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JohnnyRnR posted:You could have a goldsmith cut a custom band to snuggle against the wedding band and match the profile. Any jeweler should be able to measure your existing ring and fabricate a matching band. I wouldn't expect it to cost too much. I've spoken with a couple jewelers and they all act like they've never seen this type of situation before. My engagement ring has a knife-edge profile that would look pretty silly on its own as a wedding ring, I think. No jeweler has suggested it. I thought that a ring with a round cross-section might look good and be taller than a regular domed ring, but they all just look at me blankly and then start telling me that custom rings are hard and it'll be $600-900 just to make a mold or $1000 because gold is expensive... These are mostly independent jewelers too. I only asked one mall "jeweler" because I was curious what he would say (he was the expensive mold guy).
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Aug 9, 2009 21:17
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covener posted:Any suggestions for non-hacky groomsmen gifts? We're actually getting the guys and girls one thing the same, and then I think we might be doing something separate for each person individually. For the everyone-the-same gift, we're getting them each a pair of blue Converse sneakers, for use in the wedding. I'm not about to be uncomfy for my wedding day, and I don't want my girls to be worried about uncomfy shoes. Or the guys and their dress shoes, for that matter. This way, it's something they'll all use, and we're all good and comfy. For the individuals, he's talking about taking one of the guys to a Yankees game. The others we still have to figure out, but we've got a year still, so we've got some time. Kiri koli posted:I did look into this and was really excited about it until I didn't find any options for colors. I want callas, but my colors are red, orange and yellow. I'm like you in that the centerpieces and everything are provided and fairly simple. I'm fine with simple, but I want color! I was thinking about doing some DIY flower stuffs too, and I did some googling a few weeks ago and came up with these: http://www.fiftyflowers.com/flowers/AllFlowers_1.htm --> Seems to be a good resource, including the callas. http://www.flowerbud.com/ --> Tells you when things are out of season, etc, so it could be a good resource, even if you don't buy from them. http://www.freshroses.com/ --> Not quite your needs, Kiri, since it's all roses, but I figured I'd throw it out for anyone else that might be interested. Thought I'd pass on the info, just in case. But be aware that I haven't used any of these personally, so I don't know how good they are.
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Aug 9, 2009 22:11
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Kiri koli posted:I've spoken with a couple jewelers and they all act like they've never seen this type of situation before. I hate to say it, but they're amateurs. It's easy to do if the ring is in front of you because you can measure all the curves and just have an existing band bent to match. Do you know who made your setting? If you can track down the company there's a chance they'll actually have a matching band.
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Aug 10, 2009 01:11
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JohnnyRnR posted:I hate to say it, but they're amateurs. It's easy to do if the ring is in front of you because you can measure all the curves and just have an existing band bent to match. The ring was bought at a local jeweler in the state I moved away from, so it's hard for me to get back. I did talk to them about wedding bands and they didn't have anything in store that was particular to my ring, but we're going to contact them and see if there is one somewhere. In the meantime, I guess I'll just keep looking until I find someone who isn't an amateur or trying to rip me off. Thanks!
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Aug 10, 2009 01:16
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Does anyone know of a website besides The Natural Sapphire Company that sells natural, untreated sapphires? Almost all of their stones look like they were cut by a trained chimp or something...they're terrible  . My boyfriend and I are considering going with a sapphire when we get engaged (probably within the next year or so), and he really wants me to tell him exactly where to go to find a ring. Yes, we plan really far in advance  I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this...I just figured that since there has been quite a bit of ring talk and people have mentioned sapphires, that maybe someone would know.
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Aug 10, 2009 02:22
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combee fucked around with this message at 13:53 on Jul 23, 2013 |
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Aug 10, 2009 03:30
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Don't be too hard on them. It's difficult to take great photographs of sapphires. Here are an example of two stones that didn't photograph well, but are cut to perfection. These aren't mine, but are in stock at a friend's shop. Click here for the full 640x480 image.  Click here for the full 640x480 image. If you're really picky about the shape and cut you could always have a piece of rough cut in whatever sapphire color you like. Sapphires are one of those stones that aren't difficult to cut to order.
