2010 January | 12k Wedding Blog

January 25, 2010 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Detroit Love - The Recaps, News and Notes

Lately, I’ve been getting the same question pretty frequently: Did we stick to our 12k wedding budget?

The short answer is no.

Here’s the long answer:

Before I started planning, I should’ve done more research on how much average costs were for weddings and receptions in our area. I would have had a more realistic view of things. Instead we threw out an arbitrary number based on our first estimate of how much we might’ve been able to save leading up to our wedding date.

We compromised on a lot of things like decor, catering and parking for our guests. But after a lot of discussion, there ended up being some things we absolutely did not want to comprise on.

Like the premium open bar. Everyone enjoyed themselves so thoroughly, which in turn made it a crazy good time for us. And I’m so glad we were able to slip that one in.

In the end we ended up spending about 15k. We saved a lot in a lot of places but ended up going over after all.

It’s one of those things. If I had it to do over again, I’m confident we could’ve gotten a lot closer to 12k but we’re not expecting any do-overs in this lifetime.

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Technorati Tags: 12kwedding, Bar, Catering, Decor, research, wedding budget

Christmas Lights as Wedding Decor?

January 15, 2010 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Reception

Now I know, if you’re ladies (and gents) after my own hearts, you went out and bought lots of holiday decorations 99% off on December 26th. If not, shame on you, you deserve to pay every penny of full price.

If you did happen to get some good deals, hopefully Christmas lights made an appearance in your shopping cart. Try using these little beauties as part of your wedding decorations.

Before you even fix your face to frown and call me tacky, just hear me out.

Now, in my defense, I’ve not seen this done tastefully in person, but I’m willing to guess it’s completely possible.

When done the right way, those tiny bursts of white light can probably do wonders at a wedding.

What do you think? Can it be done? Is it possible?

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Technorati Tags: Christmas, Decor, lights, Reception, Wedding

Wedding Invitation Mailing Tips

January 5, 2010 by Mrs. 12k | Filed in: Behind the Scenes, DIY

If you’re planning to make your own wedding invitations, I’ll be your biggest cheerleader but I’ll also be your biggest cautionary tale.

From the start I had so many issues with our wedding invitations and when they finally got mailed, I only halfway liked them. So, consider this post my gift to you, the die-hard DIYer, queen of crafts, and budget bride.

And now, my words to the wise:

Pick Up a Shape-Based Pricing Template From Your Local Post Office

USPS Shape-Based Pricing Template

I got mine (free from the post office) pretty late in the game, but if I would’ve known about it earlier it would’ve saved me a whole heap of trouble. Basically it’s a 12×16 cardboard guide that gives guidelines for allowable mailing sizes. Postage rates aren’t listed on the board, but I’m guessing it’s because they change more often than the measurement restrictions. I almost made the mistake of printing our Save the Date cards too small for mailing, by some stroke of luck went to the larger size at the last minute. If I’d have had my handy-dandy First-Class Mail Shape-Based Pricing Template, I wouldn’t have found myself in that situation. Just sayin.

Double and Triple Proofread All Text

We’ve lived at this address for years. And somehow, I managed to let the wrong address slip past me on the RSVP cards. Great. With no time, or budget to have them reprinted, I had to write on every single one of them, changing a 1 to a 0. Really, it could’ve been changing a 1 to a 4, but clearly that would’ve been too easy. So even after you’ve checked the text 3 times on all pieces, check it 3 more times, just to be sure. Avoid the tackiness of handwritten corrections at all costs.

Research Envelopes Beforehand

Again, another one of things I wish someone would’ve told me. I was so excited to order the wedding invitations that I didn’t pay any attention to the envelopes that they would eventually have to fit in. Never mind the fact that I got the bigger invitations because they were “still so reasonably priced”. Come to find out, envelopes come in standard sizes (e.g. A5, A7, etc.) and cards used for invitations can be ordered in a variety of other sizes. I ended up having to have our wedding invitations reprinted because to order the special envelopes in the right-sized would’ve put us waaaay over budget. Just do yourself a favor and stick to the standard stuff.

Buy Stamps Early

Especially if you’ll have standard letter-sized (and letter-weighted) wedding invitations, do yourself another favor and buy Forever stamps early in the process. I’m not sure when the next rate increase is, but you’d rather be safe than sorry. Yeah, the special wedding stamps are nice sometimes, but they cost more and do the same thing which is get the invitation from point A to point B. Sure you’ll only save a few pennies per mailing, but depending on your number of guests, those savings could add up quickly.

And that my friends is my two cents based on my wedding invitation debacle…uh…I mean experience. Feel free to share your wedding invitation mailing tips in the comments.

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