Crafting a Wedding that Doesn't Look or Feel "Budget"

I forget where, but I once saw a blog post about a budget wedding where the bride highlighted what cost savings were unique to the couple and their location and what savings tips could be leveraged by other brides regardless of location or circumstance.

I loved her post (and really thought I'd starred it for future reference) because it gave me a real picture of what I could hope to do. (Becca's post the other day reminded me of that post.) Here's why. Many budget weddings occur in the backyard of a family member or at their family parish/synagogue. There aren't a lot of homes with big backyards in San Francisco or its suburbs. All the synagogue's we checked with still had rental fees. (In more rural towns - say Fairfield or Suisun City - this isn't true, but the cost of transportation to get guests to those towns far outweighs any savings.)

TheKnot has an example of a $10,000 wedding in San Francisco for 80 people. A couple of things in the example don't work for us.

• Only 80 guests. We struggled to pare our guest list to 140 (end goal of 125 guests based on the industry standard 80% acceptance rate). 125 guests means the suggested value venue is too small for us.
• Skip photography? What are you crazy? We couldn't imagine leaving the photography to fate.
• No meal? With so many out-of-town guests we couldn't stomach this idea. (We did toy with the idea of a potluck where we'd provide the entrees. Unfortunately with our venue's caterer if you go with them you go with them for everything - the cake is the exception.) We did consider heavy appetizers if we'd gone with one of the other venues we'd investigated as with guaranteed bar/food minimums and venue fees, we couldn't afford to feed our guests an actual meal.

Okay to the blogsphere for ideas. Friendors and DIY projects. For a 100+ person wedding with a hard goal of $10,000 that's asking a lot from friends. Now don't get me wrong... we, like every other couple who's trying to keep costs down, will have tons of hands working for us before we walk down the aisle. (We also read too many rants from friendors and from guests to feel comfortable taking our friends - our guests - up on their ceremony/reception offers of help. We have accepted DIY project and set up help.) One of my top three must haves for the wedding is to be surrounded by our friends. So we really wanted to avoid have our friends working the entire celebration. (Yeah we have friends who are DJs. Yes we still hired a DJ to be the Master of Ceremonies so that our friends could enjoy the ceremony and have fun when they're spinning.)

Another downside of DIY projects that no one - except Been There Done That Brides (Wedology 101) and Hindsight Brides - seems to mention is the bride will be one super stressed girl UNLESS she enlists a professional wedding coordinator. (The real brides telling their stories on Wedology 101 and the Hindsight Bride aren't in the events industry, they don't stand to gain anything by recommending that brides budget for a Month of Wedding Coordinator.)

Many real brides out here on the west coast have talked about certain realities they faced (or are facing) and how they dealt with those realities for their weddings. A $10,000 budget wedding is a stretch in San Francisco; check out My Splendid $10,000 Wedding for tips to make this happen for you. It's almost unachievable in Los Angeles but can be done; see Liz Coopersmith's guest post on A Los Angeles Love. A $20,000 wedding in San Francisco still feels "budget" as you're faced with many tradeoffs. $20,000 is still a stretch in Los Angeles. But in reality $30,000 is a more doable "budget" wedding there.

We briefly toyed with the idea of a $10,000 budget - by briefly maybe less than a couple of minutes. We considered $12,000 for a little longer as our friends had accomplished that last June. There were a couple of things that I felt strongly about - providing hair and makeup for the girls and turning over details to a professional coordinator - that made $12,000 a little too tight. So we set our budget for a 100- to 125-person wedding - without rings, clothes, honeymoon, or Burning Man - at $20,000. It's a number we could be comfortable with.

We'll do a wrap up post-wedding, but as you can probably guess the largest portion of our budget is catering - cost of food (including wedding cake) and beverages (both alcohol and non-alcoholic including water), linens, appropriate rentals, and labor. Where we were able we sourced items ourselves - linens (we're planning on reselling after the wedding) and alcohol (for Bay Area brides and grooms - BevMo's 5 Cent Sale).

