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Problem!
Jan 1, 2007

I am the queen of France.
They give you underwear hundreds of other women have worn? Ew.

When I dress shopped none of the stores I went to provided any undergarments besides some underskirts of varying poofiness and shoes of varying heights, I just wore a nude colored strapless bra and seamless underwear. Then once I purchased the dress I had them sew in a bra so I wouldn't have to worry about finding a bra that worked with the low back. I did buy some Spanx because I was worried about my dress's boning rubbing against my skin but I ultimately ended up not wearing it.

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19 o'clock
Sep 9, 2004

Excelsior!!!

GlutenFreeBanana posted:

We are in Las Vegas .

Yeah...about a 13 hour drive from where I live. Good luck, and if things really go south I can fly in and blow it up.

Robot Mil
Apr 13, 2011

boquiabierta posted:

What did y'all wear or bring to bridal gown shopping trips in terms of undergarments?

For general appointments I wore a nude/white strapless bra and normal undies. I'm not intending to wear spanx at my actual wedding (they are hard enough to pee in even in a normal dress!) so I figured it wasn't useful to wear them to shops, even though I might have felt a little more comfortable than standing around in bra and pants in front of a strange woman :) I've just had my first fitting for my actual dress, and wore the bra that I am intending to wear on my wedding day. She advised me to do that to make sure that the fit takes into account the shape and where the bra-line is etc.

The only undergarments a shop provided was petticoats/hoop things for the more poofy dresses.

EvilElmo
May 10, 2009
Yay.

Engagement ring arrived in the post today. Now to hide it until use.

C-Euro
Mar 20, 2010

:science:
Soiled Meat
I proposed to my then-girlfriend last September and we are now six months to the day away from getting married. We did some sporadic wedding planning in 2014 but have made it a daily thing to work on in the last month or so. Neither of us have been married nor have we participated in any weddings or plannings thereof, so we're trying to take stock of what we've already planned and what else we need to do. How does this sound?

Done:
Wedding rings
Venue (for both ceremony and reception, includes furniture basics)
Engagement photos
Save the Date card
Guest Mailing List
Cake
Bridesmaid/Groomsmen Nominations
Her dress

To Do:
Mail Save the Dates
Design & mail Invites
Registry
Officiant (currently have a lead)
Wedding Photographer
My tuxedo
Bridesmaid/Groomsmen outfits
Caterer (venue has a pre-approved list so that narrows it down for us)
Music
Flowers (for ceremony, or both?)
Rehearsal (have a separate venue we can use)

We're trying to make it fairly low-key as we need to do another ceremony in 2016 for her family overseas, so right now the guest list is just over 100 (before my parents slot in their friends) and we put a hard cap of 150 into our venue contract. In addition most of our guests live or grew up within driving distance of our venue so I don't know if we need to pay for accommodations for anyone? We're also not picky about a lot of things as a couple so we've found a few ways to save money already (my cousin has a photo studio and did our engagement photos as a present, a friend of her family is making our cake as a gift) but if there's standard wedding stuff we've forgotten to note please let me know. I tried browsing theknot.com but it kept giving un-exitable prompts to register, and goons know more anyway right?

Problem!
Jan 1, 2007

I am the queen of France.
You need to get a photographer like yesterday if you want a good one, all the good ones book up a year in advance in some areas. My photographer was booked solid for all of 2015 before 2014 was over and I only managed to book her for our wedding when we changed our wedding date to an off-season date.

19 o'clock
Sep 9, 2004

Excelsior!!!

C-Euro posted:

Officiant (currently have a lead)
Wedding Photographer
Music
Flowers (for ceremony, or both?)

Where are you getting married?

In general I guess I want to say that I'm in Colorado and have lots of leads on these things and can help out.

OssiansFolly
Aug 3, 2012

Suffering at the factory of sadness every year.

C-Euro posted:

We're trying to make it fairly low-key as we need to do another ceremony in 2016 for her family overseas, so right now the guest list is just over 100 (before my parents slot in their friends) and we put a hard cap of 150 into our venue contract. In addition most of our guests live or grew up within driving distance of our venue so I don't know if we need to pay for accommodations for anyone? We're also not picky about a lot of things as a couple so we've found a few ways to save money already (my cousin has a photo studio and did our engagement photos as a present, a friend of her family is making our cake as a gift) but if there's standard wedding stuff we've forgotten to note please let me know. I tried browsing theknot.com but it kept giving un-exitable prompts to register, and goons know more anyway right?

