Budget Tips

We are planning a budget wedding in one of the most in demand, over priced wedding areas in Canada. I have become a budget ninja. Here are my suggestions for planning a fabulous wedding on a budget.


Slim the Guest List
This is the first thing everyone suggests you do. We didn't really have to, our families aren't too huge and some people won't be able to make the long trip. We based our guest list on the room rental capacity, other than that we didn't really have a limit. Unless your guest list is over 200 I think there are many other things you can do to save money that won't effect the over all feel of your wedding.



Consider a Friday or Sunday Wedding
For us Friday wasn't going to be cheaper and wouldn't really work for our local guests, Friday and Saturday are the busiest days in Banff. But this can work, depending on your guests. Friday weddings usually start later so the shortest amount of time needs to be taken off work. This means you would have to do a first look to have any time for photos, a late ceremony start and a later dinner or heavy hors d'oeuvres if you start late enough.

A Sunday wedding could be in the morning or afternoon, serve hors d'oeuvres, lunch or brunch, all are cheaper than supper. Some rental fees might be cheaper, like for your venue or chair rentals. You can also have limited alcohol, limited choices or no alcohol at all, and it not be weird. We are serving wine and hors d'oeuvres during the reception, then taking a ton of photos and going out for an after party for those that want to party afterwards.


Non-Wedding Venues
Think about all venues that could host a wedding, but don't necessarily advertise it. Parks, museums, art galleries, theaters are all possibilities of being a gorgeous wedding venue. It is true there tends to be a wedding mark up on a lot of services, so go after those that don't usually provide the service. Every venue and vendor in Banff is smart enough to cater to the huge wedding industry in Banff, but if you research enough you will find those less known places and they always offer better prices.


Recruit Your Friends
Use your friends talents to your advantage! Have a friend who is into music? Get them to put together a playlist for you and operate the iPod instead of hiring a DJ. Especially music talented friends could play the guitar or other musical instrument for your ceremony music. An outgoing friend could be your officiant or Master of Ceremonies. Get a super organized friend to be your day of coordinator. If you've got friends handy with hair or make-up put their skills to the test! Might be a good idea to do a test run, just in case, invite her over for a girls night for makeovers and wine! A friend could also make cupcakes or other desserts and if you are really lucky a tiered wedding cake!


Scout the Schools
Look for up and coming talents from schools nearby. Beauty school or a music academy have plenty of hidden gems in them.


Alternative Decor and Centerpieces
Real flowers are expensive and only last a few days. Come up with alternative decor that matches your theme and colors. Pine cones, acorns or wheat suit a rustic wedding. Paper or coffee filters make great fake flowers for a romantic, fun wedding. Fresh fruit add colors and personality to a spring wedding. Potted plants are a great alternative and they will last longer! I saw one bride who put the plants into hollowed out logs for her rustic wedding! Candles add a warm touch to almost any centerpiece, doesn't really suit an afternoon wedding though. Alternatives for bouquets as well is a good money saver, paper or fabric flowers and a new idea I saw is lanterns with a candle, it looks so enchanting!


Online RSVP
So many people forget or don't bother to RSVP, think of all the wasted pre-stamped envelopes and time and money spent on the RSVP cards! And after going through all that trouble you have to track all those people down. People don't seem to understand you need an actual number or you will be paying for their plate for no reason! We are doing an online RSVP, on our wedding website instead. It is better for the environment too!


Casual Rehearsal Dinner
Since 90% of our guest list is from out of town we decided to do a welcome picnic instead of a rehearsal dinner. It will be a super casual, fun picnic in the park. We will borrow a table to put all the food on, use the gazebo in the park for some shelter and seats, buy boat loads of picnic food and drinks. This will be the first time our two families meet so I like they will have a chance to get to know one another before the actual wedding.


No Favors
If it wasn't for the ribbon wands and photo booth we wouldn't have any favors at all. Most get left behind or thrown out when the guests check out. No one will miss them.


Budget Planner
The budget planners on http://www.theknot.com/ and http://www.weddingwire.com/ are both great. Type in your budget and it will break it down to how much each item should cost. Some are going to be more, some less and some won't apply, but it is defiantly a great starting point. As you start to book things you can fine tune your estimates. Slim down all the numbers you can. Remember to add tax and gratuity!


DIY, DIY, DIY!!
Like seriously, everything you can flippin imagine. Once you have your colors and theme down, buy your craft supplies from a bulk wholesaler. All of my craft supplies cost about $300. It will take a lot of time and energy but will save you thousands. I am pretty crafty and enjoy it so it is fun for me!
Here is my list: http://nicoleandmitch.blogspot.ca/2013/11/my-list-of-diy-wedding-projects.html


Decide What is Important
You might have to make some sacrifices and compromises. I want to make sure the guests are well fed and have enough to drink. Things that aren't too important to me is the music, so we are saving by using an iPod for the reception and still looking into getting someone from the local music school to play music at the ceremony. The only vendor I would recommend to hire a professional is a photographer. Not every person with an SLR is qualified to shoot a wedding, it takes a lot of experience to know your settings on a moments notice, get flattering angles and it helps to have the best gear.

