Weddingbee Blog

Date: July 24, 2010
City, State: Vancouver, BC, CANADA
Budget: $15,000 
# of Guests: 97

You say cheap, but I say FRUGAL.

Like many other brides in this world I had dreamed of my wedding since I could remember. Imagine my fiance’s shock when I explained to him the reason girls run around with pillowcases tied to the back of their heads is because they want a wedding veil. My family feared that I would go nuts with our wedding because I had thought of it so much. I grew up in a very small town with a population slightly filling out the 800 mark. Although I would have loved to have had our wedding there, my personality had outgrown the style of the town since I had moved to the “big city” of Vancouver. To compromise and infuse my past into our present and future, we chose to have a low key, grassroots-level wedding with an added touch and class of a Vancouver high-class wedding.

We used the elements of stone, glass/crystal , “green” and nature to pull this all together. The church was entirely made of glass walls on two sides, with the ends made of river rocks all framed by a vaulted timber roof. It was a small and very intimate church that both my husband and I fell in love with. We had the reception right next door in a long room with one wall of glass and a wood roof, brick fireplace and green beams. The windows provided a vibrant living artwork of green trees to complement the wedding.

Our motto was “less is more” and “it’s all in the details”.

Wedding Day Costs

Ceremony Site Fees/Type of Venue: $500.00 at the Chapel of the Epiphany on the UBC Campus. This included the cost to use the building, janitor and Pastor services (with pre-marriage counseling).

Reception Site Fees/Type of Venue: The room fee was $590.00, we rented a projector from them ($25.00) paid for setup and take down of chairs and two bartenders for the evening. The total cost to have the room was $1,200.00.

Caterer/Food/Drink (per person if available): $21.75 per person for buffet food, including salmon, chicken, various salads, veggies, buns, bottomless fruit punch and coffee service. We purchased $900.00 worth of alcohol and had an open bar (it was all bottled drinks and pop) averaging at about $9.27 per person. So, for drinks and food for each person we paid $31.02.

Service Charge/Gratuities: we paid an extra 500.00 in gratuities to all our vendors.

Bridal Gown & Alterations: $1,295.00 for my dress… a splurge I had not anticipated. $30.00 was included in the cost of my dress to get it ordered in a petite size, this way I didn’t have to get it hemmed up.

Bridal Accessories (Veil, Undergarments, Shoes, Jewelry): $35.00 for my veil (off eBay), $25.00 for jewellery (eBay) and $90.00 for my shoes from Le Château.

Groom’s Attire: $35.00 from Debonair Formal. We received the discount since the groomsmen rented from there.

Stationery/Postage: Invitations were purchased from Michaels in the discount aisle. They were actually programs that we converted into invites. I got 80 for $36.00, and postage was $22.00, for a total of $102.00.

Photography: $1,200.00 including an engagement shoot and a second shooter for the wedding day. The second shooter was paid for 4 hours but wanted to build his portfolio and chose to stay TWELVE hours instead.

Videography: FREE. We hired two young men (Randy and AJ from First Language Films/Vancouver, BC) who had never filmed a wedding before and wanted to get experience.

Our Highlight video:

Bailey & Andy Highlights from randy//FIRST LANGUAGE FILMS on Vimeo.

Ceremony Music: $400.00 for a string trio

Reception Music: $650.00 for an amazing DJ who acted as our MC as well.

Flowers: $250.00 from a lady I found off Craigslist who was working from her home. She did an AMAZING job. (And huge one!!) She used all fresh flowers for my bouquet and 4 bridesmaids, 10 bouts for the men, ushers and grandfathers and dads, and an extra one just in case, as well as 5 corsages for the two mothers and three grandmothers.

Favors: $100.00 -  We did a candy buffet (dishes, with tongs and scoops were $70.00 but I re-sold them for $70.00).

Cake: $100.00 from a lady off Craigslist who is in pastry school and needed the experience. We had a 6” cake with handmade sugar flowers and a sugar plaque with out names hand-drawn on it. We had a total of 50 cupcakes—25 lemon with hand made sugar magnolia flowers, and the other 25 chocolate with handmade sugar medallions with a “G” painted on them (for our last name).

Officiant: Part of the cost of the church rental

Coordinator: My blood, sweat and tears…

Hair/Makeup: FREE. My sister did my makeup and my husband’s cousin did my hair. All my BMs did their own hair and had some assistance from my husband’s cousin.

Wedding Party Gifts: We had mani and pedis. The girls were $40.00 each and I got them some jewellery and a purple flower that cost $10.00 each, totaling $50.00 for each girl. ($200.00 for the party.) My husband got his boys pens, a lighter, and a glass mug with their names engraved, totaling $178.00 for the men. (The total for WHOLE party was $378.00.)

Transportation: $600.00 for an SUV limo for four hours, included taxes and gratuity, water, pop and decorations

Hotels: $183.00 though Priceline. I booked well in advance and stayed at the Sheraton Wall Centre in downtown Vancouver.

Misc: I made  the centerpieces myself. The vases were borrowed but the witch hazel was purchased from a lady off Craigslist. The flowers and the crystals were from an old chandelier. Each centerpiece cost about $4.00 each, which totaled $50.00 for 15 centerpieces. The rentals for cutlery, dishes, linens, chair covers and sashes was $850.00.

WEDDING DAY TOTAL: 11,051.94

TOTAL COST PER PERSON: $113.93

(divide wedding day total by # of guests)

All Inclusive Costs:

Wedding Bands: 150.00 for his (I won mine!!)

Rehearsal Dinner/Day After Brunch: parents paid

Honeymoon: FREE (We won a minimoon!)

ALL INCLUSIVE TOTAL: $150.00

GRAND TOTAL: $11,201.94 — almost $4,000 UNDER budget

(wedding day total + all inclusive total)

All photos by Carolyn Egerszegi Photography and Sean Norman

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