Being Bridalicious on a Budget

Vendor Reviews

2011-09-03T12:49:00.006-04:00

Now that the wedding is over, I would like to take time to rate all of my vendors. I will be rating them on Quality and on Savings. My rating will be stars. 5 stars is a perfect score.

Wedding/Reception Venue: Holiday Inn Oceanfront Hilton Head, SC
Quality **** (4 stars) Savings ***** (5 stars)

I was pleased with the staff, the hotel, the room, the beach access and overall really satisfied. The price was excellent as they have no minimums so I was able to feed my small guest list without busting my budget.

For the reception I chose a pasta station which included meats, veggies, 2 kinds of pasta and 2 kinds of sauce. EXTREMELY AFFORDABLE and all of my guests enjoyed the food.

I only had 1 issue. There was no parking for guests of the wedding who were not staying at the hotel. This was because people try to park there and go to the beach...I understand that...but they could have made an exception for my guests. Instead they had to park in the beach access parking, which was FREE, but a short walk away.

Cake: Brown Sugar Custom Cakes, Beaufort, SC
Quality ***** (5 stars) Savings ***** (5 stars)

The cake was PERFECT. It looked even better than I imagined, and it tasted great. It was delivered on time and set up quickly. I have nothing but great things to say about Courtney (the owner). I absolutely loved working with her. I was so pleased with how my DIY cake topper looked on top of the cake and how my family photos made the overall decor.

The cake and my dress were my two "splurge" items. I do not believe in skimping when it comes to these two very important wedding items. However, my cake was not expensive. It cost less than $400.00.

Photographer: Vassey Photography, Summerville, SC
Quality ***** (5 stars) Savings ***** (5 stars)

These people were a Godsend. First of all they agreed to do the wedding for FREE as a favor to my son, and would not even accept a donation when my hubby and I offered. They were professional, friendly, and easy to work with. The photos are PHENOMENAL.

Makeup: I did my own. I don't believe in paying for something I've done daily since I was 16 years old. If you don't normally wear make-up, or you don't know how to apply your own properly then I don't recommend doing it on your own. However, I have taken tons of promo photos for my books, and other special occasions where I did my own. When my nieces were younger I did their make-up for proms and special occasions, so I felt comfortable doing mine and saving the expense. FREE is my favorite price. In order to give it an some extra oomph I bought false eyelashes at Dollar General (1.99) and had my niece apply them for me.

I will give a shout-out to Mark from Avon's primer. I put this on under my makeup and my makeup stayed on through out the entire ceremony and reception without any touch-ups. This stuff is wonderful.

Bridesmaids Dresses: www.dressinwedding.com

Quality ***(3 stars) Saving ***** (5 stars)

I was not unhappy with the dresses at all, and I think they looked really good, but there were a few issues. The dresses were not sized correctly so one had to be let-out and two of them had to be taken in. My cousin gave us a good deal on alterations so that was not so bad.

The 2nd issue I had was that the dresses were not identical, although everyone ordered the same dress. There was a brooch on the front of the dresses. Two were sewn on appliques, and one was a real brooch with rhinestones that could be removed.

Also the one with the real brooch zipped up the back, and the other two laced up the back. The lace-up was really pretty and I liked it, I just wish we'd been given the option of having them ALL lace-up since it was so pretty.

The best part of the dresses was the savings for my bridesmaids. The dresses were under $75 dollars including shipping.

Bridal Gown: www.lilyweddings.com
Quality **** (4 stars) Savings ***** (5 stars)

I absolutely LOVED my dress, however I sent in my measurements, but still needed alterations because it was too big. Maybe I lost a few inches. See the full page blog on my gown for the details.

Chair Rental: Classic Party Rentals, Bluffton, SC
Quality *(1 star) Saving **** (4 stars)
This was a NIGHTMARE. They messed up my order. Overcharged me and were very rude when I tried to correct the error. They lied to me several times and when the issue was finally resolved I didn't even get an apology for THEIR MISTAKE. I will NEVER use these people again for anything.

