I've created my own Wedding Checklist, Excel Budget, and Vendor Payment Tracker. I thought I should share them with you.
If for any reason you can't access these documents, please leave me a comment with your email address and I'll send it to you that way.
Wedding Checklist
I compiled this list with the help of theknot.com and the Bridal Bargains book.
Wedding Budget
This is the actual Excel sheet that I am using, so obviously its not going to work for everyone. It is set up to calculate the Already Purchased column total from the Actual Amount column total to show you what you have spent so far.
Payment Schedule
You can enter in your vendors and payment information as you receive contracts. The Payments by Month portion is something I created where I showed a 12 month countdown to my wedding to figure out what needed to be purchased/paid for each month. It allows me to see how much money we need to have put away.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Just Starting Out...
I feel like crap tonight so instead of cleaning my apartment, I figured I'd post this.
There are a lot of posts on theknot about being on a budget and how to figure out a budget, so I thought this could be useful. I'm basically going to give some general advice on planning and finding vendors. So, lets start at the beginning.
You Just Got Engaged
Congrats! Now what you should do is figure out how much money a wedding costs in your area. You can go to http://www.costofwedding.com/ and enter in your zip code. Did that number completely freak you out? I'll admit, it freaked me out, a lot. So now you need to figure out how much money you can afford to spend. How much money can you save in a month? How much can your fiance save? How long do you want to be engaged? Get that total and now you have a rough idea of what your budget will be.
A word of advice, don't depend on money from other people. Sure, your parents or your in-laws might tell you that they will give you money, but until that money is in your hand, pretend that it doesn't exist. Also, remember that he who pays has a say.
Start saving money right away! You want to create a cushion in case some emergency comes up that you need money for. Another bit of advice, pick up a copy of the Bridal Bargains book. Its definitely helped me along the way and will give you an idea of a timeline to get things done.
Creating a Guest List
Once you have a rough idea of what you can spend, you need to create a guest list to see if that number still works for you. First, make a list of all of your friends and family that you want to invite. If that number seems really large, start cutting back. Maybe you just want to invite parents, siblings, aunts & uncles, first cousins and close friends. Or maybe you have enough room to include 2nd and 3rd cousins, co-workers and old friends from college.
Finding a Venue
This is where you can get pretty creative. If you don't want to get married in your church or your not religious, there are a lot of locations where you can have a ceremony and reception in the same place. Use Craigslist, your local knot board, google and maybe even your friends to help you find some possible places. A family members backyard, a local park, restaurant, banquet hall, winery, mansion, etc. Or if you want a destination wedding, start looking those up. Sometimes its cheaper to do that than it is to have an at-home wedding, but it all depends on you and what you want.
Caterer
If you find a venue that isn't a full service one, you'll need to start looking for caterer. Warning: food can cost up to 50% of your budget. Now might be the time to start thinking about your guest list again. A wise knottie once said "Would you be willing to lend (name) $50 and never see that money again, or $100 for them to have a date?" If the answer is no, then you should start cutting back your guest list. A lot of brides are now serving BBQ style food because its filling and usually averages $20 per person. A steak and lobster meal can cost up to $110 per person depending on your area. You also want to find a caterer that will provide all of your rentals too. This isn't something that I did, but we were able to get discounts and it ended up saving us money.
Photographer & Videographer
For me, this was the hardest vendor to find. I knew what style I wanted, but I could not find anyone within our price range. You can use your local knot board for recommendations, Craigslist or check out http://www.ppa.com/ for a list of photographers in your area. Look at their websites and see what style of photos they take. Do you want more posed and formal shots or do you like artsy, off center pictures? Then find a photographer that fits your style. For me, its photojournalistic. I absolutely love that look.
