:: the challenge ::
I think I must need my head examined… seriously! First it was challenging myself to abstain from buying mass-produced retail for a year (on month six and still going strong!). Now I’m set on planning a wedding on a teeny-tiny budget in a very short time frame. Anyone else a sucker for punishment, or is it just me?! rofl.
Anyway, here are the details, since I’ve been getting a few, curious inquiries lately. hehe! This is the challenge: plan and execute a wedding in 5 months, for $5,000 or less. It sounds rather impossible, doesn’t it? But considering that I love nothing more than to have to approach a problem creatively, I think this will prove something we can do, and still stay within budget and deadline, while having a stylish and fun wedding.
[ okay, this has nothing to do with the wedding... it's just a vintage petticoat I bought recently! ]
It’s taken us about a month since he popped the question, but we finally struck upon a “theme” that we could run with, fits in our budget, and gave me some creative direction. (Me, without the creative direction is a very sad, very forlorn thing!) As you can probably guess, the overall look for this wedding is going to be Japanese, with a dash of retro (since it fits us so well!). I’m envisioning a beautiful array of colors, Japanese-inspired accents, and retro styling. Something that draws inspiration from Memoirs of a Geisha, Spirited Away, and the beautiful Uykio-e art that caught my imagination during last spring’s History of Design class.
We’re fortunate to have a venue that is going to fit within our budget very nicely, which is leaving more for the photographer and decorations. I admit… I’ve already been out buying paper lanterns for the reception hall, since I found them on sale at Target last week while L. and I were doing our wedding registry. I’ve got a ton of really swanky, really inexpensive ideas for giving us the most bang for our buck. So be sure to stay tuned throughout the next few months as I blog about some of my ideas and projects! Things like finding a budget gown (even though I bought mine a year ago… lol!), putting together fun and artistic invitations, guestbook alternatives, fun decorations and lots more. It’s going to be very DIY!
Needless to say, I’m not sure whether I’m more excited about getting married or the challenge! haha! (Of course, I’m jumping up and down for joy over getting married… lol!)
Here are some great resources for the budget (and not-so-budget) bride for inspiration and ideas… enjoy!
- ♥ Kate has some fantastic tips for the bride!
- ♥ a practical wedding
- ♥ one of my favorite wedding blogs! indie wedding guide
- ♥ diy bride
- ♥ something old, something new
- ♥ this one is definitely pure eye candy, but lovely and inspiring: southern wedding style
- ♥ snippet and ink
- ♥ this is a great idea… an etsy wedding
- ♥ $10,000 wedding
- ♥ and of course, the OhJoy! here comes the bride category
(Thank you to everyone who has been emailing me links and resources… you all are so sweet and helpful!) Have a lovely Monday, friends!!!
Posted on June 23rd, 2008 to creativity, wedding.
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:: check-up :: »12 lovely thoughts to “:: the challenge ::”
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Veronica says:
You may be able to find some nice accents (table settings or something?) at a Dollar Store (I have Dollar Tree here in PA)… I have gone in there as a last resort before when I’d be looking for something and I’ve been really surprised at what I’ve found! You should give it a try, you just never know.
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amy says:
you are going to have so much fun! we planned our wedding in four months and spent less than 4K (including my dress and his suit). we were very much DIYers, including the invitations that we made by scanning the cover of vintage sheet music, altering it and getting them printed ourselves. we had so much fun!
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Chelsea says:
I can’t wait to see what you come up with! I sort of think small budget weddings are the best.
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Laur says:
I’m sure you will pull off a beautiful wedding. I helped a friend plan her a little over a year ago, and she had the same bugdet and an even smaller timeframe – and it turned out wonderfully (and she in not a DIY type of girl!) I can’t wait to see your results.
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Pumpkin Girl says:
I found that there were very few good resources out there for handmaking wedding stuff. I wanted to make my own corsages, the table decor, everything, and I found a lot of cheesy ideas and not a lot of cool ones. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. I think the best idea I had that everyone loved was the table decorations — $2 metal buckets from a far supply store filled with ice and beautiful bottles of lemonade and sparkling water. It served a function and looked beautiful at our retro/country style wedding!
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elizabeth of course says:
Congratulations again and best of luck to you! We had two and a half months to plan our about 5-ish thousand wedding. It can be done and it can be great and well, you know that. Can’t wait to see all your ideas.
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Gabriella says:
So I stubled on your blog and I love it, and the idea of not buying mass produced clothing!
P.S. So I saw the miss-vintage banner below. Don’t you LOVE it? I’m a member on the forum (Gabriellabellaaa) if you joined. I have learned so much about everything vintage from those lovely ladies.
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kater says:
Oh how exciting!
One of my closest friends got married this past January. She had three weeks to pull the whole thing off! It came out lovely though, I couldn’t have imagined a better occasion if they had forever to plan it! If I remember correctly, she spent a lot of time exploring Michael’s! They bought some fairy lights that were inside faux white roses which were so lovely there, they reminded me of a set of lit-up tulips my mom had when I was a baby.
Can’t wait to see what else you come up with! I love the theme
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Missa says:
So you got Anja’s gorgeous petticoat, Lucky! I actually featured it on my blog last week! Good luck with the wedding plans, the theme sounds great. We pulled ours off with about three months of planning for around $3,000 and it was wonderful, so it can be done!
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Sam says:
That sounds like an interesting and fun challenge! I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself.
A piece of advice: my mom has always said that the one thing that should be splurged on is the photographer. This is something you will want to be able to look back on well, with good photographs, for the rest of your lives, so of all the things to scrimp on, don’t pick that one!
Good luck and have fun!
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Fuji Mama says:
I’m quite partial to this theme!
For some inspiration you should check out: http://www.japaneseweddingfavors.com/http://www.cherryblossomgardens.com/wedding_favor.asp
Paper lanterns are right on! Other decorative elements to think about could be: paper fans, bamboo, dragonflies, lotus blossoms, cherry blossoms, orchids or even koi fish
Also, paper cranes! A thousand paper cranes (traditionally folded by the bride and groom before the wedding, patiently and methodically) are said to bring a marriage good luck. You can hand these out as favors, or thread them onto cord and hang them from a focal point, like the branches of a tabletop tree.
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Bianca says:
That vintage petticoat is amazing! B xo