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

I decided I wanted to ask my bridal party in a special way, with a "Will you be my bridesmaid?" box. A lot of the wedding crafts I am planning on doing is in the same style so it was good practice!

Supplies:

Boxes

Tissue paper
Roll of twine 

1 12x12 brown paper
1 12x12 beige paper
2 8.5x11 pages of vellum
Bronze embossing powder
Empossing ink and embossing tool
Tank tops

Paint chips in our colors
Embossing pen
Brown ink
Bronze Eyelet
3d Tape

Time: 

Took a long time but I loved doing it. Probably about 12 hours total.

I went to the hardware store and picked out our colours from the paint chips. I grabbed a blank one and embossed it with bronze embossing powder to show our accent colour. The top piece I wrote with an embossing pen and embossed it with bronze embossing powder too and inked the edge. 

Tied them together with leftover twine I had.

I designed their duties in photoshop and printed them on vellum:

The Big Day

What: Mitch and I are tying the knot! We will be having a small ceremony of 70 guests.

When: September 21, 2014

Where: The ceremony will be in the Buffalo Mountain Meadow
The reception will be in the Buffalo Mountain Lodge

The Weekend

Friday: Bachelorette party!

Saturday

1:00-4:00 Welcome picnic

4:30 Ceremony rehearsal

Sunday

9:00 Start on hair in the Bridal Party suite at the Buffalo Mountain Lodge. Don’t worry, it’s free!

11:00 Getting ready photos

1:00 Ceremony

1:30 Group photo and bridal party photos

2:00 Reception begins with our first dance

2:05 Toasts

2:15 Father/daughter, Mother/son dance

4:00 Cake cutting

4:30 Garter and bouquet toss

5:00 Exit

Your look

I want you to feel completely comfortable in your dress so all I am doing is choosing the color and fabric and leaving the rest up to you! For shoes I am thinking simple beige flats. Don’t want those heels sinking into the grass at the meadow!

Check out http://www.jjshouse.com

Fabric: Chiffon

Colour: Brown

Your Role

I want your role to be simple and stress free, all I ask is:

Show up at the bachelorette party to go dancing.

Show up at the welcome picnic and ceremony rehearsal.

Wear a pretty dress.

Hold pretty flowers.

I may recruit you for some artsy stuff in exchange for wine.

And most of all, I want you to have fun!

After printing the duties on vellum, I cut out the 
background paper, inked them both and stuck em together.

I tied these together with twine too

I made the t-shirt design in photoshop and ordered these for all the girls. 

Put everything into the box with some beige tissue paper. 

Her name: I cut out her name and shadow using my scrapbooking cutter and embossed the inner letters. The shadow I inked. Stuck it to the box with 3d tape.

Tag: I wrote out "Will you be my bridesmaid?" in photoshop and printed it on vellum. I inked the edge of the vellum and taped it to a tag. Inked the tag. Put an eyelet on the tag. Wrapped the twine around the box and tied the tag on. 

Wedding Craft Supplies

I had a ton of ribbon to order, like A TON. I searched and searched for a craft seller that ships to Canada with awesome prices. And I found it! Gales Wholesale had an excellent selection with even better prices. I picked out everything I needed, and got a few more ideas for more stuff I needed the more I searched. After I placed the order they contacted me to switch out a few of the items that were out of stock, with comparable items. Unlike other online craft suppliers who just ship you what they do have in stock and tough cookies for the rest of your order, so I really appreciated the way Gales dealt with it and made sure I was happy with the order before shipping it. They were very friendly and helpful. I will for sure be dealing with them in the future!
http://www.galeswholesale.com

My haul from Gales Wholesale! Look at the size of those ribbons! The thicker ribbons are 50 yards and are being used for the ribbon wall backdrop, bouquets, ceremony decor, card box and centerpieces. The thinner ribbons are 100 yards and are for the ribbon wands, boutonnieres and invites. The brown paint is for the cake topper shadow, 200 bronze eyelets are for the invites, floral tape and floral wire are for the bouquets and boutonnieres. The paper is for the invites.  

The Groom To Be

Hey everybody, Mitch here (the groom to be), I've been scouring the internet for some helpful links for the men in the audience who are preparing for THEIR big day and I've found a few that you might want to check out.

Unlike the ladies in the crowd, I haven't been dreaming of my perfect wedding since I was 3 but I think it's important to be prepared for your wedding, you don't want to be THAT guy.

