So I thought I should take this off the August exercise thread.

Sacha - I havent spent much time on weddingchannel.com. I usually read and post on theknot.com . I like that site.. although the message boards are kinda annoying and its hard to navigate. But you can talk with brides in your local area and get vendor suggestions.

Last summer, when I was engaged and preparing for my fall wedding, I used the message boards on marthastewart.com quite a bit, and found them helpful! That's actually where I got the idea that I used for table favors (mini jars of homemade jam--people loved them!). Maybe that site would prove useful to you engaged ladies!

Jen

Thats a great idea! Thanks Jen!

For all the married women who went through the planning process.. if you have any suggestions.. please post them here! I am looking for any advice you have because you guys are the experts and its best to learn from you

Thanks!

i found that ebay was a big help for me... I got alot of my things like bubbles etc.. from there because they do dutch auctions.

http://www.invitationsbydawn.com

this site I got my wedding glasses and napkins and whole bunch of other stuff.It was really inexpensive and they ship by fedex...

Thanks for the thread Tonic and thanks for all the infos girls!!

I'll try to visit all these sites sooner or later...Why does it take so much time to plan a wedding?? Can't it be simple???

Grrrrrrr....

Sacha

Thanks for the info lynnie.

Sacha - Its your wedding.. you do whatever you want. If you want it simple, just make it so. I know that I will be forgoing on many silly traditions... just to cut costs and to make it more enjoyable and simpler.

Just an FYI Martha Stewart doesn't have the message boards on her site any more, but I agree that they were wonderful during the planning of my wedding.

Mine was so simple and I would recommend doing it that way to anyone!! But everyone has their idea of what they want to do.

Tell me more about your wedding golfergirl! I need ideas!

Sacha

golfergirl - Thank goodness. I thought I was going crazy when I couldnt find the MS message board. I am usually pretty good at searching for things online.

Our wedding was on the beach in FL...it was fabulous. So laid back!! Everyone had a great time. The night of the rehersal we just had snacks and everyone came over and watched us rehearse from their balconies. We went go carting after wards to have fun. And then the morning of the wedding...the guys went go carting! It was a blast!!

Here's the wedding party!!

golfergirl.
That's so simple and adorable. We kept ours pretty simple too. I wish we could have al went to florida....but it turned out too many people wanted to come and we didn't want to exclude those that could not afford it. We couldn't afford to bring all of them either. How many people went to florida....or are you close to there?

We are in Minnesota...so not close at all. My grandparents have a condo on the beach and I have always wanted it there... We had 50 people there. Lots wanted to come, but we only invited immediate family. Then we had a reception when we got back for everyone. I have a huge family and more than half couldn't afford to come and we had a few families drive down together so it was cheaper. It was so nice because it was so small.

Mine was simple yet very beautiful at the same time. I made all my own food and its great to have a BJ's Wholesale or A Costco wholesale membership (or know someone who will let you go with them).Sam's Club is another...We didn't have photographer we used disposable cameras (buy these at the store do not go through auctions). Look into fruit platers and vegetable platers at local grocery stores. (saves time) If you plan on making ur own food let me know I can give u some pointers.

For the reception we did a BBQ, at the time I worked for a food wholesaler whom laid me off right before the wedding, so using that guilt... I got a ton of free food!! We had Brats, Hot dogs, Cheddar wursts... salads, chips, TOO much food. We had a couple friends that grilled them outside and we set everything up about an hour before the reception. It was held at my husband's shop, he builds cars, so he had a huge shop and it was great.

The best thing.. the cake!!! I ended up making our cake!! It was 6 tiers high (3 layers of cake and 3 of styrofoam) and 8 10" cakes around the base. We had 4 different flavors and we decorated it like it was a beach... we got decorations at the cake store and it was great. it was a huge hit!! If I was doing a more formal reception I would think about individual cakes, or smaller tiered cakes for each table. Looks great and would be easy for you to do yourself!!