Calgary Brides!

[*Nadine*]

I agree with Meagan on what she all said. I think our biggest expenses (other than the reception $/pp) were our wedding party attire (we bought for all of them), their gifts, and the OOT bags. We didnt do invitations and we kept everything else really simple to keep costs down. WE also got the wedding package with the hotel which included alot of things so we wouldnt have to pay seperately and in turn more money, cause it really adds up.

[pamphilia]

thanks meghan & nadine!

 

i don't already have a budget in mind (i am not a budgetty person - which may be why i am in debt, HA!)...i just need to keep costs as low as humanly possible..hehe.

 

that is great to know about the free wedding/reception when you have a lot of guests. not that we plan on 90, that's for sure...but that is great to know!

 

the resorts we have been looking at (majestic colonial/riu punta cana) do have some inclusions (majestic's wedding is included, riu has a package)which includes bride & groom flowers which is a plus. i was thinking of parasols for the 'maids which will cut down on costs (i think)....i am going to skip the OOT bags...have inexpensive favours in mind...and the photographer is actually a good friend who i am sure i could just disguise as a wedding guest who happens to have a fancy camera!

 

wedding party gifts are a given, and i have no probs with that. we had originally wanted to take the whole party on an excursion, but that will probably be outside of our budget.

 

how much does the extra per person cost tend to run, in your experience?

 

centrepieces are up to me, is that right? or can you pay a bit more for the resort to take care of those too? (i understand it varies everywhere).. i would have to take care of chair sashes, table runners, any extra decos...invitations i will probably do a DIY jobby or something cheap from vistaprint...

 

sorry, i am kind of thinking out loud, but i appreciate all of your input!

[*Nadine*]

our extra cost was $65pp after the 20 that were included in the package for the reception. To save money on flowers we just used all our bouquets as centerpeices for the reception. They were small but they looked good and did the job.

All my chair sashes, table runners etc were included in my pkg

[Boo]

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[echo2_62]

pam - I just caught that one of your friends/guests may do your photography and I know that at my resort if it was someone who is already a guest at the hotel then you don't have to worry about any extra fees so you might be good there and not have to disguise them at all

 

Day excursions can run around $100 per person easily so depending what kind of gifts you had in mind for the wedding party it might work out still. We'd thought of renting a catamaran for a half day which, looking back again, was starting at $750 for up to ten people... so again depending on the numbers and how much you wanted to spend anyways...

For the extra per person cost, I think my resort was around the $55-75 dollar mark as well IF you were going with one of their packages. We opted NOT to do a full package so our basic one includes just the ceremony and we are paying the reception costs separately which are about $25 per person. As Nadine mentioned, the packages can be easier so that you know what is included up front without lots of little costs adding up, but for us even those packages were too much so we were able to cut it out.

 

 

Boo - if there is a thread you want to "tag" but not post anything right away, look at the top of the thread page where it says Thread Tools. Click the drop down and then choose to subscribe. That way anytime someone adds a new post, it will come up in your User CP page. Took me a few times to figure that part out in the beginning

[pamphilia]

meghan -thanks so much, that was very helpful! i am surprised to hear that there is such a difference in the per person amount from the package vs. no package. i didn't even think of that as a possibility.

 

i think i have made the mistake of getting myself attached to a certain resort before realizing that it might be a little too out of reach! but i will talk to the WC before i count it out. and i will also check out there threads in the DR section for some more info.

 

again, you guys rock

[Boo]

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[Boo]

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[Boo]

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[iheartbees]

Hi! I'm new to the forum as well...there sure are a lot of us Calgary girls:)

 

From what I have heard... the January wedding shows here are supposedly the bigger and better ones as opposed to September, I guess because wedding season is over by then?

 

I'm really debating going to this weekend's show simply because the things I would want to see (dresses, miscellanous stuff like veils) are probably going to be crazy busy, and few & far between. We'll see, though - chances are I will get curious and have to check it out!

 

(As for careers, FI and I have never been in O&G, lol. He's in sales, and I'm at an I.T. company.)