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Aug 10, 2009 03:34
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Well, everything went great and I'm now engaged! We had a professional photo shoot done (ready in 2 weeks, I'll share 1 or 2 shots then). Took place near the windmills in Golden Gate park, then moved over to the beaches underneath the cliff house. She had no idea these were really engagement photos, so we caught her reaction on camera completely. Should be a great thing to have to share and to look back on through the years. If anybody needs a photographer in northern california, I very much recommend Nina Robinson ( ninarobinsonphotography.com ). It was a great experience to work with her. Now we get to plan the wedohgodhowarewegoingtoaffordthis
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Aug 10, 2009 17:03
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How about a bouquet toss poll, for those of you who are already married (or even those who know what they're going to do) did you toss your bouquet? Keep it? Or have your florist make a similar, smaller "tossing bouquet?"
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Aug 10, 2009 19:14
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ixo posted:Well, everything went great and I'm now engaged! Congratulations! And thanks for the photographer recommendation. I'm in SF too and am looking for photographers for the wedding.
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Aug 10, 2009 19:15
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maso posted:How about a bouquet toss poll, for those of you who are already married (or even those who know what they're going to do) did you toss your bouquet? Keep it? Or have your florist make a similar, smaller "tossing bouquet?" I kept my large bouquet and tossed a small one that was made specifically for tossing.
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Aug 10, 2009 20:11
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maso posted:How about a bouquet toss poll, for those of you who are already married (or even those who know what they're going to do) did you toss your bouquet? Keep it? Or have your florist make a similar, smaller "tossing bouquet?" Didn't do it at all. Seemed to be another one of those things like reception lines that everyone hates doing, but "is tradition" so it keeps getting done.
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Aug 10, 2009 20:43
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CalamityKate posted:Didn't do it at all. Seemed to be another one of those things like reception lines that everyone hates doing, but "is tradition" so it keeps getting done. Did you do anything instead to fill time/engage the crowd?
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Aug 10, 2009 23:12
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My friend got married last week and the only traditional thing they did was the first dance and a sending off as they left. She didn't have flowers and we carried parasols so no bouquet toss. No garter toss either. They had cupcakes so no cake cutting and there was just one short toast. There were no assigned tables so no making the rounds of the table by the bride and groom. It was awesome and the most fun I've had at a wedding and there was no need for any of those things to fill time. Good music was more than enough.. she had a rockabilly band play who were awesome and one of the groomsmen played/sang some songs on the piano during their set break.
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Aug 10, 2009 23:55
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mich posted:She didn't have flowers and we carried parasols so no bouquet toss. No garter toss either. I am seriously considering this. Glad to hear that it's been done! How did it turn out? Were the parasols closed during the actual ceremony or did you hold them open (I'd imagine at least the bride's was closed)?
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Aug 11, 2009 14:52
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Kiri koli posted:I am seriously considering this. Glad to hear that it's been done! How did it turn out? Were the parasols closed during the actual ceremony or did you hold them open (I'd imagine at least the bride's was closed)? I was a bridesmaid and we kept the parasols open and held them down and to the side at an angle. The bride walked down with both her parents and she handed hers off to her mother when her parents went to sit down. It worked out great because they had all the attendants read a quote during the ceremony so the bridesmaids could hide their index cards behind the parasols. The bride was not encumbered by anything throughout the ceremony to do her chemical demonstration, vows, ring exchange. On the chemical demonstration since I'm sure someone will ask, she is a scientist so instead of a regular water ceremony where you mix two colored liquids to make a different color, she had two beakers, one with a lye solution (basic solution) and one with water and phenolphthalein (an indicator). She and her husband each poured a colorless liquid into a glass flask to produce a brilliant dark pink/red color.. very impressive. If any of you took a chemistry class it's that same indicator you use for titrations where you are trying to achieve a light pink. If you just use lots of indicator and a solution that is significantly more basic than the titration point you get that dramatic color.
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Aug 11, 2009 16:26
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We didn't do the bouquet/garter toss either. I've only been to one wedding where they did it, and none of the single women wanted to be standing up there, the whole thing felt awkward to me. We did do the first dance, father/daughter dance, mother/son dance, and reception line.