You shouldn't have to pay for accommodations...your guests SHOULD be able to afford that (at $100/room if you offer assume you will be adding $2000 to the cost of the wedding). As for your guest list, it is fairly common to have 20% of those people invited to decline the invite or no show (and the random "I thought I RSVP'd" guy that shows up even though he didn't RSVP). It sounds like you are fine on the guest list.

Just remember that 99% of the people at the reception are going to remember three things...Booze, Music and Food. Everything else will be mainly remembered by you and your bride. Not saying phone it in, but don't stress yourself out over the little things like center pieces, uplighting and tie color of groomsmen.

smackfu
Jun 7, 2004

Aquatic Giraffe posted:

You need to get a photographer like yesterday if you want a good one, all the good ones book up a year in advance in some areas. My photographer was booked solid for all of 2015 before 2014 was over and I only managed to book her for our wedding when we changed our wedding date to an off-season date.

I would also focus on caterer. They book up very early too.

Our big 4 are venue, caterer, photographer, and DJ. Those are the things we are booking ASAP. (Plus her dress but I'm not involved in that.) Everything else can wait until closer in.

bathhouse
Apr 21, 2010

We're getting into a rhythm now
You also might want to bump up registries as a priority. We wanted to have it 90% done before our STDs went out for early shoppers. But we've also built a website (URL is on the STDs) that has registry links.

jemsy
May 27, 2010

DOG EATS APPLE
:3:
Eloping in Hawaii in a few months. We're both frugal, but I wanted to splurge slightly on photography. My best friend lives in Honolulu and she and her sister will be the only witnesses. We're planning a low-key reception in October here in Madison, WI. Some stats:

Plane tickets $900 - Frequent flyer miles = one free ticket. Not too bad.
Ceremony venue: Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens FREE - I had to mail in a permit form, and that was it. There's a lake, a variety of tropical plants from around the world, and lush green mountains. I'm excited.
Officiant + ceremony photography $700 - They're a husband and wife team. Cuts down on who I have to coordinate with. This includes two hours of photography.
Two nights of AirBNB accomodations $400 - I don't want to spend our wedding night in my friend's bed while she sleeps on the couch because ew.
Post-wedding prints/digital copies $750 - This is for all digital files, including those retouched.
My dress $350 - Purchased an Alfred Angelo off the rack at a boutique in Minneapolis. I wanted tea length, and this dress is very long, so it's being altered. Tailor already has it, I'm assuming this will be less than $200?
Petticoat $200 - Bought this on Etsy from a woman who owns a real shop in Florida. Perfect color, material, and fullness.
My ring $750 - Not a traditional ring. No band for me.
His ring TBD - Probably $500-1000 depending on what he finally chooses.
His suit $400? - This is including tailoring. Purchased from Men's Wearhouse so he has a suit he can wear for other events.
Reception venue $250-300 - Only $50/hr to rent the large coffee house + bar that is practically in our backyard. Serving capacity is 120 people. They do all catering (though they'll make almost any dish we ask) around $15-30/person. Kegs are $130+ for a 1/4 barrel, $200+ for a 1/2 barrel, wine starts at $18/bottle, and they only charge us for what they open. No DJs are allowed because of neighborhood sound ordinances, but they have a speaker system that we can hook up to an MP3 player. I think we'll have cards/board games for entertainment.

Things I still need:
Turquoise flats - This is really difficult to find in size clown 11.
Some jewelry for me - I'm thinking a statement necklace, some earrings, call it good.
Reservations for a post-wedding restaurant
Elopement announcements/reception invites - I might just create these through Vistaprint. They won't go in the mail until late May. We might be "tacky" and just ask for money in lieu of gifts (we're saving up for a house), so no registries.
Dessert - I don't know if I want a traditional cake or something else. I'm still scoping out local bakeries.
DIY decor - The reception venue provides table cloths and all that, so I just need something for center pieces.

