From tree limbs to hand-me-downs, bride-to-be uses creativity to save money
9:30 p.m. Sunday, July 20, 2008
"I realized you only get married once, and I want it to be perfect. But, you can still have that perfect wedding for a lot less," said Egypt Walker, of Scranton, who is getting married in August in an outdoor ceremony.
"I drove by here on the Maine Street, and I could see just the rock wall, and said 'that's it.' I was like 'there is my outdoor location,'" she said.
She and her groom, Jeremy Gaston, will take their nuptials at a rock wall at Clinton Park in Lawrence. And the cost of renting this picture perfect park?
Money-stretching secrets to wedding planning
A few more money stretching secrets from our bride, Egypt Walker:
- Invitations: Her groom-to-be designed them and took them to be printed off at a cost of $150.75.
- Mementos for the guests: Fortune cookies. She got those for free from another friend who had extra.
- Reception lighting: Free. She asked people for old Christmas lights.
- Flowers: Walker is going with fake because tulips in the summer heat will just wither away. Her fake tulips cost her $40.
"For this one place, including the wall the rest room, and the shelter house from 10 in the morning until 8 at night, I am paying $100," she said.
She even found a white runner for her to walk down the aisle on. The cost?
"I found this at Goodwill actually, for $10," Walker said.
The next expensive item, wedding photos. She found using college photography students are a steal of a deal.
"A lot of them are wanting to build up their portfolios. They are new photographers, but they still have really great experience, but they will only charge you a couple hundred dollars to go out and do your whole entire wedding," she said.
Another pricey piece of the wedding is the woman's wedding dress. It was what Walker spent the most money on, $750. She borrowed the veil from a friend.
Our budgeting bride tells 49 News how her centerpieces only cost $5 a piece.
"What this centerpieces is, we literally went to the neighbors house and took a bunch of tree branches from a tree that had been struck down in a storm," she said. "We spray painted them all white, and then we went to Hobby Lobby and bought tons of beads, tinsels and little butterflies and everything."
And, Walker borrowed the vases for the centerpieces from another bride.
"She had 17 vases so we borrowed those, and then we went garage saling and we bought a few more vases for 25 cents each," she said.
Money-stretching secrets for other occasions
- Birthdays: Make homemade games, like a piñata; make your own cake
- Barbeques: Shop the day of the barbeque for manager’s meat specials; forego paper plates and use ceramic plates
- Hosting parties: Don’t be afraid to ask guests to bring a covered dish or beverages
49 News went with her looking for cakes. Hy-Vee told her they would do the cake for around $300, but it wasn't cheap enough, Walker said.
You would think she had a small budget, but her parents said she could spend up to $10,000.
Walker says spending the time to do it yourself is worth it.
"If you take a little time, you can find all that stuff for so much less, and it's a lot more fun hunting and do everything yourself," she said.
Egypt's financial goal was to keep her bridal budget under $3,000.
So, one month before the wedding, how much did she spend? $1,564, less than 10 percent of the average wedding cost.
"Realizing the money that you are saving you can spend on other things, like a honeymoon, buying a house, buying a car -- things that are really going to pay off in the end," she said.
There's still a couple of things the bride and groom needed to pick up, but Walker says her entire wedding will cost about $2,000.
More money-stretching secrets
Last week we reported on how you can save money on your grocery bill. If you are interested in slicing your grocery bill up to 50 percent, tap into the following story:
Rising food prices force shoppers to adopt new money-saving maxims
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