This weekend, Michael and I attended the wedding of some good friends from our church. The bride wore a gorgeous gown that looked vintage and very expensive. When I found out she got it off the clearance rack for $100, it just reinforced my opinion that you do NOT have to spend yourself into bankrupty to look beautiful at your wedding.
A couple hours later, we were driving to dinner. We happened to pass the Salvation Army where I suddenly remembered I had bought the sport coats and dress shirts for our boys when Michael and I got married, almost 8 years ago. Memories......
Obviously, we had been married before. My first wedding had been pretty big: 250 guests! I had no desire to duplicate that when I married Michael. In fact, I wanted it to be as low key as possible. I had already bought a nice top, skirt and heels to wear when we married at the courthouse.
A chance comment from little 9 yr old Claire, wishing we could have a 'real' wedding,' with dresses and cake, made me start thinking we COULD have a nice ceremony, minus the hassle and $$$.
Michael and I both wore brand new outfits. Michael needed a new suit, so we outfitted him at spectular savings from Men's Wearhouse. I happened upon a fabulous cream and gold strapless gown at Macy's for $179. I wore the pearl drop earrings my mom had given me when she married my bonus daddy Harold, and I found jeweled flip flops to complete my look at Payless (it was a hot July wedding!).
Brent and Brendan already had khaki slacks, so at the aforementioned Salvation Army, I found them very nice white dress shirts and blue sports coats. At Walmart, I found them similar but not matching blue patterned ties. Brent already had dress shoes, so I found Brendan a great pair, also at Payless.
What to do with little Claire? She still wore girl's sizes, but I found a junior sized prom gown at Plato's Closet ($16) that my mom graciously hemmed and adjusted the spaghetti straps. Claire was thrilled with her 'big girl' dress!
I made my bouquet, Michael, Brent and Brendan's boutonnieres, and the flowers for our parents. I was all set to make a bouquet for Claire too, but a chance stop at Goodwill allowed me to find a ready made bouquet in the same colors as her dress, for $1. It was perfect!
We married at Weddings R Us, a wedding chapel on Mccutcheon Rd. in Columbus, just south of Easton. I'd recommend this place to anyone wanting a nice, low key wedding. We had 30 family members present, and afterwards hosted a late lunch at our new house. Actually, it was originally Michael's house :) My parents bought us a beautiful wedding cake from Schneider's Bakery in Westerville as their present to us.
We spent no more than $1000 total on our wedding. I realize that this wasn't our first wedding and we could be a little more creative, but honestly, why are we bound by what others do for THEIR weddings, and think we must do the same? Unless you have $40K lying around, why would you go into debt spending that much on a gigantic wedding? Planning a ceremony that highlights the vows you are taking, and enjoying your guests afterwards, should take precedent.
I'm not saying don't have a big ceremony if that's what you want. Go all out with the full buffet, open bar and all night dancing if you choose. I AM saying LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS. Marriage can be expensive with furnishing a new place and everything else involved with starting a new life together. Why add unnecessary financial stress that keeps you up at night?
This is my first time i visit here. I found so many entertaining stuff in your blog, dog supplies wholesale, Cheap Dog Carrier, Luxury Dog Carrier especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the leisure here! Keep up the good work.
ReplyDelete