I think the elopement is costing us around $5,000 and the reception will maybe be $3500-4000. I'm pretty sure his parents will help with the cost of dinner + alcohol (if not cover the cost completely).

Am I forgetting anything else? Can anyone point me in the direction of giant turquoise flats? Thanks, goons!

I Demand Food
Nov 18, 2002
I just put a deposit down on an engagement ring with a wholesaler my family knows. It's an 18k white gold ring with a 3/4 carat SI1 H round cut diamond with another .36 carats in round accent stones. I think it will look sufficiently impressive and sparkly on her dainty size 4.5 finger and it cost less than a third of what a very similar ring from Robbins Brothers went for. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited and can't wait to pick it up in a couple of weeks.

I've also heard conflicting things about this, but what is the current consensus on asking her dad for his permission? Is that still a thing?

I Demand Food fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Feb 25, 2015

littlebluellama
Jun 18, 2013

I am kind, brave and deserve love.

I Demand Food posted:

I've also heard conflicting things about this, but what is the current consensus on asking her dad for his permission?

I think many people find it very dated or offensive, unless you know she's very conservative or it's something she would want. If anything, I'd think you would ask for his "blessing," not permission, because presumably you're asking her either way (i.e. she not underage or something that would require parental permission to legally marry).

If she would think it's cute, it could be a nice token gesture, but I'd be really sure she's into that sort of thing first.

A Proper Uppercut
Sep 30, 2008

I Demand Food posted:


I've also heard conflicting things about this, but what is the current consensus on asking her dad for his permission?

I think it's a lot of "it depends". You know what kind of relationship you have with your in laws. But, I asked permission and he really respected it. Everyone I've asked personally seemed to think it was a good idea.

jemsy
May 27, 2010

DOG EATS APPLE
:3:

I Demand Food posted:

I've also heard conflicting things about this, but what is the current consensus on asking her dad for his permission?

I think that can vary widely from person to person. My dad probably would have preferred it, but my partner knows my feelings on the matter (which is don't ask my loving dad). Other factors include her relationship with her dad, your relationship with her dad, and whether he's traditional or not. :shrug:

Big Bad Beetleborg
Apr 8, 2007

Things may come to those who wait...but only the things left by those who hustle.

I asked for his blessing because I was gonna do it anyway, but it'd be nice if he was on-board.

KasioDiscoRock
Nov 17, 2000

Are you alive?

jemsy posted:


Can anyone point me in the direction of giant turquoise flats? Thanks, goons!

Have you ever tried Shoes of Prey? It's a site where you can design your own shoes. There are obviously limitations but there's a pretty wide variety. I don't know what size they carry up to though. Actually that site is probably a good resource for a lot of brides, either for themselves or specific bridesmaids shoes.

ilysespieces
Oct 5, 2009

When life becomes too painful, sometimes it's better to just become a drunk.

I Demand Food posted:

I've also heard conflicting things about this, but what is the current consensus on asking her dad for his permission? Is that still a thing?

My fiancé called my parents and asked for their blessing/told them he wanted to propose. I appreciate that he included my mom in the conversation and while it sincerely depends on your soon to be fiancée's preference, I suggest framing it more as asking for a blessing rather than permission. And also including her mom if she's in the picture/available/any other way to say existent.

couldcareless
Feb 8, 2009

Spheal used Swagger!
I did not ask for blessing or permission because 1. The inlaws are bat poo poo crazy, 2. They would have told her or given it away (it was somewhat of a surprise), and 3. Because apparently I would have been expected to go buy a box of tampons with quarters because of her father insisted her future husband do it at least once.
I ended up getting the tampons and giving it to him in a gift bag at the rehearsal

Bread Set Jettison
Jan 8, 2009

couldcareless posted:

I did not ask for blessing or permission because 1. The inlaws are bat poo poo crazy, 2. They would have told her or given it away (it was somewhat of a surprise), and 3. Because apparently I would have been expected to go buy a box of tampons with quarters because of her father insisted her future husband do it at least once.
I ended up getting the tampons and giving it to him in a gift bag at the rehearsal

rofl why

couldcareless
Feb 8, 2009

Spheal used Swagger!

