Help with planning a destination wedding on a budget

[Sparkleshine]

What does the resort include in their fee? Some include cakes, and centerpieces.

I would definitely get a print your own invitation kit with a coupon at a hobby store - they are so pretty now! Also don't spend a lot on favors - if any at all - there are also some really nice kits in the craft stores (even DOLLAR Stores) for these also!

Don't skimp on photography at the end of the day that is all you will have left to show for it!!!

Don't spend extra on linens (if not included) since nobody will remember them. Try to do your own makeup/hair if possible. Don't buy a Veil at full price - they have gorgeous ones on ebay! Shoes aren't really seen don't spend a ton on those either since they will probably never be worn again - payless has some nice ones!

Find a good wedding board like the knot - they have budget boards there too and those bride-to-be's are SUPER creative!

Good luck!

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

The carriage seems like a given, how else would she get around? I think yo uhave to get that.
Not sure how to save you money, but I can just taste the possible favors...I am picturing the yummy fudge in personalized little boxes. MMMMMMmmmmmmmm

Happy planning, how nice she has included you in the planning!

 

[smokeyblue]

The date of the wedding is August 6, 2011. The wedding will be outside at Mission Point Resort. The resort has an awesome wedding planner that is already helping us. We are all going back in October to a huge bridal show on the island where we will be able to meet with all the vendors and get alot done. We have been going to the island for every summer for a 2 week stay at Mission Point for the last 11 years. We are getting a better then "rack" rate for this wedding. I am in need of ideas for things that we can cut costs on so that she can have the things that she really wants. There are so many things to remember! Like a PP said don't forget the little things when working the budget. I almost don't even know where to begin in figuring out the budget. They are getting married on at peak time and have decided to have a dinner reception, that was not negotiable, they want to have the fun and dancing. The guest list will be smaller as everyone coming has to travel. We are expecting to have 50 to 75 guests. She definately wants a carrriage. One huge expense seems to be the photographer up there - $2,000 just for his fee not including any pictures. Need a way to cut that cost!

One way to cut costs would be to find a photographer that doesn't live on the island that is willing to travel to the island. You'd probably have to put them up for the night, but if you could find someone who would do it for a $1000 plus the lodging they might just consider it a mini-vacation. I live in the UP and there are a lot of "starving artists" up here. Many people with talent and experience. I'd look at photographers from Sault Ste. Marie, Petoskey, Escanaba and Marquette. In Marquette there are photographers that charge $500-$1000, some just turn the disc over to you with all the photos on it.

 

[hinodis]

The carriage seems like a given, how else would she get around? I think yo uhave to get that.
Not sure how to save you money, but I can just taste the possible favors...I am picturing the yummy fudge in personalized little boxes. MMMMMMmmmmmmmm

Happy planning, how nice she has included you in the planning!

That is EXACTLY what we are thinking of doing! The price is not bad. It is $50.00 for the printing and then $1.00 per box!

 

[dzorn]

Find a location before you choose anything else. Dates for Island Weddings may be booked up a year or more in advance. Often locations want only to work with certain vendors.

DH and I wanted to get married there but choose not to wait and save the money by getting married locally.

Congratulations to the happy couple and good Luck planning.



Denise in MI

 

[irishsharon]

We where at a destination wedding recently and everyone who checked in got a welcome goodie bag. It included bottles of water ,snacks and a few other things made us feel good that they took the time to do this.What about the rehersal dinner, who will be invited?The wedding we attended had a campfire and pizza and smores where served. Things add up in a hurry so as other people have said dont get all the extras that the reception place offers. Honest just remember the best wedding you have ever been to and why for me it's the couple the dancing and the food all the rest is just icing

 

[hinodis]

We where at a destination wedding recently and everyone who checked in got a welcome goodie bag. It included bottles of water ,snacks and a few other things made us feel good that they took the time to do this.What about the rehersal dinner, who will be invited?The wedding we attended had a campfire and pizza and smores where served. Things add up in a hurry so as other people have said dont get all the extras that the reception place offers. Honest just remember the best wedding you have ever been to and why for me it's the couple the dancing and the food all the rest is just icing

We are doing the goody bags. All the guests that arrive on that Friday will be invited to the rehersal dinner. We are having a BBQ and then later on a bonfire by the lake. We already have the wedding booked and the reception room as well. We have alot of connections so that will help. I know we can make it all work out. It will just take some creative thinking and great suggestions from everyone here

 

[dis-happy]

Congratulations, MOB! I remember meeting you and your family IRL.

