I have been swooning over this wedding since it arrived in my Two Bright Lights submission queue. Of course I always love Dixie Pixel’s work, so that was no surprise! In fact the bride loved Tara’s work so much that she spent over HALF her budget on the photography! It just goes to show how much brides value good photos– at the end of the day your photos are all you’ll be left with. If photos are your priority or if you just want to make sure you have a great documentation of your day, please don’t let your ‘uncle Bob’ shoot your wedding. Find a professional- do some research- find an up and coming photographer to save money if your budget is super tight- you will regret it if you don’t get great photos from your day. *steps off soap box*

This wedding has some really precious details even though the budget was small. The bride’s gorgeous dress, fab hairpiece and accessories are so perfect! I think they pulled off the peacock theme so well and in such a classy way. I’m particularly loving the dreamy shots at the end of the bride and groom- such a great looking couple! Thanks so much to Brooklyn and Joshua for sharing your big day with us!!

What was your budget?

$ 5,500 (We went a bit over budget but received a donation for the wedding which put us under budget)
Photography: $ 3,000
Videographer: free, friend who is in art school agreed to video the wedding and add a few special touches in the editing process since she is a graphic designer
Caterer: Catering service – $750- a gift, only paid for cost of food (dessert reception, coffee bar, & heavy hors d’oeuvres)
Flowers: $50- bridal bouquet and corsages were fresh flowers and made by sister-in-law and friend as a wedding gift, boutonnieres and bridesmaid lanterns were made by the bride
Venue: free, mother-in-law’s church
Music and DJ: free, from talented people in our lives who play the Saxophone, guitar, and drums agreed to play at the wedding, the DJ for the reception was a friend who has experience with sound systems and had a great voice to announce all events at the reception
Linens and Chairs: free, complimentary from church
Centerpieces and decorations: $275 -collected candle holders, vases, etc. from friends and family, lanterns, candles, and tall vases from IKEA, peacock feathers and tulle bought online at Save-on-crafts.com
Wedding Dress: $900- (hair piece and jewelry were gifts) from Bride Beautiful in ATL, shoes bought online at Overstock.com
Suit for Groom: $200- Overstock.com and it fit perfectly, tie- Macy’s
Groomsman: $100- matching ties, Macy’s
Gifts for Bridesmaids: $100- bought at a jewelry show in Gatlinburg, TN where items are sold at wholesale, travel bags with names monogrammed on them, and jewelry for every bridesmaid
Gifts for Groomsman: $80 lighters with special touches for each individual Groomsman
Officiate donation: $75, he is a friend and we gave him a gift but he didn’t charge us for his service
All other miscellaneous expenses:   $200

How many guests did you have?

275

What creative or personal aspects did you include in your wedding?

I didn’t want my Bridesmaids to carry a standard bouquet and since the wedding was meant to be outdoors in the evening I wanted them to carry candle lit lanterns that were decorated with peacock feathers.  Also every centerpiece was different and had a story to go along with its origination.  We also had a time of worship during our wedding ceremony to thank our Lord for creating the gift of marriage.

What was the biggest thing you did to save money?

We asked all of our friends and family to donate their talents as wedding gifts. For example, my mom’s friend is a caterer and gave her catering services as a wedding gift and only charged us for the cost of food.  My friend is in a Praise and Worship band and she gave the gift of her voice along with the guys from the band who blessed us with their instrumental talents.

What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side?

Make it your own. Don’t let people overwhelm you with etiquette or details that you don’t like.  Don’t sweat the little things. What matters most are you, your husband, and having pictures to remember your special day.

What was your biggest splurge?

Photography, Tara at Dixie Pixel shot our Engagement pictures and after seeing her work I had to have her for the wedding! I saved all my pennies and booked her for the wedding!

What was your favorite detail?

My favorite detail was the small, hand-made paper peacocks that my sweet family spent hours making to add to the wedding centerpieces. Also I loved the starry night we created inside because our outdoor wedding was moved indoors due to the biggest storm of the spring season.

What is the most memorable moment of your day?

I loved the moment when we recited our written vows to each other and the Lord showered us with his blessings. Literally during our vows it was raining so hard that some guests thought we were experiencing tornado activity.