Through a string of circumstances, he had to do it when she was younger and all he had at the time was change. She refused to go in herself as she was embarrassed already.

Bread Set Jettison
Jan 8, 2009

couldcareless posted:

Through a string of circumstances, he had to do it when she was younger and all he had at the time was change. She refused to go in herself as she was embarrassed already.

:ironicat: lol

I've already bought feminine hygiene products for my future wife multiple times because I have no shame. He would approve of me :smuggo:.

The Vikings
Jul 3, 2004

ODIN!!!!!

Nap Ghost
Since photographer chat is going on, does anyone have a recommendation for a photographer in LA or the eastern sierras? Getting married in October near mammoth lakes, and the ones we liked from that area are booked already :(

A Proper Uppercut
Sep 30, 2008

Next week, the fiance and I are going to a tasting by one of the caterers we are looking at for our wedding. Just kind of curious what to expect. Is there usually other couples there? Would they expect a booking that day? If we liked it, should we sleep on it or something before making a decision? Any info is helpful, pretty much, never done this before.

OssiansFolly
Aug 3, 2012

Suffering at the factory of sadness every year.

A Proper Uppercut posted:

Next week, the fiance and I are going to a tasting by one of the caterers we are looking at for our wedding. Just kind of curious what to expect. Is there usually other couples there? Would they expect a booking that day? If we liked it, should we sleep on it or something before making a decision? Any info is helpful, pretty much, never done this before.

You should ask them most of those questions. I know for my tasting at the hall there will be other couples there which I like. I like having other people's opinions, and if I don't like something the hall will have more of almost everything for me to taste.

I would absolutely sleep on it before making a decision...what if it tasted great, but gives you horrible diarrhea?! Just saying.

Mind_Taker
May 7, 2007



What type and how much beer should I buy for a wedding with ~60 probable drinkers? Everywhere is saying that 120 beers should be sufficient for a cocktail hour and ~4 hour reception.

We already have the wine (one case of a good red blend, one case of chardonnay), sparkling wine for the toast, and our two signature cocktails (pink lemonade/lime/vodka mix for the fruity drink, simple rum and coke as the other drink).

The crowd is a decent spread of people, our friends/siblings/cousins who are 20-40 years old, and then some older relatives as well, about 50% men and 50% women. There are like one or two people I know for sure who like craft beer, but other than that I have no idea.

We decided that bottles would be easier than kegs because we don't really want to deal with getting a keg when we can just pick up a few cases of beer at the grocery store or whatever.

My initial thought was:

2 cases of Bud Light (48 beers)
2 cases of Yuengling (48 beers)
12 cans of Cigar City Florida Cracker Belgian-Style White Ale
12 cans of Cigar City Jai Alai IPA

I personally hate Bud Light and don't love Yuengling but can tolerate it, but apparently a lot of casual beer drinkers like them? I really wanted to include a craft beer selection because they are quite good and I'd like some of our guests to be able to have another option. Is that enough craft beer, I really don't know how many people experiment with beers they've never tried before or just stick with what they know. I know I am adventurous when it comes to trying new beer, but are other people? Help me.

OssiansFolly
Aug 3, 2012

Suffering at the factory of sadness every year.

Mind_Taker posted:

What type and how much beer should I buy for a wedding with ~60 probable drinkers? Everywhere is saying that 120 beers should be sufficient for a cocktail hour and ~4 hour reception.

We already have the wine (one case of a good red blend, one case of chardonnay), sparkling wine for the toast, and our two signature cocktails (pink lemonade/lime/vodka mix for the fruity drink, simple rum and coke as the other drink).

The crowd is a decent spread of people, our friends/siblings/cousins who are 20-40 years old, and then some older relatives as well, about 50% men and 50% women. There are like one or two people I know for sure who like craft beer, but other than that I have no idea.

We decided that bottles would be easier than kegs because we don't really want to deal with getting a keg when we can just pick up a few cases of beer at the grocery store or whatever.

