While it's still fresh on my mind, here are a few things that may help the brides looking for vendors. We got married at Northeast Wedding Chapel on 9/25. I'm sure other people have found better deals, but I feel like I got a good value for what I spent:
1. I used Rohmer's Restaurant in Muenster for catering. Everyone raved about our food, which was not fancy but very home style. We had chicken fried chicken (and grilled), green beans, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls and tea/water for $8 per head for 150. That is an unbelievable price! They were on time, super helpful, and cleaned up after themselves.
2. It's cheaper to buy linens than to rent them. This site will be your friend: www.efavormart.com I got my 72" square table cloths to go on top of the black linens at my venue and paid $6 each and then sold them for $4 each. My satin runners were $2.50 each. You can also search "wedding" on craigslist every day and find all kinds of things as well as on the Dallas/Ft Worth community on theknot.com.
3. We skipped using a florist and got flowers at Dallas Wholesale Flower mart - hydrangeas were about $1.25 per stem and our total floral bill was $400 and we had a lot of flowers. Hydrangeas are easy to arrange and take up a lot of space so you need fewer of them.
4. You can buy glassware and vases for $1 each at Dollartree.com if you buy a case of 12. Shipping to a store is free. They also have plates, but we ended up going with thick clear plastic ones from Costco b/c we needed to clean up quickly.
5. I kinda wish we'd gotten married at Rose Chapel in Ft Worth. It was prettier, cheaper, and they don't do multiple weddings in one day. We had to have a rehearsal at 2pm on Friday b/c of all the weddings going on.
6. Get a photobooth if you have room in the venue/budget. This guy mentioned giving Aggie discounts for his photo booth - www.cowtownphotobooths.com I am SO glad we had one, everyone loved it and now I have a scrapbook full of photos and pages people decorated, which is more fun than a guest book
7. Candy buffets are cheap and everyone keeps saying how much they liked it. Favors ended up running about $1 per head. We got mesh drawstring bags from efavormart.
8. For bridal alterations, call Ruth Calvert. She does them out of her home in Plano and I paid $150 for a hem and french bustle and I've seen people pay upwards of $350 for the exact same thing.
9. My dress was a Maggie Sotterro sample from A Bridal Closet in Plano. You try on the actual dress you'd be buying and they are the styles from last year, so they're super discounted. My dress was $399 and would have originally sold for closer to $1000
10. My cake was from Texas Star Bakery in Hurst. They did a fantastic job, everyone kept saying it was the best wedding cake they'd ever tasted. We had a two layer cake and 3 half sheets and paid $300 including delivery and setup.
11. I made my own programs in MS Word and printed them on card stock at Kinko's for $11. I put two side by side on regular 8.5 x 11 paper and had it cut in half lengthwise. They looked just fine!
12. Save the Date magnets were $1 each including envelope from www.magnetstreet.com
13. Perfect bridesmaid gift under $30 (the girls loved them): http://www.ballarddesigns.com/ballard-tote-bags/accessories/tote-bags/42338
14. I opted for a wedding day coordinator to handle setup and cleanup and she was under $200 and totally worth it!
15. I had a system of labeled plastic bins that contained decorations and items for reception/chapel. Each bin also had instructions on where its contents should go. Each person helping out was in charge of unpacking/packing about 3-4 bins and it worked perfectly.
16. We couldn't afford a band, so we made playlists on my mac and had a friend be an unofficial deejay.
17. My bridesmaid dresses were black strapless dresses from The Limited for $55. The girls were very happy with them and everyone ordered her own online.
18. Instead of renting tuxes, my husband found a buy one get one free suit promotion at Mens Wearhouse and, after checking with the groomsmen, they all decided to buy the same black suit and each paid for half of one (about $200) and then got to keep it. We bought them ties as part of their gift and they wore their own shoes.
19. My photographers were www.krauskaphotography.com I feel like we got a great deal - good quality and the rights to our own photos.
I'll post more as I think of it, but let me know if you have questions or want to contact anyone I mentioned. Good luck!