Take a look at the following three links and don't worry I'll be here to help you guys make the best of the next few months (years):

Tips for a Groom - TheKnot.com

I found this site an excellent resource for all sorts of groom-related things. Wanna see some pictures of potential MANLY wedding bands, they're there. How about some grooming tips for the big day? You gotta look your best because REMEMBER when everyone is looking at her, she's looking at you (Did I steal that from Moore's?). There is also a very large collection of Q&As and Articles all about being the best groom, strongly recommended.

The Groom411

Not the best laid out site but a wealth of knowledge and information on how not to be THAT guy. The information is displayed in a kind of masculine cluttered way but don't worry, there are TOOLS at your disposal, calculators of all shapes and forms, ENJOY!

Groom Power

Another helpful site with lots of good links and articles. Everything is pretty straight forward and is clearly presented, tabs for everything.


Hope these links help you figure out how to be the best that you can be, in the AR...nevermind...

My List of DIY Wedding Projects

I have quite the list of DIY wedding ideas. All the decor is matching, same ribbon, same paper, same embossing powder, same ink, so I placed a huge order from a scrapbooking wholesaler for all the craft supplies. Most are still rattling around in my head, but here is the list so far:

Flowers 
Cost $20 - Maple leaves, floral tape, floral wire, twine, ribbon
For the bouquets, boutonnieres and aisle ceremony decorations we are sticking to the Autumn theme. We will roll fake maple leaves into roses and add wheat as the accent. Mitch is from the east (maple leaves) and I am from the west (wheat) so the flowers will be a blending of the two!
This is where I originally got the idea:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/160166858/fall-wedding-bouquet-fall-wedding-unique?
And this is the tutorial I will follow:
http://www.designsponge.com/2011/10/diy-project-autumn-leaf-bouquet.html

Ribbon Wand Send-Off 
Cost $50 - Wooden dowels, ribbon, screw eyes
The Buffalo Mountain Meadow is very strict when it comes to disrupting the environment, this includes throwing rice, flower petals or anything else that might damage the grass, attract or be harmful to animals. So we will use ribbon wands for a unique send off! I found wooden dowels at the dollar store for a pretty good price. Home hardware had packages of metal screw eyes for $3 for a package of 15 so I picked up a few of those. I will post them when they are finished!
I ordered all the ribbon from: http://www.galeswholesale.com

Instant Photo booth 
Cost $170 - Instax film, ribbon
I wanted to do a photo booth but there isn't enough room at the reception, so instead we are doing an instant photo booth with our Fuji Instax camera (like a Polaroid camera but cheaper) that we already own. The backdrop is going to be made of thick ribbons in our colors, that were also ordered from Gales Wholesale. I think I am also going to hang the banner we used for our Save the Date photos that says "Banff Alberta" at the top of the ribbon wall. By the way, LOVE dealing with Gale's so far, very friendly and helpful, have almost everything I need for the entire DIY process and excellent prices! They even called me when the order was put through with a few items that were discontinued and helped me chose comparable items. The order came in yesterday and everything is exactly what I wanted!
I ordered 10 packs of instax film from: http://www.eyecandys.com and they should arrive soon!

Photo booth Sign
Cost $0
Making a small sign to go beside the photo booth and guest book. The title, "Photobooth" will be made on the cutter with the inner letters embossed bronze. The writing will be printed on vellum, inked and put onto foam board with an easel.

Cake Topper 
Cost $2 - Brown paint
I have designed the cake topper already using Make the Cut software. I hghly recommend the software if you have a scrap book cutter, it allows you to cut out custom words and photos, I merged two fonts for the topper, Before the Rain and Invitation Script. The cutter I use is the Gazelle Bosskut. The outer piece is going to be cut out on foam core at work and painted brown, the next shadow will be on beige paper, and the inner most piece is going to be embossed bronze.
Cutter software: http://www.make-the-cut.com/
Cutter: http://www.bosskut.com/

Card Box
Cost $6 - Boxes
The card box will be made of two boxes I found at the dollar store in our wedding colors. They will be stacked on top of each other with a slit in the top. I will cut "Cards" out with my cutter and emboss it with bronze, with a brown shadow. I will add some ribbon around the boxes.

Bar Sign
Cost $0 - paper, embossing ink and powder, eyelets, ribbon
I already have everything required to make the bar sign. Same style as the other projects, printed on vellum, inked the edge, stamp a few embossed leaves, put eyelets and ribbon on the bottom and mount it on a foamcore board painted brown with an easel backing or in an 11x14 floating document frame.

Chalkboard
Cost $0 - Chalkboard paint
We will use chalkboards to write "thank you" on for our thank you cards. We have a broken frame at work that I will put a piece of matt board in and paint with chalk board paint that we are borrowing. Also using the signs for the "Ceremony" and "Celebrate" directional signs.