My initial thought was:

2 cases of Bud Light (48 beers)
2 cases of Yuengling (48 beers)
12 cans of Cigar City Florida Cracker Belgian-Style White Ale
12 cans of Cigar City Jai Alai IPA

I personally hate Bud Light and don't love Yuengling but can tolerate it, but apparently a lot of casual beer drinkers like them? I really wanted to include a craft beer selection because they are quite good and I'd like some of our guests to be able to have another option. Is that enough craft beer, I really don't know how many people experiment with beers they've never tried before or just stick with what they know. I know I am adventurous when it comes to trying new beer, but are other people? Help me.

I have more drinkers than you but I am going with 5 cases of Yuengling and Yuengling Light for a wedding of 150. I can always use the extra at another time...its beer. I would also recommend grabbing a case of a cider. The whole Gluten Free thing lately leaves a lot of people left out I have found. I won't go by 100 bottles of cider, but a case so people can have fun won't kill me.

We obviously can't tell you if your friends are beer drinkers or liquor drinkers. It sounds like you have more than enough beer if you ask me...I'd just snag a few ciders. The specialty beers are going to go fast IMO and people will be all "why didn't you get more".

LogisticEarth
Mar 28, 2004

Someone once told me, "Time is a flat circle".

Mind_Taker posted:

My initial thought was:

2 cases of Bud Light (48 beers)
2 cases of Yuengling (48 beers)
12 cans of Cigar City Florida Cracker Belgian-Style White Ale
12 cans of Cigar City Jai Alai IPA

I personally hate Bud Light and don't love Yuengling but can tolerate it, but apparently a lot of casual beer drinkers like them? I really wanted to include a craft beer selection because they are quite good and I'd like some of our guests to be able to have another option. Is that enough craft beer, I really don't know how many people experiment with beers they've never tried before or just stick with what they know. I know I am adventurous when it comes to trying new beer, but are other people? Help me.

For 60 people, that might be cutting it a bit short, at least in the craft beer department. I mean, assuming you have 20% of the guests try at least one of each of the beers over the course of the evening, you're out. I would ditch the Bud Light, double up on Yuengling, and get AT LEAST a case of each of the craft beers. Considering that you'll have 2-3 beers, two wines, and two cocktails, that should be a fair amount of variety. Reason I say ditch Bud Light is because I don't know a Bud/Coors/Miller Light drinker that wouldn't turn down a Yuengling, but some people might not like Bud (e.g. they have some marketing BS that makes them dislike it). As others have suggested, think about a case or two of cider, perhaps in place of the Bud. People seem to love that.

I would also suggest fitting in 1-2 dryer cocktails. The lemonade one sound super sweet, and rum & cokes are as well. Gin and tonics are ubiquitous and simple as heck to make. Consider throwing in something like an old-fashioned to appease whiskey drinkers. Cosmos are also very popular at weddings and dead simple. So you'd have rum, gin, whiskey, and vodka, with limes, tonic, cranberry juice, maraschino cherries, and coke. Logistically it's good. The G&Ts, Rum and cokes, cosmos, and your lemonade mix all use limes. 3 mixers available, that will keep people happy.

smackfu
Jun 7, 2004

Pick a craft beer you like, buy extra, and then you won't care if you have it leftover.

LogisticEarth posted:

I would also suggest fitting in 1-2 dryer cocktails. The lemonade one sound super sweet, and rum & cokes are as well. Gin and tonics are ubiquitous and simple as heck to make. Consider throwing in something like an old-fashioned to appease whiskey drinkers. Cosmos are also very popular at weddings and dead simple. So you'd have rum, gin, whiskey, and vodka, with limes, tonic, cranberry juice, maraschino cherries, and coke. Logistically it's good. The G&Ts, Rum and cokes, cosmos, and your lemonade mix all use limes. 3 mixers available, that will keep people happy.

I'm not sure about this wedding, but a lot of people premix the signature cocktails and that is the only hard alcohol available, and then you don't really need a proper bartender. It's a bit of a cost saving measure (although honestly craft beer is more expensive than hard alcohol.)

smackfu fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Feb 27, 2015

19 o'clock
Sep 9, 2004

Excelsior!!!
Speaking as a bartender at many weddings, vodka is the big winner. You can cover a great deal of drinkers with a few handles, cranberry, soda, sprite, and some limes. Add some sour mix and Cointreau and you have cosmos plus kamikaze shots. YMMV.