My reason for using them was that their prices were a bit cheaper than other rentals in the area.

Chair Delivery: Island Runners Concierge Service, Hilton Head, SC
Quality *****(5 stars) Saving ***** (5 stars)

I hired this company to pick up and deliver the chairs I rented from Classic Party Rentals. They were very nice and professional and also helped me resolved the issue with the rental company. I was very pleased with their service. Cristin is a joy to work with and her prices are very reasonable for all of the work she puts into her job.

Officiant: Jennifer Taylor
***** (4 stars)
I found her online and she was a wonderful person. I liked the fact that even though she is a notary public and not a minister she did a religious ceremony and included all the extras that I wanted. She also wore a ministerial robe and carried a bible for the ceremony. I really liked that. I was very pleased with her.

__________________

My bridal gown

2011-08-11T17:34:00.003-04:00

Now that the wedding is over I can blog about my wedding gown and show pictures of it.

I chose my dress from www.lilyweddings.com. I first saw the dress that I wanted while watching a rerun of the Bernie Mack show. Bernie's sister Benita, played by Niecy Nash, was getting married on the show. I fell in love with that dress.

At the time I did not have a DVR so I sat in front of my TV snapping photos of the dress every time it appeared onscreen. At the time my plan was to take the photo to my cousin who is a seamstress and ask if she could recreate it.

I had already been online looking for dresses at www.lilyweddings.com and had chosen a dress that I liked, so a few days later as I was browsing that site I saw MY DRESS. It was exactly as I'd seen it on TV.

I emailed the company and asked if I could special order it with my changes. The original gown was white trimmed in champagne, and I wanted it to be white trimmed in light pink. I was told that this could be done at no extra charge. I was also told it could be custom made using my measurements.

I read through some of the company reviews and decided to order my dress.

When it arrived I fell deeply in love with it. I took a gamble ordering online and ordering from China but it paid off. I got a custom made gown for a fraction of the cost.

The dress cost 338.00 but retails for over 1000.00. I also spent 25.00 for alterations because I lost a little weight and it was too big when it arrived. So the total cost for my wedding gown came to 363.00. That was my one splurge item.

I have no further use for it, so I plan to sell it at a consignment shop or Ebay. That will decrease the cost also.

I purchased my veil from Ebay, it was 15.99 and my tiara was also an Ebay purchase of 7.99.

Total wedding day garments 387.00

Reception Decor

2011-07-17T12:57:00.003-04:00

The venue I chose includes tablecloths and centerpieces in my overall package price. This adds up to a huge saving on my part.

So the only thing I am responsible for is table numbers and the decor for the cake table.

For my table numbers I decided to celebrate black love. I went online and found some of my favorite black couples in love, both real and fictional. I used Microsoft Powerpoint to design a template for each of the photos. I decided to do them in 8x10. I had a coupon from artscow.com so I was able to print all 6 for about $3.00. I purchased matching frames from The Dollar Tree (1 dollar each of course) and for a total cost of less than 10 bucks I have my table numbers.

We decided to have a sweetheart table rather than a head table for the wedding party due to the fact that our wedding is so small. For the sweetheart table I have my parents wedding photo and my fiancee's parents photo from the year they were married (they did not have a wedding) and framed them in 8x10 as well. To print these I used a photo coupon from clarkphotos.com. Most photo printing companies offer coupons, that can save quite a bit on photo printing. If you have a good home printer you can also print your photos yourself to save even more.

For the cake table I continued my celebration of black love, and I collected photos of my family members cutting their cakes on their wedding day. I have my sister, my brother, my parents, and my Godparents. For these I chose a regular print size of 4x6. When I signed up for clarkphotos.com they gave me a credit for 45 free 4x6 prints so all of these were free. I also purchased frames for these from Dollar Tree for the low low price of $1.00.

The photos will be surrounded by candles. I bought a pack of 12 at Hobby Lobby for 3.99 (on sale) but they did not have my wedding colors.

So I used some leftover pink ribbon and rhinestone sheets and blinged out the candles so that they matched my color scheme.

