Thrifty in White

Major Must-Have: Rings With Personality

To say I'm a little bit gypsy when it comes to rings may be an understatement. Each ring-a-ding-ding says a little something different: two are antique turquoise from my fabulous grandma's killer jewelry collection; one is a band Dustin found and wore as a faux-wedding ring this Halloween when he dressed up as the newlywed Russell Brand (yes, I was his Katy Perry); one is obviously our engagement ring, which I big-time heart; and one was $1 at a dollar store and turns my finger green when I sleep in it.

When I'm feeling especially fierce, I find room for a thick spoon ring Dustin made for me at an annual Sweet Corn Festival near our hometowns. That's six rings total. Every single day. How the hell was I going to find empty real estate for a wedding band?

  

  

Be honest: Is Jewel's song "Hands" in your head right now?!

  

  

Jewelry is one of my passions, and I tend to gravitate to anything that can be described using the words Statement, Kitschy and HolyOMG. (Yes, my wedding jewelry can definitely be described as HolyOMG. More on that later.) So finding a wedding band that looked a smidgen offbeat and still could blend in with my other everyday rings has been the task at hand for the last few months.

And lucky for me, one just about jumped in front of my unsuspecting face at the IndieWed bridal show in Chicago last weekend.

Source (Bonus! It's ethical and eco-friendly.)

  

DROOL. My thin, hand-braided wedding band, only in silver. At $140, it could be considered a bit of a budget-buster (well, for our budget, anyway), but we decided to forgo Christmas presents to each other this year and instead do the ring thing. It turned out to be a pretty wise decision, because this is more than we wanted to spend on just one band.

  

But I tell you what, when I saw this ring at IndieWed, I shoved it down onto my finger and hoped it wouldn't be able to come off...that's how much I love it. Plus, it looked pretty darn perfect with my other daily baubles, so we'll chalk that up to a match made in glittery, jewelry heaven.

  

Dustin, on the other hand, is a bit different. He covers both wrists with prettythings and has never worn a ring on a regular basis.

  

  

Dustin's manly (and accessorized) wrists.

  

  

He also loves nature and hunting and sitting in a tree wearing camouflage. What better ring for him to wear than one with wood inlays?! Every time he looks down at it, he can imagine he's hanging out in the woods waiting for a deer to come along. (Yes, I think he's a bit crazy for loving hunting, but he thinks I'm a bit crazy sometimes, too. We don't judge.)

  

  

Source

  

  

Good news: He loves it and can't wait to wear it. Even better news: It's around $50, and super budget-friendly. Could it be any more perfect for that guy, seriously?!

  

So tell me, engaged & married folk: Did you choose rings based on stuff you liked, your personalities, or jewelry you already wore on a daily basis? Were you stressed out about cramming even one more ring onto your hands, or have you been reserving that real estate for years?

  

And really...aren't you so flipping antsy to put that ring on for good at the ceremony?

  

Stay thrifty,
Hollie

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Welcome to the Plastic Cup Zone

I'm just going to come right out and say it: Our venue, which we love, is a plastic cup zone.

  

Source

  

Yep, exactly like these, but with keg beer and wine inside instead of lights. Wine in a plastic cup? Bet you didn't think you'd see that again once you left college...especially at a wedding! (Note: This will be entirely unlike college because we're not serving Boones Farm to our guests.)

  

OK, so it's obviously not a deal breaker and we're choosing to focus our attention on other more important things (like, you know, our union). You see, there is actually the option to pay extra for real glasses, but we would also have to pay extra to have a staff member to wash all of the glasses as people chug their drinks, slam the empty cup on the bar and demand another round. I would offer to do it to save a few bucks, but I figured I would be awfully busy playing bride and rocking an air guitar with Dustin to the Spin Doctors.

  

For a fiery hot second, we considered making sweet drink-stirrer-flag-things like this (and I have Mrs. Trail Mix to thank for this idea, since I saw her say somewhere that they were a snap to make):

  

Source

  

The flags pictured above are made with Japanese washi tape (LOVE this idea for so many reasons), but you can follow Mrs. Dolphin's step-by-step ribbon flag DIY right ova here.

