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Posts Tagged ‘Wedding’

Oct 23 2007

Our wedding: Accessories

I didn’t want to spend much on things like my veil or shoes. I wanted my shoes to be flat and comfortable, since people probably wouldn’t be seeing them anyway. I found white satiny ballet flat slippers for $6.

I bought my veil on eBay for $17 including shipping. I now realize that I probably could have found one at Hobby Lobby for a few dollars less, and I’d suggest looking at the premade ones at craft stores first. Can you believe that veils can sell at bridal shops for $100+?

My little garter came from Hobby Lobby as well, during one of their 50 percent off sales. It was like a dollar or so.

My jewelry was my “something borrowed.” I wore my grandmother’s pearl earrings and necklace. Before those arrived, I wore borrowed diamond earrings so my ears would be pretty for pictures :)

Oct 19 2007

Our wedding: The flowers

Who knew flowers could cost so much? My mom knew. She came to the flower shop with her checkbook and expecting the worst, which ended up costing about $415 or so.

I had a lovely bouquet of pink stargazer lilies, I think they’re called. I have no idea what happened to it after the wedding. It cost $100. Uh.

The alter flowers were a large, pretty arrangement of mostly lilies and roses. It got two uses, as we left it there for the church service on Sunday. $100?

The bridesmaids carried one or two stems of lilies tied together with a ribbon. They were $15 each, and $30 for the maid of honor’s, I think. $75?

Then, we had corsages and boutineers all around. The moms, the dads, the grandparents, the groomsmen and groom, ushers, the soloist, and maybe a few others.

That’s it! A lot of money for something that dies right away. If I had been able to keep track of my bouquet, I might have hung it to dry, but oh well. Someday, maybe I’ll just plant a garden of pink lilies.

To add a little decoration to the windows, I found rose bunches and vases at Hobby Lobby. I got the bunches for $3 each on sale, and the vases for a little over $1. If these had been real flowers, I think we would have paid at least a billion dollars. Or more likely, several hundred-$1,000 for 12 rose bouquets. Since these were out of the main line of sight, looked reasonably realistic, and were so cheap, I think it was worth it. We even put water in the vases! It was to add weight to them so they wouldn’t tip, but it also added to the realness. I plan to resell these on eBay.

The toss bouquet was also a fake. I made it with rose stems tied together with ribbon. I thought it was really pretty, and it cost $15.

Some brides choose to make their own flower arrangements and corsages. To me, it wasn’t worth the extra work or stress it would have caused me and my friends/family. I’m not that good at flower arranging, ya know?

Oct 18 2007

Our wedding: The wedding party

The bridesmaids

Before I got engaged, I didn’t realize just how helpful the bridal party is. Though we weren’t all in the same city during the planning stages, my bridesmaids were so supportive and helpful throughout.

To honor my dear friends and sister, I wanted to let them choose their own dresses. I figured, they’re paying for it, they’re the ones that are wearing it…let’s make sure it’s something they like.

Two bridesmaids and I went to the gown shop and we chose a color that we all liked (and I hoped the other two would like, as well). Then, they chose a dress style made by the same designer. The fabrics were the same, and came from the same dye lot as well. Everyone looked like they belonged to the same bridal party, and everyone looked good. Prices ranged from $90 to $136 before tax, I believe.

The groomsmen

To outfit the men standing at my husband’s side, we opted to have them all wear black suits. They could wear one they already had, rent one, or buy one if they thought they’d get future use out of it. My husband bought his suit, and he’s already gotten three additional wears out of it.

I selected ties that went well with the bridesmaid’s dresses, and got one for the groom, groomsmen and our fathers.

Tags: Wedding
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Hey! I'm Kacie, wife to Shane and mother to Jonathan (3) and Vivienne (1). I write about my family's finance: how we save money, improve our spending, and plan for the future.

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