The Frugal Wedding Planner - Tips to save money

To give some background, the engagement was in July '06 so I've had quite a bit of time to prepare. My fiancee grew up in the local Baptist church so we're kind of obligated to have a big church wedding. Throw in a ton of family and friends (we're more popular than we thought) and we've got a HUMONGOUS wedding and reception in the works. I'm sending out 170 "formal" invitations and another 150 "informal" invitations!

Both my fiancee and I, as well as both sets of parents are pretty frugal folks. We are all sharing the expenses of the occasion - below you can find more information about some ways we are cutting wedding costs while still maintaining an elegant, big wedding style.

Yes, that's right, the postage is more expensive per invite than the invitations themselves!

How did I do it?

First of all, you've got to be very frugal shopper and know the right places to look. A pinch of creativity doesn't hurt either.

So, my big save was one of my favorite stores called "Dollar Bazaar". It is a "dollar store" but it is unlike any of the other ones I've been to. EVERYTHING is a dollar and it is surprisingly not all crap! It seems to be a lot of closeouts and possibly "damaged" items mixed in with some crap.

What saved me a bunch were these gorgeous blank invitations, including a bow and vellum overlay, made by the well known company, Ampad. They were boxes of 10 for a buck. The nice plastic boxes were a little banged up but everything inside was o.k. - I bought 20 boxes!

One catch - these didn't include reply cards. So, my next task was to try and find cards (and envelopes) or make them. I reluctantly bought some blank cards at Wal-Mart but returned them because they were of poor quality (surprise, surprise...).

I ended up finding white 4 3/8"x5 3/4" envelopes made by, guess who, AMPAD, for the replies. Then I bought a package of 150 sheets of 8.5x11 card stock (when cut in half and folded are the exact size to fit the envelopes).

The two other purchases were parchment paper (200 sheets) for an insert with directions to the reception and some black refill ink for my printer. The ink was another find from Dollar Bazaar!

So, the final expenses (and these are rounded UP!) were:
20 boxes of invites @ 1.00 = $20
1 box 150 sheets card stock = $3
3 boxes small envelopes (60) = $12
200 pieces parchment assort. = $5
1 black ink refill pack = $1
TOTAL = $41

The total per invite comes to 20.5 cents!!

Next was actually making the invites. I am an artist so since I had to print everything, I was able to personally design each piece of the invite.

Theme: If you want some sort of decorative touch to your invitation, it is nice to pick a theme to tie the whole invite package together. You don't need to worry about this as much if you aren't interested in any graphics, although you'll still want to make sure you use matching fonts throughout.

Our wedding is Celtic themed - kilts and all - so I chose a Celtic cross for my motif and designed it myself. If you're not artistically inclined, try finding a graphic on the web (Google image search is a good start - link below!). Be sure to choose a graphic that is large enough (smaller images will look grainy).

Play around with different fonts (a nice font link below, or search for "free fonts").

Design: Most blank invitations come with printing instructions for the standard user. You can format just about any part of the invitation that you need in Microsoft Word. Be sure to go to "->File->Page Setup->Paper Size" and input the size of the document you are working on (since it is most likely not the default 8.5x11"). After doing this, you should see the document adjusted accordingly in your window (when using the print layout view, under "->View"). If you're more advanced you can certainly design using Adobe Photoshop or a similar program.

Printing: My first and most critical advice is to print many tests! If your invitations don't come with test sheets, or in the case of making your own cards, etc, be sure to cut extras to print test sheets! If need be, whip out the ruler and scissors and make some test sheets to the size needed using scrap paper.

My second piece of advice is nearly as important - tests will help you figure out how each document needs to be inserted/aligned in your printer in order to provide a properly centered print. Also, some parts of your invitations may not print properly in multiples.

For example, my vellum overlay in particular caused problems: when i tried to print more than one or two, the printer would suck up several and destroy them in the process. I had similar problems with the envelopes. My solution was to hand feed each overlay in at a time. It worked, but this was not after the loss of a number of them.

Experiment! Have fun and good luck! Need help or want to commission a design? Email me!

There will be some helpful links pertaining to invitations below - soon....

My fiancee and I are quite environmentally conscious, and we wanted to pick a wedding favor that showed this. We wanted something classy, original and fun - the furthest we could get from fancy place tags and candy.

I liked the idea of giving seeds as favors, but still too tacky - I was thinking more along the lines of giving actual plants! My mom saw that the National Arbor Day Foundation ( www.arborday.org ) sells tree seedlings pre-packaged and ready to give as gifts. The price was a bit more than I wanted to spend ($3 a tree) so as usual I went on a quest to do it for less, while still supporting an environmental cause. Here's how did it for a buck a tree:

The Trees: I purchased the trees from my local county conservation agency, Tioga County Conservation District ( TCCD website ). Every spring they have a tree seedling sale with many varieties of deciduous and evergreen trees available. I bought 200 scotch pine seedlings for $95.00 (that's 48 cents a tree). The trees are perfect for planting in our area and they go with the Scottish wedding theme. Also, I still supported an environmental cause by purchasing them through the local conservation agency (which I believe is more beneficial than the other option).

Check your local paper and government pages in the phone book to find your local conservation agency.

The Planting: Yes, the catch is that the trees come with bare roots and must be planted (which was ok because I love gardening). So, my next task was to find the right pot at the best deal. After many hours of searching I ended up going with the first option I found, Stuewe & Sons out of Oregon ( www.stuewe.com ). I purchased 200 "MT38 Mini-treepots" and trays for approximately another $80. I also purchased $25 dollars worth or Miracle grow potting mix for the planting.

The Finishing Touches: So, the grand total so far is $200 dollars. I plan to purchase enough clear plastic floral wrap to wrap the pots in just before the ceremony, and white ribbon to tie the wrapping (I estimate to spend no more than 30 dollars on these two things).

Trees from National Arbor Day Foundation: $600 (without shipping)

Do it yourself: $230