TIPS

So seeing that I did as much research as I could there are not that many sites that will tell you what to do, and what not to do. This is something that I had to ask fellow friends that had previously got married, and in my situation their advice did little good. Me and my husband paid for everything for our wedding, including some flights, and clothing for the people in our wedding. So I have complied some tips on what to do and what not to do in the hopes that it will help other soon to be brides.

1. Budget.
Throw it out the window. We set a budget and doubled it. Very very easily.
The main thing is to know that you can't have everything that you want, and that you do have to live after this day. I was one of those brides who wanted everything possible to make my wedding day everything that I ever dreamed of, but then quickly got sick (literally) when I began looking at everything that we bought/paid for/ or had a balance on. But in order of importance I am going to try and help you by listing the things that you have to pay for and just eat.

• The big three: Venue, Photographer and Food.
• Venue, this is important because this will be where everything happens. You have to choose a place it just won't happen if you don't. It doesn't have to be the most expensive place, but it has to be chosen.
• Photographer, I can not say enough about pictures, if you do not plan on hiring a videoagrapher than you must have a photographer who can tell the things that you don't see with pictures. (we didn't have one) and as the bride you won't see your fiance walk, you won't see no parents, grandparents, bridal party nothing, you are the absolute last person to walk, and miss out on everything. So having pictures of these people walking, and everything that happens before you walk is a must. Research photographers, look at the other photos that they have taken,  interview them even. This is a one time only deal, don't miss out because your trying to save a penny or two.
• Food, you have to eat, and no matter what you decide to eat it isn't going to be cheap, whenever someone says the word wedding you might as well add 1.5X the normal cost, and to be honest if you have a good caterer it is well worth the money. We used Shavers catering and had a 3 meet BBQ meal, that was anything but a typical BBQ. It was extremely elegant, and delicious. They provided us with great service, clean up, utensils, and everything. Great people to work with as well.

2. Attire.
Now this is huge, ladies this is your wedding dress, the men get off easy they can rent, and ladies let me say if you find a place that will rent you your dress go for it. I personally did, but my circumstances were different. I am a mother of two boys, and my mothers dress is too small. I went to every bridal boutique from Shreveport, LA to Monroe LA (100miles) and found the perfect dress and was able to rent it rather than shell out $1350 for a dress that will sit in my closet for ever more. I am short and small so selling it at my height and alterations would be hard. NOT impossible but hard, plus the cleaning, reservation, and potential shipping fee, and the fact that you will not get close to what you pay for it.

But if you have a daughter, or plan on having a girl in the future you may want to pay for and keep your dress in the hopes that you can pass it on.

As I mentioned we paid for our bridesmaids dresses ( which isn't typical, it's just that they paid for a round trip ticket to be here for me so I felt it was the least that I could do)

I got their wedding shoes at a little store in Shreveport, Jewelry Gallery off of Bert kouns. Great price and style options. I also go their accessories (necklace, bracelet, earring set) from there.

3. Linens
These are something that you have some options on, you can one, rent, or you can two buy. We bought, just cause one, buying them were half the cost of renting, and you are not shelling out all that money just to have nothing left. We bought and still have our linens, (if anyone is interested) it just felt smarter to pay less and still have something to show for it at the end of the day. If you are interested in where I purchased mine go to www.linentablecloth.com they have a great variety, and I caught a special that they were running on tuesdays. 20% off total purchase so we paid a little over $500 for all of our table clothes, and sashes for chairs. We were fortunate that our decorator had chair covers, which were only necessary cause of the ugly chairs that the El Karubah provides.

4. Decor
We also bought all of our centerpieces, flowers, and other decor that we needed, again it was cheaper than renting and the rental companies didn't have the look that I wanted anyway. So we bought all of our flowers, (bridesmaids, centerpieces, and my throw away bouquet) from www.afloral.com they offered great discounts, and a great variety. We purchased glass from www.dfwvases.com but I'm in Shreveport about 255 miles east and the shipping was very reasonable, plus they offer a pick up if in the area. The prices were competitive with what I found at Hobby Lobby and Micheals. I also stayed on ebay. Which offered some good deals and I got little things like the glass gems from. I also hit every dollar store as well. You never know what deals you can find.

5.Bridal Party
I highly suggest that you be very careful of who you choose to be in your bridal party. Mine was small only 12. 5 on his side and 5 on mine, and two children, 1 flower girl and ring bearer. My maid of honor, (which is also posted) was a hard decision between my cousin who was like a sister to me and my bff of 27 years. (i'm only 28) but I choose my cousin because we are family. I also choose my bff of 27 years, my two bffs from high school and a new friend in which i care for a lot. I choose people that I know will be in my life for a lifetime. My husband choose all family and one friend. He couldn't choose a best man between his cousins so his friend played that role. It was great, his (our niece) was the flower girl, and our youngest son (not quite 2) was the ring bearer, escorted by my sister in law down the isle. So everyone in our party was very near and dear to our heart.

Other than this there are so many little things that you don't think about, like your bouquet, garter, shoes, veil or hair clip, (I went with a flower, will post pics) reception dress, (I also opted for this cause my wedding dress had a long train and was heavy, my reception dress (which is posted) was light and easy to dance in. Favors, invitations, directions, your jewelry, hair style, makeup, undergarments, nails, boutonnieres, etc.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
 Some other great sites are www.etsy.com www.floraltrims.com www.fiargophotography.com