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Aug 11, 2009 17:08
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I had to compromise with the husband on this one - he wanted to do it but I didn't. I asked my MIL to make a fake flower bouquet and I tossed that. My bouquet would have been way too heavy and it seems silly to buy something you are just going to throw at someone. It did provide a funny moment - my 15 year old cousin caught the bouquet and my husband's friend from high school caught the garter. He didn't know that he was supposed to slide it up her leg so he just kinda stood there. Here is his confused look: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/PYhHLA793ZmK96RPTiBdqw?authkey=Gv1sRgCMfQ_ZmKuppF&feat=directlink My uncle went up and tapped him on the shoulder to make sure he remained a gentleman. It was pretty funny and possibly criminal in 40 states.
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Aug 11, 2009 18:10
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mich posted:On the chemical demonstration since I'm sure someone will ask, she is a scientist so instead of a regular water ceremony where you mix two colored liquids to make a different color, she had two beakers, one with a lye solution (basic solution) and one with water and phenolphthalein (an indicator). She and her husband each poured a colorless liquid into a glass flask to produce a brilliant dark pink/red color.. very impressive. If any of you took a chemistry class it's that same indicator you use for titrations where you are trying to achieve a light pink. If you just use lots of indicator and a solution that is significantly more basic than the titration point you get that dramatic color. This is an amazing idea, thank you so much for sharing!!
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Aug 11, 2009 18:48
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Kiri koli posted:Did you do anything instead to fill time/engage the crowd? Yeah, had an open bar  Seriously, the whole thing went by so fast that it didn't seem like there was anything noticeable "missing", so no.
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Aug 11, 2009 18:54
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CalamityKate posted:Yeah, had an open bar Yup, definitely having one of these!  That chemical ceremony idea was awesome as well. I actually wished I was a chemist for a half second, even though I never could stand chemisty. Kiri koli fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Aug 11, 2009 |
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Aug 11, 2009 19:26
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I'm not doing the bouquet toss either, but I'm not having a bouquet, so it'd be silly to do it. We're doing a very non-traditional thing. Very simple ceremony, no aisle walking, no bridesmaids, just me, my fiance, and a close friend officiating. We're only having about 70 guests so I'm not concerned about a receiving line / making sure to say hi to everyone. We will still do our first dance as a couple and my dad wants to do a father/daughter dance since he's not walking me down the aisle and I'm fine with that. Right now I'm trying to decide what to do about music. The original plan was just an ipod or laptop with songs, and I still want to do that, but there aren't speakers/equipment at the venue so we'll have to rent them. We could ask a bunch of friends/family to let us use theirs but then someone has to be responsible for it at the end of the night. I'm finding places that will rent us equipment, set it up, show someone how to use it, break it down, etc, but they're all about the same price as just hiring a dj in the first place...
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Aug 11, 2009 19:30
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combee posted:
Thank you for the links  JohnnyRnR posted:Don't be too hard on them. It's difficult to take great photographs of sapphires. Here are an example of two stones that didn't photograph well, but are cut to perfection. These aren't mine, but are in stock at a friend's shop. Unfortunately, in the case of The Natural Sapphire Company, it's not just a matter of bad photos. They have diagrams of the stones that confirm the bad cuts you suspect from the photos (things are horribly off-center, not symmetrical, one side is visibly shorter than the others, etc.). The stones you posted are gorgeous . I'm just such a perfectionist that if something is even slightly "off" (especially something as important as an engagement ring), it will bother me forever . I know, I'm difficult 
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Aug 11, 2009 23:38
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Pig Boots posted:Thank you for the links You're not difficult, I have the same problem with NSC. If I'm gonna pay a premium for a top quality unheated stone, I'd prefer it not have a window the size of a swimming pool. The off center culets bother me too, also the massive depth some of the stones have. I realize this is an issue of cutting for weight, but I'd like to think consumers are educated enough to realize weight is just a number and that some of the beauty lies in good proportions.