I am very proud of the fact that all of my reception decorations came to less than $25.00 total costs.

For the little ones

2011-07-02T21:25:00.004-04:00

I wanted to keep the beach theme, but also have some of the traditional items. I have a ring bearer and a flower girl.

For the beach I decided that it really didn't make sense for the ring bearer to carry a pillow. Instead I chose a seashell, and glued fake rings and ribbon on to it.

To keep the theme going instead of having a wicker basket, I chose a beach pail for the flower girl. I added brown ribbons on each side. For ecological reasons the flower girl will throw live rose petals.

Decorations

2011-07-02T21:01:00.003-04:00

The great thing about a beach wedding is that the ocean and the sky make the perfect back drop and decorations. I've seen photos of many beach weddings where the couple didn't use any decorations at all.

I chose to use minimal decorations, by only decorating the chairs with pew cones filled with flowers.

I went to Hobby Lobby, which is one of my favorite stores, and purchased chocolate brown scrapbook paper. I folded that into a cone shape and stapled it together. I tried glue, but it kept slipping apart. Next I punched holes to string pink ribbon through.

I purchased pink and white daisies from Dollar Tree, and slid those down inside the cones. These will be hung on the chairs on the inside aisle.

DIY Aisle Runner

2011-06-13T18:32:00.004-04:00

Although we are getting married on the beach, I still wanted an aisle runner to go down the center aisle between the chairs. I also wanted it to be personalized.

On Ebay and other online retailers these personalize runners average between $75 & $100 each. I don't even need to say that this was not in my budget.

Sooo...after googling online for directions I decided to make my own.

First I designed my monogram in Microsoft Powerpoint. Next I moved my design into Microsoft Publisher and blew it up to poster size then printed it. After it was printed I taped the pages together and then taped then down to the table.

I lay the aisle runner over it and tape it down also, so it would not move. I chose acrylic paint pens in order to paint my runner. By doing this it was as easy as writing with a sharpie pen. There were also no paint spills or runs.

On the wedding day I will secure that the runner does not blow away by pinning it down with fishbowls filled with white sand and seashells.

Remember those who have passed on

2011-05-27T21:55:00.004-04:00

While a wedding is a time of celebration it can also be a time of sadness if a dear family member has passed on and will not be physically present for the ceremony.

For that reason I decided to create memory candles to honor my late mother, and brother and my fiancée's grandparents who raised him.

I made these by using simple glass vases that I purchased at Dollar Tree. I designed a layout with their photos, names, and relation to the wedding party and printed it out on vellum paper and glued it to the vase. I had some leftover rhinestone wrap after making my bouquet so I used it at the top and bottom of the vases.

On my wedding day I will fill these with glass stones and place a battery operated tealight candle inside. I also found the tea light candles at Dollar Tree. They were 3 to a pack for $1.00.

During the ceremony a prayer and poem dedicated to these family members will be read, and the candle lit. By doing that I will feel that these family members are present in spirit and watching over us as we wed.

A SUCKER for love

2011-05-19T15:34:00.006-04:00

Since we are having a destination wedding and our guests will be checking into and staying at hotels I decided to include for them a welcome bag which will be at the front desk when they check in.

Again, in the interest of saving money it will be a simple paper bag with a label that I have designed that will say "Thanks for sharing our day" and a few small items inside. I have not decided on everything that I plan to include but one of the items will be a candy sucker designed by me.

It is card paper cut into the shape of a matchbook and stapled to a candy sucker. It has our photo on the front and the words "I'm a sucker for love" on the back. This can also be done with mints and used as mint books for a wedding.

I purchased the candy suckers on sale at Dollar General from their Easter clearance sale. 24 suckers were 90 cents each, and I bought 3 packs. The card paper is left over from making my invitations.

DIY card box

2011-05-11T14:52:00.003-04:00

Although my fiancée' and I have registered at Macy's, Walmart, Target, and JC Penney we also anticipate receiving cards and monetary gifts at our wedding.