VENDORS:

Photography: Dixie Pixel Photography
Gown: Bride Beautiful

Lance and Heather’s fall themed wedding had lots of adorable details-  from the pumpkins to the leaf cookies- they really followed through with their autumn inspired wedding. This couple used pumpkins in so many interesting ways! As decorations for their altar and aisle, as glowing centerpieces at their reception, even painted on some of them- and the effect is just beautiful! Their reception looks just magical with the glowing pumpkins and the leaves dangling from the ceiling- so incredibly creative- I just love it! This wedding was very DIY heavy- with some DIT (do-it-together!) thrown in with help from family and friends! Another interesting thing about this wedding is that the GROOM did much of the detail and DIY planning, and he is also the one who filled out the questionnaire! A first for BS-WOW! So cute. Hope you love this wedding, and the photos by Joe Hendricks Photography as much as I do!!

What was your budget?

To be honest, we did not have a set budget.  We started paying off things early…bought ribbon, wreaths, etc about a year in advance. Our rough budget was about $4,500 with several goods and services donated by family and friends.

How many guests did you have?

We had around 550 guests.

What creative or personal aspects did you include in your wedding?

Since we had a fall themed wedding, everything revolved around fall.  We did not want to spend thousands of dollars on flowers…because it was a one time venue and they would wilt the next morning.  Therefore, we went to a pumpkin farm in West Tennessee and picked up about 35 pumpkins.  We used that as the basis for our wedding.  We lined the ledge behind us with pumpkins…then put a few fall colored flowers/greenery in between each pumpkin.  Finally, we lined the front of the stage with fall colored mums…wrapped in an elegant brown/silver ribbon/bow.  Throughout the foyer of the church, mums and pumpkins were placed everywhere.  All of the mums were wrapped in the brown satin ribbon.  I then took brown acrylic paint and painted a cursive “H” on the pumpkins to represent our last name. To line the aisle, I thought it would be neat to have pumpkin topiaries.  Therefore, I went to Michaels, bought the fake pumpkins, drilled holes in them, and stuck a small pipe through them into a big can full of concrete.  We then placed them into a big planter that looked like an acorn.  Finally, the florist decorated them with greenery and brown ribbons.  They were perfect!  And…they now adorn our front porch at fall time…..they’ll be a yearly decoration that we will continue to cherish for years to come.

Our reception was held inside the gymnasium.  Therefore, as you would think…it’s UGLY!  We checked into a lighting company, and it was going to cost $2,500!!!  That was a definite NO!  However, we knew we did NOT want to use the overhead gym lights.  We came up with a spectacular idea that looked amazing and was not too expensive.  The end result was amazing!  We bought 2,000 helium balloons (black), black curling ribbon, and silk fall colored leaves.  The morning of the wedding, we blew up the balloons, tied black curling ribbon to the bottom, and then tied a silk leaf onto the bottom of the curling ribbon.  A few short hours later, the end result was immaculate!  It felt like leaves were literally falling on you.  We then strung simple white Christmas lights in an “X” pattern to provide some additional light.  We then strung little can lights to go over the food table and cakes.  Besides that, we had no other additional lighting besides the candles on the table.  The end result was very elegant.  On the tables, each table had a pumpkin in the center.  I took a drill and drilled several holes in them to allow the candle light inside to cascade through.  Some tables had white pumpkins with brown paint monogramming or the cursive “H.”  Around the pumpkins were a bunch of fall leaves…then plain votive candles were placed around the pumpkins.  Since the tables had a shimmery brown fabric on top of the cream colored table cloth, the fabric caught the light of the candles for a cool effect.  We also knew that we did not want to spend thousands of dollars on food–especially since we knew we were having several hundred guests.  Therefore, we decided to have a dessert reception complete with sugar cookies, cheesecake squares, nuts, wedding cake, grooms cake, punch, and coffee.  The centerpiece of the entire reception featured a “cookie tree.”  We MADE 1,600 sugar cookies (maple leaf shaped), iced them, then used pearl dust to give them a shimmery fall color.  We then literally went outside, cut down a tree, and put it in the center of the food table.  We then tied several cookies to the tree….and the rest were cascading down from the tree all over the table…giving it the effect that they had “fallen.”

What was the biggest thing you did to save money?

We had friends/family members help bake all of the cookies.  They baked them, gave them to us, and we froze them until wedding time.  They were made months in advance.  Also, being creative and thinking of other ways to make the wedding pretty without the use of flowers…since they are so expensive!

What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side?

Start early– you can save lots of money if you give yourself time to make things in advance and do lots of DIY projects.

What was your biggest splurge?

One of the biggest splurges we had was the balloons, curling ribbon, and leaves….but it was totally worth the price–plus, way way way cheaper than hiring a lighting company…plus, we achieved a better atmosphere than with just lighting alone.