Photographers are one vendor that you can definitely ask for a lower price. Most are willing to create custom packages for you in your budget. But you need to know what you want first. What is important to you? Having a ton of photos while you are getting ready and going all the way to the end of the reception? And engagement or trash the dress shoot? A CD of all of your pictures? Albums for your parents? Albums are typically what causes the price to go up, so a lot of brides are opting to make their own wedding album. If this is something that interests you, definitely ask your photographer about either removing that from a package or subsituting it for something else. In my case, we're subsituting a proof book for an engagement session because we'll have an online photo gallery instead. Now, meet with photographers and ask to see tons of pictures from their weddings. If you don't like their personality or their pictures, you don't want to chose them. Think about it, you're going to spend more time that day with your photographer than anyone else. You want to feel comfortable around them.
I'm not have a videographer. A few family members have video cameras and might film it for us, but it wasn't something that either of us found to be important. If it is to you, I'm pretty sure finding one is just like finding a photographer. When you have that connection, you know its going to go over well.
Officiants
If you're not getting married in a church, you'll need to find someone to marry you. In some states, a friend or family member can be ordained online and can marry you. This was not an easy search for us. Officiants in MD are pretty expensive. The more customization you want for your ceremony, the more money it will cost.
The Dress
You want to start looking for your dress 8-12 months before your wedding because some dresses can take up to 6-8 months to come in. Look online first and figure out what type of style you like. Ballgown, mermaid, sheath, tea-length, lace, silk, etc. Then, head on out to the stores to try some on. Make sure not to try on dresses that are out of your budget. You don't want to fall in love with a dress that you can't afford. And try on dresses that you didn't think you would like, you might just change your mind.
Florist
What is your favorite flower? Is it in season for your wedding? Flowers that are out of season can be really, really expensive. Pick out a few flowers that you like and then meet with a florist to figure out what they cost. If a florist seems to expensive for you, visit a grocery store and see if they will make the bouquets for you. Or, you could think about DIYing the flowers. There are tons of online wholesalers who provide flowers at pretty reasonable rates.
Baker
By this point, I'm sure you've figured out that if the word wedding is attached, the prices go up...a lot. So, you have some options here. Fondant is expensive. Yes, it creates that smooth sleek look, but its going to cost your more money. From my research, I've found that a local bakery thats been in operation for years is usually pretty cheap. You could also use a grocery store for this as well. Another money saver is to have a small wedding cake to cut, but serve your guests from a sheetcake thats much cheaper to make and doesn't need to be decorated because no one will see it.
Paper
Invitations can be crazy expensive. Rising prices at the post office don't help much either. Find some styles that you like and then look around on other websites to see if you can find a coupon or sale. Or, the Budget Board #1 recommendation: Vistaprint. Vistaprint is freaking awesome. There are no other words for it. You can sign up and get offers in your email for free postcards, business cards, magnets, just about anything. And they have these deals ALL of the time. You can also go the DIY route if you feel crafy enough. http://www.cardsandpockets.com/ is another great website and I'll be using them for our invitations.
This is getting long enough, so I just want to give some other basic advice.
There are a lot of posts on theknot about being on a budget and how to figure out a budget, so I thought this could be useful. I'm basically going to give some general advice on planning and finding vendors. So, lets start at the beginning.
You Just Got Engaged
Congrats! Now what you should do is figure out how much money a wedding costs in your area. You can go to http://www.costofwedding.com/ and enter in your zip code. Did that number completely freak you out? I'll admit, it freaked me out, a lot. So now you need to figure out how much money you can afford to spend. How much money can you save in a month? How much can your fiance save? How long do you want to be engaged? Get that total and now you have a rough idea of what your budget will be.
A word of advice, don't depend on money from other people. Sure, your parents or your in-laws might tell you that they will give you money, but until that money is in your hand, pretend that it doesn't exist. Also, remember that he who pays has a say.
Start saving money right away! You want to create a cushion in case some emergency comes up that you need money for. Another bit of advice, pick up a copy of the Bridal Bargains book. Its definitely helped me along the way and will give you an idea of a timeline to get things done.
Creating a Guest List
Once you have a rough idea of what you can spend, you need to create a guest list to see if that number still works for you. First, make a list of all of your friends and family that you want to invite. If that number seems really large, start cutting back. Maybe you just want to invite parents, siblings, aunts & uncles, first cousins and close friends. Or maybe you have enough room to include 2nd and 3rd cousins, co-workers and old friends from college.
