Christmas Lights for a Wedding?

Just a reminder!! **Since, Christmas is over all Christmas decor is on sale.

I went to Home Depot last night and got 1100 mini christmas lights for 50% off.  The total was around $25.00!  Can't beat that price!  I might even make another trip back to get some more lights and decor for Christmas next year. 

I'm going to use the christmas lights to decorate the inside of the barn and the outside dancing area! 

I got some rebar from work (The benefits of working construction!) and am going to buy some cheap conduit from Home Depot to make poles to attach the lights to in the grass around the concrete dance area!  We'll just hammer the 2'-0" pieces of rebar into the ground about 6"-8" and the conduit will just slip right on over it.  Definately, going to have to paint the conduit before hand though!

-Brittney-

Life on a Dime

http://www.lifeonadime-wedding.blogspot.com/

Tulle

The tulle fabric arrived in the mail over the weekend!  The quality is extrememly well especially for .23 cents a yard!  http://www.giftsintl.com/tullefabric.php

Brittney

http://www.lifeonadime-wedding.blogspot.com/

The Dress

Found "the dress" over the weekend! Only downfall it's a little over the amount I budgeted! O well it's worth it!

Going to have to find somewhere to make a couple of budget cuts though.

I went to a boutique in town but **there are websites like www.jjshouse.com and www.kissdresses.com where you can get knock off dresses or a few hundred $$. I chickened out on using a knock off website cause I had read some bad reviews mixed in with the good reviews!

-Brittney-

http://www.lifeonadime-wedding.blogspot.com/

Decorations

My wedding reception will be at a barn so the decorations will be simple and country!!

**I went to my grandparents and gathered up old items (mason jars, wagon wheels, bird cages and lanterns) to use for decorations!

We are also going to use white Christmas lights that we have (may have to buy some more after the holiday while they are on sale) to decorate the barn with tulle wrapped around to soften the look

**the cheapest place we found to get tulle is at www.giftintl.com. It's less than $9.00 a bolt!! They also have garters for less than $2.00!

Anyone have any other low cost decorating ideas?!

-Brittney-
Http://www.lifeonadime-wedding.blogspot.com

Wedding website

Make a free wedding website! I used www.mywedding.com

**wedding website will even let your guest RSVP for your wedding on them. This can save postage cost and return card costs!

-Brittney-
http://lifeonadime-wedding.blogspot.com/

Save the Dates!!

I noticed that save the dates can be expensive depending on what route you go, but they are something that I really wanted to do. I think they are a fun way to express yourself and to get the word out about the upcoming wedding!!

I did a lot of searching online looking at magnet and postcard templates and prices. After searching all the websites I found www.vistaprints.com to have the best deals. Here's what I did...

**I designed my own postcards through Word on my computer. Uploaded my design into My Vistaprints account and waited. I waited a few weeks till I saw a deal that they frequently have which is 100 free postcards. I Clicked the deal and checked out. I only had to pay $8.95 to cover shipping!

**The other great thing about postcards is that postage is only $.29 each as opposed to a regular $.44 stamp! Saving $.15 each adds up!!

The quality at vistaprints could have been a little better but for less than 9 bucks I'm not going to complain!!

How has everyone made their save the dates or do you plan on skipping them?

-Brittney-

Life on a Dime

http://lifeonadime-wedding.blogspot.com/

Engagement Pictures

I searched long and hard in my area to find a good photographer at a reasonable price. I was having trouble then a friend recommend a local girl that did her engagement pictures. Total cost was $125 for the session with 2 outfits plus rights to the edited images on a CD!

**I made my own props for the shoot with plywood i got from work and stencils I got 50% off from hobby lobby! Plus we brought my dog as a prop too!

The engagement pictures were a lot of fun to take and they turned out great! With a good camera and a photographer with a good eye you don't have to spend a fortune for pictures.

Feel free to comment below with engagement or wedding picture props you've created!!

How much did you spend on your engagement pictures?

http://lifeonadime-wedding.blogspot.com/

Let The Planning Begin!

Custom Search

The beginning stage is always the toughest! Deciding what you want and/or don't want at your wedding. So I sat down with my mom and the wonderful http://www.pinterest.com/ and came up with the basic overview! I'm sure you have but if you haven't used pinterest before its a free website full ideas for just about anything.

Theme: Vintage country
Colors: Pale pink, light blue and ivory
Decorations: Cheap! Tulle and Christmas lights
Cake: Still in debate
Location: My mom's land **If you can find a location where you can have your wedding and reception free of charge this can save thousands of $$
Food: BBQ (Fits the country theme perfectly) At first I priced out BBQ from Rib Crib but the price for 150 people was going to be around $1,000.00. I lucked out and the men's group from my mom's church volunteered to cook BBQ at cost! Still waiting to hear a final price but it will probably be 1/4 of the price!! **If you can find someone that is willing to cook at the reception whether its hamburgers and hot dogs, cheese and crackers or other finger foods it will save a ton of $$
Dress Style: Lace

Note: Throughout the blogs I will indicate money saving ideas and links with a **

http://lifeonadime-wedding.blogspot.com/

Setting up the Budget

First things first...I made a budget! Here's how my budget break down is going so far.

I've only purchase 3 items to date and put them in the actual cost column.

We found a wonderful young photographer who did our whole engagement picture session plus rights to edited pictures for only $125.00!

For the wedding photographer I was searching www.craigslist.com and found a photographer who just graduated that would do a whole wedding day session plus image right for $600. Although, that sounds expensive $600 is surprisingly cheap for a wedding photographer. She had a website and her pictures were very cute so I'm hoping she will do a great!!

The photobooth I got for 3 hours for only $450 plus taxes. If you've priced photobooths you know how expensive they are! I got the discounted photobooth price from a www.groupon.com ad. I search www.groupon.com and www.livingsocial.com everyday looking for deals!!

If you have any tips for me or questions please let me know!!

-Brittney-
Life on a Dime
http://lifeonadime-wedding.blogspot.com/

The start of wedding planning

My name is Brittney...I got engaged a few months back to the love of my life! We will be getting married on June 30th!!!

I have had multiple friends who've recently been married. There weddings were absolutely gorgeous they have had amazing venues, wedding planners, stringed quartets, DJ's, steak dinners, etc which all made for a wonderful night. But, having a wedding with all of the normal necessities can rack up a hefty price tag!

The month after I got engaged I had to have the $$ talk with my dad! We talked and he was gracious enough to offer us $5,000.00 to have a wedding!! Compared to the recent weddings I have been to $5,000.00 is only a fraction of what their budgets were but being the money savvy women that I am I was up for the challenge. What does your wedding budget look like?

I will update my blog through the course of wedding planning and prove to everyone that you can have an absolutely beautiful wedding without breaking the bank! I will post links of website that have the best deals as well as share my money saving ideas!



-Brittney-
Life on a Dime

http://lifeonadime-wedding.blogspot.com/