What was your favorite detail?

The balloons with the leaves hanging from the ceiling. The effect was so amazing!

What is the most memorable moment of your day?

When the preacher asked, “Are there rings?” the groom pulled out a sparkly, light up ring that you would find at a carnival………it was hilarious!  Then, to top that, the matron of honor forgot the groom’s wedding ring.  Therefore, with the preacher’s quick thinking, he pulled off his wedding band and handed it to the bride………..the audience never knew!

VENDORS:

No vendors were used besides Joe Hendricks photography!

This sweet DIY wedding comes from Smithville, Tennessee and has a lovely spring color scheme. This couple saved by choosing a date in the ‘off season’ for their wedding and by working with new, up-and-coming vendors to keep their costs down! I love the aqua and pink color scheme and all the fun details at the reception! Jessica & Todd pulled off their wedding for just under 100 guests for $6,000! Well done! Thanks for sharing your lovely wedding with us!

What was your budget?

Everything total from stockings to catering less than $6,000

$400 wedding gown
$50 photography – a guy I found online that does them as a hobby with his wife, he gave me rights to all the photo files!
$600 site rental from 9 am-midnight
$1600 food including 3 appetizers, full dinner and dessert beer & wine with servers and cleaning crew
$170 three tiered polka dot wedding cake and Patriots helmet grooms cake
$269 for all bouquets and boutonnieres and orchards for center pieces
$550 DJ with 2 set ups  one each for ceremony and reception plus dance floor lighting
$200 officiant
$2000 misc ceremony/reception décor… center pieces, linins, rentals, coordinator…

How many guests did you have?

96

What creative or personal aspects did you include in your wedding?

We did TONS of DIY.. polka dotted water bottles which cost $20 for 100, bubbles, napkins, and my favorite being votives with wraps I designed, printed and put together myself with all materials total = $45 for over 100 personalized

What was the biggest thing you did to save money?

LOCATION!!! First from morning to midnight the site was ours for only $600 since our date was the off seasons. Second Smithville is really far from where we live and most friends and co-workers live. That alone cut our guest list dramatically. With the site being so far away only true friends and family would want to make that drive and cut out all the people coming just for the food and alcohol! It’s a BIG SAVER if you can cut your guest count!

What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side?

For all the vendors that aren’t as important on your list… look for graduate students. They have some experience and can show samples of friends and family they have worked for, but not enough experience to charge you outrageous prices. I got my cake and grooms cake $170 and they both turned out awesome!!!

What was your biggest splurge?

Decorations by far, still relatively low cost compared to other local weddings, but next to everything else I paid for the decorations and “little add ons” here and there really add up.

What was your favorite detail?

A tie between the votives I made for every table and the personalized water bottle wraps.. They’re what made it “my” wedding.

What is the most memorable moment of your day?

Our first dance. Everyone was watching in awe and we were surrounded yet the moment seemed so personal and ours. It was perfect!

VENDORS:
Venue: Lake Side Resort
Planner: I Do Weddings TN
Catering: Wildberry Catering

This budget savvy wedding comes to us from my hometown of Murfreesboro, Tennessee! I am loving the unique color scheme of green and gray and the use of peacock feathers in lieu of bridesmaids’ bouquets, so very budget-savvy! The couple pulled off their sweet budget wedding for $6,000- and the bride still got to wear her dream dress! You can tell how happy they are by the bride’s face- her smile definitely lights up a room! Thanks Rachel and Cody for sharing your wedding with us!

What was your budget?

Our original budget was $5000 but I ended up going over by about $1000 because of my dress, so we spent $6,000 total.

How many guests did you have?

We had right around 100 guests.

What creative or personal aspects did you include in your wedding?

Everything that I wanted for my wedding just happened to tie together perfectly. I wanted gray and green as my colors and it just so happened that Cody had always wanted to wear a gray tux. I wanted to do something more creative than just having the girls carry bouquets so I had them carry peacock feathers, which went beautifully with the colors I had picked. I wanted a subtle 40′s theme, and the ring we picked out (that I got after we started planning the wedding) was made in the 40′s. The whole wedding turned out more perfect than I could have imagined.

What was the biggest thing you did to save money?

I did/made everything myself. I made the ring bearer pillow, the flower girl basket, the centerpieces, the decorations at the end of the aisle, the favors, the boutineers…everything. I also used my connections. The photographer was a family friend who took pictures as a wedding present for us, same thing with the cake. My mom knew somebody that did catering, and she only charged us for the cost of the food, which was only $300 for heavy appetizers. We also limited the alcohol to beer and wine. We got 2 kegs and 54 bottles of wine it was plenty and it saved us SO much money.

