Creating a Beautiful Wedding - Even with a Budget

Having to worry about the economy shouldn’t have to stress you out about your wedding. Brides and grooms can still plan tasteful, stylish and luxury weddings without having to sacrifice what’s important to them at the end of the day. Everyone hears this all the time, and it’s totally trite yet true – …It’s once in a lifetime – do it right the first time! It's about making good choices on what and where you spend on...

Here's some tips:

{{ keep the guest list intimate – they should ALL be VIPs!}}

- It’s about prioritizing what means the most to you for your wedding. For instance, instead of having that a massive 600 guest wedding, would it be more meaningful to invite your closest set of family and friends to share in the celebration? Keeping the guest list smaller may make for an equally exquisite and beautiful wedding as a large one, and yet it won’t break the bank.

- Parents or organizations you belong to, for example, might make you feel obligated to invite friends of friends or second cousins you don’t really know to the wedding. Sometimes, this comes up with our clients who are trying to keep the guest count intimate. Have conversations with them and be honest that the celebration will be smaller. Include these people in your wedding celebration in some other way. For example, doing an informal gathering to celebrate with them, pre or post the actual wedding. Or send them announcements and pictures. People will appreciate that. Or sometimes it might purely be a budget thing - if you're paying for the wedding, parents might be happy to chip in so that mom's three best friends can attend. Be honest, and be open.

{{focus on what really matters)}}

- If one must need to focus on budget, then allocate that budget according to what’s most important to you. We all splurge on things we just fall in love with, so why deny ourselves? For instance, if youve been dreaming about a dress since you were sixteen, prioritize that into the budget! The location might dictate the feel of the entire wedding and set the tone of the affair which may be very important to a lot of couples – if that’s the case, allocate a healthy chunk of budget to where the celebration will be held. And so forth.

{{Our favorite over-the-top splurge}}

Our over the top splurge/trend we love are individual mini-fondant cakes and an equally over the top candy and dessert stations. Totally decadent, but what guest doesn’t enjoy being considered and indulged and appreciated for sharing this moment at the wedding? A cute individual mini-fondant cake in the wedding theme and a bag of candy and desserts will truly leave a sweet taste in the guests’ mouths…

{{Creativity Don’t Cost a Thing}}

You don’t need to spend a dime extra, and yet you can infuse creative elements that really spell out that this is your wedding, not Jen and John’s. For instance we had a couple who were writers. Guests typed congratulatory wishes and advice for the couple on an old typewriter for the guestbook. Menus were actually printed from copies of love notes the couple had wrote to each other growing up. Guests loved these sweet gestures and that the couple so openly shared their hearts with everyone. These are delightful and personal touches and surprises that you incorporate into your wedding will get conversation flowing and make your wedding memorable – the one-of-a-kind wedding and tribute to your love.