A $2000 Wedding?!
August 14th, 2008 @ 10:32 am by Mrs. Pinot Noir
I recently came upon the 2000 Dollar Wedding blog (thanks to a profile from Meg from A Practical Wedding). Sara and Matt are an amazing couple who were married last month in Colorado. They stuck to a strict budget of $2000 in order to keep the wedding planning focused on their goals and to save the money for a down payment on a house (which they moved to, from Colorado to Texas, two days after the wedding!). I have spent the last two days reading the entire archive, over 140 posts, and I feel so inspired. In their words:
Our quest to wrest our wedding from the hands of the Wedding Industrial Complex and make it our own (in a budget-minded, hand-crafted, eco-friendly way)
Their wedding was an amazing and beautiful DIY effort with the help of family and friends. It created a day of true joy and connection! Matt and Sara have been chronicling thier wedding planning process over the last 8 months. The entries are packed with great ideas and insight. Even if you aren’t planning a $2000 eco-friendly wedding, you can certainly enjoy their process and pick up a few ideas along the way!
It can be easy to get caught up in the planning details and forget about the purpose of this special day - Mr. PN and I are guilty of this on more than one occasion. And even Matt and Sara got caught up in the details sometimes, like momentairly wanting a traditional wedding dress, the desire to splurge on custom stamps and second-guessing their decison to serve wine from a box.
One of my favorite parts of their wedding planning was how they always managed to bring it back to their vision for the day. And I must pass along a wonderful piece of advice which I have memorized and will be reciting many times in the next two months:
“It’s about love, commitment, friendship, connection–not _____________.” (Fill the blank with whatever is bothering you, such as “invitations”)
How do you stay centered in a crazy wedding planning world?
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15 Responses to “A $2000 Wedding?!”
This is SO inspiring. In stalking all these wedding blogs, one can get caught up in the cake details, and the customized favors, and the name-brand dress… but this couple’s attitude is fantastic, and it looked like so much fun! A great reminder of what weddings are truly about.
I love that site! One of the coolest weddings I’ve seen in a long time.
Frankly, I stay away from sites like weddingbee when I get stressed about the wedding, and go hiking.
I really tried to keep that sensible thinking in mind when planning our wedding. One thing that I really struggled over was chair covers. At $700 for a venue of 150 guests it was just too expensive. I really thought it would add to the ‘feel’ of the evening, but at the end, it would have been unnecessary.
However - I do really regret not having a professional videographer. I thought “oh, I’ll never watch the dvd,” but I am such a memory person (i love my photo albums) that I should have known I’d want a video. Especially of our first dance! we took lessons for six months and don’t have a video of our big dance!
Becky
I love the letter she wrote to the bride-to-be! I am saving that message and sharing it with my fiance, so he can remind me of it whenever I stress.
You can read the letter here: http://2000dollarwedding.com/2008/08/letter-to-bride.html
Thanks for sharing, Miss PN!
So crazy that you posted this today…
My blog post from this morning answers your question.
http://kristenmccormack.org/blog/2008/08/14/connecting-with-your-roots/
Great post! One of my BFFs is planning a similar wedding b/c they want to sace money for a downpayment on a house too When I think about all the “stuff” I want for my wedding I have to stop and think about her and now this couple AND what FH and have always said what we wanted our wedding to be - Fun, enjoyable, memorable and at the end of the day we’re married
I came across this wedding and am super inspired!
http://www.thisyounghouse.com/wedding-album/
I added that blog to my reader about a week ago and I’m really enjoying it, it’s so refreshing!
@Jen: That is a beautiful wedding!
@Megan: I love that letter too - so refreshing!
That is really amazing and inspiring. Of course, our church alone costs $700 (plus $130 for pre-marital classes), and I wouldn’t compromise on that for anything. To me, getting married in the Church (and one that we have a connection to) is a major part of the “love, commitment, friendship, connection”.
Wow, so inspiring. I don’t know that I could do all the DIY stuff, but I just cut back on having a make up artist and photographer. (I am still keeping our party planner, though, she’s money well spent!)
Thank you so much for this link. We are on a tight budget and this is definitely going to help motivate me and keep me focused.
Brilliant site! We planned our Seattle wedding from LA and on a budget. We did everything ourselves, including making the centerpieces and coasters (which served as favors for the guests) from trees from my dad’s property. Things went very smoothly because of my mantra: Simplify, Simplify, Simplify. When things are complicated and highly planned, things just beg to go wrong. But with simple concepts, not much can go wrong. I’m still repeating this mantra. We used ferns and mosses instead of flowers (which are expensive and must be picked up the day before). We also had competent friends help us- the wedding cake maker, the officiant, the photographer, and bartenders were all friends who were professionals. So we didn’t have to worry about things AND we had loving friends participating.
Mrs. Pinot Noir, New York/Napa Valley
Age and Occupation: 24, Health Educator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Market Researcher
Engagement Date: November 10, 2007
Wedding Date: October, 2008
Blogging Since: June 25, 2008
Venue: Auberge du Soleil
About Me: I am a Minnesota raised, NYC transplant planning a destination wedding in Napa. I'm balancing my love for the environment and my hubby-to-be's love for tradition to create our "green wedding in disguise." Our wedding will include local food and wine, antique touches and lots of love and laughter. When wedding planning isn't taking up my free time (and money) I love to read, cook, workout, watch baseball and travel! Follow along in my adventure as I attempt to plan an eco-friendly and socially responsible wedding (with eco-oblivious Mr. Pinot Noir).
Good for them! I think this would be challenging in a metropolitan area (for instance, I noticed their marriage license was $10 - ours was $80).