Reply #27: Here's what EstimatedProphet and I did [View All]

First, I bought my dress at an "off-price fashion store" (that's their jingle). It was in the evening gown section, not the bridal gown section. It cost around $100. I made my own veil and bouquet (it's easier to do than one would think). Plus, I bought the cutest shoes at Payless for $10! I bought very pretty earrings at the mall (under $10) and even on a small budget, I felt so princess-like and loved the way it turned out:


The Prophet got his tux free b/c the tux place we rented from had a great special and groom's tux was free no matter how many people in the wedding party (and we had a very small wedding party: his best man, my matron of honor, my 15-year-old niece, and a ring bearer with flower girl). The men wore tuxes (so did my dad) and the women wore simple black dresses that did not match (my matron of honor was 6 months pregnant and found a beautiful dress at a maternity store for $20; my niece found a lovely black dress that she was able to wear again at her 8th grade dance for $60; my flower girl wore a white dress from her first holy communion which cost $5 on clearance!). Plus, the guys got a good deal on the tuxes and we told them to wear their own black dress shoes rather than rent the uncomfortable ones. The Prophet wanted his family's tartan (scottish clan) with his clan badge added to the tux so we did that ourselves too.


EP's mother married us (so that saved us from paying a minister or justice of the peace) and it was extra special to have her do it. It was at a gorgeous little chapel on the campus of the college where I used to teach.


Here's a picture of our ring bearer and flower girl. They were so professional and adorable! I made all of the flowers: the men's boutinieres, the bouquets, the flower girl's basket of flowers, and her ring of flowers for her hair.


We used the same flowers I used in my bouquet for accenting the wedding cake. They looked very real (people kept trying to smell them!) and I got them cheap at Pat Catan's craft store. Then, I had read a tip on saving money that said to put your bouquets around the cake table once you get to the reception, so we did that plus had some candles around the table to help it look nice.


We ended up having a very short ceremony - about 20 minutes (but it was very personal since EP's mother performed it) and then a brunch at a wonderful place that helped us have terrific food at a very affordable price. We had around 80 guests (but you have to understand that that's very small for my huge Italian family, all of whom live in the area but it's very large for EP's small family that is spread out all over the country). I personally don't understand those people who drop tens of thousands of dollars on a one-day event. We did a very budget-friendly wedding without losing any of the classiness. Oh yeah, and we had friends who had started a photography business about a year earlier do our wedding pretty cheap (b/c they expected us to help advertise for them, which we did) and they did a great job and had all of our photos online for our guests to view within three days! BTW, the pix I posted were taken with our digital camera by another friend of mine.