Guestbook
I salvaged a vintage mailbox from my parents garage, covered it with leftover spray paint from an old project and scuffed up the edges with sand paper. Then, I purchased unused, vintage postcards from eBay in assorted prints and stuck old stamps on them as a final touch. Upon arrival, before the ceremony, guests arrived wrote us messages on the postcards and later placed them into the mailbox as they exited the church.
Mason jars
Mason jars are a funny thing. They were really popular beginning at the turn of the century as people used them to preserve their food. As time wore on and much of our food became preserved and processed through grocery stores, their popularity dwindled to include hobbyists and rural families with large gardens. Today, Jarden produces these things nearly at the speed of light and they can’t stay on store shelves. I lucked out on obtaining my own. My parents had 6-8 boxes of these in their garage from my mother’s canning days and some leave-behinds from our homes previous owner. A little elbow grease had them looking like new and saved me some cash. For those pursuing the use of these fabulous fillers, I suggest asking relatives, grandparents especially, and letting them know that their use is as good of a gift as any!
Recessional Sachets
As if I didn't have enough to do, I decided to buy a vintage book, rip out the pages, and sew them together to make sachets for the recessional birdseed. I was successful at making 300+ sachets and stamped them with a variety of keys and monograms in gold ink (this tied into the keys from the boutonnieres and monogram at the reception). I finished them off with bakers twine to keep the seed from spilling out everywhere. They were adored by guests and the seed and any shredded paper was biodegradable. On this project I spent $3 for the vintage book, $2 for the baker's twine and used other on hand materials to finish the job. The handy carrier and produce basket below came from my parent's garage.
As if I didn't have enough to do, I decided to buy a vintage book, rip out the pages, and sew them together to make sachets for the recessional birdseed. I was successful at making 300+ sachets and stamped them with a variety of keys and monograms in gold ink (this tied into the keys from the boutonnieres and monogram at the reception). I finished them off with bakers twine to keep the seed from spilling out everywhere. They were adored by guests and the seed and any shredded paper was biodegradable. On this project I spent $3 for the vintage book, $2 for the baker's twine and used other on hand materials to finish the job. The handy carrier and produce basket below came from my parent's garage.
Unity ornament
Until the week before our wedding I wrestled with what we’d do as our unity activity during the ceremony. I thought the sand/bottle combo to be overdone and I didn’t want to be anywhere near fire/candles. We debated doing a unity cross, but for $100+ didn’t think it was that meaningful to us. So off I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a 4-pack of clear ball ornaments. I decorated one with our wedding date and scraps from my wedding dress and made a little stand for it out of styrofoam, felt and bouquet pins. Total, I invested about $9. We then gathered some birdseed leftover from our recessional sachets and grass seed from the first time we seeded our yard at our new home. I bottled both seeds separately in vintage bottles, had our mothers walk them to the altar, and we poured them into our ornament during the ceremony. Didn’t it turn out great? Make your own with my earlier tutorial.
Ceremonial References
We used 317Limosines for transportation from our wedding to reception. When obtaining a quote, I was significantly under quoted. 317 stepped up to the plate and honored the quote anyway. We paid somewhere around $300 for an $800+ limo ride. Limos are tricky. If you were to reserve 3 hours, plan their drive-time to and from your pick-up and drop-off locations too. That means a 3 hour reservation may only really have 1 hour of drive time. Also ask for an audio jack/USB hookup. That'll keep your passengers happy. And finally, tip your driver before you hop in. That shows your gratitude for their time.
Our florist was ahead of the game and ordered large baby's breath buds for us without even asking. They provided the filler flowers for the mason jars and even delivered them to the church and reception site. Total, I spent about $200 on this filler, but thought it really added something to the pew ends and reception tables. When getting quotes around town, I was sure to share pricing of florists with one another so that they could attempt to beat it. Guess what, Gooseberry Flowers did just that and I saved over $100!
A string trio was a nice touch at the ceremony. I hired college students who are part of the Deoc Ensemble. They were very reasonably priced, dependable and sounded fabulous. My guests commented afterward how wonderful they were. You can read my full review of them on their Facebook page.
Our photographer was Jessica B. Photography out of Greencastle, Ind. She took our engagement and wedding photos and was wonderful. We received our printing rights so we were able to reproduce our images as we wanted. I do photography at Miss Cara Photography and my business model is much like Jessica's - that's what drew me to her services. Here is a review I submitted for her work:
"In early 2013, my fiancé and I began interviewing photographers for our engagement session and wedding day. I contacted Jessica, as she had been recommended to be by a friend for being easy to work with, creative and affordable. Plus she waived printing rights so we could print any of our photos whenever we wanted. In our first meeting with Jessica we both felt at ease with her personality and comfortable with her creative offering. Before we parted ways, we put down a deposit and secured our wedding date.
