Getting married!

Congrads!!! And Best of Wishes.....
If I had it to do all over again - I would have a very close, home-style wedding. Keeping everything very simple, letting folks know that it is all about the two of you and not the money and frills! He is your best friend - do what best friends do best - be together!

Wonderful! Come over to the tightwad tips thread and we can surely come up with many many frugal idea there for your wedding...

Try a local university/college. Some have beautiful spots on the campus that they will allow to be used during Spring Break. You can save money by doing your own catering/reception. Start making finger foods/small cookies and freezing them. My mom did my sister's wedding for 300 people for under $5000 including church, reception, flowers, photographer, dress, etc... If you are willing and able to do a lot of the work yourself (or have friends who would like to give a wedding gift of their time), you can do a wedding inexpensively. Also, for my wedding, we did one-piece invitations - they folded to mail (I think as a trifold), so no cost for an envelope, and one of the folds was an RSVP postcard, so return postage was cheap too. They are a little more informal, but there are some BEAUTIFUL ones available.

-Joy

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-Joy

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The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. --Thomas A. Edison

My hubby and I got married and threw ourselves a reception the next day with delicious homemade food for under $1000 total (including clothes, marriage license, paying the minister, etc.) The place we were married is a little hole in the wall chapel that's behind a groovy bookstore that's been in business for over 30 years. I bought my dress for $65 from an asian import store. It's beautiful, all silk. Hubby wore jeans and a nice shirt, plus some fun and fancy shoes that were a gift. We "hired" a friend to cook for our reception, and she just charged us for the groceries. You do not need to spend alot, and, in fact, I think it's a more meaningful ceremony and gathering afterwords when it's creative and not designer carbon copy. We had lived together for many years, like you and your partner, so I didn't think wearing a white dress made any sense. Mine was red and black

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"Perhaps I'll have them string a clothesline from the hearse I am in, with my underwear waving in the breeze, as we drive to the cemetary. People worry about the dumbest things!"
by Wendy

Since you are in Pittsburgh, you should think about Phipps Conservatory...my Husband's brother got married there in one of the green house rooms and it was lovely...then they had the reception out at a restaurant his friend owns in Wexford...or at least out that waysomewhere.

I live in the South Hills and there are lots of restaurants out this way that do package deals...

OR be a true steel city girl and get married at Heinz Field! LOL

My husband and I were married in the park of a very small town. Had the local caterer make the food. "Garden party" dresses were in that year, so the bride, best woman, and matron of honor each bought a new garden party dress for the wedding. Some wild flowers on the picnic tables, and it was all very romantic

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Nothing is as strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength - St. Francis de Sales

Thanks!! We're excited about it! I was away yesterday, so I'm just seeing all this.

Loriann--Phipps was one of our first thoughts, since we love to go there--I still have to call them and see if they have any openings. I'm so glad to hear that you had a good experience there!

One of my cousins "catered" with Sam's Club, and I thought it was nice. I don't need everyone to oooh and aaah over the food--it's a wedding, not a restaurant opening. As long as it tastes good, looks ok, and there are plenty of vegetarian/vegan options (for me and my mom), it'll be fine.

I love the invitation idea! We're definitely looking for ways to save on invitations, since everyone but our parents are going to throw the things away anyway. We were thinking about getting a nice printer (we need a new one anyway--ours is dead), and doing the printing ourselves on some nice card stock.

Christine, thanks for the dress offer! I'm not sure how to work that out long distance--I think I'd better try on the ones here first, at least to know what kind of thing fits me. I always find it hard to get a dress to fit the way I want it to.

A local university is a good idea--there are plenty of pretty ones around here, and they probably wouldn't be all booked up the way some more traditional places might be.

I love the garden party idea--I was thinking of it too, actually--I'm only afraid that it will be too cold for that in April!

As soon as we get some basics pinned down (like date and location!) I'm sure I'll be bugging everyone on the Tightwad thread for more specific suggestions!

Thanks!

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And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb.. And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.. They shall not hurt nor destroy In all my holy mountain For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.