Photos on my blog: http://cardiganjunkie.blogspot.com/2010/11/wedding-recap-party.html
[This message has been edited by AggieHMF (edited 11/7/2010 1:59p).]
1. I used Rohmer's Restaurant in Muenster for catering. Everyone raved about our food, which was not fancy but very home style. We had chicken fried chicken (and grilled), green beans, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls and tea/water for $8 per head for 150. That is an unbelievable price! They were on time, super helpful, and cleaned up after themselves.
2. It's cheaper to buy linens than to rent them. This site will be your friend: www.efavormart.com I got my 72" square table cloths to go on top of the black linens at my venue and paid $6 each and then sold them for $4 each. My satin runners were $2.50 each. You can also search "wedding" on craigslist every day and find all kinds of things as well as on the Dallas/Ft Worth community on theknot.com.
3. We skipped using a florist and got flowers at Dallas Wholesale Flower mart - hydrangeas were about $1.25 per stem and our total floral bill was $400 and we had a lot of flowers. Hydrangeas are easy to arrange and take up a lot of space so you need fewer of them.
4. You can buy glassware and vases for $1 each at Dollartree.com if you buy a case of 12. Shipping to a store is free. They also have plates, but we ended up going with thick clear plastic ones from Costco b/c we needed to clean up quickly.
5. I kinda wish we'd gotten married at Rose Chapel in Ft Worth. It was prettier, cheaper, and they don't do multiple weddings in one day. We had to have a rehearsal at 2pm on Friday b/c of all the weddings going on.
6. Get a photobooth if you have room in the venue/budget. This guy mentioned giving Aggie discounts for his photo booth - www.cowtownphotobooths.com I am SO glad we had one, everyone loved it and now I have a scrapbook full of photos and pages people decorated, which is more fun than a guest book
7. Candy buffets are cheap and everyone keeps saying how much they liked it. Favors ended up running about $1 per head. We got mesh drawstring bags from efavormart.
8. For bridal alterations, call Ruth Calvert. She does them out of her home in Plano and I paid $150 for a hem and french bustle and I've seen people pay upwards of $350 for the exact same thing.
9. My dress was a Maggie Sotterro sample from A Bridal Closet in Plano. You try on the actual dress you'd be buying and they are the styles from last year, so they're super discounted. My dress was $399 and would have originally sold for closer to $1000
10. My cake was from Texas Star Bakery in Hurst. They did a fantastic job, everyone kept saying it was the best wedding cake they'd ever tasted. We had a two layer cake and 3 half sheets and paid $300 including delivery and setup.
11. I made my own programs in MS Word and printed them on card stock at Kinko's for $11. I put two side by side on regular 8.5 x 11 paper and had it cut in half lengthwise. They looked just fine!
12. Save the Date magnets were $1 each including envelope from www.magnetstreet.com
13. Perfect bridesmaid gift under $30 (the girls loved them): http://www.ballarddesigns.com/ballard-tote-bags/accessories/tote-bags/42338
14. I opted for a wedding day coordinator to handle setup and cleanup and she was under $200 and totally worth it!
15. I had a system of labeled plastic bins that contained decorations and items for reception/chapel. Each bin also had instructions on where its contents should go. Each person helping out was in charge of unpacking/packing about 3-4 bins and it worked perfectly.
16. We couldn't afford a band, so we made playlists on my mac and had a friend be an unofficial deejay.
17. My bridesmaid dresses were black strapless dresses from The Limited for $55. The girls were very happy with them and everyone ordered her own online.
18. Instead of renting tuxes, my husband found a buy one get one free suit promotion at Mens Wearhouse and, after checking with the groomsmen, they all decided to buy the same black suit and each paid for half of one (about $200) and then got to keep it. We bought them ties as part of their gift and they wore their own shoes.
19. My photographers were www.krauskaphotography.com I feel like we got a great deal - good quality and the rights to our own photos.
I'll post more as I think of it, but let me know if you have questions or want to contact anyone I mentioned. Good luck!
Photos on my blog: http://cardiganjunkie.blogspot.com/2010/11/wedding-recap-party.html
[This message has been edited by AggieHMF (edited 11/7/2010 1:59p).]