There were a couple of add-on costs. One, our caterers only provide water during dinner and the venue doesn't have a water fountain. We're having dancing - people are going to get thirsty for water. Yeah who thinks they have to buy water? Two, something we should have been aware of, but weren't, was that because the caterers are only responsible for food, the provided settings include silverware, dinner plate, cake plate, a tea/coffee cup, and water glass but no wine or pint glasses. Again we hadn't planned on renting or purchasing glasses. Three, another obvious item we forgot to budget for was cocktail napkins. The venue doesn't provide linens; you have to rent or provide them. We got napkins for dinner but overlooked the need for guests to wipe their fingers after indulging in passed appetizers.

Tallying up "catering" costs (including taxes, CRV, and mandatory 20% gratuity (which is taxed!?!?)) for 125 guests we're at $10,732.85 (which doesn't include cocktail napkins or the cost of insurance/permit needed for serving alcohol). So we're spending $85.86 per person/child (food, labor, and gratuity alone is $62.39 per person).

Adding the venue expenses of $4,295 (security, coat check, chair rental, site fee, etc.), before we even decorate we're at $15,027.85 or $120.22 per person/child.

And here's where DIY comes in - how we hope to have a wedding that doesn't look or feel "budget." $120.22 per person certainly isn't a "budget" meal. So we're using luxury fabrics we had on hand for table runners (duponis and sheers with beading) and a friend is sewing them for us. My parents gifted us antique silver platters. Friends have been and are helping us make our escort cards, programs, and wedding favors.

If we had to choose a label for our wedding (and I've posted on how much I hate labels), it wouldn't be budget, DIY, offbeat, or indie. The label that best describes our wedding is Community. Our community is helping us make our day a reality. A day where we're surrounded by our friends and family. A day where we can all sit back and enjoy ourselves once the ceremony starts.

Hopefully our guests will understand certain tradeoffs we made. We tried very hard to craft a day for everyone - and with all the allergies and dietary observances that's certainly not easy!

Keep track of those wedding expenses

If you're like me, you probably just want to forget about what you've spent as soon as you've spent it. I've been resisting this urge, and boy am I ever glad that I routinely doublecheck all expenses and track the budget. And here's why.

Two days ago I discovered a few fraudulent charges on my debit card. (I'd had this "brilliant" idea that if we didn't have the cash to pay for something, it wasn't necessary for the wedding and had been setting out to pay for everything in cash.) With all the wedding expenses, I'd gotten in the habit of checking my account balances and credit a little more often than usual (between two to three times a week). First thing Monday morning, going through the weekend's wedding purchases, I noticed a few charges from stores I hadn't visited in a couple of years, for services I hadn't used, and for charities I didn't support.

While it sucks that this happened, I'm so glad it didn't happen at the end of September/beginning of October. If I had to handle last minute payments/expenses with no access to cash (just my checkbook), I'd be one crazed bride.

What I've learned from this experience...

1. Check credit/debit card and account activities at least once a week, if not more frequently. If you get in a habit of checking first thing Monday morning and there's a problem you can have a resolution by mid-week.
2. Just because your credit/debit card is in your possession doesn't mean the number as well as security code isn't in someone else's possession. The first question my bank asked was whether my debit card was stolen. Nope, it wasn't. It was (and still is) in my possession.
3. The minute you notice a fraudulent charge - even if it's still pending - call your bank. My bank was able to immediately reverse those charges (not all banks will do this but it never hurts to ask). They were also able to credit my account for the fraudulent charges that already had gone through. (As an aside, while my bank's support people were amazing, the customer support people at NewEgg (where the largest fraudulent charge occurred) are really rude. I last did business with them in 2008 and I definitely won't be doing business there in the future.)
4. Most importantly, don't use your debit card in place of a credit card or as a substitute for cash. Depending on when you notice the fraudulent charges you aren't going to have access to those funds for 24 to 48 hours. If you don't have cash reserves you might end up bouncing rent checks, etc. Also, if you're traveling, you won't have access to the checking/savings account tied to the card until you get your new card.
5. Having two credit cards is not such a bad thing. One credit card should be balance free - use that credit card rather than your debit card for monthly expenses that you plan to pay off. Neither credit card should be close to their limit - if your zero balance credit card is the one that gets stolen/phished, you may need to use your other credit card.

Have you been a victim of credit/debit card fraud? Was it easily resolved?

