This moment is a blank canvas: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Planning a wedding in less than 5 months was pretty crazy. But we are so glad we took the fast track! We were still able to have our dream wedding, and I didn't feel that I had to compromise on anything because of time restraints. It was literally our PERFECT day. Our entire honeymoon (which was the week immediately following the wedding) we probably talked about how awesome the day was every hour on the hour, all while having perma smiles on our faces.

There were a lot of ups and downs in the planning process, from the guest list to having to find a dress with only 2.5 months to go. But we ended up pulling it off, and I'm glad we didn't settle for a wedding that was anything less than what we had dreamt of.

The weeks leading up to the wedding were pretty busy. I was what they call a "DIY Bride", so I was always busy with projects. The only services we "bought" were the DJ, florist, and the photographer. Other than that, everything was done by myself, my mom, my mother-in-law, my bridesmaids, and some family members. I was at Michaels no less than once every day or two. My mom came a week early to help craft the last of the decor. Finding a dress only 2.5 months before the wedding was also a nail biter! I went to 3 dress fittings before I finally got to take it home only 4 days before the wedding (they had to take it in twice because I was just shedding sizes from stress lol). In the end it all paid off because for everything we did ourselves it would have cost us probably another $5000-$10,000. I used Pinterest as my main source for ideas, but also checked blogs like Style Me Pretty, Green Wedding Shoes, Sash and Satin, The Wedding Chicks, and Mint Love Social Club daily.

A few tips I have for cutting costs from your budget would be:

1. Check with your local grocery store florist. A close friend used one for her wedding in the summer and I was so impressed that I knew I would use one as well. Most of the major grocery store florists have wedding packages. I used a Metro florist in St. Catharines and saved minimum $1000! My flowers were gorgeous, the manager was very easy to work with, and delivery/set up was only an extra $50. The base wedding package starts at $500 and includes A LOT.

2. Think about sourcing out and assembling your own centrepieces. Centrepiece rentals average at about $30+/table nowadays for something very simple. For about $18 I was able to make my own (with fresh flowers). I gave mine away at the end of the night, but you could sell anything reusable and make most of that money back as well. Also purchasing your own vases for altar pieces is another way to save. Mine were only $15 each and I can reuse or sell them. Or check kijiji or other online classified sites.

3. Accessories can get VERY expensive. I borrowed beautiful earrings from my Matron of Honour, a very sentimental necklace from my cousin, and a simple bracelet from my Bridesmaid/Sister-in-law. I shopped around a lot for these items before the wedding and didn't see myself paying less than $70-$100 (cheapest) for simple bridal jewelry that I would never wear again. My hair was polished off with a broach my Matron of Honour found at a grocery store for $10. My mother-in-law made my garter for me out of stretch lace I bought at a fabric store for $3 and leftover ribbon from my decor. She also sewed my reception sash, which was satin fabric and embellishments from Michaels. My ceremony sash was just thick satin ribbon trimmed at the ends. The sashes at the bridal store were $100 just to rent, or $300 to purchase. I had both sashes for less than $40. I purchased my ceremony and photo shoes at an ALDO outlet for $30, and bought $100 Toms wedges to dance the night away in. They are the most comfortable shoes I own and are perfect paired with skinny jeans, skirts, shorts, you name it. Definitely worth the $100 because they will be used for years to come.

******Don't be afraid to ask friends and family who have any talents you can use for help. They love you and will most likely bend over backwards to help out.******

4. Hair and makeup can run you a hefty bill. The mobile makeup artistry company I wanted to use was $90/bride and $75/bridesmaids not including false lashes, taxes and travel fee of $25. I opted to check kijiji as a last resort and found an ad which led to the website of my amazing makeup artist Maria Delduca. Her price was $70/bride and $60/bridesmaids including false lashes, and no travel fees or taxes.
You don't always have to use a salon for your hair and makeup. There are plenty of freelance artists out there working for cash and without all the overhead costs of a salon. Do your research!

