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I'm getting married in August. I'm a grad student and my fiance has a pretty decent job, so we're splitting costs with both sets of parents. Having said that, we didn't want anyone to go broke paying for this business, so we've been finding good ways to save money. The venue: $750 We're saving a ton of money by getting married and having the reception at an art deco theatre in our hometown and by doing it on a Sunday. Rent for a Sunday is half of what it is on Saturday. Cash bar means we aren't paying for alcohol. The food is a bit pricey-our plan is $20/head and includes soft drinks and water, but we literally saved $800 there. ------------ Wardrobe: The dress: $170 The shoes (dyed to match): $45 The alterations on said dress: $65 Tuxedo: (haven't picked one yet...) I made the mistake of going to David's Bridal, aka My Personal Hell. Granted, I saw the dress online first, and I really love it, but if you don't make an appointment as THE BRIDE, they do not give a rat's rear end about you. I was afraid they'd try to talk me into a white gown (no thanks, Queen Victoria), so I just came in with my fiance one day. They completely ignored me, nothing was in my size, and the one sales clerk who did help me called me fat. That is- Clerk: What size dress do you wear? Bean Trap: Well, if the dress isn't vanity sized, I wear a size 4 or 6. Clerk: Oh, honey, our dresses run SMALL. Guess what, bitch? I bought a size 4 and had to have it taken in in the waist, bust, and hem. I could have done a size 2, apparently.  Customer service aside, they will rape you on the alterations if you buy a "wedding dress." The dress I bought is a lovely champagne-colored strapless floor-length gown with gold ribbon 'round the middle and white detailing on the bust. Hint: I used to work for a dry-cleaner. If you want your gown cleaned and don't want to pay through the nose for it, don't get beads. It's very nice, and I can wear it again because it doesn't look like a traditional wedding gown. This dress is considered a "bridesmaid's dress," so my alterations' base cost was $35. I had the waist nipped, the hem raised, and the bust taken in, and that was $65. If you get a "wedding gown," the alterations begin at $65. I can understand this for tulle or challenging fabrics, but if my dress were a different color, I would have paid double. David's Bridal does have decent prices on formal shoes--cheapest shoes are about $35; dyeing is $3. That's not a bad deal if you or your bridesmaids' need to match shoes to an odd-colored dress. ---- The cake: $285 My extended family is rather large, and so we needed a cake to feed at least 70 people. We went to Chef's Kitchen Cakery in Cincinnati. The chef is hilarious and very awesome; her cakes are delicious; she's got a great eye for style. We hadn't thought much about the cake, and she's talking to us and says, "You guys look like you're people who like clean lines and elegance." This is true. So we're having a three-layer cake: bottom is blueberry cake with raspberry jam; middle, almond cake with almond cream; top, vanilla with chocolate (for the boring people/allergic folks). The price above is without delivery costs. If we move the cake ourselves, we save $80, although if the parents are too nervous to help, we may just pay up. The chef also makes a double of the cake in case of emergencies for free. The extra cake becomes her samples if not used. ---- The photographer: ~$400 Our photographer graduated high school with me, and she does all the weddings of girls from our graduating class. She charges $100/hour, and extra for editing. We can edit the photos ourselves. She gives you a disk of all the photos and free use of them. I don't know if that's a great price, but I love her work and she's pretty awesome, so paying for quality and ease is great. --- Invitations: Free It pays to have artist friends who owe your fiance money for setting up their websites. --- Decorations: Free The theatre has boxes of decorations abandoned by other weddings and parties. You set it up, they'll clean it up and box it later. ---- Total: $1715 so far This doesn't include the food for the reception (at $20/head, probably $1500 including linens and service...I hope). My parents are paying for it. His parents are paying for two nights in a nice hotel in Traverse Bay (we live in MI), and we'll be paying for two or three days camping or in a motel near Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. Likely total: under $4000, split between his parents, my parents, and us. Bean Trap fucked around with this message at 01:16 on May 16, 2008 |
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May 15, 2008 23:18
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Ben Davis posted:I've fallen in love with this ring http://www.antiquejewelrymall.com/r640p.html but I know the boyfriend would be happier with something bought from a brick and mortar store with a yearly cleaning and examination and such available. I wouldn't be against something similar, I just haven't seen anything like it for sale in person. Can anyone recommend some place? Hello, fellow Michigan goon! I tried on a ring just like that at Arcadian Antiques in Ann Arbor. http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-...177137921548343 The one I tried was $900, which is already cheaper than that. (We ended up with an unusual "right-hand ring" from Zales for about $300, because I didn't want to spend all that money, but I did like that ring.)
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May 15, 2008 23:27
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ophiolite posted:Another thing my Mom did for all of the "girls in my life" that helped out with the wedding was buy nice pendants on Ebay and bought nice chains to go with them. I know for a fact one of my friends wears it nearly everyday! I found some really cute necklaces on etsy.com for my bridesmaids and groomswoman. They're very cute, individual, and I even bought one for myself (which they've complimented me on, so I think they'll be pleased). stef_infection posted:Also, NO bridesmaids/maid of honor and NO wedding shower! Sometimes I like being a weird homebody with few friends. I love my bridesmaids, but never have I ever been so glad that we're scattered cross-country. I HATE wedding showers. There's something that screams, "Y'all should be jealous of me and my fiance and all our crap!" about it. (Unless you really do need all new stuff). And the games...ugh. For the "bachelor/ette party," I think the whole wedding party is going out for a really good beer or something. I'm friends with all the groomsmen and -women, so I want to hang out with them, of course. Also, strippers are icky, male or female.
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May 16, 2008 01:15
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do what now posted:I had a coed bachelor/bachelorette party. My husband was THRILLED to watch me get a lap dance Oh, it's got nothing to do with trust or morality. Male strippers just flat-out scare me (I don't like that body type) and neither my fiance nor I finds female strippers attractive, either. Plus I think the few members of the wedding party/their S.O.'s who are kind of straight-laced would poo poo themselves. I mean, if I'm going to be danced on, I'd want it to be a hot girl, but what passes as popular-hot and stripper-hot aren't my thing. Unless it were Natalie Portman ala Closer. Or Katee Sackhoff. Then I would reconsider.  I'm buying one of my bridesmaids a light-up cock headband, because she would totally wear it. Bean Trap fucked around with this message at 21:55 on May 16, 2008 |
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May 16, 2008 21:52
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And the strippers were very nice, they thought it was awesome that my girl pals and I came along. I don't understand why it's such a big deal - my husband got a few lap dances without me. If you think strippers are inappropriate or immoral to begin with I could see disagreeing, but otherwise, trust is trust.
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Skutter posted:You should send the announcements out after the wedding. Otherwise it will look like you're asking for a gift, but not even bothering to invite them to the wedding. You could even choose a nice picture of you and the groom and have some small copies made up at Walgreens or somewhere similar and include them with some/all of the announcements. Especially if you don't want them showing up as a surprise.
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May 18, 2008 00:53
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goatse guy posted:My boyfriend asked me to marry him on Monday, so now the fun begins! We've got a pretty good idea of what we want to do, we just don't know when we should do it. How did you guys decide on your wedding date? We got engaged in November 07 and picked the date in December. I'm finishing a graduate degree and planned on (and am) doing a summer language program, so it was either May 08 before I left for the summer (I have a month off between grad school and summer program) or August 08 before school started. It had to be before my insurance ran out, and I am planning to work abroad after graduation. We met with a rep from a venue we liked, and they had discount Sundays open in August, and thus, 24 August is the date. One week after summer program ends and one week before school starts.
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Jun 8, 2008 07:25
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