Finding a Venue
This is where you can get pretty creative. If you don't want to get married in your church or your not religious, there are a lot of locations where you can have a ceremony and reception in the same place. Use Craigslist, your local knot board, google and maybe even your friends to help you find some possible places. A family members backyard, a local park, restaurant, banquet hall, winery, mansion, etc. Or if you want a destination wedding, start looking those up. Sometimes its cheaper to do that than it is to have an at-home wedding, but it all depends on you and what you want.
Caterer
If you find a venue that isn't a full service one, you'll need to start looking for caterer. Warning: food can cost up to 50% of your budget. Now might be the time to start thinking about your guest list again. A wise knottie once said "Would you be willing to lend (name) $50 and never see that money again, or $100 for them to have a date?" If the answer is no, then you should start cutting back your guest list. A lot of brides are now serving BBQ style food because its filling and usually averages $20 per person. A steak and lobster meal can cost up to $110 per person depending on your area. You also want to find a caterer that will provide all of your rentals too. This isn't something that I did, but we were able to get discounts and it ended up saving us money.
Photographer & Videographer
For me, this was the hardest vendor to find. I knew what style I wanted, but I could not find anyone within our price range. You can use your local knot board for recommendations, Craigslist or check out http://www.ppa.com/ for a list of photographers in your area. Look at their websites and see what style of photos they take. Do you want more posed and formal shots or do you like artsy, off center pictures? Then find a photographer that fits your style. For me, its photojournalistic. I absolutely love that look.
Photographers are one vendor that you can definitely ask for a lower price. Most are willing to create custom packages for you in your budget. But you need to know what you want first. What is important to you? Having a ton of photos while you are getting ready and going all the way to the end of the reception? And engagement or trash the dress shoot? A CD of all of your pictures? Albums for your parents? Albums are typically what causes the price to go up, so a lot of brides are opting to make their own wedding album. If this is something that interests you, definitely ask your photographer about either removing that from a package or subsituting it for something else. In my case, we're subsituting a proof book for an engagement session because we'll have an online photo gallery instead. Now, meet with photographers and ask to see tons of pictures from their weddings. If you don't like their personality or their pictures, you don't want to chose them. Think about it, you're going to spend more time that day with your photographer than anyone else. You want to feel comfortable around them.
I'm not have a videographer. A few family members have video cameras and might film it for us, but it wasn't something that either of us found to be important. If it is to you, I'm pretty sure finding one is just like finding a photographer. When you have that connection, you know its going to go over well.
Officiants
If you're not getting married in a church, you'll need to find someone to marry you. In some states, a friend or family member can be ordained online and can marry you. This was not an easy search for us. Officiants in MD are pretty expensive. The more customization you want for your ceremony, the more money it will cost.
The Dress
You want to start looking for your dress 8-12 months before your wedding because some dresses can take up to 6-8 months to come in. Look online first and figure out what type of style you like. Ballgown, mermaid, sheath, tea-length, lace, silk, etc. Then, head on out to the stores to try some on. Make sure not to try on dresses that are out of your budget. You don't want to fall in love with a dress that you can't afford. And try on dresses that you didn't think you would like, you might just change your mind.
Florist
What is your favorite flower? Is it in season for your wedding? Flowers that are out of season can be really, really expensive. Pick out a few flowers that you like and then meet with a florist to figure out what they cost. If a florist seems to expensive for you, visit a grocery store and see if they will make the bouquets for you. Or, you could think about DIYing the flowers. There are tons of online wholesalers who provide flowers at pretty reasonable rates.
Baker
By this point, I'm sure you've figured out that if the word wedding is attached, the prices go up...a lot. So, you have some options here. Fondant is expensive. Yes, it creates that smooth sleek look, but its going to cost your more money. From my research, I've found that a local bakery thats been in operation for years is usually pretty cheap. You could also use a grocery store for this as well. Another money saver is to have a small wedding cake to cut, but serve your guests from a sheetcake thats much cheaper to make and doesn't need to be decorated because no one will see it.
