Archive for the ‘Budgets’ Category

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Shop Around – Choose Wedding Gowns

Wednesday, September 4th, 2013

Choosing a wedding dress can be a difficult task. It can also be quite expensive when trying to find that perfect dress for this once in a lifetime moment. But every bride wants to look perfect on her special day. She also wants to stay within her budget guidelines. Considering the pricing on most wedding dresses this can be the most difficult part.

Sammy Dress

When shopping on a budget it can be difficult to find the perfect dress. Sammydress.com is a popular discount clothing site that carries a wide selection of wedding dresses and wedding accessories to choose from. The dresses come in a variety of different styles and lengths. These dresses are gorgeous and yet very elegant. They also have prices to fit just about any budget. There is a style to fit even the pickiest of brides needs and wants.

A lot of brides worry about alterations being correct for the dress on their big day. Many of the discount sites have tailor made dresses. Izidresses is another great site to look for that perfect dress. They have many of the latest wedding dress styles. They have a very large selection of wedding dresses to choose from. This site is great for shopping on a budget with most of their wedding dresses priced under 200 dollars.

Davids Bridal has an excellent, well priced selection as well, with many of the latest styles availible. This company has their website where you can browse all the options as well as many stores nationwide. This makes it easy and convienient for the bride to be to have alterations made to her amazing dress and give it a personal touch. It also makes it easy to go in for a fitting and see what style will fit your needs the best.

When ordering on line many brides worry about a return policy. What if you find that perfect dress when browsing a website and when it gets to your door it just doesn’t look and fit the way you expected it to. Simplybridal has a risk free return policy. So if you are not satisfied with the dress you have recieved you can send it back with no questions asked. This site has beautiful gowns starting as cheap as 99 dollars. Many of their wedding dresses and accessories are marked down by as much as 70 percent off.

Shop Around for Good Deals on Dresses

Another great options when looking for a wedding dress is second hand stores and thrift stores. You never know what you may find in these places. After all a wedding dress is something that is only worn once. Then after that it is just taking up space and collecting dust. Thats when many people donate them. Check places such as the salvation army and goodwill. This way you are shopping on a budget and what money you do spend goes to a good cause.

Be sure to shop around. What you may find on one site for 300 dollars you may find on another for half the price.

Posted in Budgets, Dresses | Comments Closed

Good Advice and Bad Advice About Money

Wednesday, October 24th, 2012


It ought to go without saying that all wedding budget advice is not created equal. That certainly is the case when the question is who is going to pay for what!

Just this morning I felt myself compelled to read an article at Gal Time about the ‘new rules’ for who pays for what.

The author of the piece, Analorena Zeldon, consulted two experts, Andria Lewis (wedding planner with fifteen years’ experience) and Jodi RR Smith (author and etiquette expert) about how couples should broach the divvying up of expenses between themselves and their parents.

On the upside, the article not only assumes the couple will take some responsibility for some expenses themselves (and has a convenient breakdown of who pays for what when the two of you are paying for it all), but also that the bride’s parents might choose for a variety of reasons to opt out entirely.
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Posted in Advice, Bride Blogging, Budgets, Money, Parents, Wedding planners, Wedding planning | Comments Closed

So You’ve Called It Off. Now What?

Monday, October 22nd, 2012


You’ve just interrupted your ‘I do’s’ by running off with the man your mother thought wasn’t good enough for you (but was plenty good enough for her to seduce!) and are getting on a bus with no idea where it’s going. But what about all those deposits?

Okay, if you wait until that point, chances are there’s nothing you can do but pay all those wedding bills or declare bankruptcy.

If, on the other hand, you decide a bit earlier in the proceedings that things just aren’t going to work out, there is a way to recoup some of the expense you’ve been to and help another couple have the nice wedding of your dreams.

Bridal Brokerage is there to help you pick up the financial pieces and get you on your feet again.

You enter your details in a handy online form, and Bridal Brokerage does the rest. They contact the vendors and find another couple who are in need of a wedding much like yours. You receive a percentage of your wedding expenditures already made, cope with your own broken heart, and contact your own guests, but after that you don’t have to deal with the details of canceling your wedding beyond that.