Anticipate is not even the right word, the truth is, we'd prefer it. LOL So with that in mind, I decided to create a card box.

There were several DIY projects online that I considered, but with costs in mind I decided to go with the least expensive.

Over the past several months as I've done my wedding planning I've received several things in the mail and have collected quite a few boxes. So I took 3 of different sizes and decorated them in a color scheme to match my wedding cake.

My cake will be similar except it will have round tiers.

I purchased the pink wrapping paper for 1.99 at Wilson's 5 & 10 cent store. The boxes of course were free, and the ribbon was left over from making the bridesmaids bouquets.

Flowers, flowers, flowers

2011-05-10T21:39:00.005-04:00

One of the largest items in many wedding budgets is the cost of flowers. That cost can increase based on the size of your wedding party. I have 6 bridesmaids and a maid of honor, as well as 6 groomsmen and a best man. I also needed corsages for the mothers, the hostesses, and the soloists. That amounted to a lot of flowers.

In order to save I decided to do my own because DIY has become my middle name. I also chose to DIY with silk flowers.

I love David Tuterra and I am a huge fan of his show and his ideas about weddings. He would say that there should only be live flowers at weddings, but David is not paying for my wedding. My Fair Wedding doesn't even do shows in SC. So while I greatly respect him and his opinion I chose to forgo the live flowers and do silk.

I bought flowers at Hobby Lobby, Dollar General, and online at silk flowers factory. The reason for this is that while one store had a great price on roses another had good prices on lillies.

I chose pink silk roses for my bridesmaids bouquets. I covered the stems with floral tape, then used brown and pink ribbons for decorations. The ribbons are held down with corsage pins.

I also chose pink silk roses for the boutonnieres, and corsages although I chose different sizes.

For my bouquet I chose pink lillies in order of my mother who's name was Lillie. They were bound with floral tape, and then wrapped in diamond crystal roll wrapped that I found on a wholesale wedding website. www.koyalwholesale.com

100 Days to go

2011-04-28T11:33:00.007-04:00

Today marks the 100 day mark for my upcoming wedding. I am somewhere between being super excited, super stressed, kinda scared, and a little freaked out.

I have no doubts about the man I'm marrying, but planning a wedding is an exciting, stressful, scary and frea

ky process. Especi

ally when you are trying to be Bridalicious on a budget like me.

My latest issue is that although I set a 6000.00 dollar budget and fully had that am

ount when I began, life has interfered and intervened and now I'm faced with the daunting task of cutting items because the budget is shrinking as well.

I've had to cut out some things that meant a lot to me, all in the name o

f saving money. I've also had to be creative and enterprising in earning money to use towards my wedding.

First and foremost, I am an author, so I am of course trying to sell as many books as

possible in the months preceding my wedding. If you wanna

help me out with that all of my books are available from purchase (directly from me) by visiting my website www.zariagarrison.com.

These books are available in bookstores and online, but by purchasing from me on my site the money goes directly to me. If you purchase from a bookstore I have to wait for the publisher to send it to me and that tak

es time.

I also have two books that I placed on Amazon.com for sale for only 99 cents. Baring it All is my first novel and will go out of print soon. For my Christian

fiction fans, please be aware this is not Christian fiction and was written prior to my transformation to Zaria.

The second book is my first attempt at writing science fiction entitled The Rainbow Z. This is also not Christian fiction, but it is clean and does not contain any profanity, explicit sex or violence.

If you enjoy my blog posts I hope you'll also check out my novels. Over the next 100 days I plan to do all that I can to make sure these sell, sell, sell.

You are cordially invited

2011-04-26T23:55:00.003-04:00

No...not you literally, this is just the blog when I talk about my invites. Again I wanted to save as much money as possible.

So I decided to design and create them myself. I knew that I wanted pocket fold invitations because with a destination wedding there is lots of information that needs to go inside.

So I designed the invitations, and insert cards. The cards include the invitation, an accommodation card, a directions card, and an RSVP postcard.

I printed all of this on plain white card stock that I had left over from a church project, and put inside the card folds.