Anyway, here's a budget cake tip that's super trendy right now. In fact, my GF is doing this for her dd's wedding this month.

Instead of an expensive cake, do a cupcake cake. The bride and groom in my friend's wedding have a bakery doing a small (like 6 or 8") decorated round cake on the top which they can cut, then the rest will be cupcakes in 3 or 4 tiers. In fact, the super-artsy mom even made the tiers herself by glueing plates and platters together. She also found some pretty paper cupcake holders. Her other daughter is a fabulous baker and is making the cupcakes herself....by planning ahead they are being baked and frozen, then defrosted and decorated the day before the wedding. They even taste better than any bakery cupcakes they tried.

Wishing you all the best.

 

[sharbear]

I really don't have any ideas but how much fun is that wedding going to be! I love Mission Point! So pretty and the wedding will be beautiful!

We just got a wedding invitation and it might not save any money but it was on recycled paper assembled by mentally disabled adults. It was such a nice idea and I loved it. Although the bride is not one to spend tons of money so I suspect it was not costly.

One thing I know she did is to make her own centerpieces. She had tree trunks cut and bored for candles. She's going to put flowers in them with the candles. It sounds so pretty and up north like. (The wedding is in Traverse City)

I do like the idea of trying to find someone not on the island to take photographs. I'll bet this happens alot esp. if you check out Petosky which is really close although I agree that it may be easier and cheaper for someone in the UP. The first weekend of August is prime time up north so I'm sure there will be a lot of wedding scheduled.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I never even thought about getting the invitations online! What an excellent idea! It would probably save us money. We are thinking of having "fake" flowers for the wedding party, I have a friend that can do that for us. The bride will have a fresh flower boquet.

I just did my wedding...pretty much homemade.

I ordered our invites from Costco online. There is a link to some outside company and Costco customers get a discount...25% off I believe.
I did the flowers myself...and I do not know anything about arranging flowers...but they turned out great! You can look up simple directions online for making bouquets. Got the flowers from Costco also. Spent total of $150 for all flowers, including centerpieces, accents, bouquets. You would have never known I didn't have a florist.
Dress/veil/alterations/sash totaled $550 from David's. Alterations were actually done elsewhere.
I am not sure what kind of venue you are looking at, but ours didn't require that you use their caterer, etc. That saves a lot also b/c you can shop around. We hired a bartender off craigslist and stocked the bar with wine/beer/liquor from Costco. We only had champagne for the bride/groom to toast. Everyone else used their drink of choice. Champagne is pricey!
We also skipped the wedding cake and had dessert instead. Neither of us are into cake too much.
Also got our photographer off of craigslist. We researched her website and looked at her portfolio. She cost us $300 and it included the DVD so we could print whatever we wanted.

Hope that helps!

 

[sharbear]

The idea of a photographer from craigslist is great. Here are two that I found on the northern michigan craigslist. http://nmi.craigslist.org/evs/1881749880.html http://nmi.craigslist.org/evs/1886521819.html

The first one is in Petosky

 

[hinodis]

Congratulations, MOB! I remember meeting you and your family IRL.

Anyway, here's a budget cake tip that's super trendy right now. In fact, my GF is doing this for her dd's wedding this month.

Instead of an expensive cake, do a cupcake cake. The bride and groom in my friend's wedding have a bakery doing a small (like 6 or 8") decorated round cake on the top which they can cut, then the rest will be cupcakes in 3 or 4 tiers. In fact, the super-artsy mom even made the tiers herself by glueing plates and platters together. She also found some pretty paper cupcake holders. Her other daughter is a fabulous baker and is making the cupcakes herself....by planning ahead they are being baked and frozen, then defrosted and decorated the day before the wedding. They even taste better than any bakery cupcakes they tried.

Wishing you all the best.

