By Lisa Whitaker

I’m on a mission to help those who are on a budget plan a wedding. I added the fairy tale part myself, because probably the cheapest way to go about getting married is to go to the Justice of the Peace or elope to Gatlinburg or Las Vegas. But honestly, how many girls really want to do that? Don’t most girls dream about the day that they get to dress up in the white gown and walk down the aisle in front of all of their friends and family members? Sure they do. But with the cost of weddings these days, those dreams seem to be forgotten as people try to find the cheapest way out. My friend just got married in February, and her wedding cost $12,000! (And that doesn’t include the honeymoon!) That is ridiculous. But after talking to a few other people that recently got married, that seems to be about the going rate for a wedding in this era. And this cost doesn’t even include anything extravagant, just the basics. I think that is outrageous. So, my goal with this article is to figure out a way to plan a fairy tale wedding at half the amount: $6,000.00.

I have always wanted an outdoor wedding, because my parents and four other couples in my family have had outdoor weddings. So when I went to plan this “hypothetical wedding,” I made it an outdoor one. Now, if your dream is to get married in a church, some of the expenses that I had may not apply to you. But my real goal here is to give you an idea of ways to save money on your wedding.

I believe that the two most important parts of a wedding are the dress and the pictures. Every girl wants to look beautiful on her wedding day and wants to have great pictures to reflect on later. Now, as for the dress, I went to David’s Bridal to look at the $99 dresses that they advertise on the radio to see if they were worth it. And believe it or not, the dresses were nice. Most of them were overstock or something like that, but nothing was wrong with them. I found a really great dress on the $99 rack, but then you have to buy the slip to go underneath and a veil, so after those costs, the dress totaled about $200. A pretty wedding dress for $200! I couldn’t believe it.

The next important thing was the pictures. I called around town to get quotes from some of the big photographers, and got quotes anywhere from $1500 to $4000, depending on who you go to and what package you want. I know that these quotes sound high, but pictures are something that you will have forever and are the only way of being able to show off your wedding day for the rest of your life. I figured that I would probably spend about $2000 on pictures for my “wedding,” so we’ll use that amount for the total.

Although I think the dress and pictures are important, the first thing you probably need to get are the invitations. Most places charge about the same amount for invitations, but the more people, the more money it will cost you. I plan on inviting about 100 people to my “wedding”, so it would cost me around $250 plus $34 postage.

Okay, back to the wedding. I called Bouquet Flowers by Bev to get pricing on flowers for the entire wedding party. Bev estimated that the bride’s bouquet would cost around $85 and the flowers for the bridesmaids and groomsmen would total $125 (two bridesmaids, two groomsmen). You also have to buy lapel flowers for your parents, centerpiece decorations for the tables, and decorations for the reception. Bev came up with a total of about $300 for all of that. So, my grand total for flowers is $510.

Since I’m having an outdoor wedding, I needed pricing on rental for an arch, tables, chairs, a tent, etc. I called Burke’s Rental Center for the arch, and they have a white wood lattice arch that rents for $50. I then called Ballou’s Rent-All for pricing on chair rental. They happened to have white wood chairs to match the arch for $1.25 each. I needed 100, so chairs cost me $125. I then called Grand Rental Station for rental pricing on a tent (to go over the dance floor and food, tables, and a dance floor.) They had 8 serving tables for $5.50 each, and I figured I would probably need about 15 tables, so tables will cost me $82.50. They have a 20′ x 30′ tent that rents for $250, and they can also rent you a dance floor to go underneath the tent. I talked to Sandra at Grand Rental Station, and she helped me figure out what size dance floor I would need for 100 guests. She figured that a 15′ x 15′ dance floor would run me about $300. I also needed music for the dance floor, so I called a couple of DJ’s around town and got quotes for around $400 for the night.

Now that I have tables and chairs, I need food. Upper Crust Catering quoted me about $1000 for a 100 guest wedding for finger foods served buffet style. I called A Piece of Cake and was quoted about $220 on the cake, including the cake topper. That makes my grand total on food, not including alcoholic beverages, $1,220.

Now for the groom’s part. I called Colonel Quick Formal Wear to get pricing on tuxedo rental for the groom, and they have great tuxes for about $85. Traditionally, the groom is supposed to pay for the honeymoon, so I called around to get some pricing on that also. Since I’m doing this on a budget, I called Gatlinburg, TN, to see about chalet rentals that are specifically for honeymooners. They had one- bedroom log cabins with indoor jacuzzis and outdoor hot tubs for $100 a night. You can take a five night vacation for only $500! It doesn’t get much better than that. I’ll also add $200.00 spending money.

The last two things I’m going to need are a minister and a set of wedding bands. Most ministers do not have a set fee but do expect a tip, so I figure I’ll give my minister $50 to marry me (hey, I’m on a budget!) I called Davis Center Jewelers for rings and was told that they have bands from $45 each and up. I figured I’d probably spend about $100 each on the bands, so $200 total.

Okay, let’s add this all up. If I stay around $6,000, I have achieved my goal.

Dress and tuxedo: $285.00

Flowers: $510.00

Invitations: $284.00

Pictures: $2,000.00

Rings: $200.00

Minister: $50.00

Arch, tables, chairs, tent, dance floor: $807.50

Music: $400.00

Wedding Cake: $220.00

Catering: $1000.00

Honeymoon: $700.00

Grand Total: $6,456.50

I’ve done it! I have planned a fairy tale wedding in about half the cost of an average wedding. I’m glad this is over. I understand now why people get so stressed out when planning a wedding; there is a lot to cover. I hope you take some of the info I gave you and use it when planning your own fairy tale wedding. Good luck!