5. Invitation suites can get VERY pricey. Luckily for me, my bridesmaid and now sister-in-law is a graphic designer, and is super creative. As soon as we set a date, I immediately asked her if she would design my invitations. It was her first time doing it, and she did an amazing job! She designed, had printed/cut, and assembled everything for me as a wedding gift. Here is a list of the stationery she designed:
-bridal shower invitation
-wedding invitation
-RSVP
-details/map
-program
-various signs for receiving table
-candy table signs
Similar packages go for hundreds of dollars, so we definitely saved a lot of $ there. But there are lots of other junior graphic designers out there offering their services for a fraction of the price because they are new to the industry. My sister in law has been asked by our friend to do their wedding stationery after seeing ours, and I got a ton of compliments on them. One friend told me they were the "nicest and fanciest she had ever seen".
There are also lots of free printables on websites like The Wedding Chicks if you wanted to make your own. Or Michaels offers tons of invitation suites that you print yourself and they are always going on sale.

Places I didn't cut costs:

1. Bridal party gifts were something I was dreading from the start. I had NO idea what to get my girls. I had already made them their "Be My Maid" boxes which you can see here, where I included $50 to help pay for their dresses. So I didn't have too much leftover in the budget for gifts, but I managed to put together a really cute gift with some handmade items. Most of the time bridesmaids end up with things they will never use again, so I wanted to make sure I put together a gift bag that was useful past my wedding day. Here is what I had in the bag:
-tshirt for photo ops (each girl had their initial & Bridesmaid or Matron of Honour on the tee)
-the gift bag itself was a reusable canvas bag that I put their initial on
-a flower clip clipped onto the bag mostly to jazz it up but could be used in their hair, on a belt, etc.
-Swarovski shambala style earrings
-a Sephora eyeshadow gift box set
-a grey pashmina (photo ops)
-pink Aritzia mittens
In total the gift bags were well under $100 each. I felt that it was an important part of my day to thank my girls and put together something that I knew they would all love. They were definitely worth the time and effort because they were well received!
I think there are ways to make sure your $ is going to useful things. I could have spent almost $100 on jewelry they will never wear again. Everyone allots different amounts to spend on their wedding party but this was one place I didn't want to be as frugal.

2. Venue, food, and drink are at the top of the wedding to do list. We wanted our venue to house the ceremony, photos, cocktail hour, and reception. It was very hard to find somewhere that did all this in the GTA that was an acceptable price. We picked Niagara-on-the-lake because the Vintage Hotel Group had an amazing winter special package that was reasonably priced, and had all of our must haves. Not only is it a gorgeous backdrop for photos, but the hotel had everything in one place. Plus we got to have a mini destination wedding (I had always wanted to have a destination wedding but with only 5 months from our engagement to our wedding day that was not feasible for guests). Some of our guests did wine tours while they were in the area and stayed an extra day. The food was amazing! It was all fresh locally grown produce. It came with a coordinator who I literally traded charts and mock up photos with. She made the biggest impact on our day because she really had everything under control and listened to every detail. Everything ran smoothly from start to finish. I would recommend them to anyone.

3. The dress was originally supposed to be made by a family member. Unfortunately due to health conditions, I was informed about 2.5 months before that she was unable to make the dress anymore. I was obviously devastated because that was the last thing on my mind. I also hadn't budgeted much for it because all I was planning on buying was material. That would only run a couple hundred dollars, unlike a store bought dress which would be a considerable amount more than that. Luckily for me, I have amazing parents who said they would help me with the cost of the dress. When i went shopping and started to see the price tags I was scared I would never find a dress without going into debt. After going to David's Bridal, which has very affordable prices, I realized that I was going to have to pay more for the quality I was looking for. My mom bargained with the sales lady and got alterations and taxes included for $100 less than the tag price (woohoo mom!). It was still a lot more than what I wanted to pay for a dress I would wear once, but it was definitely worth every penny. I felt beautiful all day!

Here are a few shots from our wedding day...aka THE BEST DAY EVER!

Getting ready for our big day