DIY Project: Bar Service

There are things as a bride that you'll only have to think about if you're a DIY Bride. Our venue doesn't provide bar service. For a Budget-Savvy DIY Bride, this is great. You can purchase your own liquor and bring it in, avoiding the typical "W" markup. (California brides can totally benefit from pre-planning their alcohol needs. BevMo! has a Spring and Fall Five Cents Sale. You buy one bottle for full price and get a second bottle (same vintage) for only five cents. Also if you shop there regularly don't forget to take advantage of your rewards.)

Do you fully realize what bar service entails? WeddingPlanning.com has a good description of what you need to consider as well.

For a bar, alcohol and glasses are obvious. But have you thought about non-alcoholic drinks? What about water? We didn't.

With the exception of the appetizers (along with trays to serve them on) at our cocktail hour, no bar service means there's nothing for our guests to drink. It also means that after dinner during the dance, there's nothing for our guests to drink. Our caterer provides iced tap water (along with a water glass) for dinner. Guests if you're reading this don't fear - we'll have beverages, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, for you to quench your thirst with.

Have you thought about garnishes and accessories?

• If serving wine, corkscrews.

• If serving beer, bottle openers.
• If serving Corona or Pacifico beer, lime wedges,
• If serving Hefewiezen, lemon wedges.
• If serving Blue Moon, sliced oranges.
• For those beers requiring citrus. You can prepare the wedges/slices ahead of time. If you decide not to, remember you'll need to stock your bar with a cutting board and knife.

• If serving mixed drinks, shakers, spoon.
• If serving Martinis, olives, cocktail onions, and of course picks for the olives and cocktail onions.
• If serving Margaritas, salt.
• Don't forget if you're serving mixed drinks your bartender is going to need a way to clean the shaker(s) between drinks (unless the drinks are pre-mixed).

In previous posts, I'd mentioned that I wanted to serve Pacifico in honor of my grandfather. (There will be bottles of Pacifico used as candle holders so we're still covered.) Our guests will notice that it's absent. I don't want to have to worry about slicing wedges the day of our wedding. I don't want to have to think about whether or not I wrapped a knife carefully and packed it and a cutting board.

If you're thinking about a DIY Bar, be sure to review Real Simple's checklist to make sure you've got the basics covered. Also keep in mind whether or not your venue has a sink nearby where you're setting up the bar. If it doesn't you might want to reconsider mixed drinks.

We were initially thinking of serving a Signature Drink. Turns out we don't have one. We'd need to come up with a drink that means something to the both of us. This for us would be hard, really hard. Most mixed drinks have refined sugars in them, whether sugar or high fructose corn syrup. I can't have large quantities of refined sugar (I'm supposed to avoid them altogether but that's really really hard). It's actually a really good thing we don't have a mixed drink that was our signature drink - there's no sink near where the bar is being set up (oops).

(Source)

Ok so our guests might disagree that we don't have a "Signature Drink" we both like. We do. We both we like Bourbon. We even have an inside joke about Booker's Bourbon (and if I can remember where in the apartment I put that empty bottle for "safe keeping," it will be one of our candle holders).

Remember that Signature Drinks were designed by the WIC to help a couple reduce their bar costs. Now consider our "Signature Drink." Ours will put us over our initial $1000 alcohol budget. If each of the 132 adults we invited likes Bourbon and takes a Booker's on the Rocks, we'd need 264 ounces or 7,807 ml or 11 bottles if no one requests a double. To serve our signature drink, we're looking at $648.89 without tax. We've single-handedly created a very dry event as we need to get non-alcoholic beverages for the children who will be in attendance as well as for the designated drivers. You've probably guessed by now, but in addition to nixing the Pacifico, we nixed the DIY Signature Drink.

Our DIY Bar will be featuring a variety of red and white wine as well as some of our favorite local and imported beers. We'll have IZZE sodas (remember I can't have refined sugars) and water for our non-alcoholic options. We won't be serving in wine glasses, pints, or tumblers though. DIY bar service means you either buy or rent what you're serving your DIY drinks in. Again guests if you're reading this, don't fear that you'll be chugging from the bottle. We've sourced 5 ounce and 12 ounce compostable cups from World Centric. And don't worry that you'll need to wipe your hands on your clothes after eating your appetizer, we've got the cocktail napkins covered as well.