Potpourri Centerpieces 
Cost $3 - DIY potpourri, jars, ribbon, twine, rice
I am doing non-floral centerpieces and sticking with the Autumn, rustic theme. I will make my own Autumn inspired potpourri out of pine cones and acorns that I might sprinkle with a bit of embossing powder. Sticking them in glass jars we will collect of various sizes. Some jars will be only potpourri, some only wheat and some a combination of both. Wrapping the wheat and jars with ribbon and twine. Mitch came up with the idea of putting a layer of rice on the bottom to symbolize our time spent in Japan. So only cost for the centerpieces is a bag of rice.

Guestbook
Cost $0, leftover scrap booking supplies 
Despite my previous post about what my guestbook was like, I have made a guestbook scrapbook! It is gorgeous! Will have to make a post about it soon!

Programs
Cost $0 
I have already designed the programs but don't want to post them until the bridal party is official. They will be a trifold and have a pouch for our ribbon wands. I mention the ribbon wands, unplugged ceremony and the group photo after the ceremony as well as the bridal party. Printing them off ourselves.

Invites:
Cost $40 - paper, powder, ink, eyelets, postage stamps
Our invites are too hard to explain, involving embossing powder, bronze eyelets, leaf stamps, vellum and some layering card stock.

I'm sure there are most things that I will think of and will add to the list as I do!

Guest Book DIY Design

I finished the design for our guest book in photoshop. It has a section for fun predictions, best wishes and a spot to put your photo from our DIY instant photo booth. The photo will be held on with photo corners I will put on once the pages are printed. Again, the colors match the Save the Dates, beige, brown and bronze. I found the border, frame and banner from open source images online and added the shadows. Mitch will print them at work and assemble them for me. His job is to print all the paper stuff. Yup, pretty big job, but I am designing it all and putting all the handmade elements together. Won't need to print these guys for a few months but it is nice to be so far ahead!

Reception Venue - Buffalo Mountain Lodge

We stopped by our reception venue to check some things out before signing the contract. I knew I wanted the reception very close to the ceremony, the Buffalo Mountain Meadow, so that left one option, the Buffalo Mountain Lodge. The pictures on their website do not do the room justice, the chandeliers really compliment the wood beams well. They have upgraded some of the decor, removing some of the wall decorations that I didn't care for. Their room rental prices are pretty reasonable and the food isn't took crazy either. There is also a balcony to the right where we will set up the photo booth. and have a little extra room for mingling. We were pleasantly surprise by everything and signed the contract a few days later!

Wainwright room at the Buffalo Mountain Lodge

Ceremony Venue - Buffalo Mountain Meadow

We visited our ceremony venue a few months ago and took some photos. It goes by a few names, Tunnel Mountain Reservoir, Tunnel Mountain Meadow and my favorite, Buffalo Mountain Meadow. You are only allowed to book the meadow for weddings and is a very sought after location. Now cross fingers the weather will be better on the day of our wedding!!  Rental rates are extremely reasonable, you just have to rent chairs.

For renting the meadow or other locations owned by the town: http://www.banff.ca/

You see that mountain?... No not really?
That will be the backdrop for the group photo, the Fairholme Range.
This range is also part of the famous "Million Dollar View" seen from the Banff Springs Hotel.

The view for the ceremony, Mount Rundle

Where the meadow got its name, that is Tunnel Mountain, also known as Sleeping Buffalo Mountain.
From certain angles the mountain actually looks like a sleeping buffalo,
much better name than calling it Tunnel after a tunnel that was never built.

Save the Dates

I designed our Save the Dates in photoshop and was planning on doing postcards but it looks like our printer won't be ready in time. So we might just go the electronic route and email or facebook them instead.

The font I used is "Before the Rain", a free font I downloaded and LOVE LOVE LOVE. It will make an appearance in several DIY wedding projects.
The colors I used are the same throughout all our designs including the guestbook and invitations.

I love that the photos spell it out: We are tying the knot - September 21, 2014 - in Banff Alberta!

Thanks again to http://banffphotography.com/ for the shoot!

Our Wedding Website

Our website took quite awhile to get up and running as we have quite an elaborate story to tell. We put up photos telling our love story too. We are also using it to keep guests informed of all the events we are hosting, welcome picnic, the wedding ceremony, reception and an after party. Seeing as it is a destination wedding for most guests we put our room block info on the site too as well as a ton of activities you can do in the area. 

I am a big fan of wedding wire. It was the only Canadian friendly wedding website I could find that could do everything I wanted, including online RSVP and adding music. It was very easy to update, add more pages and customize it a bit. The budget tool is also very good, as well as the guest list. There is also a seating chart tool but we aren't doing that. There aren't very many vendors for my area on the website so the vendor reviews didn't help much but I have chosen all my vendors already anyway! The design also fits our theme and wedding colors well, Autumn! 
Check it out!
www.weddingwire.com/NicoleandMitch