Weddingbee Blog

Moxie–one of the bees just posted the prep photos she got for free via Craigslist, using a newish photographer looking to expand his/her portfolio. You might consider that route.

dani - we are also doing a DW and are not feeding guests for every meal (we are covering a rehearsal dinner, reception dinner, and day after brunch that everyone is invited to). I sent out our 5 month newsletter that included a detailed itinerary and an expense breakdown so that there would be no misunderstandings about what we are paying for and what our guests need to cover.

you don’t need to apologize in advance for not paying, just make your communication clear so that everyone is on the same page.

Emma - I bought a high-end Watters & Watters dress. The cost was great: $350. The dress also looks very bridal: oyster skirt with an ivory lace top. I love it…it’s exactly what I wanted and is lovely. They have a lot of bm dresses that I think are pretty “bridal” when you get them in the right color.

I think if you choose an elaborate bm dress in cream, ivory, white or some such color and then chose really simple bm dresses for your bridesmaids, it works. Also, if you can find an inexpensive tailor/seamstress, you can have them add crystals, beading or sequins.

emma — i’m planning to buy a lazaro bm dress (http://www.lazarobridal.com/laz_bm/display_dress.php?imageno=3785&multimatch=x) to wear as a wedding gown. i would stay away from the very high end dresses, the companies are not very friendly to this idea. amsale will not sell a single white or ivory dress (you must order 2) and jenny yoo tacks on these extra fees for “special handling”. however, i’ve had very good experiences talking to salon openly about this for jim hjelm, lazaro, and watters. i also have heard good things about siri.

L8Blmr, I would read the contract that you may already have, to see if the baker has priced you by cake, per person, or per group pf people like Christine stated. Then bring it to the attention of your coordinator, and he/she should sort it out for you.

Dani, I think it’s more common practice for guest to expect the bride and groom to host other dinners and brunches, but this does not mean you have to. A great way to bring up this topic is by posting restaurant suggestions on your wedding website, or by including a list (or a travel brochure, which you can usually get free locally) in your welcome basket. It can also be spread word of mouth.

Moxie, we had a similar situation. My parents didn’t want to pay the extra money for the photographer to say an hour later, and we ended up missing photos of the Korean ceremony. Although, i was so happy to have had my photographer for the getting ready portion. Usually during the reception, other guests will all have their cameras out, so if you can fit the major part (like cake cutting, first dance, toasts) before your photographer leaves, it may work out for you.

Good luck everyone!

Moxie — It seems to be de rigeur lately that you HAVE to have a photographer while you are getting ready. I’m sure this would have been scandalous just a few decades ago. For me, I wanted that quiet time alone with my thoughts, no extra people milling about, me worrying about how much skin was showing. So, that said, don’t feel obligated, but if it’s something you want, go for it. If that’s out of your budget, see if they’ll come down, or if they’ll take a 1-hour break in the middle of the day, or you can feed them more. Photographers are also NOT needed for the entire reception. Seriously. So think about time-shifting if needed to meet your budget. Good luck!

Hi Susan, my fiance and I used H2 Cards for our bilingual (Chinese/English) invitations - http://h2cards.com/. We didn’t want a very traditional Chinese wedding invitation, but we did want the bilingual printing. The customer service we got from H2 Cards (in SF Chinatown) was very good, and we’ve gotten a bunch of compliments on our invites.

We ended up choosing a simple ivory invite that had the English on top and Chinese on the bottom, and it had an overlay with leaves and the double happiness symbol.

Good luck!

Moxie,

That seems like a helluva lot for ONE extra hour from your photographer. I’m not sure how much you are paying this person total, but I would be curious to see why this photographer feels that his or her hour of time is worth $500. I realize it’s more than there time and that they are doing editing, etc. on the extra pictures afterward, but I think this person is taking advantage of the situation. I think there are lots of better options budget-wise, like hiring someone off Craigslist like others suggested, or asking a talented friend or family member to take a few “getting ready” shots. If your budget is somewhat limitless and $500 isn’t that big of a deal to you, that to each his own, but I just feel that is a borderline rip-off fee for one hour.

Moxxie -

Wow, I thought we splurged on our photographer spending $2200. He’s a great photographer and we should get some pretty amazing shots… I just recently added TWO hours to our package to cover ‘getting ready’ at a hotel twenty-five minutes up the coast, and we were only charged an additional $150. We live in San Diego, which isn’t a cheap area - I don’t know what to tell ya???

I am looking for a paper store that delivers to Canada. I need some nice 8.5 x 11 pearlised cardstock for my programs. Most of the online paper stores people have mentioned on here don’t deliver to Canada, unfortunately and the store I have found it at here is $1 a sheet, which seems a bit excessive.