Hi DisHappy! I remember meeting you! That was so fun

The cake idea sounds great! It also sounds alot easier. Cupcakes are all the rage right now. I talked to the wedding planner today and it looks like we will be able to do everything we want with the budget I gave her to work with. So, the places I will need to look at cutting down if I can are: the photographer, the welcome goodie bags for guests when they check in....we are thinking costco for this (any ideas on what to put in please let me know), flowers/centerpeices, gifts for the wedding party, personalized cocktail napkins, DJ (musicians or DJ for ceremony?), I KNOW this is going to be out of budget. I keep feeling like I am forgetting to add something in and I won't have it budgeted. We go back to the Island in October for destination wedding weekend. We will have a better idea on some costs after talking with the vendors there.

 

[hinodis]

The idea of a photographer from craigslist is great. Here are two that I found on the northern michigan craigslist. http://nmi.craigslist.org/evs/1881749880.html http://nmi.craigslist.org/evs/1886521819.html

The first one is in Petosky

Thank you so much! I am checking them out.

 

[hinodis]

The idea of a photographer from craigslist is great. Here are two that I found on the northern michigan craigslist. http://nmi.craigslist.org/evs/1881749880.html http://nmi.craigslist.org/evs/1886521819.html

The first one is in Petosky

OMGosh! The first one you gave me is the one a friend of mine that lives on the island used and she loved her! How cool is that? The price is right!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I forgot to mention that we also made our own programs with cardstock and ribbon from a nice stationary store. They were gorgeous and looked professional...by the time we had worded, printed, and assembled for 8 hours we were professionals!

Also, just go wander around Michael's or AC Moore. You will be suprised at all the ideas you come up with to add your own touches. For example, I found "W" (our last name is Walker) stickers in the dollar bins at Michaels and bought lots of packs. I found tons of uses for them for the wedding and reception.

I would skip the personalized napkins. I looked into them, but they are suprisingly not cheap, even online. Or you could do 1/4 personalized and mix them in with plain ones that match. Saves some $$.

We did favors for the guests. We ordered koozies with our names, a palm tree, and the wedding date on them from the internet in our wedding colors. Then we stuffed them with clear celophane bags full of benne wafers (we are in Charleston) and tied them with a green ribbon to match our colors. I placed a "W" sticker on each bag. Turned out super cute and made for a great pic all laid out on the table.

As for guest bags, we skipped that. Decided we didn't have the time or the $$ in our budget.
I have received one at another wedding that had a bottle of wine, lots of snacks, bottled water...super nice and super $$! However, that same wedding had a 12 piece band with 5 singers...if that tells you much.

I agree with checking theknot.com for do it yourself ideas. That is where I got a lot of ideas and then modified them to go with our wedding.

 

[blana]

You may want to spend a little time on the boards here: http://www.windsorpeak.com/bridalbargains/default.html

 

[sharbear]

OMGosh! The first one you gave me is the one a friend of mine that lives on the island used and she loved her! How cool is that? The price is right!

It's a really small world isn't it. Look in Craigslist for the DJ also. Northern Michigan, events, I saw some DJ's in there. The economy is so bad here right now I'll bet you'll get plenty of people who would be willing to come to the island for a wedding.

 

[micheleq]

First of all congrats!! I don't have any advice on Mackinaw because we just moved to MI, but for the goody bags for the hotel here's what I would include (we did this for out of town guests for our wedding):

-water bottle
-pack of gum or mints
-small candy or if you swing it, a more substantial snack food like crackers and cheese (don't forget a plastic knife if needed!)
-visitors guide to the area (which you can get for free hopefully from the Island's Chamber of Commerce)
-itinerary of the weekend's event -- where to go, what time to arrive, dress, etc.
-add something "Michigan" to the bag if the guests are from out of state. a cherry candy or jam?

Congrats again! I'll have to check out Mission Point for when we finally venture "up north."

 

[dimimi]

I just went to a wedding where there were a lot of out of town guests. The mother of the bride negotiated the price of the dinner and the price of each hotel room. She also paid for everyone's buffet breakfast the day after the wedding.

I would not use a wedding planner unless money was not an option or if you could find one that charged a flat fee.

 

[mrsklamc]

For a guest bag on MI I would do fudge if you can fit it in the budget.Maybe you could find cheap copies of 'Somewhere in Time" ?