I remember a dollar tree at some event growing up.  I can’t remember if it was at a wedding or an anniversary celebration.  It must have been for an anniversary because my family is a very big fan of the money dance.  I suppose they are both ways to re-coop some of your wending spending but I wouldn’t make them a budget line item.

But, this isn’t about that type of dollar tree.  This post is about THE Dollar Tree.  Did you know the Dollar Tree has a wedding website or section?  Check it out here. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it.  Yes, I might scope out the Dollar Tree for some wedding items; however, it saddens to know that even the Dollar Tree is trying to exploit the wedding industry.

A few years ago, I was involved in a friend’s wedding where she made welcome gift bags.  I didn’t necessarily like what she put in the gift bags (I can only remember brochures and tissues), so I decided at the time that gift bags were a waste.

When we met with our hotel coordinator, the first question she asked me was whether or not we were doing welcome gift bags.  I immediately said no, and in big print on the top of my contract she wrote: NO WELCOME GIFT BAGS.  There’s nothing like seeing what you don’t want in big print to make you wonder if you really do want it.

In any case, Bridal Buzz featured some Budget Welcome Basket Ideas.

I think I’m still going to pass on the welcome bags, just because I can’t think of anything our guests might find useful.  But, I do think Bridal Buzz makes a good argument that your guests will feel special to receive a present upon arrival.

Let’s face it- dry weddings are boring, and cash bars are tacky.  Yes, alcohol is expensive, but there are ways to provide drinks without breaking the bank.

First and foremost, anytime you can provide your own liquor you will save a fortune.  Suck it up, drive to your local liquor store and buy till your heart’s content.  Some liquor stores will even let you return un-opened bottles.  Check with your venue and then shop for the best deals.  Here is a an article suggesting how much alcohol you should buy.

Then, if you do have to purchase alcohol through your venue there are two options to cut down on your expenses.  You can limit your bar to beer and wine or you can provide one or two specialty cocktails.  Guests just won’t be able to drink as much beer, wine, or fru-fru cocktails.  And, not to be mean, but limiting your guests options will slow down how many drinks your guests take in.  Well, that would work with our guests.  Consider your audience, Mr. soon-to-be-Heather and I have explicitly told our bartender no shots because that is the expensive drinks our friends love to take in.

I’ve talked about fruit as an alternative, inexpensive center piece.  I’ve talked about yummy, edible favors.  I have not talked about fruit as favors- honestly, it’s because I didn’t think of it.  How cute are these apple favors?  Sure, you have to wait until the last minute to buy them, but when else are you going to finish a flat of fruit from Costco?

I will admit it, I am a sucker for wedding movies.  It excites me when I see a new movie coming out that features a wedding.  Unfortunately, “Our Family Wedding” isn’t getting very good reviews.  I love their mantra “our marriage, their wedding”, so I may still get it on Netflix anyway

In any case, here are ten wedding movies I will get behind:

1. Father of the Bride

2. Sweet Home Alabama

3. My Big Fat Greek Wedding

4. My Best Friend’s Wedding

5. The Wedding Planner

6. Fools Rush In

7. The Birdcage

8. Runaway Bride

9. The Notebook

10. Four Weddings and a Funeral

Last summer I had to go to Monterey, CA for work (I know, tough huh).  It happened to be Mr. soon-to-be-Heather’s birthday so we made a trip out of it.  On his actual birthday, we went wine tasting through the Carmel Valley.  Wine pourers are some of the best chit-chaters in the world, and one of them got talking about my engagement ring.  Another couple joined in the conversation, which led me to notice the couples unique wedding bands.  They were white gold but they looked like bark wrapped around their fingers.  It’s hard to describe but it actually looked really cool.  At the time I didn’t think anything of it.

Now,  Mr. soon-to-be-Heather and I are looking at wedding bands, and it’s pretty ridiculous: every ring looks the same.  I haven’t heard of anyone running into someone with the exact same ring, but that’s got to happen, right?

I came just across this post on Weddingbee, which identifies a couple’s process to make their own wedding bands.  Neat, huh?!  Of course there are tons of “design your own ring options” on the web, but I don’t think those options are unique or necessarily cost effective.  I think one would need to visit with a local jewelry designer or craftsman to get something which fits those standards.

So, that’s my wedding savings advice of the day: don’t buy a designer ring, go make your own or find someone that can make it for you and make it truly unique (it will cost you less).  Disclaimer: the unique, crafted rings I have in mind are not very jeweled!

Maybe there was once a time when you thought that the life you are living was already perfect. Perfect in a sense that if it ever gets interrupted by an outside force your life would be ruined. But then, the thing you are most afraid of happened to be the best thing that ever happened in your life. The perfect world that you knew was nothing compared to what love can provide you.

Our wedding song for the week is a beautiful romantic song which tells about the bride’s experience when she met her groom-to-be. When he entered her life, her eyes saw the beauty that was hidden from her which she never thought existed.

“Until You Found Me” is a wedding song tailor fit to the bride who commissioned a brilliant song writer who composed this wedding song for her. Below is a video of the song complete with lyrics. If you are interested to also have your own wedding song customized for you, you can contact the guys from JGMastersMultiply.com.

I hope this wedding blog inspired you to make your own wedding truly memorable. Wait for more wedding blogs on how to have an inexpensive wedding and how to have wedding savings coming your way next week. This is Chelsea wishing you have the dream wedding you really want..

Hi there. For today’s wedding blog we will feature another video installment on how to make inexpensive wedding favors. But the wedding favor Kristin Crosby, from I Do Wedding Essentials, is going to present today is a bit expensive than the first batch of wedding favors she has demonstrated to make on the past videos we have featured.

Today, she will use bigger candies for her wedding favor and will put more intricate design. So click the video and start learning how to make these lovely wedding favors. It maybe a bit expensive, but it’s fun to make and your guests would love to have one of these wedding favors.

I believe that even though it’s a bit pricey, this can still be considered an inexpensive wedding favor compared to buying it from wedding shops. You can still get wedding savings from it no matter how minimal that wedding savings may be. Enjoy the video.

Let’s talk about one of the important items in a wedding list which, I think, we haven’t touched yet since we started writing wedding blogs. Maybe we have mentioned it in the past, but we haven’t really focused on it. What I’m talking about is the wedding or the bridal car.

Yes, the wedding car is really important, unless you want to walk from your house to the church, or just ride a wedding bike… if there is one. Some don’t need it since they get married in their backyard. But most often, brides need to have their modern day carriage. It would be a pity to see a beautiful bride walk under a scorching sun.

Now, let me link you to a site which will give you tips on how to decorate your designated wedding car. It is just an inexpensive wedding car decoration, but would really look nice as long as you know how to decorate. If not, you can always ask a friend to help you out.

Click the link and start learning how to make your wedding carriage look great on your special day. We’ll have more wedding blogs about wedding cars in the future. Just wait for it. Enjoy planning your wedding.

Hey there. Here’s another wedding blog featuring a video on how to make inexpensive wedding favors. Actually, this is already the third installment of our DIY inexpensive wedding favor series using candy and really nice packaging to give you the wedding savings you are looking for.

The video is still hosted by Kristin Crosby from I Do Wedding Essentials in Leesburg, Virginia. She will teach you step by step on how to make a really interesting, pretty, and inexpensive Oriental-themed wedding favor. So just click the video and enjoy making your own inexpensive wedding favors. And remember, always plan your wedding well!