mamatutu
mama to two
The forum was a huge help! Wedding cost us a little more than $10k for 55 people, not including the invitations, dress, venue, cake (which was a present). We spent our money on the things she thought were important and spent wisely where we could. They wanted a sit down dinner, and that's where we spent the bulk of the money. I spent hours pouring over Pinterest for ideas and craigslist for photographers (we found one who did a lovely job for $650, no prints, just the dvd's, which we printed later as Christmas gifts for the grandparents), transportation to the beach and reception (that's a hilarious story in itself - we had guests arguing over who got to drive the vans over the golf course). We used an amish lady on loveville road who did the bouquets and 11? centerpieces (we supplied the vases, which were loaned to us by the reception venue), and flowers for the cake for $150. I found an escort card online that we liked, bought the download and made all the escort cards myself. Biggest costs other than food: We had a very modest bar tab (wine and beer came with dinner) of $500, the officiant, the DJ, the photographer. The candy bar was not cheap, either...man, people can plow through some candy...but I bought it on sale for months ahead of time.
I learned a lot. If I could take the emotion out of doing it, I would love to do it again. If it wasn't for bridezillas (I was so fortunate to have a wonderful daughter in law to be) and their moms, I'd love to do it for a living. I had so many ideas that I would like to have tried.
Well, I do think you have a future as a wedding planner if you so choose! It sounds like the wedding was awesome! Good for you!
As far as emotion part (stress), I could do without that, too. I have planned the whole wedding because my daughter has a great but consuming job. I still say, in the end, after 'the day' is over, I just want all to live happily ever after.
P.S. There is a member on here that does wedding photography. corollinout. It wouldn't hurt to contact him. My lady I deal with at my bank used him for her wedding. I was too panicked at first so I booked too early. I wish I had used corollinout. My loss. Best wishes to the happy couple.
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