Problem!
Jan 1, 2007

I am the queen of France.
We had a 100 person wedding, here's what we bought upon suggestion of our caterer:

5 cases Yuengling
5 cases Yuengling light
4 cases red wine
4 cases white whine
6 cases champagne
4 handles vodka
2 handles gin
2 handles rum
2 handles bourbon
2 handles scotch

Here's what we had left:
ALL of the Yuengling light (someone drank one so we put an extra regular Yuengling in and re-sealed the box :ssh:). We returned all of it to the store for a full refund.
1 case Yuengling
1 case red wine
2 cases white wine
1 case champagne
All the hard liquor was opened, in hind sight we should've bought 750 mL bottles so we could've returned some but it's not like booze goes bad. We re-gifted some to a friend getting married on a budget.

We had a pre-mixed alcoholic punch for the cocktail hour and didn't fully open the bar till dinner started so people wouldn't drink us dry or be hammered already by the time dinner rolled around. We had to get everything in twos because we had two bars set up (everyone should do this to prevent bottle necking at the bar if possible). Our venue had a strict NO SHOTS rule, so that saved us a lot of booze too.

As for catering tastings my husband couldn't attend so I brought my parents instead. It was just us so we could talk exclusively with the caterer about what we wanted and pricing and could build our contract right there at the table, I think trying to handle that with multiple couples would be confusing. They'll usually write up a contract for you based on what you're looking like you're going to go with at the tasting, and then you can send it back later with your deposit or give them a check right then.

LogisticEarth
Mar 28, 2004

Someone once told me, "Time is a flat circle".

smackfu posted:

I'm not sure about this wedding, but a lot of people premix the signature cocktails and that is the only hard alcohol available, and then you don't really need a proper bartender. It's a bit of a cost saving measure (although honestly craft beer is more expensive than hard alcohol.)

I figured they had some kind of bartender as they had rum and cokes, which can't really be pre-mixed as it'll go flat. Either way simple mixed drinks like I listed don't really require any skill and any old catering staff should be able to handle that. If pre-mixed stuff is required, it would still be a good option to add something dryer anyway. Like a Tom Collins or something? Either way mixed drinks are the easiest way to offer variety while saving on overall volume of product so I suggest exploiting that.

LLSix
Jan 20, 2010

The real power behind countless overlords

I Demand Food posted:

I just put a deposit down on an engagement ring with a wholesaler my family knows. It's an 18k white gold ring with a 3/4 carat SI1 H round cut diamond with another .36 carats in round accent stones. I think it will look sufficiently impressive and sparkly on her dainty size 4.5 finger and it cost less than a third of what a very similar ring from Robbins Brothers went for. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited and can't wait to pick it up in a couple of weeks.

I've also heard conflicting things about this, but what is the current consensus on asking her dad for his permission? Is that still a thing?
My fiancee asked me to ask her dad for permission. We don't have any languages in common so it was an interesting conversation. Mom was not involved.

Buggiezor
Jun 6, 2011

For I am a cat, you see.

A Proper Uppercut posted:

Next week, the fiance and I are going to a tasting by one of the caterers we are looking at for our wedding. Just kind of curious what to expect. Is there usually other couples there? Would they expect a booking that day? If we liked it, should we sleep on it or something before making a decision? Any info is helpful, pretty much, never done this before.

My tasting was catered (pun intended) directly to us. They asked what foods we were interested in possibly putting on our menu and they cooked up about 3 servings of each dish so my husband-to-be, my mom, and I could eat enough to really get a good taste. It was just us and nobody else and we sat at a table with the amazing food all spread out and talked directly with the manager while we ate. We talked with her about what we liked and didn't like, and she gave us suggestions of what other things would go well with what we had chosen. She also told us if we changed our minds or wanted to add stuff we could feel free to come try those foods too. She printed out a sample menu of what we ate so we could get an idea of price.They definitely understood that we were still shopping around and didn't even charge us for the tasting. We of course ended up booking them because the food was amazing and they were so accommodating and helpful.