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Aug 11, 2009 23:53
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I went to THE BEST wedding on the weekend. The bride was my cousin, who although lives in a different city and has most of her life, I adore. My family flew out for the wedding and had an absolute ball. The ceremony was fairly simple, no frills, no full mass (thank god) then we went back to her parents house for cocktails before the reception while they had photos taken. They had a Chinese tea ceremony before the reception (at the recption hall, in an adorable outdoor ceremony area thing..). The reception was on the most gorgeous property, with a little lake behind it, and trees and plants and manicured lawns, and the actual hall was a neat little building. The wedding party danced their way into the recption hall and were all partying and jumping and grinding with each other before sitting down. Speech, soup, speech, salad, speech, entree, speech, dessert, bride and groom speech. The first couple speeches were short and sweet. The Father of the Groom speech was so touching that pretty well everyone was crying. Then my aunt and uncle had their speech, and everyone was crying again, then the bride and groom spoke, and everyone was just sobbing. The maid of honor, who was the brides sister, was just SOBBING. They were long but I swear to god everyone was crying, they were such heartfelt speeches. Then there was a father daughter dance, then we had cupcakes instead of cake. Maid of Honor made cupcakes with butter cream icing and oh. my. god. I have never tasted anything so delicious. Then there was an open bar and we all got drunk and danced our hearts out. There was no bouquet toss, no garter toss, no tacky bride dances, no table to table after dinner. Thats what I want when I get married.
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Aug 12, 2009 02:50
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I'm getting an engagement ring custom made for my girlfriend similar to this, but in yellow gold; I checked the price against BlueNile for the main diamond; Princess Cut 0.98ct Clarity IF Color G Cut Very Good BlueNile is quoting $6,400AUD ($5300 USD) for the same diamond and mine is $4,900AUD ($4,050 USD). So did I get a bargain or is BlueNile overpriced? The total cost of the ring with 18ct gold and 16 small diamonds is $7,400AUD ($6,150 USD) including tax It will take about 3 weeks, then it's up to me to propose. This has been difficult because we have shared accounts so I hope I manage to pull it off without her noticing.
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Aug 12, 2009 04:13
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Anyone have any stories about cold feet? On your end or on his end? What do you think is "normal" and what would raise a red flag for you? I hope this isn't too e/n of a question.
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Aug 12, 2009 05:09
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Whitey Ford posted:Princess Cut You have to take the entire package into consideration when pricing things out, and it seems that you've paid a fair price for the quality of the work. The setting looks to be of very fine construction.
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Aug 12, 2009 06:52
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mich posted:On the chemical demonstration since I'm sure someone will ask, she is a scientist so instead of a regular water ceremony where you mix two colored liquids to make a different color, she had two beakers, one with a lye solution (basic solution) and one with water and phenolphthalein (an indicator). She and her husband each poured a colorless liquid into a glass flask to produce a brilliant dark pink/red color.. very impressive. If any of you took a chemistry class it's that same indicator you use for titrations where you are trying to achieve a light pink. If you just use lots of indicator and a solution that is significantly more basic than the titration point you get that dramatic color. Mich, this is so awesome. I think I need to look into this for our wedding. While my fiance and I aren't chemically minded, one of each of our grandfathers has a chemistry background (mine was a chemist/inventor, his majored in it before joining the army) and I think something like this would be an awesome tribute to the both of them.
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Aug 12, 2009 18:05
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I just wanted to show off something unusual that came in today. These are natural emeralds carved to look like leaves! Click here for the full 800x640 image.  Click here for the full 800x640 image. We're going to try to make engagement rings where the solitaire is flanked by a pair of leaves. They should look like diamond flowers with emerald leaves when everything is done.
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Aug 14, 2009 00:17
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JohnnyRnR posted:I just wanted to show off something unusual that came in today. These are natural emeralds carved to look like leaves! This sounds like a great idea! I definitely want to see the finished product.
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Aug 14, 2009 01:50
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JohnnyRnR posted:I just wanted to show off something unusual that came in today. These are natural emeralds carved to look like leaves!
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Aug 14, 2009 04:13
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For anyone looking for venues in their area, I highly recommend googling "*your city* convention and visitor bureau". I was pulling my hair out, because googling for "reception site" or "wedding venue" was giving me nothing but the top-tier. It was looking like I was going to have to fork out more than 5k just for the site itself (in some cases even in the off-season), because I'm in the Sonoma/Napa wine country. The visitors bureau had the contact & pricing information for all sorts of veterans halls, small public meeting facilities, and it looks like I'll be able to spend under $750, now.