Paper
Invitations can be crazy expensive. Rising prices at the post office don't help much either. Find some styles that you like and then look around on other websites to see if you can find a coupon or sale. Or, the Budget Board #1 recommendation: Vistaprint. Vistaprint is freaking awesome. There are no other words for it. You can sign up and get offers in your email for free postcards, business cards, magnets, just about anything. And they have these deals ALL of the time. You can also go the DIY route if you feel crafy enough. http://www.cardsandpockets.com/ is another great website and I'll be using them for our invitations.
This is getting long enough, so I just want to give some other basic advice.
- Decide on what you want vs. what you need. This is key for a budget.
- Create a budget sheet in excel to track what you are spending.
- No one is going to pay attention to your chairs or table linens. Your guests will remember the food and music.
- Ignore magazines and the internet. The wedding market is notorious for making you think you need personalized favors, a photobooth, a live band, chivari chairs and a ton of other crap that really isn't necessary.
- And, when all else fails, come visit us on the Budget Board on theknot. Navybaby1113 is an awesome moderator and so are the other knotties on there. We're going through the same things you are and I guarantee we can help you find the cheapest floating candles, centerpieces, linens, or anything else that you need.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Photographer Meeting #1
Today I had a meeting with one of the photographers recommended from theknot.com. Stephanie was a little out of our budget but we had been emailing back and forth and she said that everyone should have photography that they love regardless of the price.
T didn't want to come with me. He thinks photographers are boring and they won't ever show you bad photographs so whats the point. I tried explaining that you need to like the personality of the photographer, but he doesn't get it. So my mom came with me.
I was not expecting Stephanie to be my age. Her work is amazing for someone that young. One of the first questions she asked me was where we were having the wedding. When I said the name of the winery she got really excited and said that she's photographed weddings there before and loved it. That was a huge selling point for me. I looked through a sample book of hers that was actually from the winery.
We went over my huge list of questions and I found out that she's really good friends with similar photographers that if she ended up being sick that day we would get someone with the same style. She said she's never been sick before but its always great to have a back up like that. And if she was to be sick, we would be the first people to find out. Pretty comforting. All of her photos are taken in high resolution in color and then she chooses which ones look better in black and white but we can also tell her to change them if we want.
T doesn't want us to be on the internet so I thought finding a photographer to agree to that would be difficult. Stephanie said that she doesn't have any problems with it and she would ask our permission before putting any pictures online.
Here's what we can get:
4-6 hours of coverage
online password protected gallery of all edited images
a high resolution DVD with all images that we can have printed anywhere or order from her
engagement session
high resolution DVD of the engagement pictures
...and the price....$1050.
Then I found out something else thats also really great. We would pay her a 50% deposit when we sign the contract that seals us in for the date. The remaining balance isn't due intil 3-6 weeks after the wedding when we receive a CD of the pictures. I haven't found any other photographers who let you pay them after the wedding, so thats great with being on a budget.
We talked about photos I like and don't like and she really seemed to get all of it. I could describe a photo to her and she knew exactly what I meant. There was definitely a connection with her.
I met with another photographer today that I found on craigslist. I didn't feel the same connection with her as I did with Stephanie. Her pictures are great but not 100% what I'm looking for. She's a little bit more reasonable price wise, $950 for up to 9 hours of coverage, high res DVD of all of the photos, and a free engagement session.
I have a meeting with another photographer that I found through http://www.ppa.com/ which is a national photographers website. We're meeting on November 1st. She is a little bit more expensive, $1300 for 4 hours but she has the same style as Stephanie and we've had a lot of great email conversations.
So, in case anyone reading is in the area and still needs a photographer, here is their contact information:
smillerphotography.net - Stephanie Miller
kilkerphotography.com - Gail Kilker (the one I didn't really like)
meadowsmoments.com - Stacy Meadows (meeting on 11/1)
T didn't want to come with me. He thinks photographers are boring and they won't ever show you bad photographs so whats the point. I tried explaining that you need to like the personality of the photographer, but he doesn't get it. So my mom came with me.