(images not to scale; 5 ounce on left; 12 ounce on right)

So brides, if you're doing a DIY Bar, consider what you'll need in addition to just the alcohol and include in your budget.

Oops! DIY Fail: Wait! We're what? Out of Ink?

For our invitations and inserts, we decided to use treeless paper from EcoPaper.com, specifically Banana Paper Cover Stock and Banana Paper Printer Paper. Now I'm not sure if it's a combination of the paper or that we chose purple for our signature color or the design of the printer we're using, but Wow.

Let's backtrack a second. When we moved last October, I put all of our cables and cords for the office together. My thinking was that it would be easier for when we unpacked. Well, it's now May and the office isn't unpacked and I have no idea where the printer power cord is. So rather than stress about trying to find it before Saturday so that I could print out our invitations before Saturday's Wedding DIY Project Crafting Day, I decided just to buy another and to pick up ink while I was getting it. After a quick cost analysis, it was cheaper just to buy a new printer.

Enter the HP Photosmart C4680.

(Source)

Now cue dismay. We've printed 45 invitations (2 invitations per 8.5x11 page) and 8 of the 1st of 3 inserts (2 inserts per 8.5x11 page). And we're out of ink. Ok, not out of ink, "Low on ink." Either way the cartridges have to be replaced. While the printer tells you you're running low, it doesn't tell you whether one or both cartridges need to be replaced.

So, this morning. We replace both cartridges and start printing. We printed 37 more copies of the 1st of 3 inserts (2 inserts per 8.5x11 page). And we're out of ink. Ok, not out of ink, "Low on ink." Replace ink and print another 37 of 3 inserts (2 inserts per 8.5x11 page).

Well now we're actually out of ink. We have all of our invitations printed. All of 2 of 3 inserts printed. 14 of the 3rd insert. And we're out of ink. This time, we're really out of ink. See I bought two 60 Combo-packs (in addition to the came with the printer) yesterday thinking that would more than cover 180 color printouts. Nope. It didn't. We're out of ink at 149 color printouts.

On the plus side - the print quality is amazing and this printer is fast (excluding replacing ink cartridges, we printed 90 color invitation inserts in under an hour). The biggest con though is no separate low on ink indicator for the two cartridges (there's one black and there's the one tricolor).

Anyone else using an HP Photosmart C4680 printer to print on Banana Paper? What were your results?

The Treachery of Labels (apologies to Magritte)

Names and labels have power, whether we want to admit it or not. Labels help us understand the world around us. Yet we tend to throw labels around carelessly. When we blog, we label, aka tag, our thoughts for others. With weddings, labels that are freely tossed about include "inspiration boards," "DIY project," "offbeat," and "budget."

Early on in planning I was drawn to "offbeat" content. However, I quickly found myself evaluating whether our ideas were original or unique enough (see my post on inspiration). Did I "belong" on an offbeat site when we were having a pretty traditional Jewish ceremony? (I don't count decisions to have sustainable, in-season food or flowers, environmentally conscious favors, or upcycled/vintage components as offbeat - we live in San Francisco and that's pretty normal around here.)

We came up with the theme for our wedding and decided upon the DIY projects we're doing to support our theme. As I looked for tutorials I routinely searched for "inspiration boards" or "DIY projects." I quickly learned that depending on which blog you follow or site you watch, these labels can mess with your mind. You often have to read carefully to find out whether or not the images are from a real DIY wedding, a produced wedding, or a photo shoot. (Other brides such as Becca at A Los Angeles Love and Liz at Chic on the Cheap have remarked on this phenomenon as well so I realized I wasn't alone.) If you're not thinking about it, these images and words can induce undue stress.

Staged and "almost-too-good-to-be-real" images led me to write my Stop with the Perfection post with the full support of my FH. (I later cross-posted this post to a couple of wedding boards upon his suggestion.) When I wrote the post and hit Publish Post, I didn't know what response I'd get. Sure there were a few snarky responses, but most comments and feedback showed that I wasn't alone in my struggle with industry pressure for weddings to be perfect. Many of us are afraid of contributing to the consumerism of the wedding industry, of friends and family labeling us a bridezilla, and of not having our day "measure up." I'm glad that I shared my feelings; it opened up a great dialog with friends and relieved stress that I was inadvertently applying to myself for no good reason.

