Olga is manager at Best for Bride since 2005. Currently Best for Bride operates 4 bridal stores in Canada (Toronto, Etobicoke, Hamilton and Barrie). Best for Bride sells wedding, bridemaids, mob dresses and more. https://www.bestforbride.com/
Planning your Big Day can be one of the most stressful experiences for a young couple to encounter. Some couples are able to foot the bills themselves, while others have the traditional support of their families when funding their wedding. Either way, expenses can add up quickly!
Whether you use a Wedding Planner or not, Made by Hana – Wedding Planning and Coordination suggests the following 5 money saving tips!
1.Off Season Wedding
May to October is usually the busiest and most expensive time of year for weddings. By considering the option of an off season wedding (November to April), many venues and even some vendors are able to provide discounted rates.
2.Hire Students
We have all been there. There are many eager students looking for experience in their field, who are willing to offer services at a discount rate or even free! Everything from photography to apprentice bakers are out there and willing to get the experience.
3.Wedding Attire
Wedding attire is known to have hefty price tags, but when considering other options, it can be a breeze! Sample sales, off the rack selections and even rentals, are becoming more and more popular. Make sure to start early and take your time looking around to find the perfect fit!
4.Flowers
Flowers can add up quickly. Consider the option of shopping at big box grocery stores such as Costco and keeping flowers in the fridge. This should only be done the day before the wedding or the morning of the wedding to make sure they are as fresh as possible.
5.Bridal Shows
Many vendors who attend bridal shows, often offer Show Specials for attendees. Search places like Groupon for discounted tickets to shows and when attending the shows, make sure to collect information from each of the vendors you are interested in.
We took a look at some of the most popular wedding checklists published, and we counted over 80 individual items that need to be completed with planning a wedding! And if your fiancé is anything like my husband, he will complete about 1 of those 80 items!
Reducing your stress during wedding planning is one of the best things you can do for your overall physical and mental health. So get your fiancé to lighten the load! Here are our top 4 suggestions for sharing wedding tasks that we promise your fiancé can handle:
1) Compile a list of his family and choose his groomsmen. This sounds simple and straightforward, that being said it may take a little prodding to get this completed. To help make sure this is done in time, make sure you give him hard deadlines of when you need a rough list and when the final list needs to be ready.
2) Plan the rehearsal dinner. Trust me, you have enough to do with planning the wedding. Let your fiancé and his parents take care of the rehearsal dinner. If you have specific dreams of ideas for the rehearsal dinner, let your fiancé know before he begins planning. Or, do what I did and sit back and enjoy the venue tours and food tasting, and only be responsible for helping make the final decision.
3) Confirm and book items that you have already agreed upon. This could include the wedding transportation for guests, booking the wedding band or DJ, wedding officiant, or booking hotel room blocks. Your time should be spent perusing wedding inspiration on Pinterest…not confirming things that have previously been decided.
4) Make sure guests know your wedding weekend details. Many couples use beautifully printed weekend itineraries, mass emails, or group texts to get this information out. Printed information is expensive and easily lost, group texts require you to be texting during your wedding weekend (which is no fun!), and mass emails get lost in your guest’s mailboxes. The best and most cost-effective solution to this problem is WedTexts!
WedTexts is the easiest way to communicate with your wedding guests. Our website (or app) allows engaged couples to pre-schedule helpful reminders to be sent to their wedding guests for every wedding event. Unlike other wedding apps, there is nothing for wedding guests to download! If your guests can receive a text message, you can be sure they are kept in the loop for every event.
After creating your free Wedtexts account, ask your fiance to manage your account! It’s one of the easiest things he can do to help reduce the stress surrounding your wedding weekend. And your guests will thank you too!
About the author: Kelly is a co-founder of WedTexts.
Sometimes a bargain can just end up being a headache. When it comes to weddings, proms, and formal events getting everything done right, on time, and with minimal stress, is tantamount to saving money. However, a cheap dress just might end up costing more you in the long run.
If you come across a price on a designer gown that seems to good to be true, it probably is. Nothing puts a damper on a wedding like finding out your dresses are low quality knock-offs when it is already too late to hunt down replacements.
Consider that an inexpensive dress may only afford you one or two wearings and might not survive a cleaning. The last thing you need at your prom or wedding is a wardrobe malfunction or a creeping hemline. High quality dresses are lined, and stitched to last with beautiful lasting fabrics and strong thread.
You do not have to go with a famous name designer to get quality. The bigger the name, the bigger the price; because you are paying for the prestige-factor. In fact, wearing mid-level and less known designers is an industry secret to getting the quality and the look at a reasonable price point. Regardless of how famous, when a designer puts his or her name on a piece, it is a symbol of pride. When investing in a designer piece you can expect heirloom quality to pass on for generations, or a wear again look to enjoy for years to come.
Unfortunately the internet is flooded with websites selling fake goods, cheap imitations, or even worse, just simply charging credit cards without even sending the gowns. Without dresses, can there even be a wedding? Wedding planners use reputable businesses to avoid unpleasant surprises. When searching for a reputable dress shop there are a few things to look at to make sure you are getting the real deal.
