TileArt
01-11-2009, 11:52 AM
I guess I'll start here and post individual threads with specific subjects as I go along.
My wonderful wife Rena and I were married on June 17th, 2006. The ceremony was held in the mountains of beautiful Estes Park, Colorado next to the Big Thompson River. We had 120 guests and full reception, etc.
The thing that makes it unique, however, is that we did the entire thing ourselves (and I mean everything) and spent only $9700.00. That includes the reception, food, cake, a week-long honeymoon in Estes and everything else that goes along with a full wedding.
Between us we have three kids so we really couldn't afford a full-blown "platinum wedding" (who can?) but I was determined to give my wife the wedding that she always wanted. We accomplished that and she still puts up with me, so I guess we did something right.:o
We had a little over a year to plan and pay for the wedding so that helped quite a bit because we were able to take a bit of extra time to figure out alternatives for certain things once we got past the initial sticker shock.
Our wedding venue, for instance. We looked all over the place at different packages, all inclusive, etc. and that would have been great - less stress, a lot less. But we just couldn't really afford it at the time. After about a month or so of banging my head against a wall we decided we would have the ceremony, reception, and honeymoon! all in the same place. We found a cabin in Estes Park that had a HUGE back yard and was located right on the river. It was perfect. The house was four bedrooms which provided ample space to get ready (they were even located two upstairs and two down) and each had its own bathroom and it had a huge kitchen. We were able to rent the cabin (house, really) for 2100.00 for the WEEK! That was less than some of the package quotes we received around town. We were able to knock out three of the biggest expenses in one shot and not have to worry about setting up two different venues and find honeymoon accomodations. As an added bonus we rent the cabin out every year for our anniversary. :o
I made the cake myself. In hindsight - I still would have made the cake myself. :p The prices they charge for cakes are ludicrous, but you guys already know that. I made a five-tier cake (Five different flavors, too) with fondant and the works and I think I spent a total of about 75.00 for it. We couldn't find a topper we both really liked so we went with something that wasn't. In the hallmark stores they have all their little figurines. We were walking by it one day trying to find a topper and saw all the precious moments figurines in the case. We found one of a little bride and groom (giving each other a piece of wedding cake) and thought it was perfect. It was even on sale! I think we paid like $35 for it. I basically built the theme of the cake around it. It turned out great. Let's see if I can upload a pic...Hope that worked.
Anyway, like I said, I'll post individual threads probably in the diy sections. If there is anything you guys wanna ask about just let me know! I'll be more than happy to start a thread and let you know what we did. Hope I can help some of you with questions - ask away. :p
My wonderful wife Rena and I were married on June 17th, 2006. The ceremony was held in the mountains of beautiful Estes Park, Colorado next to the Big Thompson River. We had 120 guests and full reception, etc.
The thing that makes it unique, however, is that we did the entire thing ourselves (and I mean everything) and spent only $9700.00. That includes the reception, food, cake, a week-long honeymoon in Estes and everything else that goes along with a full wedding.
Between us we have three kids so we really couldn't afford a full-blown "platinum wedding" (who can?) but I was determined to give my wife the wedding that she always wanted. We accomplished that and she still puts up with me, so I guess we did something right.:o
We had a little over a year to plan and pay for the wedding so that helped quite a bit because we were able to take a bit of extra time to figure out alternatives for certain things once we got past the initial sticker shock.
Our wedding venue, for instance. We looked all over the place at different packages, all inclusive, etc. and that would have been great - less stress, a lot less. But we just couldn't really afford it at the time. After about a month or so of banging my head against a wall we decided we would have the ceremony, reception, and honeymoon! all in the same place. We found a cabin in Estes Park that had a HUGE back yard and was located right on the river. It was perfect. The house was four bedrooms which provided ample space to get ready (they were even located two upstairs and two down) and each had its own bathroom and it had a huge kitchen. We were able to rent the cabin (house, really) for 2100.00 for the WEEK! That was less than some of the package quotes we received around town. We were able to knock out three of the biggest expenses in one shot and not have to worry about setting up two different venues and find honeymoon accomodations. As an added bonus we rent the cabin out every year for our anniversary. :o
I made the cake myself. In hindsight - I still would have made the cake myself. :p The prices they charge for cakes are ludicrous, but you guys already know that. I made a five-tier cake (Five different flavors, too) with fondant and the works and I think I spent a total of about 75.00 for it. We couldn't find a topper we both really liked so we went with something that wasn't. In the hallmark stores they have all their little figurines. We were walking by it one day trying to find a topper and saw all the precious moments figurines in the case. We found one of a little bride and groom (giving each other a piece of wedding cake) and thought it was perfect. It was even on sale! I think we paid like $35 for it. I basically built the theme of the cake around it. It turned out great. Let's see if I can upload a pic...Hope that worked.
Anyway, like I said, I'll post individual threads probably in the diy sections. If there is anything you guys wanna ask about just let me know! I'll be more than happy to start a thread and let you know what we did. Hope I can help some of you with questions - ask away. :p