i just "scrapped" all my other plans-but much more cost effective ;)--long posting

[lilmsjess]

well...we are foregoing the rental home idea...my mom says that she and her fiance will pay for their own hotel(so that we can pay for FH's parents)...

i have chosen a different wine bar, who is able to work with a $60(or even $40 depending on food choices)/head-yet all inclusive-budget. i will not be charged a fee for the building/room...i have from as early as 8am(to set any decorations/special tables), till 4pm(for the place to be private & closed to public)...they are located in a newly developed, gift-shop/boutique spot, which has a gorgeous fountain outside where we canhave the ceremony privately(as none of the shops in the "plaza" open until noon or later on weekends, if they're open to begin with)...they also have a small little meeting room that has a mirrored wall that only holds 8 people that we can use as a "bridal suite" for me and the ladies to get ready and hang out(and my price will include a little juice bar for us girls, and i can bring in breakfast pastries)...they have an "office" that is used for persons to get ready for presentations, that the guys can hang out in right before the ceremony(or even get ready in, as it has a sofa and 2 chairs with a desk...it will include drinks/refills, as well as a custom lunch menu, where rather than a pre-selected sit down dinner or all out buffet, i can choose up to 4 items in my budget, and they will be printed on custom menus...i can still do my "candy bar" and my "cupcake cake"...it includes there to be 3 servers, platters with basics(fruits, meats, cheese, veggies and dips)...and we can recieve a huge discount if we purchase any wine(which i intend to pay for 1 alcoholic drinks per person in wedding party, or the parents)...everyone else, well i'm thinking they can pay for theirs, and they'll never have to know who is buying for the wedding party...

so essentially the only thing i have to come out and do manually, is rent chairs for the ceremony(which has set up/take down anyways), linens if i want them, our desserts, and any centerpieces i may want...

so heck, for about $450, the food etc is taken care of....and i have a ceremony spot w/o paying extra...so i'm spending about $525 for food/$75 for cake and candy bars/$150 rentals/$300 dress & access/$25 centerpieces/$50 flowers...i know a want a photographer, but jeez here in houston, college freshman charge dang near what a pro does! or, they charge you a few hundred, for a cd and 2 hours of shooting...so i think i'm just going to have a student shoot just traditional pictures, and the rest will have our digies...it'd be cheaper to buy myself, my mom, and my grandma $10 SD cards, and have them pick the pics they want, and then we can go through and sort what we want(when it comes to the candid shots)

[lilmsjess]

[quote=lilmsjess;392193]well...we are foregoing the rental home idea...my mom says that she and her fiance will pay for their own hotel(so that we can pay for FH's parents)...

i have chosen a different wine bar, who is able to work with a $60(or even $40 depending on food choices)/head-yet all inclusive-budget.quote]


O.M.G.

AM I STUPID OR WHAT????? I SOOOOOOO JUST ADDED THIS UP, HOW THE H3LL DID I NOT ADD THIS UP EARLIER???!!! O.M.G.

lucky me, i haven't reserved this!!! i need to talk with the mgr tomorrow, and find out if i can bring my own food....O.M.G....i MUST have had a dyslexic moment(no offense, i just mean that somehow, i got a few things mixed up and backwards).....

[KristinGriffin]

There's lots of reasons for this, but liability insurance and equipment needed rank high up there for the reasons behind it... Pro (and college freshmen) photographers shouldn't be shooting with $100 cameras... It costs them a pretty penny to get all of their equipment, and unfortunately, albums are also expensive and time consuming to produce.

If you are thinking of having your family take care of pictures for you, have you looked into renting a "canditto" device? You get the device for about a week (shipped to you on a Wednesday, you return on a Tuesday), so you can use it at rehearsal dinners, Sunday brunch, etc. Basically, your guests can take their memory cards out, put them into the device and it will copy all of the photos on their cards to a thumbdrive (which you keep). I think the whole thing runs for about $400, so it's cheaper sometimes than the cheesy disposable cameras, and you generally get more (and better) photos out of it... That way all your guests' photos end up in one place, and you don't have to track them down. I only know of the one company who make these (Canditto), but I believe they ship nationwide.

Just a thought...

If you are set on hiring a student, I'd be sure to look at their portfolio (even non-weddings) to be sure you like their style, and ask for references. Or call your local colleges and see if the professors can recommend someone to you. You could always ask if they could shoot some engagement photographs too, just to be sure you like how they work. These sessions shouldn't be as expensive.

Good luck with your wedding planning. It looks like you've found a number of ways to save on your budget without sacrificing what you want.

[petulantfem]

An alternative to the canditto would be to have a flickr account that you guests can sign onto and upload their photos. Someone pointed out to me that people might not want to copy every photo from their memory cards onto your drive. Someone else went the flickr route and had 50 people upload photos within 3 days.
You'd have to have a reliable way to remind people though.

[KristinGriffin]

Flickr is a good idea, I'd just be sure you know how it works before you rely on it, and be sure to let your guests know. Most of the time when I post to Flickr, I upload web-only versions - they are smaller, so they load up faster. If people are only posting images for you on Flickr that are at screen resolution, you can view them on the screen, but won't be able to do much with them as far as printing goes. But it's a good thought, if you can get the follow through. You might want to think of printing some business cards with the web address for the Flickr group and distribute them at the wedding or in your thank you cards or something, to be sure that people know how to find the group to post.

Yes, maybe people wouldn't want every image from their your wedding to get copied over for you, but in my experience, this device is pretty well received. It will also only copy over images taken in the last eight hours, so if there are other pictures on your guest's memory cards (like of their kids, or other events), no worries, the machine knows not to copy those.

And I'm not representing Canditto or anything - I just think they are a neat alternative to the disposable cameras people put out on tables and then never get good results out of it! :)

Good luck with your wedding planning!

-Kristin