One community that I've grown to love and look to is WeddingBee.com. The reason? Real brides who are honest - they share what worked, what didn't work, and they talk about what most brides are feeling but afraid to express. Take for example, Miss Scissors' post two days ago, "I've Stopped Reading Wedding Blogs." When she wrote, "All of these beautiful weddings, half-or-more of them staged, were screwing with my psyche. (Truth be told, they still do.) ... Seeing inspiration shot after inspiration shot after inspiration shot after inspiration shot… It just got to be too much for me. I needed to feel good and solid about what ... we were doing to make our wedding fabulous, fantastic, and us." I haven't gone cold turkey, but I have modified my bridal feed in Google Reader. I have three - Real Brides, Bridal, and Bridal - Staged Shoots. For ideas and guidance on stretching our wedding dollars and tackling reasonable DIY projects, I'll tune into Real Brides. And when I'm in the mood to look at photo shoots and get inspiration for my personal photography, I'll look at Bridal - Staged Shoots. If I forget which blogs feature real weddings and which tend to cover photography shoots and vendor services, this feed reminds to "Look at Content within at Your Own Risk."

Emily Anderson of Eco Chic Weddings issued a similar cry in a recent post, "Take Back Your Wedding." "Reality check. A lot of people in the wedding biz (for the most part) still don't get it. The messages are the same--here's this beautiful image/ idea/ product/ venue/ whatever...that you can't afford." I, for one, can't wait to see how she mixes it up going forward.

Another term that seems to be associated with a line you shouldn't cross is budget. As most people don't talk about money, budget is an emotionally loaded label without tying it weddings. There were three blog posts about budget that I especially appreciated. One from Jessica at The Budget Savvy Bride was about the relative definition of "budget" based on where you live and where you're hosting your wedding. I like her focus on "savvy" and "how far you can make your money go or how to maximize the budget you're working with, rather than a specific price tag."

The other post was from Miss Octopus. "I am an unabashed wedding enthusiast, and I will admit that going on flights of fancy about having every single pretty thing Martha Stewart Wedding dangles in front of my eyes is something I have indulged in once or twice (a day). ... When Mr. Octopus and I seriously started talking about “wedding” as in “fall 2010″ rather than “wedding” as in “someday”, I decided to start doing a little casual research—and then promptly had to be revived with a pair of electric current paddles. I had no idea what those dreamy ideas ... actually cost. I’m sure I’m not alone in this. ... Because of that, though, I’d really like to help other brides avoid the shock and awe that I felt upon discovering the price tag on this stuff. So, I intend to be completely transparent about our budget." Read the rest of her post for the rest of the details.

The final, most recent post, was from Becca at A Los Angeles Love in response to commenters. She explains quite eloquently the difference cost-of-living and having won the genetic lottery (being born into a family of caterers, photographers, etc. willing to provide free labor). She compares $2 well drinks in Texas with $6 well drinks in Los Angeles (the same multiplier applies here in San Francisco as well). All of a sudden $20,000 in San Francisco is a very clear "budget" wedding!

I'm not going to release our budget numbers into the great wild that's the Internet. I will say we won't make the $10,000 budget goal - which in San Francisco with a 100 or so guests is really tough (for a laugh check out this $10,000 SF Wedding Challenge post on The Knot). Friends are one of my three must haves and in our combined top five must haves (I'll explain the Top Three Things in a later post) so we weren't willing to invite only a subset to the wedding and then have a less expensive party that everyone was invited to. We don't want people to miss seeing us under the chuppah. Therefore, the largest expenditure in our budget is food and drink. And you know what? We'll still be stretching our budget dollars (and you'll be reading about how we did), but I don't feel guilty about the total number anymore (thank you Miss Octopus and Becca!).

What are you doing to stay sane? Did you redefine any labels? What communities/support groups are you part of?