I was not expecting Stephanie to be my age. Her work is amazing for someone that young. One of the first questions she asked me was where we were having the wedding. When I said the name of the winery she got really excited and said that she's photographed weddings there before and loved it. That was a huge selling point for me. I looked through a sample book of hers that was actually from the winery.
We went over my huge list of questions and I found out that she's really good friends with similar photographers that if she ended up being sick that day we would get someone with the same style. She said she's never been sick before but its always great to have a back up like that. And if she was to be sick, we would be the first people to find out. Pretty comforting. All of her photos are taken in high resolution in color and then she chooses which ones look better in black and white but we can also tell her to change them if we want.
T doesn't want us to be on the internet so I thought finding a photographer to agree to that would be difficult. Stephanie said that she doesn't have any problems with it and she would ask our permission before putting any pictures online.
Here's what we can get:
4-6 hours of coverage
online password protected gallery of all edited images
a high resolution DVD with all images that we can have printed anywhere or order from her
engagement session
high resolution DVD of the engagement pictures
...and the price....$1050.
Then I found out something else thats also really great. We would pay her a 50% deposit when we sign the contract that seals us in for the date. The remaining balance isn't due intil 3-6 weeks after the wedding when we receive a CD of the pictures. I haven't found any other photographers who let you pay them after the wedding, so thats great with being on a budget.
We talked about photos I like and don't like and she really seemed to get all of it. I could describe a photo to her and she knew exactly what I meant. There was definitely a connection with her.
I met with another photographer today that I found on craigslist. I didn't feel the same connection with her as I did with Stephanie. Her pictures are great but not 100% what I'm looking for. She's a little bit more reasonable price wise, $950 for up to 9 hours of coverage, high res DVD of all of the photos, and a free engagement session.
I have a meeting with another photographer that I found through http://www.ppa.com/ which is a national photographers website. We're meeting on November 1st. She is a little bit more expensive, $1300 for 4 hours but she has the same style as Stephanie and we've had a lot of great email conversations.
So, in case anyone reading is in the area and still needs a photographer, here is their contact information:
smillerphotography.net - Stephanie Miller
kilkerphotography.com - Gail Kilker (the one I didn't really like)
meadowsmoments.com - Stacy Meadows (meeting on 11/1)
Friday, October 9, 2009
Venue & Menu
At the end of September we visited our venue with our coordinator. It turns out that we can fit everyone into one room which saves us money! I came home and created a basic sketch of how everything will fit into the room. I'm excited! I'm still waiting to get a confirmation back from the venue, but it looks like our price went from $1050 to $700. Yay!!!
Our coordinator is also our caterer. We came up with a basic meal plan:
What do you think?
Our coordinator is also our caterer. We came up with a basic meal plan:
- Cheese and fruit display immediately after ceremony.
- Choice of soup or salad
- Choice of rigatoni with meatballs or crab cake with roasted garlic mashed potatoes
What do you think?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wedding Dress Shopping Tips
Sorry for two posts in one day, but a post on theknot.com made me think this could be pretty useful:
1. Do not bring a lot of people with you. They will all have an opinion and you might not like it.
2. Bring shoes to try on with your dress in the same heel height as your wedding shoes.
3. Bring pictures of dresses you like.
4. Do not under any circumstances look at dresses out of your price range. You do not want to fall in love with a dress you can't afford.
5. Visit a few stores.
6. Think long and hard before buying a dress from a designer-inspired store in China or some other country. The dress will not look the same.
7. Take pictures if possible.
8. Cover your booty. No really, wear underwear that you are completely comfortable with people seeing. I had some butt cheek showing and the 70 year old woman helping me into the dresses wouldn't come near me.
9. Wear your hair similiar to the way you want it for the wedding. Even if that means a half pony tail or a pony tail to get a better idea.
10. Wear make-up. You'll get a better idea with this too.
11. Eat something.
12. Try on dresses that you never thought you would try on. I hate poofy dresses but I had the saleslady bring me one to try on and we cracked up the entire time. I looked like a marshmallow.