The invitations were designed in Microsoft Publisher.

I decided to do RSVP postcards in order to save on postage and on envelopes. The invitee simply needs to fill out the card and drop it in any mailbox. I verified the dimensions and specifications through the USPS website, then I printed one postcard and dropped it in a local mailbox to see if it would actually reach me. It arrived the next day.

This also helped with the design because I was able to see where the postmark would appear and thankfully it did not block any of the pertinent information.

I purchased the card fold cards at www.paperandmore.com for 39.99 for 50 cards. Since I already had the white card stock paper there was no expense for that. So my total cost for invitations excluding postage was less than 40 dollars.

Signature Board

2011-04-13T15:50:00.005-04:00

Here's another one of my DIY projects.

I decided to do an autograph board instead of a guest book. I really wanted to make one, but I couldn't find any instructions online. Everyone said that generally you can buy one for less than $10.00 if you find it on sale so no real need to make one.

Well I didn't find one on sale, and I wanted on that was different and MINE.

So I made one. It cost me 1.59 cents to make which is a lot better than 10 dollars.

I bought a piece of thick poster board at Dollar Tree. Not the thin kind that kids use, but this piece is about a 1/2 inch thick and feels like foam.

Then I added ribbon to the corners to create a frame. I also bought a piece of scrap book paper at Hobby Lobby for 44 cents. I covered it with pink ribbon, then glued it to the center.
Our engagement photo (when we finally take one) will be in the center. I sat it in front of our TV to take the picture so I hope you can see it. It's a 32 inch TV so that means the board is about 32 inches also.

I also made flower pens for the guests to use to sign the board. The pens were 10 for 1.00 and I made 8. And I bought the bunch of roses at Dollar Tree, also for $1.00 so the total cost of the rose pens was $2.00.

Save the Date

2011-04-06T12:56:00.005-04:00

Save the date cards are generally sent out anywhere from six months to one year prior to the wedding date. The purpose of the save the date card is to let your guests know that your wedding is coming up so that they can literally save the date.

These do not and should not replace formal invitations, they are only sent to give folks a heads up. They are especially important for destination weddings as it gives people time to plan for the upcoming wedding prior to receiving their invitations.

I wanted small cards for my save the dates, but the prices online for photo cards varied from around $1.00 or more per card. I needed about 85 so that price did not fit into the budget.

So instead of cards, I ordered 4x6 photos. I designed my save the date in Microsoft Publisher, and included on them the date, location and my wedding website so that guests could get additional information regarding lodging and other wedding details. Then I saved it as a jpeg (photo) and I created an account with Walgreens for photos.

At the time they were offering 50 free 4x6 photos when you open an account. So I opened an account and got 50 free save the date cards, the rest I paid for and it came to about $6.00 total. There was no shipping, I just went to my corner Walgreens and picked them up.

I also went to my local Staples and purchased a box of "specialty" envelopes for $3.00 to mail the cards in.

Total spent for Save the dates $9.00.

Do shoes make the woman?

2011-04-05T11:27:00.003-04:00

So I had lots of rhinestones and glue left over after I completed my Monogram cake topper, so I decided to put it to good use by blinging out my bridal shoes.

Since we are marrying on the beach, and I can't stand sand between my toes I knew I would not be doing the barefoot on the beach thing. High heels and the beach simply don't mix, so I decided to wear white flip flops.

If you do a google search on wedding flip flops you will find lots of retailers who sell flip flops specifically for beach weddings. If you want your shoes embellished (blinged out) the prices range from 39.95 and up.

This price seemed ridiculous to me and did not fit into my budget. First of all the shoes are white and will probably never be worn again even by a flip flop loving sister like myself. So I decided to find an inexpensive pair of white flip flops and customize them for my wedding.

My sister in law is an Avon representative so I always have an Avon book somewhere in my house. While flipping through I found a gorgeous pair of white flip flops with a silver thong. They have a small wedge heel which will make them perfect for dancing at the reception. I purchased these in February and they were from "last season" on clearance so I only paid 7.99 for them.