  

...but in the end, we just decided against it. Yes, they would be all sorts of cute and festive and go with the non-color-scheme we're sort of throwing together haphazardly as we please. (Polka dot and striped drink stirrers? Why not?!) But are they necessary? Because we're only serving beer and wine, the answer is an unenthusiastic, "Nope." It's quite possible that the idea would be lost on our guests, because who really wants to have to deal with a flag hitting them in the face as they try to enjoy a cold beer?

  

Not I, and certainly not Dustin.

  

Thus began my, "How about biodegradable plastic cups?!" kick, because if we're going to have to throw away oodles of plastic drink vessels, they may as well be eco-friendly. And did you know some are even made out of corn? How entirely fitting since our wedding will be among the cornfields of Illinois.

  

Unfortunately, this is turning out to be so far out of our budget, it's somewhere warm and tropical with not a winter storm alert in sight. Spending a few hundred bucks on plastic cups we plan to simply throw away? My wallet is screaming at the mere thought and my brain keeps drifting back to the original FREE plastic option.

  

Alas, we're 99 percent sure we're going to suck it up and deal with the plain ol' plastic cups. Life will go on, and so will our festive wedding love-fest. I certainly hope guests will leave the party remembering the amazing music, delish food, and oodles of love...not the plastic cup they sipped from.

  

However, because I'm a bit persnickety when it comes to details, I will probably take full advantage of that uncertain 1 percent and spend lots of time researching alternatives when really I should be thinking about vows. Or the collection of antique glass I have scattered all over my table. Or if my dress will even work with the necklace I'm borrowing from my grandma. Or how much I seriously miss Dustin and wish he was here to plan alongside me and spend hours upon hours thinking about something as small as what our guests will drink from.

  

Sheesh. We can only hope that I'll stumble upon an estate sale with boxes of hundreds of amazing glasses for just $5.

  

Have you been to a plastic zone wedding, and does it totally stick out in your memory? Or are you, for whatever reason, having a wedding adorned with plastic cups? Do you think it's tacky, or is it totally acceptable for a casual wedding? Tell the truth...I can handle it!

PART II: Samantha and Cort = The DETAILS That Family Created

We're back with part two of this lovely DIY-crazy wedding, and guess what? We're at the reception!

 

 

 

Hooray!

What do you do when you first get to the reception? (OK, the second thing, because obviously you're going to sashay over to the bar first.)

You find your seat...by looking on a pretty wreath!
 

 

 

 

Coming from a bride who is thought she was against seating charts and place cards, I LOVE this idea. I seriously squealed when I saw it, and squealed even louder when the lovely bride gave the DIY directions:

"My calligrapher (grandma) helped, and they cost under $10 to make. I wanted something different and decided on table cards shaped like leaves. I used big sheets of textured paper from Hobby Lobby, designed a leaf template, traced it 140 times and cut them out. I wanted a creative way to display the table cards, so I hot glued them to wooden clothespins and clipped them around a big grapevine wreath, also from Hobby Lobby."

Under $10 and that cute? I am so lovin' that thrifty jive.

 
 
On the way to your seat (with DIY leaf place card in hand), you swing by the card box...DIY, of course:
 

 
"I bought a box with lid, spray painted it gray and made miniature paper poms to decorate the top and side. The poms tied in with the giant poms we made for about $1 each that hung over the dance floor. Thanks, Martha Stewart."
 

 
You spy a yellow-candy buffet on your way to your seat, so you swing by to check it out (take advantage of the heels you're wearing, your feet don't hurt too badly yet):
 
 

 

  
And that's when you realize: This wedding decor includes no real flowers...they made all 4,000 of them themselves!

And yes, they are everywhere:

 

   

From the bride: "I'm always sad when I go to a wedding and see some votive, candles, a mirror, and rose petals sprinkled on a table as the centerpiece. I wanted a centerpiece that looked substantial, and I knew that the David Tutera, 4-foot-tall centerpieces I'd been dreaming of were not in my budget.

