Your wedding day is one of the most important days in your life. How will you remember it, document it, share it? Today, we are spoiled with our smart phones, we all have them and they take great photos and videos but you may want to hire a professional to document your wedding. Be sure to shop around, photographers can be quite pricey which can take a chunk out of your wedding budget.
Your photographer may be a family friend, family member, yourself or a professional. My family is blessed with a special friend who has done photography on the side for many years and I am so thankful I was able to use her both last year for Travin and Jaylee's wedding and again this year for Collin and Camrie's. We had planned on taking Camrie and Collin's bridal photos yesterday in St. George for several reasons; it is green, warmer and they do not have left over snow laying around. We had one big problem, RAIN and lots of it in both Cedar and St. George and yesterday was the only day for this session. If it didn't happen yesterday, it wasn't going to happen. To make a long story short and after phone calls, texts and stress all morning as to where to take these photos, our photographer had a great idea, the Abbey Inn. She showed me a photo of their lobby which I wasn't a huge fan of but what choice did we have. Plus, they were so kind and gracious to let us come at a moment's notice with no questions asked.
This ended up being the perfect place! It had just been completely remolded and is gorgeous! It's modern, classic, perfect color scheme and um, PERFECT!
I took a few videos during the photography session because my dear friend told me how a video of her son's wedding is the most precious thing they have of the day because it shows the emotion. I gave it a try, and created this video with an app called Video Music. I cannot wait until the proofs are ready to look at! Let me know what you think in the comments. Please enjoy,
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The Bridal Shower was a success! Having an open house was definitely the way to go with everyone's busy schedules. It was fun for everyone to visit and enjoy each other's company. So many friends offered to help so asking them to supply a treat was a win win. All the treats were beautiful and yummy.
Remember, throwing a shower does not need to be expensive. Use decorations that you are planning on using for the wedding and have friends help with the food. This beautiful shower was thrown for about $30 which includes the favors. Please post comments with your ideas to keep a shower on a budget. Here are some photos during the night. The Bride is one lucky girl.
Are you planning a bridal shower soon? If so, check out this link for fun and creative bridal shower themes and ideas.
It's been a busy week at my house. I was at a meeting, looking at my calendar last week and noticed that there is an event scheduled for February 21 at 7:00 with my daughter's name on it. For the life of me I could not think of what it was. When I finally opened the day up so get more information, I almost died. February 21 at 7:00 is my daughter's bridal shower that I am hosting! How could I forget? Invites have been sent and I have purchased the plates, cups and table cloth and that is it! I quickly needed some decorations and decided there is no time like the present to get some of the wedding decorations done. They can serve double duty. I borrowed a lot of silk flowers from my sister-in-law and large pretty vases from a friend. I have been working on this frame for quite awhile and finished it up today. The frame was given to me. I removed the backing and discarded the contents then cleaned and spray painted the frame. I struggled with the glass. I painted the back of the glass navy blue with craft paint (twice), each time the paint bubbled and lifted. I scrapped the paint off with windex and a razor blade then painted the back of the glass with yellow wall paint that I had in my garage. Wala! It worked and I love it! With my mess-ups, it probably cost me $5. I will be using this frame at the shower and wedding. What a bargain! Every shower needs favors, right? I purchased the soaps on sale at Joann's, buy 4 get one free. I will dress them up a little with tulle and ribbon. I made a couple of signs with my silhouette that will be used for the reception (already had the boards, paint and vinyl). Friends are bringing the goodies, the invitations were texted out and this will be an open house so no games. Total cost for this bridal shower.......$20. Wow! I dare you to beat that.
I will post pictures at the end of the week of everything in place and decorated. Leave me a comment with your money saving ideas on bridal showers. One of the first decisions you will need to make when planning a wedding and reception is where to host the event. Depending on the time of year, places are busy and it's important to get your event booked as soon as possible. There are a lot of factors to consider when finding THE place and it could also be one of your largest expenses. Some of the factors that need considering are: How many quests will attend? Obviously, the more guests that you invite, the larger venue you will need. Don't forget to think of parking. Do you have to use the venue's catering services or can you bring your own food. Booking a local wedding venue, hotel or city building will run anywhere from $300-$2500. They may require that you use their catering services which will definitely eat up your funds. How much work do you want to put into the decorations? By using a beautiful building, you will not need to decorate nearly as if you used a local church or a conference room. Think carefully, would you really save that much money if you got creative and decorated yourself? What rules do you need to follow?
Can you light candles, are children allowed, can you bring your own photographer, wedding cake and food? If you are looking to save money, your local church or a friend's beautiful back yard is the way to go, FREE, FREE, FREE! This will free up your funds to spend elsewhere or to stick into that savings account. I made the "G" board for guests to sign out of a 1x4, paint, stain and my silhouette for $5. The same thing could have been purchased on Etsy for $39.00. The photo frame was purchased at the DI for $2 spray painted gold and the photo was a .05 copy on a regular black and white photo copier. We all can agree that weddings are EXPENSIVE!! Google will tell you that an average wedding cost for 2017 was $25,764 and 50% of couples spend less than $15,000! I'm here to tell you that even $15,000 is an astronomical amount to spend on a wedding. With a lot of planning, creative minds and DIY hard work you can have a gorgeous wedding for under $4000. Now that is a reasonable cost. There are several key categories you will need to get creative on to save the cash: the venue, decorations, photography, clothes and food.
Save your hard earned pennies! Get out the glue gun and the spray paint. Make some sawdust and shop at the thrift store. DIY your wedding for a lot less! |
AuthorHi! Stephanie here. I am a graduate student, wife, mother of the Groom in 2018 and mother of the Bride 2019. Archives
April 2019
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