Budget Weddings for Dummies (ISBN - 0470502096)

315 Pages·2021·4.71 MB·English

Meg Schneider
Award-winning journalist

• Throw your dream wedding for much
less than you imagined

• Get great deals on gowns, attire,
cakes, invitations, food, and more

• Successfully bargain and negotiate
with vendors

• Maintain control of your budget
and time — with less stress

Learn to:

Budget
Weddings

Making Everything Easier!™

Open the book and find:

• Tips on taking the financial stress
out of wedding planning

• Ways to stay within a budget and
still have your dream wedding

• Ideas for planning a traditional or
nontraditional wedding

• Help on choosing and minimizing
the costs of your wedding party

• How to make the most of your
guest list

• The best ways to save money on
invitations and other printing costs

• The most economical time to have
your wedding

• Checklists, worksheets, and forms
to help you stay within your
budget

Meg Schneider is an award-winning writer with more
than two decades of experience in journalism and
public relations. With more creativity than money,
Schneider planned her dream wedding for 100 guests,
using professional caterers, musicians, photographers,
and a $6,000 budget.

Weddings

$16.99 US / $19.99 CN / £13.99 UK

ISBN 978-0-470-50209-9

Go to Dummies.com®
for videos, step-by-step photos,
how-to articles, or to shop!

Planning your wedding day should pull at your
heartstrings — not your purse strings! If you’re
a bride- or groom-to-be who doesn’t want your
“something borrowed” to be a huge debt, turn to
Budget Weddings For Dummies for trusted, practical
advice on planning the wedding of your dreams —
without breaking the bank!

• Looking at the big picture — create a vision for your
wedding, establish a budget, and get your timeline
in order

• Planning the ceremony — figure out the who, what,
when, and where for exchanging your vows

• Dressing for your big day — how to look like a
prince or princess on a pauper’s budget

• Celebrating with the reception — choose a reception
site; get the most out of food and beverage options;
book entertainment; and buy or make favors,
flowers, and décor

• Capturing it for posterity — choosing a photographer
and videographer and understanding what you’re
paying for

• Pre- and post-wedding festivities — guidance on
planning budget-friendly rehearsal dinners, bachelor
and bachelorette parties, and unforgettably
romantic honeymoons

The fun and affordable
way to plan the wedding
of your dreams!

Budget Weddings

Schneider

Spine: .62

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Spine: .62

Budget
Weddings

FOR
DUMmIES

‰

by Meg Schneider

Budget Weddings For Dummies®

Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2009935227

ISBN: 978-0-470-50209-9

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Meg Schneider is an award-winning writer with more than two
decades of experience in journalism and public relations. She has
authored or coauthored several books, including COPD For
Dummies and Making Millions For Dummies (both published by
Wiley). When she married in 1999, she and her fiancé had just
closed a restaurant and had very little money to work with, so they
looked for creative ways to keep wedding costs down while still
having the kind of ceremony and reception they wanted. The final
tally was less than $6,000 for a wedding with 100 guests that
included professional musicians, butler-passed hors d’oeuvres, a
three-course meal, professional photography, and a professionally
baked cake.

Meg’s journalism honors include awards from the Iowa Associated
Press Managing Editors, Women in Communications, the Maryland-
Delaware-D.C. Press Association, Gannett, the New York State
Associated Press, and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.

A native of Iowa, Meg now lives in upstate New York.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Mark Dixon, whose favorite saying comes
from a Geico commercial: “I saved. I thought that meant something
to you.”

Author’s Acknowledgments

No man is an island, and no book comes to market through the
efforts of a single person. I gratefully acknowledge the support and
contributions of:

Barb Doyen, my agent and ardent cheerleader, and a fierce propo-
nent of saving money where you can.

Tracy Boggier and Sarah Faulkner, my editors. I thank Tracy for her
skills in coming up with interesting projects, and Sarah for her abil-
ity to take reasonably good text and make it even better.

Copy editor Jessica Smith and technical reviewer Gloria Boyden.
Jessica, thanks for keeping my voice active. Gloria, thanks for
making sure my advice is sound.

Mark Dixon, who makes me laugh, and who has adapted remarkably
well to the loopiness that so often accompanies life with a writer.
(Plus, he buys me cheesecake when I finish writing a book.)

Jan and Dick Schneider, my parents, who, among other things,
made planning my wedding as nearly stress-free as possible, and
who have encouraged me to express my personality (even when
that means breaking the rules) in every venture of life.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online
registration form located at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please
contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at
317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media
Development

Project Editor: Sarah Faulkner
Acquisitions Editor: Tracy Boggier
Copy Editor: Jessica Smith
Assistant Editor: Erin Calligan Mooney
Editorial Program Coordinator: Joe Niesen
Technical Editor: Gloria Boyden
Editorial Manager: Christine Meloy Beck
Editorial Assistants: Jennette ElNaggar,
David Lutton
Art Coordinator: Alicia B. South
Cover Photos: iStock
Cartoons: Rich Tennant
(www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery
Layout and Graphics: Claudia Bell,
Joyce Haughey, Jennifer Mayberry
Illustrator: Elizabeth Kurtzman
Proofreaders: Cynthia Fields,
John Greenough
Indexer: Sherry Massey
Special Help Todd Lothery,
Elizabeth Staton

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies
Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies
Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel
Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents at a Glance

Introduction ...................................................... 1

Part I: Coming Up with a Game Plan .................. 7
Chapter 1: Bringing Your Wedding Dream to Life ................................. 9
Chapter 2: Working with a Wedding Budget ........................................ 19
Chapter 3: Deciding When to Get Married and Organizing
Your Timeline .................................................................................... 35

Part II: Planning the Ceremony ........................ 51
Chapter 4: Deciding Where to Get Married .......................................... 53
Chapter 5: Minimizing Wedding Party Costs ....................................... 69
Chapter 6: Dressing for Your Big Day ................................................... 81
Chapter 7: Hammering Out the Ceremony Details .............................. 97
Chapter 8: Picking Flowers (Or Fun Alternatives) ............................ 109
Chapter 9: Capturing It for Posterity: Photography and
Videography .................................................................................... 125
Chapter 10: Putting It in Print: Invitations, Programs, and
Miscellany ........................................................................................ 143

Part III: Celebrating with Your Guests ............ 155
Chapter 11: Selecting the Reception Site ........................................... 157
Chapter 12: Feeding the Hordes .......................................................... 167
Chapter 13: Arranging Entertainment and Preparing the Venue .... 189
Chapter 14: Making the Most of Prewedding and Postwedding
Events ............................................................................................... 205
Chapter 15: Honeymooning in Style — and in the Black .................. 213

Part IV: The Part of Tens ................................ 225
Chapter 16: Ten Ways to Get the Most for Your Wedding Dollar ... 227
Chapter 17: Ten Inexpensive Wedding Favors .................................. 233
Chapter 18: Ten Traditions to Reconsider When You’re on a
Budget .............................................................................................. 239

Part V: Appendixes ........................................ 245
Appendix A: Your Planning Calendar ................................................. 247
Appendix B: Price Comparison Worksheets ...................................... 257
Appendix C: Your Wedding Checklist ................................................. 267
Appendix D: Your Wedding Budget .................................................... 275

Index ............................................................ 283