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Great Weddings for Less
Worried about your wedding price tag? These three couples cut their budget down to size and loved the results.
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Kristen & Juan LondoñoWEDDING DATE: March 21, 2009
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When Juan and Kristen got engaged in April 2008, they imagined having a large wedding with about 200 guests in a beautiful Japanese garden overlooking a lake. “I pictured us exchanging vows at dusk with lights reflecting off the water,” Kristen says. “During the process of planning the wedding, though, Juan had to relocate for a new job. At the same time, my dad left his job, so he wasn’t able to put as much toward the wedding as he originally wanted to. We realized we needed to be more cautious about our spending. We weren’t going to sacrifice having a beautiful and memorable affair, but we did decide to alter things a bit to make our budget wedding work."
From left: The dress awaits its big moment. The color palette—black, white and purple—looked perfect on the cake.
To work within our new budget, we made two big changes: the size of our guest list and the wedding venue. We ended up with an intimate gathering of about 50 family members and close friends. Instead of having our wedding at the Japanese garden—which charged a $4,500 site fee, plus $130 and up per person for food and an open bar—we moved our ceremony and reception to The River House, on the New River in Fort Lauderdale. There, for a more reasonable $98 per person, we got a delicious meal (our guests raved about the food!) and an open bar. Our new location also offered the beautiful outdoor setting I’d wanted. With the water as our backdrop, we said our ‘I dos’ on a romantic covered patio.”
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SPLURGE-WORTHY
“Our biggest splurge was the photographer. I’ve known too many people who cut costs in that area and ended up with terrible pictures. Since you don’t get those moments back, amazing photographs have a special importance.”
AFFORDABLE IDEAS
“With the help of a designer friend, Juan and I were able to create custom invitations and escort cards in a color palette of white, black and purple. We took the design to a local printer who had everything made for us in a week. For less money than we would have spent at a retailer, we got a unique, personalized look. In place of an escort-card table, which would require linens and floral arrangements, we clipped our escort cards to a five-foot-tall photo tree that our florist wrapped in lush greenery and accented with dendrobium orchids. It was simple and inexpensive, and it looked great!
“Originally, I envisioned jugs of red and white sangria for each guest table. In the end, though, we decided against it because we’d have to not only buy the sangria and the jugs, but also pay a corkage fee to serve it. I’d wanted mini fondant covered, but at $20 apiece, they just weren’t worth it. Instead, we opted for the traditional cake that was included in our wedding package. With the funds freed up by those changes, we purchased sparklers and personalized matches with our names and wedding date. Our photographer captured a great shot of our guests surrounding us in a heart shape with their lit sparklers shining. It was a fantastic moment!”
FINAL TALLY
“Trimming our wedding budget was a blessing in disguise. Our smaller guest count made the day more personal, and it was nice knowing that we didn’t go into debt. We paid for everything in cash, and every dollar felt like money well spent.”
BUDGET BREAKDOWN
| Invitations Ceremony officiant Ceremony venue Ceremony music Wedding gown Hair/makeup Escort cards Food/drink Favors Reception DJ Flowers Photographer | $280 |
Photography: Munoz Photography
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