What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side?

Don’t worry about the little things. There were so many little things that I stressed out about because I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted to do programs, have ushers, and labels for the favors, but in the end we didnt have time. Nobody noticed any of those things at all. Also, you need a GREAT day of coordinater. I don’t know what I would have done without mine. She handled everything before I even had the chance to worry about it. Apparently when all the centerpieces got to the venue, the bottom fell out of the box and all the glasses shattered. She took care of it, bought new glasses, and fixed
everything. Nobody told me until halfway through the reception that anything had happened. Again, I don’t know what I would have done without her.

What was your biggest splurge?

My dress. It was $1000, but worth every penny. I could not have dreamed of a dress more perfect for me.

What was your favorite detail?

Probably the feathers. I love peacock feathers and I was very glad to find a unique way to tie them into our wedding.

What is the most memorable moment of your day?

The reception in general. Because not only did I just marry the love of my life, but I was celebrating with everybody that I loved. I had so much fun, and was so happy to have everybody I loved share our special day with us.

VENDORS

Photographer- Guy Garrett
Ceremony Venue- Stones River Baptist Church
DJ- Middle Tennessee DJ
Reception Venue- The Vine

{all photos by Guy Garrett}

What was your budget? If you are able, give us a rough breakdown of how you spent your budget.

We went up and down on this, started at $10,000 then realized that was unrealistic for 300 people, then up to about $18,000 prior to the wedding. We had fewer guests than we budgeted for (thank goodness!) so we ended up spending about $16,000 including EVERYTHING except the honeymoon.  Here’s the breakdown:

Ceremony (rental of venue, chair rentals, minimal decor, bells, pillows and accessories for flower girls/ ring bearers, gift for officiant):  $712

Attire/Personal (my dress and alterations, shoes, undergarments, hair for me and my bridesmaids/mom, mani/pedi):  $1100
I saved a lot here by buying my simple dress from OnceWed.com and having some embellishments (the ruffle at the hem and bow on the back) sewn on by a local seamstress, but I splurged by paying for all my girls’ and mom’s hair to be done because we had the wiggle room at the end.  My husband wore a suit he already owned so that was zero dollars.

Flowers (bridal party bouquets and boutonnieres, few flowers for reception, most flowers for reception were picked from my mother in law’s and her friends’ yards, and arranged by them):  $643

Reception (venue, food, cupcakes, wine and beer that we brought ourselves, decorations, DJ, cocktail table, linen, dance floor and chair cover rentals):  $7645
We saved a ton by using a non-traditional wedding venue, we only spent about $20/ per person for a full buffet and wait staff, for 190 people it was important to keep the food costs down.  We also saved a ton by bringing in our own alcohol, and limiting it to wine and beer.  The state park hosts a lot of conferences so they had great catering facilities and were amazing to work with.  The downside was that we had to bring in the dancefloor and some other rentals to spruce up the boring room, but it still ended up being a cost-saver.

Photographer:  $1542
We found a new-ish photographer that other brides were happy with from the knot, and got a great deal on a huge package.  We were ecstatic about our engagement photos but our wedding photos were not as great as we had hoped. This was an area where I wish we had splurged more.

Invitations (save the dates, invitations, thank you notes and postage for all of those):  $743
We used a designer I found on etsy who said she would design our invites for free to build her portfolio, but she ended up asking us to pay her, which we did.  This ended up being a splurge when I hadn’t planned on spending this much, but I looooved our invites so it worked out.

Gifts (wedding party, shower hosts, helpers, welcome bags):  $1310
We had so many family and friends who helped us pull this wedding off that we were pretty generous with nice gifts and welcome bags for everyone who traveled to the woods for our wedding weekend.  No regrets here.

Hospitality (dinner for helpers on Thurs. night, snacks, drinks for hospitality suite, etc.): $310

Hotel Rooms at the park (hospitality suite which is where I stayed, cabin for the groom, each for four nights):  $1428

Rings (wedding bands only):  $1016
We had my engagement ring custom made by a local jeweler and he made my band to match, plus found us a great deal on Dave’s ring.

What creative or personal aspects did you include in your wedding?

One of the most personal aspects was asking the judge I worked for in my first job after law school to officiate for us– it was a treat to have someone we both admire and who knows us well perform our ceremony.  We also personalized a traditional ceremony script, adding a group blessing, warming of the rings, and a lot of music by our talented friends.