13. If you have a strapless bra, wear it or bring it. The stores usually have them though.
14. If a dress gets stuck in your head, it probably means something.
15. Check out places like oncewed.com, pearlsplace.com and bridalnet.com to see if you can buy your dress cheaper.
16. Don't be conned into buying the veil and all of the accessories at the store. Valuveil.com has super cheap veils but you can also check out craigslist, etsy.com, or ebay.
17. Find out how long it will take for the dress to come in and alterations to be done. It gives you a good idea of when you should order by if you aren't completely sure.
18. Ask about discounts. Free shipping, $50 off alterations. Refer a friend. Who knows, maybe it would work.
19. Wear clothes that are easy to get in and out of.
20. Do not order a dress 2 sizes to small because you are going to lose weight. Order the dress in the size you fit in when you try it on. If you lose weight, pay for alterations. Its cheaper than needing a new dress if you don't lose that weight.
1. Do not bring a lot of people with you. They will all have an opinion and you might not like it.
2. Bring shoes to try on with your dress in the same heel height as your wedding shoes.
3. Bring pictures of dresses you like.
4. Do not under any circumstances look at dresses out of your price range. You do not want to fall in love with a dress you can't afford.
5. Visit a few stores.
6. Think long and hard before buying a dress from a designer-inspired store in China or some other country. The dress will not look the same.
7. Take pictures if possible.
8. Cover your booty. No really, wear underwear that you are completely comfortable with people seeing. I had some butt cheek showing and the 70 year old woman helping me into the dresses wouldn't come near me.
9. Wear your hair similiar to the way you want it for the wedding. Even if that means a half pony tail or a pony tail to get a better idea.
10. Wear make-up. You'll get a better idea with this too.
11. Eat something.
12. Try on dresses that you never thought you would try on. I hate poofy dresses but I had the saleslady bring me one to try on and we cracked up the entire time. I looked like a marshmallow.
13. If you have a strapless bra, wear it or bring it. The stores usually have them though.
14. If a dress gets stuck in your head, it probably means something.
15. Check out places like oncewed.com, pearlsplace.com and bridalnet.com to see if you can buy your dress cheaper.
16. Don't be conned into buying the veil and all of the accessories at the store. Valuveil.com has super cheap veils but you can also check out craigslist, etsy.com, or ebay.
17. Find out how long it will take for the dress to come in and alterations to be done. It gives you a good idea of when you should order by if you aren't completely sure.
18. Ask about discounts. Free shipping, $50 off alterations. Refer a friend. Who knows, maybe it would work.
19. Wear clothes that are easy to get in and out of.
20. Do not order a dress 2 sizes to small because you are going to lose weight. Order the dress in the size you fit in when you try it on. If you lose weight, pay for alterations. Its cheaper than needing a new dress if you don't lose that weight.
Vendor Stress
So that miracle that occured when I found an officiant for $100...apparently it was short lived. After getting her contact information I've called twice and emailed twice with no response. Obviously, we're not going to go with someone who can't be bothered to return our calls. For all I know she would forget to show up to the wedding.
I found 3 other officiants in our price range, but I'm hesitant about them too. One only sends emails in all caps. Maybe I'm just being too picky because I spend a lot of time on the internet, but something about that just seems weird to me. The other one gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him between 12-3PM. I called at 1:30 and left a voicemail with my phone number. There hasn't been a return call. The 3rd one, emailed me back right away and said "I'm available now if you can call me on my cell." I didn't get the message until 9:30 PM and felt kind of weird about calling that late, so I emailed him and said "I didn't get your message until late, I'm available all day, my cell number is xxx, call me when you get a chance." Would you believe there was no call back from him either?
I'm starting to get worried that we're going to have to cut something big out of our budget to afford one of these $400-$800 officiants. And the closer it gets to the wedding, the more worried I'm getting about this.
I don't know what to do about a photographer either. There are tons of them I like, but none that I am really in love with. Or if I really like them, something in their email just made me feel put off. Or they don't respond to emails. I'm meeting with two more photographers on Saturday. Both are at the maximum that we can spend. I have three more that I'm emailing back and forth with and one of them is giving me a price quote on Friday.