I found a papercrafter named Jeff Rudell, who wrote an article about how to make a centerpiece for around $5. Mine ended up being more than $5 each, but were significantly less than fresh flowers.

I changed the design a little: #1, Vellum warps with regular glue and isn't forgiving, so I used card stock; #2, Three-inch flowers were just too difficult to fold using card stock, so I made four-inch circles; #3, Wrapping metal floral stems in floral tape is crazy! It's sticky, it tears, and it takes a long time. I found attractive stems that are pre-wrapped in green string at Hobby Lobby.

My centerpiece project took months. My family and I completed one step at at time, first by cutting out thousands of four-inch circles. I have to give my grandma a big shout out because she would make about 100 a day"

   

Whew, that's a lot of delicious DIY! Does all this talking make you want to run out to the craft store on a Friday night, regardless if you're planning a wedding or not? I'm at home blogging in sweats and Mr. Thrifty is out having a good ol' time with his softball team...I'm tempted to tell him to pick me up some dang cardstock on his way home.
 

Anyhoodle, I was just talking about the possibility of not using real flowers at our wedding, partly because I'm much too cheap, and partly because I like the idea of keeping them around post-wedding without the threat of bugs investing my house. So I was so thankful that Samantha also sent this picture along with her wedding write-up:

   
 

PHOTO: Oh yeah, that's a wedding centerpiece...in their kitchen...still looking as pretty as the day they got hitched.
And way to go grandma for being the flower-making MVP, very impressive!

  

PHOTO: Quite possibly one of my favorites in the whole bunch! Love the line dancin'!

 

Some final words from the been-there bride:

"My dad is a historical postcard collector, so I decided that our invitations should be in postcard form. I made the postcards at Zazzle, used an engagement photo for the front, and made customized stamps with our engagement photo (also on Zazzle). The RSVP was to a wedding website that I created, and there was a big savings here: postcards were 65-cents each, they only required one stamp, we didn't need stamps for the reply cards (because there weren't reply cards), and the wedding website was free!

We saved even more money by having family make appetizers, bought sparkling organic apple cider for the toast, only bought things when they were on sale, found a $20 crinoline for my dress online because the bridal store charged $40 to rent, and found an Atlanta Braves garter (husband is a Braves fan) on Etsy that was cheaper than in a bridal store."

 

"Was all of the DIY wedding labor worth it? Yes. My husband and I were able to go on an 8-day, 7-night Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon and bought a new house when we returned. We now have great pictures and great memories to help us remember our wedding day."

 
Thanks again, Samantha & Cort, for sharing your photos and killer tips. Anybody have questions for them? What's your favorite part of their thrifty shindig? Aside from the flowers, these pictures have made me a veil-believer. 

All photos by Deidre Lynn Photography.

 

Ceremony Site: Glen Oak Christian Church
Reception Site: Shore Acres Park Clubhouse
Wedding Dress: Maggie Sottero, Bobbie's Bridal
Menswear: Bobbie's Bridal
Bridesmaids' Dresses: J.Crew
Florist: Gregg Florist
Cake: Cake Connection
Catering: Pottstown Meat and Deli
Linens and Tableware: Booth Rental and Decorating (big money-saver! 309-637-5150)
Chairs: American Rental
Invitations, Stamps, Stickers for Favor Bags: Zazzle.com;
Wedding Website: MyWedding.com;
Favors: CandyWarehouse
Jeweler: Bremer Jewelry

Designers: Please Jump On This Bandwagon. I'm Begging You.

Sometimes, the wedding dress industry befuddles me. Just kidding...it's all the time.

Sure, they're out to make money just like everybody else, I get that. But with all the chatter and well-deserved hype concerning recessionista bridal, they need to open their freaking eyes and see this green-saving message: YOU HELP US, WE'LL HELP YOU.

Let's take J.Crew bridal for instance. I understand that for a lot of J.Crew-wearing brides, money is no object and they get the dress because they genuinely like it and they are quite possibly J.Crew-aholics. But in my case, I was introduced to this line because of two important words: AFFORDABLE and PRETTY.