Right off the bat you can tell by the quality of the website and dress descriptions. Does the website mention information like specifics on styles and sizing? Anyone can throw together a quickie website. Be sure that the website you buying through is verified. If you are buying through Paypal or with a credit card, although you have some buyer protection, keep in mind that that still does not guarantee you finding replacement dresses by your deadline should something happen to wrong.
Read real reviews from real people who have used the services of the shop, and look for these reviews on legitimate ratings websites. A website with little to no reviews, or reviews that sound fake, is probably a scam.
How many years has the shop been in business? Do they have a real brick and mortar location? Ask questions and do your research. If the dress shop only exists online, this is something to be wary of. By using a dress shop that has a real physical location, even if it is not in your town, you can still count on top-notch customer service and timely deliveries. If you need alterations or customizations you can either buy locally or enlist the services of your local seamstress. Many dry cleaning establishments also offer alterations.
When it comes to clothing you get what you pay for. When thought is put into the design you can count on a great fit, blacks that will resist fading, and fabrics that feel soft against the skin. Knock off dresses are all about making a quick buck off of the hard work of someone else. There is no telling where, how, or who makes them. Even worse, you may end up without a dress at all.
If your Wedding is going to have a Vintage Theme, this is a lovely way to add some sparkle and Vintage charm to your favour boxes.
These little favour boxes are a perfect way to give your guests a lovely little gift they can keep.
Top the boxes with Vintage Style Brooches and fill them with Retro sweets to complete the Vintage look.
For your male guests, why not top the boxes with a key ring or bottle opener. You can attach these with ribbon to tie them on.
You will need:
Favour Boxes:
Favour boxes in a colour to match your theme. The boxes shown were for a pink and mint green colour scheme. You can choose different colours for male and female guests, so green for men and pink for women for this Wedding style.
Please note that you will need to choose boxes that have a ribbon attached, so that you have something to tie your brooches to. Or alternatively, if you prefer to add your own ribbon you can opt for adhesive ribbon or glue non adhesive ribbon onto the boxes with E6000 glue.
Party City has lots to choose from and even have Silver Glitter and Gold Glitter favour boxes which are gorgeous! (Although these do come without ribbon).
Retro Sweets:
You can fill your boxes with any kind of retro sweets you like, but to fit this size of box, Jelly Belly Beans and Mini Love Hearts fit perfectly.
Jelly Belly has lots of themed Jelly beans to choose from and if you are having a Disney themed Wedding, they have a range of Disney Jelly Beans!
If you like the idea of having your sweets personalised, Love Hearts do personalised mini love heart favours which are perfect for putting on top of your retro sweets inside your favour boxes! They can provide you with a sample pack for a small fee too if you want to see what they look like before purchasing.
Buy Vintage Brooches:
You can opt for any type of Vintage Brooch that fits in with your theme. We chose Pearl diamante brooches for an elegant Vintage look.
There are many places you can find Vintage brooches such as charity stores, house clearances, Etsy, Ebay and Amazon to name but a few.
Brooches can be costly, so do shop around and find the style of brooch you prefer before purchasing. You can also look for ‘brooches lots’ on Ebay and Amazon as buying in bulk can save you some money.
Brooches can range in price from one dollar to much more, so do set a budget and decide on what quality of brooches you are looking for. If you want to opt for genuine Vintage Brooches you may need to buy these individually on-line, or you may be able to find a ‘lot’ of genuine Vintage brooches on EBay.
Make Vintage Brooches:
Another option is to make your own Vintage Style Brooches. If you enjoy crafts then this is a good way to make stunning brooches which your guests will adore.
You can also save a few dollars by buying the materials to make your brooches in bulk.
This will take you longer, but you will be pleased with the finished result and it will also give you more colour options as you can make the brooches in any colour to match your theme.
Decorative Sticky Adhesive Tape in Vintage Trim:
This decorative tape can be purchased in a range of colours and styles to fit in with your Wedding theme. There is a wide range on Amazon and Scotch tape also had many to choose from. For this project we opted for pink Vintage lace adhesive trim to match the theme.
Remove the lid from each box and measure with a ruler how far down you want the tape to go. You will need to test by putting the lid back on to ensure that you can still see the trim.
Mark the boxes with a pencil to show where you want the top of the trim to start.
Start on one side of the box and neatly apply the trim all the way round. It’s best to make the trim meet at a corner so that the pattern joins up and the join isn’t so obvious. Repeat this step for all of your favour boxes. You can use different colours to match your boxes, or a contrasting colour to give a different effect.
Attach the Vintage brooches to the top of each box by undoing the pin and pushing it through the ribbon on the top. Fasten the brooch so that it is secure, you don’t need to glue it as your guests will then be able to undo the brooch and wear it on the day. You can do the same, but using additional ribbon to tie key rings or bottle openers for male guests.
Fill your favour boxes with Vintage sweets and put the lids back on. Now they are ready for your big day and can be stored in a box ready to take to your venue to give to your wedding planner to set up for you.
About the author:
This article was brought to you by Erin Monczak at Jewels & Faith Wedding Jewellery Boutique. Erin is a Bridal Jewellery and Accessories Designer in England and specialises in making luxurious individual accessories for brides to be.
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