Veils veils veils

So traditionally, when you wear a wedding dress you also wear a veil. For my dress, there's a lovely veil with a trim on the edges, which corresponds well with the ribbon trim on the dress. Now it'd be very simple to buy this thing, but it's $80. Eighty Dollars for a piece of toile and ribbon on a comb. Not budget friendly.

So I went on the hunt. You can buy simple veils at Michaels and A.C.Moore. I actually found a veil that was practically the same as the $80 one, except it was white and not ivory. I will keep looking, though! It'd be easy to buy, and only $15 or so.

My aunt is also a great sewer, and making a veil is very simple and cheap- under $20. With the awesomeness of the webs, I even found two sites:

http://www.do-it-yourself-weddings.com/making-a-bridal-veil.html

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/46914/diy-bridal-veil

We shall see!

How I'm saving money

Since this wedding has to be pretty cheap, I am trying all sorts of things to save money. Here is what I am doing thus far:

-Wedding and reception site: We are having the wedding at my Aunt and Uncle's house. They live just over an hour from my hometown. They have a lovely front yard and a nice, spacious back yard. By having it there, I am easily saving $6,000

-Music: My aunt and uncle have a lovely, portable Bose system. They have also offered to let me borrow a portable sound system from their church, for use of the microphone. By using these two systems, plus a playlist, we will easily save $750+. Our families aren't huge dancers, really, so it will really be more for background.

-Invitations and other mailed items: I am making them. I have designed the mock ups and will print them on simple cardstock. If I don't like how they print, then I will buy fancy stickers. I would pay around $150 in inviations. Thus far, including all envelopes, it has cost me less than $20. I've checked up on printing pricing, and it's very reasonable. I think I can easily save $75-100. By having flat inviations/etc. I am also saving on postage!

-I am also looking into locals who give my aunt and uncle's family discounts. They are the senior pastor and wife of their church, and therefore will be a great reference. References + freinds = discounts sometimes. I'm keeping my options open, anyways.

-Favors: I accidently bought around 100 blank CDs a while back, so I'm considering that a sunk cost. Given that I already have a playlist, and this is a wedding, a lovely CD of love songs seems just right. Factor in printing and buying the stickers, of course, let's say $50. (The stickers are less than $20, and I'm being generous with the pricing.) Given that many favors are $2 per person, and we are having 130~ people, that's $260 plus s&h. I also doubt that one household needs more than 1, maybe 2, CDs. (And it's cheap to get more anyways.) I think I can save $150 easily.

-Food and beverage: We are not serving a dinner, but appetizers and finger foods. Many entrees are $30+ per person, and that's $3900. Many catering places can serve an array of finger foods, from $2-6 per person. We'll say $12 per person, so that gives us a few options for eating. $1560. We just saved $2340. We also will not have a bar (hey, it's going to be at a pastor's house!) so we can save $1000 there. Nice. Drinks, we will say $5 per person, still only $650. And I DOUBT it will be that much.

Thus far, I am saving about $10,000. I'll take that in a to-go bag, thanks.

Bride's Maids Dresses

I love my bride's maids. I really do. My sister is my Maid-of-Honor, and she's pretty great. Three of my bride's maids have been my best friends since high school: The Princess, The Showgirl, and The Barbie. (Together, we five [plus another who has drifted] make up the FabGang.) My last bride's maid is RoyBoy's little sister, who will be called Lil'Fus. Now, the nicknames from FabGang were established long ago. I just gave RoyBoy's sister that nickname to use in this blog; sometimes I call RoyBoy "RoyFus," as his last name begins with "Fuss."

We went dress shopping at David's Bridal, minus Lil'Fus as she is in another state, and they all found dresses they like. They are all different, but will all be in Watermelon Pink. I love how each girl picked a dress to flatter her shape and style. Like my dress, they are all tea-length. Lil'Fus chose to do separates, and got a really good deal on her top and skirt. Accessories will be gold, and probably handmade by me.

My Attire

Back in June I went to the local David's Bridal with three of my five bride's maids and had a great time dress shopping. I haven't bought it yet, but I fell in love with this dress! It's and ivory, tea-length, organza, A-line with ribbon detailing and cute bow in the back. AND it's only $300! Quite the bargain, as dresses go.

I haven't picked out my shoes, but I last months Brides Magazine made me re-think the traditional ivory shoes... The cover bride was wearing gorgeous bright yellow heels. This made me wonder if I could pull off such a daring look, and my sister/maid-of-honor, thinks I can! So We'll come back to those.

For accessories, I will wear the beautiful pearl necklace and earrings my parents gave me as a graduation/engagement gift. I'm always touched by the gifts my parents give me.

First Post and About Us

Hello! I've started this blog to document the planning of my wedding. I will be marrying RoyBoy on June 26, 2010. I will try to update as often as possible.

Our wedding has a very low budget (hence the name, right...). My parents will be giving us $4,000, and anything else will be from RoyBoy and myself. His parents will also be giving us money for their traditional parts: rehearsal dinner, certain flowers and attire, etc.

Given how little money we have, this wedding is going to be very simple and I will be creative. I've never been the "I love a Challenge" type, but I am determined to have a fabulous wedding. I will tell you about everyone and everything I am using, hopefully, and my DIY projects.


A little about us...

RoyBoy and I met at college at a fraternity party; I was a freshman, he a sophomore. We hit it off, and have been together ever since (3 1/2ish years). We both graduated Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in May 2009. RoyBoy is a rocket scientist- seriously, he graduated with a BS in Aerospace Engineering, Astro focus- and I am a (private) pilot with the goal of being a professional pilot. Currently, we do not have jobs in our fields, but we are trying. It's a tough economy, which makes this simple wedding an even better idea.

:)