But let's look at some of the 40 dresses on the J.Crew wedding site right now:
 
 

(click the photo to check out the listing)
 

Meet Analisa, the most expensive gown on the site at $2,995. Coincidentally, it looks like it would add 2,995 pounds to the lucky bride wearing it on her wedding day. All of those horizontal ruffles? Let's just say I'm no size 0...even if I was, look at what it does to the size 0 model in this photo.

Style aside, I do think I can speak for other truly budgeted brides when I say this price is so not in our vocabulary.

 

How about the least expensive, hmm?
 

(click the photo to check out the listing)
 

Here's sweet Sophia at $295. It's simple, which is right up my alley, but considering how popular (and expensive) Pnina Tornai gowns are right now, it might just be too simple for other gals' tastes.

With 75% of the J.Crew dresses priced at over $500 (and almost half of them over $1,000), I've changed my mind about their role in budget-friendly weddings. But it doesn't mean that a new store isn't gonna swoop in and take that crown...
 

'Tis true, dear readers: The Limited will be launching a bridal collection online this June with wedding dresses under $300! Take a gander at the gowns for yourself:
 

(photo source: Luckymag)

 
 

And don't forget the cheeky short gown for all you tradition-shunning brides:

(photo source: Glamour)

 

Thank you, Limited, for catering to the limited-budget (har, har) brides out there. You have taken the place of faux-thrifty J.Crew in my heart, and I can't wait to see the collection on June 3. 

 
Do you have other sources for cheapy-cheap finds? Any exciting wedding deals this weekend?

Stay thrifty,
Hollie

 
Follow us on Twitter: @ThriftyinWhite

OMG, We're Actually Meeting a Vendor

Tonight is kind of a big deal for Mr. Thrifty and me: We're going to meet a vendor!

Well technically we met with our venue and photographer before we booked them...but let's get serious. We knew we would book them before we even met them. After hearing great things about them from people we trusted, we basically had our deposit checks written the second we found out they were available for our June 2011 date.

And OK, I also kind of broke my cardinal rule of wedding planning: Don't set your heart on anything when there's still plenty of time to look for other options.

Luckily, those vendors weren't budget-busters and were totally in line with our $10,000 budget. We've grown as a budgeted couple, and promise to not make that mistake again. Or, promise to not make that mistake again within reason.

Tonight, however, could be another story. We're meeting with a Chicago-based DJ. Who actually spins. And who would be traveling 250 miles to our country wedding. And who would be providing music for both the ceremony and reception. Seems like it will add up quickly, eh?

 

PHOTO: Click on the picture to be taken away to the land of amazing mixes
that you will fall in love with. Trust me. Why else would I be daydreaming
about them DJing our wedding? It promises to give oodles of wedding playlist inspiration.

   

We have a love-hate relationship with our budget, and when it comes to vendors, we try to prepare ourselves for disappointment. Too expensive? Let's negotiate. Not willing to negotiate? Later, sucker.

But for us, the music is important. The night we met, we bonded over Mr. Thrifty's stellar iTunes playlist, and through our whole relationship, we exchanged mixed CDs like crazy with sweet, sappy love songs that really spoke to our long-distance relationship. Call it cheesy, whatever. Our lives together have a soundtrack, and we like it that way (even if a lot of the tracks were those super-lovey country songs that I secretly hate).

So maybe you see why this DJ decision is so important. That being said, we're willing to spend a little more in this area to make sure we get exactly what we want. It means putting on our toughest faces and negotiating, saving green in other areas, serving pizza at our reception (kidding)...everything that other budget brides-and-grooms-to-be have to deal with on a regular basis.

We just have to make it work and not go broke in the process. Easy enough, right? Maybe?

  

Have you had to negotiate with vendors to get them down to the right price? Or did you have to walk away from a too-expensive contract only to stumble upon a better (and cheaper!) option?

Keep on saving,
Hollie

 
Follow us on Twitter: @ThriftyinWhite