Looks for Less: Dress the Bride $500

Classic Elegance for Under $477 (without tax)

Where to Get the Look: Bracelet by Kate Spade $195; Fascinator by Mariell on Wedding BeDazzle $68; Dress by YH Chang 2000 on Etsy $165; Shoes by Karen Scott Shoes at Macy*s $49

This was the $500 bridal look I submitted for DIY Bride's 2010 Inspiration contest.

The challenge was clear. "Submit an inspiration board that contains the following:

• bridal gown
• veil/headpiece/tiara/hair accessories
• shoes
• jewelry/other accessories

When combined, the total cost of all of the pieces of the ensemble must be less than $500. All pieces must be new (no vintage, second hand, clearance/sales, or consignment). Entries must include links to the products and list the prices in the gallery submission form to qualify."
So I designed one traditional look with a "bridal gown" for under $500. Could you put together a look that meets DIY Bride's criteria? If you can, submit it for a chance to win an Apple iPad.
Along the way I found these other cute looks for brides. What do you think?


City Chic for Under $500 ($327.95 without tax)

Perfect for Saying "I Do" at San Francisco City Hall
Where to Get the Look: Dress by Maggy London at Nordstrom $98; Barrette by Aznavour Paris on ElegantHairAcc.com $80; Clutch by Manenail on Etsy $50; Shoes by Steve Madden at Zappos.com $99.95

Fun & Flirty for Under $500 ($352.95 without tax)

Carefree look for Your Garden Wedding in Golden Gate Park

Where to Get the Look: Bracelet by 1928 $28; Necklace by Atelier Edyta Loukia on Etsy $49; Dress by DoveTree on Etsy $78; Hat by Village Hat Shop $19.95; Clutch by Eight Seasons on Etsy $78; Shoes by Clarks at Zappos.com $100

Wedding Linens: Rent vs Buy?

In the end, we like many other budget savvy brides decided to buy rather than rent our linens. Yesterday we hit the Buy Now button and ordered 10 - Ivory 120" Round Tablecloths (the Black were out of stock with no estimated restock date); 10 - Ivory Rectangular Tablecloths; and 132 - Black 17" x 17" Cocktail Napkins versus the 21" x 21" Dinner Napkins. (We were originally going to get Black tablecloths and Ivory napkins but what was in stock swayed our decision.) So... by this time next week, we will have 76 pounds (yes you read that right 76 almost 80 pounds) of ivory and black linen arriving at our doorstep. NOTE to budget savvy brides, be sure to buy when a Free Shipping coupon is available - linen weighs a lot and can make buying more expensive than renting.

We had one main criteria in the buy versus rent debate: Cost. First we looked into how much it would cost to rent linens. We ignored for a moment that we'd have to pick up the linens ourselves if we wanted to avoid a surcharge for a Sunday rental or a special delivery fee for a Sunday as well as the additional fee for the 22 steps between the door of the venue and the reception hall (there's no elevator at our venue). To rent floor length linens, would run about $400 ($397.50 to be exact). Sticker shock. Okay what if we went with less formal linens, those that only come to your lap? To rent linens with a 15" (or 12") drop, it's slightly less expensive at about $300 ($307.50 to be exact). Maybe linens are really expensive - kinda like eco-friendly invitations and that's why the rental cost seems high?

Google Search immediately came to our rescue offering up a couple of online stores that sold linens in bulk (in order of cost): TablesclothFactory.com, LinenTablecloth.com, and CustomLinenService.com. NOTE: We ruled out eBay almost immediately - shipping was cost prohibitive and we weren't sure the Ivory colors we found would match. After looking at each online store, we were originally going to purchase a mix of floor length and lap length tablecloths. Thanks to a coupon via Twitter, we were able to get all floor length tablecloths (a length that's easier to share/resell as well).

Here's the cost breakdown across the three stores:

• TablesclothFactory.com was about the same price as renting. With a flat $6.95 shipping free, the cost with 9.75% tax for linens with uniform 15" drop was $300.58 (almost $7 less expensive than renting!).
• LinenTablecloth.com had two specials - free shipping in the US on orders $50 or more and a Twitter follower coupon good for 20% off the total order - a savings of almost $77. With the specials, we were able to get floor length tablecloths and 132 - 17" x 17" Cocktail Napkins for ... drum roll please... $311.09 - only $3.59 more expensive than renting a mix of 15" and 12" lap length linens and only $10.51 more expensive than purchasing a uniform 15" lap length linens from TablesclothFactory.com.
• CustomLinenService.com was a little more expensive (but not much) than renting. Without shipping, the cost with 8.25% tax for linens with uniform 15" drop was $359.53.

