Bridesmaids on a Budget

J.Crew is a great resource for dresses for the bride, bridesmaids, flower girls, and MOB. I saw this amazingly smokin' deal today on a fabulous bridesmaids dress that is too good to pass up. $59 for a dress thats regularly $215 is a bargain that your maids will thank you for!

Silk taffeta strapless sanglé dress from J.Crew

A Midsummer Night's Dream by Utterly Engaged

As promised, here is the Midsummer Night's Dream themed wedding design put together by Utterly Engaged, the creative collaboration Eva Chiou of Red Velvet Occasions and Lucia Dinh and Henny Setiadi of D*LSH Design. From Utterly Engaged: "We are an online wedding magazine dedicated to finding creative alternatives for modern brides. Everyone should be able to have a beautiful wedding without breaking the bank! In this economy, the rising costs of weddings can be overwhelming for brides. Utterly Engaged goal is to show today’s bride unique alternatives to creating a high-end look within the budget." Amen to that! The floral design for this amazing event shoot was done by Summer of Grey Likes Weddings and the photography was done by Stephanie Williams whose work I am so in love with and have featured here a few times.

DIY: How to stock your own wedding bar

Unless you plan on having a dry reception, there will most likely be alcohol served at your wedding. It is a celebration after all. Many venues are allowing couples to save money and customize the experience by bringing in their own alcohol. Even if you are only able to bring in wine, (which I highly recommend as a great way to feature your favorite local wines and save some $$) you may be wondering how much of everything you will need. Fear not! Real Simple has a great Wedding Wine & Liquor Calculator. Also works great for rehearsal dinners.

Three Dresses under $500

I did a feature a while back where I featured three super cute wedding dresses for under $1000, two of which were under $500. This inspired me to find three more dresses that won't make you look like you skimped on the dress. There's the whimsical fun dress, the casual flowy dress, and then the formal dress - all for under $500!

The whimsical wedding dress:
Strapless mermaid tea length gown with lace up back and full tulle skirt by Raylia designs, around $400.

The casual flowy wedding dress:
Chiffon empire A-line gown with pleated bust, beaded spaghetti straps, beaded embroidered illusion back, and sweep train. From David's Bridal, $299.


The formal wedding dress (and my personal favorite!):
Satin mermaid gown with sequin band and fan folded bodice with bow by Group USA, $399.99.

Eco Chic: Marry You Me's Top 10 Green Wedding Ideas

Today is Earth Day, and there is so much talk these days about "going green" and "being sustainable". You may want to consider some green options for your big day, but you may be afraid of going broke in the process. But "greening" your wedding doesn't necessarily have to cost you a lot of green. Here are some of my personal favorite low cost options for helping the planet and your wallet at the same time when it comes to your wedding.
Photo from InStyle Weddings
1. Donate your flowers.
What happens to flowers after the four hours or so that they spend at a wedding? Sadly, those pricey creations you agonized over will most likely hit the trash. Why not give them a higher calling worthy of their cost and beauty? There is an organization called Friends With Flowers - a nonprofit that provides beautiful, fresh arrangements to hospice patients. Volunteers collect and re-arrange flowers donated from weddings, events, or florists. The flowers are distributed free of charge, adding compassion and beauty to the lives of patients, their families and their caregivers. Check to see if they are available in your area, or contact the local Hospice where your wedding is being held to directly to arrange a donation.

2. Rent don't buy.
Rentals are a deceptively green option that creates very little waste since the items will be used over and over.

3. Go local, go organic.
Choose a caterer who specializes in, or ask your caterer to use, local, seasonal, organic food. By doing this you are supporting local sustainable farming practices, the food will taste better, and less resources were used to get it from farm to plate. Sometimes this may even save you money since the food didn't have to make a trek from across the country.Photo on Brides

4. Cut the lights.
Hold a daytime wedding. Less power will be used since you'll have the best power source of all - the sun! Also, since you're spending money on a beautiful venue, shouldn't people actually be able to see it in its daytime glory?Photo on Project Wedding

5. Green venue.
Choosing a venue that already has eco-friendly practices in place, or a natural setting such as a park or campground will help bring you and your guests closer to nature.