On the buyer’s side, well, you fill out a similar form telling Bridal Brokerage when you’re hoping to tie the knot, how many guests you plan to have, etc. and they’ll contact you with weddings that might suit your needs. You choose the one that best fits your preferences, and buy it at a deep discount.

Again, Bridal Brokerage steps in to the rescue with the details. They’ll send out save-the-dates and invitations to your entire guest list and prepare programs, too.

I’m wondering, is there anyone out there who has used this service or one like it? What were your experiences like? Is this a service any of you out there would consider using on either end?

Posted in Alternative Ideas, Budgets, Vendors | Comments Closed

Getting As Close As You Can to What You Want

Tuesday, September 25th, 2012

There are times in the wild and wooly roller coaster ride known as wedding planning when finding the sweet spot between what you want, what you can afford, and how much things cost can feel a bit like this:

Or even this:

Frankly, it’s not easy to find a balance, and the tighter your budget the smaller the window you have to try to fit through.

Still there are things you can do, both in allocating your funds well and in vendor negotiation, that will help you wriggle through with a minimum of misery, embarrassment, and red ink. Read on to find out what to do… and what not to do.
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Posted in Advice, Budgets, Vendors | Comments Closed

Making Your Money Count

Thursday, September 20th, 2012


There’s a lot expected of a wedding these days, and not just emotionally. I’m talking about the trappings. I remember a time when I had never heard of chair covers, and the wedding photos were good enough if they were in focus. Most brides did their own make up and nails, though there might be a hair dresser involved. The bride’s jewelry was often either her ‘something borrowed’ or a gift from her parents.

Today, well, it’s all about the details. In actual dollars, most couples don’t have more money to spend, but there are more things to spend the dollars on and more social disgrace for doing it ‘wrong.’

So what is a bride on a budget to do?
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Posted in Budgets | 2 Comments »

How To Get To the Church (or Wherever) On Time

Monday, August 20th, 2012


Over the years we haven’t really talked a lot about transportation here on Manolo for the Brides. Mostly we’ve considered it a question to be determined between you and the deity of your choice.

And I believe that in most cases the majority of brides assume they’ll hire a limo to get them around on the big day. That’s hardly universal, of course. There are women who would consider their wedding day incomplete without arriving in a horse-drawn carriage. Others can’t imagine spending the money on just getting from point A to point B and take their own or a family member’s car. Yeah, that would be me. I wasn’t making a grand entrance. I helped set up the site in my wedding gown. Arriving in my father’s trusty Nissan was plenty good enough for me. Mr. Twistie and I left in his classic Mustang that he drove every day back then. It was a nice car, but nothing specially worked out for the day.

But there are practicalities to be considered that may make the family car a bad idea. You may have dreams of making a spectacular entrance that won’t be satisfied by a mere limousine.

And of course we’re never against fabulous around here… so long as taste, budget, and legal issues have been considered properly.
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Posted in Advice, Budgets, Transportation | 1 Comment »

How Average Are Your Bridesmaids?

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012


Americans tend to have a fascination with the average. We keep seeking out the information that will tell us whether or not we fall in the ‘normal’ range of nearly everything. Weddings, of course, are no exception.

So when I ran across a fun and informative infographic on averages concerning bridesmaids over on Visual.ly, I had to take a closer look and share the contents with all of you.

Seems I got a couple of things in the average range when I got married. Five bridesmaids is apparently the average, and that’s exactly what I had. Oh, that includes the junior bridesmaid who, at twelve, slotted nicely into the national average of being aged nine to fourteen. I had a matron rather than maid of honor, though, unlike some 97% of brides.

I’m not sure where to put myself in the question of the 64% of brides who have their maids wear identical outfits. See, they all wore the same skirt and blouse made from the same patterns and the same fabric… but then I asked them to trim and accessorize according to personal whim rather than a specific blueprint. So there were trims ranging from pink pearl piping to a grand fall of lace over the bosom to an added Batterburg lace collar with little blue ribbon roses, an equally broad range of jewelry styles, and flat shoes that ran the gamut from ballet flats to low, slouchy boots. So they all started in the same place with the same stuff, but they weren’t identical when they got done.
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Posted in Attendants, Bachelorette Parties, Bridesmaids, Budgets, Fun stuff | 3 Comments »

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