing is fairly standard these days... I went to 5 weddings in 2 years a couple of years ago and they all had wishing wells.
I don't know how much our wedding was off the top of my head, but we definitely had a 'party' rather than a reception.
- We did finger food at $15 a person rather than a proper sit down meal (my gf is getting married in Sept and is paying $90 a head )
- I did my own hair and make up. I can understand why people want the whole pamper package, but to be honest, in my mind I had better things to spend the money on
- I got family and friends to do the photos. My aunty loves photography so I asked her to do the 'professional' pictures... bought her a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates and I paid for the developing... all up it was about $150
- I bought my wedding dress off the rack from a little no name formal dress shop - $350 SOLD!!
- DH didn't wear a suit, just a nice pair of pants and a button up shirt he'd bought about 3 years but never worn
- I wore thongs to my wedding which were about $30 from Mathers or Williams I think
- I made my own invitations
- We didn't do the wedding party thing either... just had DH's daughters up there with us.
As the other girls have said hun, do it YOUR way... it's all about you and him.
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! I got married when I was 20, how insulting that someone should suggest you need a large wedding in your 30's for it to be "proper".
Anyway some of the cost cutting exercises I used:
found a fab designer gown then got a local dressmaker to copy it for a fraction of the cost.
My mum made the bridesmaid dress.
Asked a friend to make my cake, which she did for only the cost of the ingredients
Kept the guest list small (only 17) and they all stayed for the reception which was dinner and drinks. My dad paid for the meal (thanks daddy), we paid for a glass of sparkling wine for all the guests, and there was no free bar. Nobody seemed to mind paying for their own drinks though.
Did not have a band at my reception
Kept flowers to a minimum (my bouquet, my bridesmaid's and buttonholes for the men).
We had a small wedding in my aunt and uncles garden, it turn out to be a little more expensive then we planned but still not to bad.
It was just DH, DD and I in the ceremony, we did not want bridesmaids etc.
We got our flowers and cake made by friends of MIL, they were lovely and half the price (MIL did buy these for us though).
My wedding dress was an ex sample (never worn) and I just loved it, it was raw silk and lace and had a RRP of over $3000 but I only paid $600.
I wore silver thongs with jewels that cost $10 .
My hair cost $90 at the local hairdressers and it was amazing, I loved it!
My aunties SIL did my make up for free.
DH hired his suit as he couldn't find one he want to buy.
DD's dress cost $60 on special and her headband was under $10.
Then there was the celebrant that cost way to much and so not worth it (but thats another story).
Mum and Dad gave us a nice little white table and chair set to sign the certificates on.
Then for the reception (this is where the money went)...
We bought 2 white marquees from 'Sams Warehouse', these were meant to be a back up in case it rained but we ended up using them as they looked quiet good.
We supplied beer ans wine, purely because I wanted to.
We also provided a spit roast dinner and cheesecake shop dessert.
My uncle is an electrician so he did the lights and music
My brother made me a wishing well for the gifts (we asked for money as we already had everything)
I planned it all in 2 months... started Start of Jan, married Feb 28th... only 19 days to our 1st anniversary .
Umm, I think that is all... there are some photos is the gallery, here... Message - BellyBelly Member Photo Gallery
(I have more pics on FB but my name is hidden from searching, if you want to see I am happy to add you)
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maybe I'm missing something, lol.
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