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Aug 14, 2009 21:06
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Whitey Ford posted:I checked the price against BlueNile for the main diamond; Are both stones certified by the same lab? How close are the measurements? Diamonds aren't really a fungible commodity, so you really have to see both with your own eyes to see the real differences.
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Aug 14, 2009 21:56
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Rootbeer Baron posted:How are you going to set the leaves? The first thought was to use microprongs made of multistrand platinum wire. If that isn't stable enough we'll groove the bottom of the emeralds (like invisible setting) and build custom platinum bezels so we can keep them thin while maximizing their strength.
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Aug 15, 2009 04:25
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Jalumibnkrayal posted:Are both stones certified by the same lab? How close are the measurements? Diamonds aren't really a fungible commodity, so you really have to see both with your own eyes to see the real differences.
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Aug 15, 2009 10:42
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My fiancee and I recently got engaged. She is about ready to start a 9 month internship for her masters program that is unpaid. We have a decent amount of cash in the bank, but we are not expecting help from either set of parents. Both sides arent doing great financially because of the economy, so we will most likely be the ones footing 90% of the bills. We've decided we dont want to spend 25,000 dollars on a wedding, but my ridiculously large family makes that difficult. We are expecting the reception to have about 200 people, we're going to do buffet style somewhere we think, once we see the prices. We just started talking, and initially we planned on January in order to save money on the reception, but we live in a relatively cold area that can have pretty bad storms so we decided against that. We cannot have the wedding in the Fall because I coach collegiate soccer, and our season goes from August-Mid November. Now with all of the backstory I have quite a few questions. 1. Would having it in a non wedding season month really save that much cash, if so about how much? Some websites said 5 dollars per head, which isnt really as much as I expected. 2. What are some great ways to cut corners but still have a nice wedding? I checked a bunch of websites but I was just wondering if anyone else had any tips 3. How much of our budget will the reception make up? Theknot.com said 50% but that sounds really really low to me (or maybe I'm wrong).
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Aug 15, 2009 18:36
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PhillyLucky posted:1. Would having it in a non wedding season month really save that much cash, if so about how much? Some websites said 5 dollars per head, which isnt really as much as I expected. I think that having it on a non wedding day would save more money. Have it on a Friday evening or do a Sunday brunch wedding. PhillyLucky posted:3. How much of our budget will the reception make up? Theknot.com said 50% but that sounds really really low to me (or maybe I'm wrong). That's probably about how my budget worked out, but that's mostly because we really splurged on photography. My photographer is easily 25% of the budget.
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Aug 15, 2009 20:18
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PhillyLucky posted:My fiancee and I recently got engaged. She is about ready to start a 9 month internship for her masters program that is unpaid. We have a decent amount of cash in the bank, but we are not expecting help from either set of parents. Both sides arent doing great financially because of the economy, so we will most likely be the ones footing 90% of the bills. We've decided we dont want to spend 25,000 dollars on a wedding, but my ridiculously large family makes that difficult. We are expecting the reception to have about 200 people, we're going to do buffet style somewhere we think, once we see the prices. My fiance and I are getting married in October. Our wedding budget wasn't much over $5k, and we are expecting about 150 people at the reception. We cut a lot of costs by having an afternoon wedding, so we aren't having a full meal. We are having fancy snacks basically. We are also not having alcohol. Neither of us drink on a regular basis, and my parents don't drink at all so it was not a hard decision. Some people seem to get bent out of shape about no alcohol for some reason, though. We are getting married in a small country church so that was inexpensive. You can save a lot more money by doing a lot of things yourselves, like invitations, favors, decorations, etc. If you have friends that do things like flowers, catering, or DJing, they will often cut you a steep discount or do it free in lieu of getting you a gift.
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Aug 15, 2009 21:47
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I can officially post in this thread, I got engaged this weekend!  My boyfriend proposed at our favorite vinyard in Napa, Domaine Carneros. It's been sort of surreal since our engagement got mentioned on Gawker, wtf 
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