We had a lot of touches that weren’t necessarily “personal” but just made the wedding weekend feel like “us”– we had a relaxing welcome supper to which we invited all of our guests, instead of a rehearsal dinner, the whole weekend was very laid back and encouraged our favorite people to get to know one another and enjoy the beauty of our home state.  We planned times we could spend time with guests, and down time so people could do things on their own and we got to relax.

As for DIY, I did as much as I’ve been able to, since we were on a tight budget, and also since our colors (hot pink and navy) were not easy to find on pre-made things.  I’ve made floral headpieces for the flower girls, sewed pillows for the ring bearers, printed, cut, and assembled our wedding invites, made cupcake stands and guest book surveys, all the signage for the reception, and a million other little projects!  In addition, we had so many family members and friends pitching in on the wedding weekend, we could not have done it without them!  Our friends and family were the ceremony musicians, tended bar at the reception, picked up cupcakes on the morning of the wedding, helped us decorate and arrange flowers for the festivities, baked a small wedding cake for us to cut…  I could go on and on!

What was the biggest thing you did to save money?

By far our biggest budget saver was booking the state park.  Because it’s not really a wedding venue, they’re not charging wedding prices.  Since we could bring our own liquor, I bought our wine from a neighborhood store and got a great bulk discount, plus I like supporting a neighborhood business.  We saved a ton on flowers (which were the main decor) because my fantastic mother in law and her friends brought them from their gardens and arranged them.  We also borrowed decor items like votives from a friend who recently got married.

What’s the best advice you have for planning your wedding now that you’re on the other side?

If you’ve spent your whole time planning scrimping and saving, let yourself splurge a little at the end, especially on things that otherwise stress you out.  I researched and compared prices exhaustively all along, but when it came time to buy the alcohol, I just went to two stores, because I was exhausted.  I don’t know if we got the best deal, I know it fit the budget and it got done.  I had asked my bridesmaids to pay to have their hair done, but we had wiggle room at the end, and when it came down to it I was happy to write that check so they didn’t have to worry about it.

Actually I have two tips– the second one is that you have to decide to enjoy your day, and to let all the stresses and things that go wrong (and they will) fade away.  I am so type A and had planned this wedding weekend down to a T, but rain all weekend threw all our plans out the window.  I had decided not to let anything bother me and enjoy the day, so I kept a smile on my face, and it really didn’t bother me.  REALLY.  I had to try hard to do this, but it worked.  I focused on being in the moment and enjoying all my friends and family, and tuning out any negativity.  I literally walked away from people a few times because they were bringing me down.  And I had an awesome day with my new husband.

What was your biggest splurge?

Chair covers, which we spent almost $700 on.  Dave really really wanted them (and he only cared about three or four things during the whole planning process), and I thought it was a waste of money.  He found the money to pay for them, and he was totally right.  When we set up the reception room, it made SUCH a difference.  The room was pretty drab, and the existing chairs were ugly, but the chaircovers really did turn it into a more formal, beautiful space.

What was your favorite detail?

My dress/ shoes.  I was comfortable and felt so beautiful all day, and like myself.  I worked really hard on the dress but I got what I wanted, it reflected my personality and style.  Loved it.

What is the most memorable moment of your day?

Really it was lots of moments all day long.  We had monsoon rains all weekend, and I had to decide on the morning of our wedding whether to move the ceremony inside to the reception venue.  We so wanted to be married beside the beautiful lake, but the whole area was a muddy mess, so I made the decision to move it inside (Dave was golfing in the rain when it was time to make this call but he later agreed).  Once the decision to move it inside was made, all my weather worries faded away because it was out of my hands, I loosened up and just enjoyed the day!  ( We did get to take some photos by the lake during a break in the rain, so I can pretend we got married there.) All day long, we were moving things around and making changes from our well-laid plans, which could have been REALLY stressful, but it wasn’t.  I ended up spending a lot more time with Dave and a few key helpers (my stepmom was a hero) than I expected, and they just lifted us up.  These are the moments I remember– it really felt like a team effort, and we pulled it off.  I felt married that morning even before the ceremony, when Dave was helping me move things around and we just had to figure out how to make it work, together.  I was never more certain that he was the right one.

Vendors:
Venue:  Fall Creek Falls State Park
Hair:  Steven’s Salon
DJ:  FADDS Mobile DJ
Cupcakes and petit fours:  Publix
Rentals:  RSVP Rentals, Linens and chair covers
Alterations:  AAA Alterations
Photos:  Misti Abner Photography