I am A CHEAPO!

Okay Ladies. I have to spill my guts. I am a total cheapo. I have cut corners on everything and I am still finding ways to save money on my wedding. I started out with a $10K budget and now we are at $14K and some change. BUT this includes everything (travel, hotel – we have a timeshare so it is a small maintenance fee, wedding bands, etc.). Anyway, I am going to shamelessly confess some outrageous things that I am doing to save money:

 

1.I am sewing and transporting my table runners and chair ties. This not only saved me money, it ensured that I would get the exact turquoise that I was looking for.

2.I plan to make and transport my luminaries.

3.I am transporting (actually my BMs are) 50 small glass votives and candles. CRAZY, I know!

4.My flowers will only consist of 5 BM bouquets, my bouquet, aisle/table flowers and one flower for my hair.

5.We are renting a sound system instead of having a DJ.

6.I bought my DREAM dress on Ebay and saved serious money!

7.We are not serving wine with dinner – we opted for 4 hours of domestic (no top shelf) open bar and left it at that.

8.I found a wonderful, talented and amazing photographer that is juts starting his own business and he cannot use the images that he took at his only company who gave us a great deal (HUGE $$$$$ SAVER).

9.We chose plated dinner over buffet.

10.No fire dancers  But, we are budgeting for salsa dancers!

 

 

BUT there are still some things left to do. Do you have any suggestions?

 

1.I do not have a cake. The baker at CSH is off for the season. So I am budgeting $100 for our cake and I am going to get one when we arrive. The cake is not super important to me. Any suggestions on where to find a cheap cake for this cheapo?

2.I do not have transportation for my guests yet…but that is being worked on. I budgeted $15pp for 35 people.

 

WHAT DID YOU LADIES DO THAT WAS SHAMELESSLY CHEAP. SPILL IT CHEAPOS!!!

Amber are you referring to transportation from the airport to the resort or some place else? B/c if that is what you are referring to, your guests could pay their own transporation (i.e. if you have a TA you could just have them include it in their travel price) and this way you wouldn't have to pay for transportation. As far as the cake goes, I have no idea how much that costs but if your crafty enough to make most of your stuff maybe you would be willing to have a friend help you bake one when you get down there. A simple cake would not be hard to bake, especially if cake is not important to you. This would save you a ton of money.

We are in the same boat! Never be ashamed of being thrifty...unless you re-use plastic food bags

Haha..I'm guilty of that As long as whatever was in it was dry, why not

Maybe you can get a cake at a local grocery store when you get down there??

I re-use plastic bags I bring a bag of chips to work every day & use the same bag. I do toss the bag i use for my sliced apples because it is wet. But I still feel like I need to come up with a better option, like putting it in tupperware. I'm naturally really thrifty, but it also works well with being concerned about the environment. I pass off a lot of my cheapness by saying I want to be ecofriendly.

I'm being really cheap about the wedding.
I'm making all my own invites, STDs, etc. using free vista print offers.

I bought an off the rack department store dress. But, I still love it.

I'm not doing any decorating.

I bought a lot of our outfits to wear on the trip at the end of summer sales.

We had a friend take our engagement pics with my digital camera.

I bought a used camcorder off amazon.com to record the wedding & the rest of the vacation.

I'm making my own hair flower.

I found cheap veil options, but now I'm borrowing a friends veil. It was the one I wanted anyway.

Hmm, what else? Pretty much everything I'm doing for the wedding is as inexpensive as i can make it. But I really don't think we'll miss out on any of the fun, romance or anything else that really matters. I'm also trying my best to keep it cheap for the guests. I don't like to save money at other people's expense. I like to help everyone around me save money while still having a good time.

No way I'm paying for airport transfers...I'm too cheap! LOL!

I need to transport my guests from Downtown Cabo to CSH for the wedding.

Awwwww thanks for letting me know I'm not the only cheapo bride!

Oh sorry I didn't realize that is what you meant. Hmmm I saw you posted another transportation thread. Did anyone give you any good suggestions?

there's NO shame in cutting money --- are you kidding me? it sounds like you're making awesome choices. if it makes you feel better, i'm buying my napkins here and bringing them with me because it's silly to rent napkins at 4 bucks a pop and risk not liking them when you get there. i'm paying half that and i'll own them!

 

as for your cake question - have you thought about a something simple like a tres leches cake bought at one of the local grocery stores? i hope it doesn't sound cheesy - but i live in dallas and we have "fiesta" stores here ... one of my FAVORITE cakes ever is their tres leches cake and it is simply decorated with white icing and fresh ... and it's CHEAP. i don't know where you're staying or how difficult it would be to transport it, etc. but it was just an idea. believe me, if i could ship one for my own wedding, that's what i'd be doing in a heartbeat! Or, could you have a plainly iced cake and purchase some fresh flowers the day of and have someone you trust decorate it? i read somewhere to not tell vendors that you need a cake for a wedding - instead, just say you're having a party ... supposedly this cuts costs.

Oh Amber you are so cute! That's awesome that you are able to do all of those things...I don't think it makes you cheap - I think it makes you smart!!

 

As far as the cake...I used CSH's cake. So, are they saying they just can't provide a cake because their baker is out of town?? Hmmm...that cake was really good!

 

Regarding transportation - I think your budget is more than reasonable. As I mentioned before I did r/t transportation from CSH to downtown Cabo at $12pp.

 

And,OMG, you are getting married in a month!! EEK! How exciting!