As for the ones on Saturday, one I found off craigslist and I'm kind of leery about her because she has multiple posts on craigslist (for different days) and they all say "Great Wedding Photographer" but they all have a different price. So does that mean I could sign a contract for $800 but if she's posting on craigslist for $1200 at the time, she's going to think I'm paying $1200? The other one was a knottie recommendation. Her photos are great but I'm not feeling too much of a connection.
As for the ones I'm emailing, they were also recs. One is a guy who doesn't respond to emails very quickly, is in the process of setting up a website and has only done a few weddings. I'm not in love with his photos either. But he has a great price. The 2nd one, I like. Its easy to communicate with her via email and she responds quickly. But I don't love her photos either. And the 3rd one is the one giving me a price quote on Friday.
I found her on http://www.ppa.com/ which a bridal book I have recommended. I instantly liked her website and the fact that she only does small weddings. Her site says shes in the process of making the wedding portion of it and she links the pictures of 3 weddings she's done. They are all gorgeous. You can just tell she knows what shes doing. She has that photojournalist look to her pictures without being too artsy. We've emailed back and forth a ton and I feel really comfortable talking to her. I can't even begin to explain how antsy I am about the price quote. I'm so tired of finding someone that I like only to find out that we can't have what we want because its out of our budget.
That is definitely the most fustrating thing about being a budget bride. I'm sorry Mr. Photographer, I don't have $3,500 to spend on pictures. If I did that our guests wouldn't eat. Grrr.
So I guess we'll see how things go this weekend!
I found 3 other officiants in our price range, but I'm hesitant about them too. One only sends emails in all caps. Maybe I'm just being too picky because I spend a lot of time on the internet, but something about that just seems weird to me. The other one gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him between 12-3PM. I called at 1:30 and left a voicemail with my phone number. There hasn't been a return call. The 3rd one, emailed me back right away and said "I'm available now if you can call me on my cell." I didn't get the message until 9:30 PM and felt kind of weird about calling that late, so I emailed him and said "I didn't get your message until late, I'm available all day, my cell number is xxx, call me when you get a chance." Would you believe there was no call back from him either?
I'm starting to get worried that we're going to have to cut something big out of our budget to afford one of these $400-$800 officiants. And the closer it gets to the wedding, the more worried I'm getting about this.
I don't know what to do about a photographer either. There are tons of them I like, but none that I am really in love with. Or if I really like them, something in their email just made me feel put off. Or they don't respond to emails. I'm meeting with two more photographers on Saturday. Both are at the maximum that we can spend. I have three more that I'm emailing back and forth with and one of them is giving me a price quote on Friday.
As for the ones on Saturday, one I found off craigslist and I'm kind of leery about her because she has multiple posts on craigslist (for different days) and they all say "Great Wedding Photographer" but they all have a different price. So does that mean I could sign a contract for $800 but if she's posting on craigslist for $1200 at the time, she's going to think I'm paying $1200? The other one was a knottie recommendation. Her photos are great but I'm not feeling too much of a connection.
As for the ones I'm emailing, they were also recs. One is a guy who doesn't respond to emails very quickly, is in the process of setting up a website and has only done a few weddings. I'm not in love with his photos either. But he has a great price. The 2nd one, I like. Its easy to communicate with her via email and she responds quickly. But I don't love her photos either. And the 3rd one is the one giving me a price quote on Friday.
I found her on http://www.ppa.com/ which a bridal book I have recommended. I instantly liked her website and the fact that she only does small weddings. Her site says shes in the process of making the wedding portion of it and she links the pictures of 3 weddings she's done. They are all gorgeous. You can just tell she knows what shes doing. She has that photojournalist look to her pictures without being too artsy. We've emailed back and forth a ton and I feel really comfortable talking to her. I can't even begin to explain how antsy I am about the price quote. I'm so tired of finding someone that I like only to find out that we can't have what we want because its out of our budget.
That is definitely the most fustrating thing about being a budget bride. I'm sorry Mr. Photographer, I don't have $3,500 to spend on pictures. If I did that our guests wouldn't eat. Grrr.
So I guess we'll see how things go this weekend!
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