Eight months later we met with Jessica to photograph our engagement session. She was punctual, prepared and down for all of our crazy ideas. After our session our photos were edited in a timely fashion and we were able to use them for our wedding promotions. They were of great quality and represented both our love and personalities well.Leading up to the wedding, Jessica collected our timeline, coordinated her personal timeline and double checked our preferences. On our big day, she was again punctual, prepared and managed our time well. She coordinated our large family for photos by being swift and concise, which was appreciated as we fought to stay on schedule. Her photographs were representative of our detailed day, both staged and posed as well as photojournalistic. She even stayed later than we initially agreed so that she could capture a very unique moment at our reception. Our wedding photos were available from Jessica shortly after our wedding – nothing near the wait of most professional photographers. The images were edited, sized and ready for reproduction and we did not have to contact her for any further adjustments.
We have not had a need for a photographer in the six months that we’ve been married, but my husband and I will certainly use Jessica B. Photography as we grow our family and are in need of a photographer."
We used 317Limosines for transportation from our wedding to reception. When obtaining a quote, I was significantly under quoted. 317 stepped up to the plate and honored the quote anyway. We paid somewhere around $300 for an $800+ limo ride. Limos are tricky. If you were to reserve 3 hours, plan their drive-time to and from your pick-up and drop-off locations too. That means a 3 hour reservation may only really have 1 hour of drive time. Also ask for an audio jack/USB hookup. That'll keep your passengers happy. And finally, tip your driver before you hop in. That shows your gratitude for their time.
Our florist was ahead of the game and ordered large baby's breath buds for us without even asking. They provided the filler flowers for the mason jars and even delivered them to the church and reception site. Total, I spent about $200 on this filler, but thought it really added something to the pew ends and reception tables. When getting quotes around town, I was sure to share pricing of florists with one another so that they could attempt to beat it. Guess what, Gooseberry Flowers did just that and I saved over $100!
A string trio was a nice touch at the ceremony. I hired college students who are part of the Deoc Ensemble. They were very reasonably priced, dependable and sounded fabulous. My guests commented afterward how wonderful they were. You can read my full review of them on their Facebook page.
Our photographer was Jessica B. Photography out of Greencastle, Ind. She took our engagement and wedding photos and was wonderful. We received our printing rights so we were able to reproduce our images as we wanted. I do photography at Miss Cara Photography and my business model is much like Jessica's - that's what drew me to her services. Here is a review I submitted for her work:
"In early 2013, my fiancé and I began interviewing photographers for our engagement session and wedding day. I contacted Jessica, as she had been recommended to be by a friend for being easy to work with, creative and affordable. Plus she waived printing rights so we could print any of our photos whenever we wanted. In our first meeting with Jessica we both felt at ease with her personality and comfortable with her creative offering. Before we parted ways, we put down a deposit and secured our wedding date.
Eight months later we met with Jessica to photograph our engagement session. She was punctual, prepared and down for all of our crazy ideas. After our session our photos were edited in a timely fashion and we were able to use them for our wedding promotions. They were of great quality and represented both our love and personalities well.Leading up to the wedding, Jessica collected our timeline, coordinated her personal timeline and double checked our preferences. On our big day, she was again punctual, prepared and managed our time well. She coordinated our large family for photos by being swift and concise, which was appreciated as we fought to stay on schedule. Her photographs were representative of our detailed day, both staged and posed as well as photojournalistic. She even stayed later than we initially agreed so that she could capture a very unique moment at our reception. Our wedding photos were available from Jessica shortly after our wedding – nothing near the wait of most professional photographers. The images were edited, sized and ready for reproduction and we did not have to contact her for any further adjustments.
We have not had a need for a photographer in the six months that we’ve been married, but my husband and I will certainly use Jessica B. Photography as we grow our family and are in need of a photographer."
Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock! What was your favorite tip or craft from this post?
Cara
I love the way you prepared for your wedding! From the accents, all the way to the transportation, every penny you spent seem so well-worth the price you paid. I'm even surprised that you managed to score a sweet deal on the limo. I'm sure men and women who are currently planning their wedding would love to stumble upon your post. Thanks for sharing that, Cara! Congratulations and all the best!
ReplyDeleteEvan Blake @ Antique Limousine of Indianapolis
Evan, thank you for your kind words! Please feel free to share this blog (specifically the three part wedding series) with your clientele who are interested in thrifty wedding tips. I'm so glad you stumbled upon my blog!
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