After our wedding we'll wash the linens and post for sale on Craigslist (at 76 pounds it seems like something someone might want to pick up locally rather than have shipped), BrideShare, or WeddingBee. Reselling or sharing our linens will further reduce the cost of our linens.

Designing Invitations

Another weekend and another wedding task completed!

After making a conscious decision to be more green, we considered Banana Paper, Coffee Paper, and 100% Post Consumer Recycled Paper for the raw materials for our invitations. An immediate pro for this choice is that because they're free of chlorine, acid, and lignin, the paper won't yellow or disintegrate over time. (Probably not something anyone else cares about, but it's cool to have archival quality paper for our wedding scrapbook.) This choice also had the consequence of narrowing down the selection of colors we had to choose from and introducing visible fibers. Another design constraint was introduced by the personalized 44 cent stamps we'd already purchased - we needed to watch the size of our envelopes and the combined weight of our invitation, information insert, and RSVP card. As we were using photo postcards for our RSVPs, the envelopes had to be at least 4" x 6".

The paper and envelope combinations considered were as follows:

• 210 gram 8.5" x 11" Coffee Cover Stock, 75 gram 8.5" x 11" Coffee Paper, and #10 4.5" x 9.25" Coffee Paper Envelopes
• 210 gram 8.5" x 11" Banana Cover Stock, 75 gram 8.5" x 11" Banana Paper, and #10 4.5" x 9.25" Banana Paper Envelopes
• (Most cost-efficient; ruled out due to less interesting fiber patterns) 80# 100% Post Consumer Recycled Vellum Cover Stock, 24# 100% Post Consumer Recycled Paper, and A6 4.75" x 6.5" 100% Post Consumer Recycled Envelopes
• (Ruled out due to cost) 80# A7 Recycled Pocketfold Invitation Card, 70# Recycled Text Paper, and 70# A7 Recycled Envelopes

Total cost of DIY Eco-Friendly Invitations: $1.50 per invitation or $1.19 with Forever Stamps

• 2 - Reams of cover stock (50 sheets each): $23.98
• 1 - Ream of 75 gram paper (500 sheets): $24.98
• 2 - Box of envelopes (100 envelopes): $25.90
• 1 - Box of photo postcards and ink cartridges (108 postcards): $0
• 100 - Personalized Stamps: $74.95 (versus $44.00)
• (Optional) 1 - Calligraphy Return Address Self-Inking Stamp: $34.43

DIY Projects: Wedding Favors, Take 2

NOTE: Originally posted on LiveJournal.

Brides should not be allowed to perform math. Yes I have an engineering degree and yes I have taken many advanced mathematics courses - Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations. But I am a bride. That means however rationally I usually approach an event or a tradeshow giveaway, anything wedding-related will be viewed through emotion-colored glasses.

I ran numbers for my dream wedding favor - a personalized cook booklet (see yesterday's post) - last night on the train and inadvertently used a price per bundle instead of the per book price (for example, $11.97 versus $3.99). You can guess what happened - immediate sticker shock ($1800 for 150 cook booklets) and heartbreak. (For 150 books, the bulk price ends up being $527 - 25 bundles or 100 books at the $13.57 bundle price ($339) plus an additional 10 bundles or 40 books at the $14.26 bundle price ($143) plus an additional 3 bundles or 15 books at the $15.16 bundle price ($46).)

I realized my error only after a night of trying not be heartbroken (and slightly - ok more than slightly - freaking out my fiance when I baked a chocolate cake at 10 pm at night). cubes when hearing the wrong costs tried opening my mind to other alternatives - possibly using FedEx Kinko's to copy/bind the booklet. If you hadn't guessed it by now I'm pretty stubborn. Once I get an idea into my head it'll take a force of nature to dissuade me.

