Saving & Spending on the Wedding

So, here's how we have saved and spent on our wedding plans thus far...

SAVED:
*We are having our ceremony and reception in a friend's backyard. This saves in obvious ways, since we aren't paying for a venue. It also limits the size of our wedding to about 60 people, which is great. I want a small(ish) wedding, but I know if I had a large venue I'd keep inviting people. By keeping it intimate, we are able to save on table and chair rentals, food, drinks, cake, etc. It also gives us flexibility in what vendors we use. Speaking of...

*The food will be from a "Taco Guy." (Sort of like a Taco Truck, but no truck just a metal grill he brings in to cook three different kinds of meat for tacos, quesadillas, beans, rice, and salsa. We are feeding 60 people a great meal for $390! I had this same guy for my birthday and have attended other parties where he has catered and people always RAVE about the food. During the cocktail hour we are going to set up a nacho bar, which I estimate will cost us another fifty bucks or so.

*We are serving beer and wine (and my friend's Sangria!) but not hard liquor. This will save us money, and since we are in a friend's yard, we can just buy the booze ourselves. I plan on hitting up BevMo during their five cent sale to get the wine. Still need to figure out if a keg or bottles would be cheaper for the beer.

*We booked a photo booth (a splurge that we really wanted) and our DJ together. I saved $200 right off the bat by booking the services from the same company. He was also running a $100 off special for the photo booth, and I saw a $50 off coupon on Yelp. I asked if I could combine offers. He said usually he doesn't, but since I asked he would do it. (ALWAYS ask!) The photo booth will serve as our favor for guests, and our guest book. The attendant will put in a photo of each group and have them write a message next to it. We thought about not hiring a DJ, but we think the night will run a LOT more smoothly if we have one. Also, we would have spent some dough renting the equipment and getting all the music, so I feel good about hiring the DJ. We are spending a total of $900 for both services.

SPENDING:

*I bought my dress last week. It's lovely. :) It's a Vera Wang, on sale from David's Bridal (I saved $200). The total was $675, which was a little more than I wanted to spend. However, I love it and I don't think it's too unreasonable. With tax and alterations, I will end up spending about $1,000 total for my dress (ugh). But I am reminding myself of all the other places we've saved.

*This week I mailed deposits for the Taco Guy as well as the DJ/Photo Booth totaling $250.

Tune in tomorrow for an update on how much I have saved/collected for the wedding. And later this week I hope to have an exciting update on how we're saving on our honeymoon...