After I received them I used some of the leftover rhinestones from the cake topper and the tacky glue and made them uniquely mine. Not only that I still have tons of rhinestones left that I will use in future DIY projects.

My total costs for my wedding shoes including shipping $10.00.

DIY stands for Do it Yourself

2011-04-04T18:17:00.000-04:00

In order to remain within my budget for my wedding one of the things I had to decide to be is a DIY bride. I've always been a creative person with not only writing but also crafts, sewing, and home made items, so being a DIY bride was almost inevitable.

It allows me to save money while also allowing me to express my creativity. I also did a lot of research online in order to find items and copy (yes copy) them for my own use. I've seen blogs where the author states, that if you use her template or ideas to please link back to her blog.

I'm going to say right here that I don't even remember or keep track of where I got my ideas, so therefore I will not be linking to anyone to give them credit.

I will also say that if you find an idea here and use it, you do not have to link back to me or mention that you found it here. That doesn't really matter to me at all. If I can help anyone out, that's enough for me.

So in the coming days and weeks I will go through each of my DIY projects along with simple instructions in case you want to do it also.

One of my first DIY projects was my monogrammed cake topper.

To do this you will need:

A wooden letter approx 6 inches

Rhinestones in the color of your choice

Tacky glue

Metallic paint (gold or silver)

I ordered my wooden letter from a gentleman by the name of Eddie. He does not have a website, but if you email and tell him what you need he will send you the letters. His prices are extremely reasonable and his work is exceptional. Message me if you want his email address. The letter was $16.00 including shipping

I ordered pink and clear rhinestones from an Ebay seller. I ordered 1440 of each because I wasn't sure how many I need and I still have tons left. They cost $4.00 including shipping

Tacky glue is sold at most craft stores and Walmart, for around $3.00

I purchased the metallic paint at Dollar General $2.00

So the total cost of my cake topper was $25.00. These sell online for around $100 dollars, but I was not about to pay that. I've also been able to use the rhinestones, glue and paint on other projects as well.

I spray painted the letter and let it sit in my garage until it dried, which was about 2 hours. Then I glued the rhinestones on. If you have long finger nails you may want to use tweezer to pick up the rhinestones.

I watched School Daze while applying the rhinestones and was finished by the end of the movie, so it's about a 2 hour project.

I also asked Eddie to include a stake at the bottom of my letter so that it can be inserted into the cake. In the first picture it's the B with a base, which he can also provide if you'd prefer that your topper sit on something.

The Wedding Party

2011-04-03T12:40:00.000-04:00

One of the things you must consider when planning a destination wedding is your wedding party. Not only are you and your honey going to have expenses, but your wedding party will also.

With that in mind I decided that while I was watching my budget, I also needed to be budget conscious when choosing wedding attire. The members of my wedding party will have travel and lodging expenses so there's no need for them to break the bank on clothing.

The Bridesmaids dress. I chose a halter style dress, with silver

accents. It will be chocolate in color, and only costs my bridesmaids 65.00. These gowns are being purchased from an online retailer www.dressinwedding.com which is a site that specializes in low cost wedding attire.

In my opinion these dresses look just as nice as anything David's Bridal or the other specialty stores offer for more than 100.00. They are also well made and can be specialty ordered to fit ANY SIZE.

For the bridesmaids gifts I found necklace and earring sets on Ebay for a low price that I won't mention since they are gifts. The seller was in Hong Kong and it took almost a month to receive them, but it was worth it for the savings.

I also purchased each bridesmaids an additional gift, that I also won't mention here as it's a surprise. However, after the bridesmaids brunch I will blog about it and post pictures.

All I will say is that my total spent for attendants gifts for seven bridesmaids, two junior bridesmaids, two flower girls, and four hostesses was less than $50.

The groomsmen generally are called upon to rent tuxedos for a wedding. Neither I nor my groom to be wanted tuxedos. For one thing we are going to be on the beach in August. I am not going to be responsible for anybody's heat stroke. Of course we also wanted to save them money.