So in an attempt to convince myself that booklets weren't feasible (after all if they couldn't be done the way I wanted, then they shouldn't be done at all!), I decided to look into what it would cost to create a booklet at FedEx Kinko's. After a quick (well not so quick) look at card stocks, specialty papers, and ribbons, I came up with another DIY project. It's also a cook booklet. But... unlike the Mini Photobook this DIY project matches the look and feel of our Save the Date Postcards and soon-to-be designed Wedding Invitations. This DIY project incorporates our wedding colors - purple/navy/ivory/silver. It requires less design expertise than the Photo Minibook approach (for the Photo Minibook, each individual recipe or page is laid out in Photoshop and saved as a JPG).

Equipment

• 2-hole paper punch
• Paper cutter
• Scissors

Raw materials needed

• Half of a sheet of 8.5"x11" Metallic Speckled Plum Vellum (http://www.paperandmore.com/vellum_paper_metallic_purple_plum_27.html)
• Half of a sheet of 8.5"x11" Natural Cream Linen Card Stock Cover (http://www.paperandmore.com/linen_card_stock_natural_cream.html)
• Either a 2"x2" or 3.25"x4.75" Photo Sticker with Our Names and Wedding Date (http://www.qoop.com/products/productPricing.php)
• 5-8.5"x11" Sheets of #70 Sand Paper cut in half for 10-4.25"x 5.5" 2-page spreads or 40 individual pages (http://www.paperandmore.com/plain_text_paper_sand_70.html)
• 5" of Navy Wraffia Ribbon (http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=8700&SubGroupID=8701&ParentGroupID=19072#8701)

Raw materials for 150 cook booklets (not including tax or shipping) is approximately $211. Double-sided copying costs at FedEx Kinko's for this project are approximately $120 ($0.14 for 750 pages).

This DIY project is much more labor intensive than the Mini Photobook. Realistically your fiance and you (and any crafty volunteers) are cutting 1,050 pieces of vellum, card stock, and paper in half; punching 3,600 holes; adhering 150 stickers to the card stock covers; assembling vellum, card stock and 10 pieces of paper into a booklet 150 times; and tying 150 knots.

Now... on the plus side, you have 150-4.25"x5.5" cook booklets in your wedding colors with 40 individual pages of recipes/photos for roughly half the cost of a 3.75"x2.5" Mini Photobook with a glossy white cover and 18 individual pages of recipes/photos. As usual cubes has taken an idea and improved upon it - mending my heart in the process.

Have you found ways to make something you really want work within your budget? Has your FH helped you get perspective?

DIY Projects: Ideas for Wedding Favors

NOTE: Originally posted on LiveJournal.

I'm addicted to all things wedding or DIY at the moment. So of course our wedding favors would be a DIY project. We've had two different ideas - at two different points in time - about what they should be. First we thought a cellophane pouch with two fortune cookies (the art piece at Burning Man on which cubes worked last year and at which he proposed had a fortune cookie dispenser).

Then we thought a booklet with some of our favorite recipes as cooking and eating out are two activities that have been and are central to our life. My inspiration for our cook booklet came from my background as an events photographer. One of the services I offered clients was a Mini Photobook that included shots or collages from an event with quotes or well wishes from the guests. In "small" quantities these albums were cost effective. For example, 20-3.75" x 2.5" 20-page, softcover, stapled booklets was roughly $61 (http://www.qoop.com/photobooks/photofront/bulk_pricing.php?product=minibook&photosite_id=QPPS).

Our guest list - like most couple's - is going to drive many decisions. Right now it looks as if it's going to be somewhere between 100 and 150. So, not thinking about the longevity of the item and only looking at budget, this makes fortune cookies the clear choice. 350 fortune cookies with 4 personalized messages run $67 - $54 for the cookies (http://www.fortunecookiestore.com/mall/c100/s2935/cookie_custom.asp) and $13 for the cellophane bags (http://www.theboxdepot.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?search=action&keywords=clearbags&template=Templates/clearbags.html). The cook booklet is more attractive for a keepsake but possibly too much for our budget - for 100 guests we'd be looking at $339 and for 150 guests we'd be looking at just under $600.

How are you choosing favors? Cost, relevance to you, something else?