I was talking to a family friend last night about her daughter’s wedding and weddings in general. We were in complete agreement about the outrageous costs of weddings and people’s thought that they have to stick with the traditional road when planning a wedding. As you know our whole wedding is unconventional so we love to incorporate other people’s “Outside of the Box” ideas. For some reason we get locked into the moment and perhaps are unable to consider other options that might actually be better. For example, most people ( myself included) start searching for wedding cake bakeries to get ideas and quotes on a cake. Generally, anything associated with weddings is marked up considerably. The family friend shared with me that they purchased her daughter’s cake at a local grocery store! Not only was it delicious but it was hugely cheaper than the standard wedding cake from a wedding bakery. Kim Duncan with KD Events also shared some pictures with us of a cake that was purchased at a grocery store and she decorated to make more wedding-ish. She added fresh berries and some fresh flowers and Voila!, a simple chocolate cake was transformed into a wedding cake that completely fit the theme of the wedding. Check out her blog for pics. It looked gorgeous and delicious! I am not trying to discourage people from going to wedding cake bakers or suggest that they are ripping you off, I just hope to encourage people to think outside the box especially if they are on a budget. Anyone that has watched Cake Boss knows the time and effort that goes into a wedding cake thus the large price. Keep it simple and save some cash. Flowers are another huge expense due to not only the flowers themselves but all the time it takes the florist to arrange them so beautifully. Perhaps consider having a florist make your bouquet and purchase the rest of the flowers from the grocery store for centerpieces and decoration. This of course would have to be done at the last minute and probably not ideal for huge weddings unless you had a lot of help. Flowers are beautiful even when they aren’t in some amazing arrangement so you don’t have to worry about your skills as a florist. Speaking of help, people love weddings and you would be amazed at the people willing to help you out on your special day if you just ask. Head to a craft store for inspiration as they often have things like flower arrangements on display or search online for things to recreate. You can take a trip outside and find some thin branches, spray paint them silver or gold and put them in a tall dramatic vase with glass beads. You can mix some fresh flowers in for a truly beautiful and dramatic centerpiece. Add a few candles and you are set. Not creative? Chances are you know someone who is.
My mom bought me a huge wedding organizer with tons of helpful hints and checklists for keeping you organized. They suggest a multitude of things that I assume most people think they need to include as part of their wedding. For example, a Guest Book. I have no idea what those cost but I do know that I will likely never go through that book and read the people’s names that attended the wedding. If you won’t use it or it doesn’t mean much to you, don’t spend the money on it! They have some really cool frames now that people can write on and some even look like they have been engraved. Then you can put a picture from the wedding in it and actually use it. You could also put a small card in your invitations and ask each guest to write a piece of marriage advice, a favorite quote, or whatever you want and bring it with them to the wedding. At the end you will have a collection of advice that you can put in a photo album. It will likely be more meaningful than a bunch of signatures. The organizer also suggests sending Save the Dates, Invitations, and Invitations to the rehearsal dinner. To me this is a little bit of overkill. With the amazing power of the internet where you can make free wedding websites and access people instantly, there seems no need to bombard them with paper. Send everyone your wedding website via email and they will likely “save the date.” I also imagine you are keeping close contact with your wedding party so there won’t be much need to send an invitation to the rehearsal dinner. Just some thoughts…
If anyone has some creative wedding ideas or fun ways to save money, feel free to share them! Two heads are better than one and I appreciate any and all ideas. I’ll be honest, I never thought of purchasing a wedding cake at the grocery store and its such an obvious option. Thinking outside of the box can be fun and can make your wedding even more personal than simply sticking with traditional options.