So we chose beige khaki pants, and long sleeved white shirts. The groomsmen have also been asked to wear brown sandals or flip flops and brown belts. For the majority of the men in our wedding these are items they already own, and therefore they won't incur any additional expense. For those who don't, it can be purchased relatively cheap, and they get to keep it after the wedding, unlike tuxedos.

We also kept our budget in mind as each of the men will wear pink/brown neckties. These will be purchased by the groom and given to them as their attendants gifts. They save money and we save money, so it's a win-win situation.

Location, location, location

2011-04-03T11:13:00.000-04:00

One of the first decisions I made after becoming engaged was the location for my wedding. While looking for savings ideas one of the my favorites was to have a destination wedding.

By having a destination wedding it allows you to cut your guest list waaay down. My initial thought was that I'd have over 300 guests at my wedding if I included family, friends, and church members.

By choosing a destination wedding I was able to cut down to around 85, and I only anticipate 75 or less actually attending.

We accomplished this by only inviting family and closest friends. There are people who I would have loved to invite and I'm sure they also would have loved attending my wedding, but it just isn't in the budget.

If you are reading this and you were not invited to my wedding, please know that it's not personal. My fiance' and I spent a lot of time deciding who would make the cut.

You can still send us your prayers, best wishes, and gifts. *big grin*

With a destination wedding I also wanted to save money so Jamaica, Mexico, The Bahamas or any exotic locale was definitely out of the question. We wanted an island, and we wanted the beach, so we found a suitable, affordable, compromise.

We chose a beautiful beach right here in our home state of South Carolina...Hilton Head Island. You have to cross a bridge to get there so it is technically an island wedding.

After choosing our location, I spent weeks researching locations on the island. One hotel quoted me $1000.00 to get married on the beach, and a $10,000 minimum for the reception. Needless to say this was not in our budget.

I searched the internet and located a Hilton Head wedding planner. I really wish that I could give her some publicity with this blog but I've since lost her name and emails.

She is not doing my wedding because she told me upfront that she was too expensive for my budget. However, she also offered me some great FREE advice. She gave me the name of a hotel that did not have minimums and also did not charge to marry on the beach. JACKPOT!!

Our wedding will be held at Coligny Beach in front of the Holiday Inn Oceanfront hotel. Getting married on their beach is FREE. No charge! I don't have to pay anything!

Our only wedding ceremony expense is chairs for guests to sit in and a few decorations. (I will cover decorations later and show you how they were made for less than 10 dollars)

We are having the reception in the Magnolia Room of the Holiday Inn Oceanfront. This is where about half of our budget was spent, however since the hotel does not have minimums we were able to choose a good meal and still stay within budget. The food choice we selected for 75 people will cost roughly $3000.00.

So that leaves $3000.00 in the budget to cover everything else. Impossible you say? Stay tuned in the coming days and I will show you how I am not only accomplishing that, but also saving my wedding party and guests money at the same time.

Why blog about my wedding

2011-04-02T22:11:00.000-04:00

I started this blog because I am in the middle of creating my dream wedding on a budget. I want a day to remember that people will still be talking about long after it's over.

I don't want to go into debt or be paying for it on my 25th wedding anniversary.

I also don't believe that any day should cost 20 grand or even 10 grand for that matter.

So I spent hours on the internet researching ways to save while having a nice wedding. I found some great ideas, and I will share those in this blog.

However, I also found a lot of people who said things like "my photographer friend took my photos for free", or "my roommate from college owns a mansion where we held the ceremony for free" or something similar.

I began to wonder what does the bride who doesn't have friends who offer things for free to do?

My wedding is in four months, and it's still a process, as everything is not paid for yet, but this blog is here to share with you the things I did to get this far and how I'll make it to the end.

Let's begin by saying my wedding budget is $6,000. That's for everything except the honeymoon. I am still under budget, but it's tighter than a strippers G-string.

I hope you'll find some things that will help you also achieve your dream of being bridalicious on a budget.