Perhaps some introductions are in order. I'm the Poor Bride. My fiance and I decided to start planning our wedding last September, and here we are. Why am I the Poor Bride? My fiance and I both work two jobs and go to school, but still don't seem to have enough money left over for anything other than food and a few bills (to be read as, I have a very hard time paying rent to my parents). We are going to make this work, though, with help from my family and our friends.
I was on the ball right away, acting as if my wedding was only weeks away as I started planning with my mother. After one wedding fair, I had already picked out my reception venue (Embassy Suites), which also ended up being my ceremony venue as well so we wouldn't have to worry about the weather being a key factor. Two weeks later, I had my dress (at a cool $100 off from coupons and sales) and about $500 worth of coupons from David's Bridal. Continuing on, my fiance and I finally agreed on some wedding rings (they're quite beautiful--simple titanium bands with stripes of color). To save money, I had already started asking friends and coworkers if they were willing to help me out with my wedding. So far I have one coworker doing my ceremony flowers, two coworkers doing the styling of the wedding party, one making me a head piece, and two making my party favors. At this point, however, I still hadn't picked out a DJ. Here I was, stressing out about having to pay the DJ all of the money up front, so I had been waiting for my tax return to do so. That's when I learned that they only wanted a deposit ahead of time, so I was off the hook there.
Starting at Christmas, my wedding party started going through some changes. By Valentine's Day, two of my three bridesmaids were engaged, and one of them is having their wedding on June 8th (Elly)! Now, here's where some of the biggest stress started. Elly's wedding is in four months. Some alteration places and bakeries prefer to have six months notice on things like this, so I started stressing out for her.
My goal with this blog is to show other Poor Brides how to extend their budget and have a fantastic wedding for less than $15,000.
Here is my current list of vendors:
Instant Request DJ (ceremony and reception sound)
Embassy Suites Bloomington (ceremony and reception location)
David's Bridal (bridal gown and bridesmaid dresses)
RomasBanaitis (wedding rings)
Kikuike (cake topper)
Buttercream Bakery (cake--sans frosting--provided by venue)
Sweet Pea's Floral (reception flowers provided by venue)
Pocket Full of Posies (ceremony flowers)
Brianna and Joordan (hair and makeup)
Amanda and Rachel (cake balls)
Sara H (custom head piece)
Alexander King (photographer)
HyperSmash
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