6. Recycle, reduce, and reuse that compost.
Be sure to check that the caterer or venue is going to make recycling and composting available at the wedding.

7. Something old.
Scour thrift stores for your centerpieces or other wedding aspects, or use heirloom pieces of your own, your moms, his moms, grandmothers, you get the idea. All these people will most likely have lovely silver pieces or glass pieces they would happily let you use on your big day, saving you money and being green at the same time.Photo by Marie Labbancz via Ritzy Bee

8. Foodie favors.
Not all DIY favors are created equal - paper items tend to use a lot of paper resources or make a lot of waste. But food items with simple, reusable packaging really only have the jar. Give local honey, maple syrup, homemade jam, olive oil, or infused salt as a favor. Guests won't toss it, and the packaging can then be reused! Get the DIY instructions for Rosemary Infused Salt favors here.Photo on Martha Stewart Weddings.

9. Everything old is new again.
If you can bear to, sell your dress to another bride using a service like OnceWed. You could also look into donating your dress to an organization like Making Memories, which collects dresses for Brides Against Breast Cancer. This way you know your beautiful dress will go towards a good cause!

10. Read Green!
Check out the website The Green Bride Guide - an awesome resource for green wedding ideas minus the crunchiness. They also just put out a new book also titled The Green Bride Guide.

Digital Love by Hello! Lucky

Love the look of letterpress invites but can't afford the hefty pricetag? Hello! Lucky press has started digitally printing versions of their famous letterpress invitations.
What's the difference between digital printing and letterpress? Letterpress is a "hand-crafted printing method dating from the 1400's that results in stationery of exceptional beauty with each ink color indented into the paper" - usually on a high quality cotton paper, and is usally quite spendy due to the labor intensive process. Digital printing is "fast, affordable, modern printing technology that results in stationery with a flat surface and vivid, beautiful colors" so you can still get the great designs without the cost of letterpress. Here's a few of my favorite digital invitations by Hello! Lucky...

"Vintage Rose" For instance, on this Vintage Rose invitation, 50 of these in letter press would set you back $373.75 - or you could have 100 digitally printed for $240!

"Chandelier"


"Regency"
All photos on Hello! Lucky
I'd say almost none of your guests (unless you are friends with an invitation designer) will even know what letterpress is, but everyone can agree that the digitally printed invites are every bit as lovely!
More Hello! Lucky to come...

Three Dresses Under $1,000

When you first put together your budget, your dress should account for five percent. For some people, the dress will be much more than this, but most brides will want to stay within this budget. It's good to set a budget early on and limit your search accordingly. Figure out what brands make dresses in your price range through magazines, magazine ads and the internet. Find out what stores in your area carry these brands and visit them first. Here's three amazing dresses for under $1000 - some of them WAY under!

This strapless pleated mesh gown is by Jessica McClintock (whose salons are just beautiful if you have one near you) and retails for only $298!! Source: Brides.com

This silk chiffon gown with cap sleeves, sweetheart neckline and a removable satin belt with brooch by Sarah Danielle retails for around $750!
Source: Sarah Danielle

And lastly, we have this strapless tired gown with small flowers on it by Shimmer by Bari Jay (technically a prom line). The best part has to be the detachable skirt for your reception or getway, all for around $300! It is shown in a pinky-copper color, but comes in an ivory.
Source: Shimmer by Bari Jay

March Wedding Flowers

Six percent of your wedding budget is supposed to be devoted to flowers according to Mindy Weiss' 'The Wedding Book'. For some people, it can be much more than that. Buying flowers that are in season locally or regionally can be a big money saver. Although almost any flower can be bought out of season these days, importing them from Ecuador or Holland will cost you. Sticking to the "A March Wedding" theme, here are flowers that are in season throughout the spring.
Cosmos
Flowering branches such as apple, cherry, and dogwood
Daffodil
Forsythia
Freesia (available year round)
Hyacinth
Hydangea
Lilac
Lily-of-the-valley
Mimosa (acacia)
Muscari (grape hyacinth)
Peony
Poppy
Ranunculus
Rose
Sweet pea (into early summer)
Tulip
Viburnum
Violet