I'm not sure where you live but I'm in North Carolina and the caterer was Above & Beyond Catering

Sparrow
Sep 19, 2003
Don't Panic
My fiance and I are planning our wedding for late this summer. We're keeping it super cheap ($2500 or less), fairly small (~60 guests) and doing lots of stuff by ourselves. Luckily we're both teachers so we have the summer off and the luxury of time to do this. We have just about everything already lined up, mostly planned, or completely taken care of: invites, church, reception venue, dress, food, decorations/flowers, music. There are really just two major things lingering:

1. Wedding bands. His is no problem - we already looked and what he wants will probably end up being below $100. On the other hand, my engagement ring is platinum, so now we're looking for a super-simple petite platinum band. Does anyone have any recommendations for finding something like this for a good price? The jewelry stores we went to locally were in the $500 - $700 range, which is a big chunk of our budget. Some online prices are significantly lower, but we're a little nervous about ordering this kind of thing from an online retailer. Blue Nile has one listed for $290, but that seems almost too good to be true.

2. Photographer. It's a little late in the game, but luckily, we don't want engagement photos, or getting-ready photos, or any special posed photos (except maybe a shot of the two of us and a family group shot). We really just want a roving candid photographer for the evening, which will be about 4 hours. Is there any kind of precedent for this, or special name for this sort of thing? Does anyone have a sense of what this might cost? I feel like everywhere I look, these huge, complicated wedding packages are being offered, and we just don't want that. On the other hand, I don't want to just hire an un-vetted stranger off of Craigslist.

If it makes a difference, the wedding is in downtown Pittsburgh and the reception is on the North Shore.

Sparrow fucked around with this message at 20:19 on Feb 28, 2015

ilysespieces
Oct 5, 2009

When life becomes too painful, sometimes it's better to just become a drunk.

Sparrow posted:

2. Photographer. It's a little late in the game, but luckily, we don't want engagement photos, or getting-ready photos, or any special posed photos (except maybe a shot of the two of us and a family group shot). We really just want a roving candid photographer for the evening, which will be about 4 hours. Is there any kind of precedent for this, or special name for this sort of thing? Does anyone have a sense of what this might cost? I feel like everywhere I look, these huge, complicated wedding packages are being offered, and we just don't want that. On the other hand, I don't want to just hire an un-vetted stranger off of Craigslist.

If it makes a difference, the wedding is in downtown Pittsburgh and the reception is on the North Shore.

Search elopement photographers and your city, that's how we found our photographer who has a 3 hour package and we can get extra hours if we need/want.

C-Euro
Mar 20, 2010

:science:
Soiled Meat

Sparrow posted:

We're keeping it super cheap ($2500 or less), fairly small (~60 guests) and doing lots of stuff by ourselves.

Tell me your secrets please, my fiancee and I have a rough itemization with the most we're willing to pay for certain aspects and our cost estimate is still more than double that number. Plus my parents can't spare a ton of money and we don't know how much her parents are willing to pay since we have to do another wedding overseas for her family (for which they are allegedly paying everything, including our airfare)

erobadapazzi
Jul 23, 2007

The Vikings posted:

Since photographer chat is going on, does anyone have a recommendation for a photographer in LA or the eastern sierras? Getting married in October near mammoth lakes, and the ones we liked from that area are booked already :(

We used http://mariannewilsonphotography.com and were really happy.

A Proper Uppercut
Sep 30, 2008

Is there anyone in Massachusetts (South Shore to be exact) that has any leads or recommendations for photographers and DJs? It looks like those are going to be the two next big hurdles to figure out, and some vague pointing in the right direction would really be helpful.

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Bread Set Jettison
Jan 8, 2009

A Proper Uppercut posted:

Is there anyone in Massachusetts (South Shore to be exact) that has any leads or recommendations for photographers and DJs? It looks like those are going to be the two next big hurdles to figure out, and some vague pointing in the right direction would really be helpful.

One Eleven Images is really good and affordable. http://www.oneelevenimages.com/blog/category/weddings/

DJ's we used Beat Train productions, although they're a bit pricier than I had wanted to spend they came highly recommended. No chicken dance thank god. http://www.beattrainproductions.com/ They have some pricey DJs and some more affordable ones.

Where are you getting married?

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