With the economy on the downside, couples are financing their own wedding without the help of their parents and frankly, their budget is tight. With these tight budget brides in mind, we've come up with a $5,000 budget guideline.

First, keep in mind that a low budget means you may have to compromise- but don't be fooled, you can still plan a dream wedding with 50 guests.

• The Ceremony Venue ($500): If you are more traditional, go with your local church you regularly attend. Most churches will marry you for free if you are a member. If you're not as traditional, you can plan a wedding in the park or an open space area. Keep in mind that certain recreational areas will require you to rent that space so do your homework and contact the city. You'll also need to find an officiant. This service generally ranges from $200-500.
• The Reception Venue ($350): Our favorite is choosing to do a backyard wedding. If you don't own a home with a large backyard, ask a friend or family member to host the event. When choosing a home, we recommend having a large patio for easy indoor/outdoor access along with enough space to accommodate tables, chairs and a dance area.You'll also want to be mindful of landscaping and background areas... an ugly chain link fence with the neighbor's garbage showing is probably going to be noticed by guests. 
• The Food and Beverage ($750): Make your wedding a potluck. Pick your favorite main dish you like to make together and serve that as your main course and as a theme for your guests side-items. Anything you can make and prep ahead of time is better. You'll want to have cold salads and appetizers pre-made so they're ready to be served during cocktail hour. We also recommend having a DIY Drink Bar with goodies ranging from pop, lemonade, juices and alcoholic beverages. Remember that you'll want to please the under 21 crowd as well as the over 21. As your guests come in, they'll have their food dish ready to eat so remember to keep cocktail hour short (and not a 4 hour thing). During cocktail hour, have the main dish cooking. Brats and burgers are great summer backyard foods. Remember, you'll want to ask a few friends and family members to be in charge of the food. If it's a BBQ, an uncle or male friend is almost always willing to be head chef. For a simple meal like this, you'll want to budget around $15 per person (50 guests = $750) Dessert... Although the tradition calls for cake, you can also do a smores bar, cheesecake, cupcakes or even a candy bar- prep, bake and garnish your dessert ahead of time. Last but not least, remember to include your photographer, yourself, DJ and anyone else that might be there during the meal when planning this budget.
      $350 for main course dish
      $150 for beverages
      $150 for appetizers and dessert
      $100 for paper goods like cups, napkins, plates, utensils
  
• Professional Photography ($1,500): Remember, your photographs are the only thing you'll be able to hand down for generations to come so do not leave it up to your cousin Kevin and his point-and-shoot. We recommend finding a professional photographer and paying for their time at the wedding. You'll want to hire them for at least three hours: the ceremony (1 hour), any group/family photos along with images of you and your spouse (1 hour) and reception images (1 hour). When contacting a photographer, be upfront with your budget and what you have planned and never tell them you need a "cheap" photographer. This total may or may not include prints or images but always keep in mind that you may be able to purchase images and prints after your wedding. 
• Wedding Attire ($700): This number is really a guess and you could budget for less depending on how non-traditional you want to get. Find your wedding dress at a bridal shop and shop the sample dresses. These dresses can be marked down up to 80% off but know that they are "as-is" dresses so you'll want to find a dress that fits you the best and budget for alterations. You can also wear a less formal gown and go for a more casual dress bought from a favorite local boutique. Men can usually rent tuxedos and suits for around $200 each. You'll want to keep in mind that you'll still need to have shoes and accessories such as a tie, necklace, veil and cufflinks. 
• Thank You Gifts ($500): Yes... you are giving gifts! You'll want to thank your guests and those that helped cook food, prepped and most importantly, helped you pull off your wedding day. Special people to thank are parents, the chef, photographer, wedding party and anyone else that spent hours (or will spend hours on cleanup) on planning your wedding. 
• Decorations ($500): This includes your bouquet, centerpieces and invitations. Before going out and buying a bunch of "stuff", we recommend having a cohesive plan of attack and understanding that this portion of the wedding planning can take hours of elbow grease. A few of our favorite ideas are:
      -Use small fallen branches and twigs mixed with freshly cut flowers from your local farmer's market for         centerpieces and bouquets. Paint the branches one color for your wedding colors for added refinement.
      -Keep a relaxed theme by borrowing blankets to create a picnic atmosphere for your outdoor reception and/or ceremony. We also suggest using patio furniture (you can also borrow extras from friends) outdoors along with blankets to encourage mingling.
      -Create a glow outside after sunset by using Christmas lights (purchase after Christmas while they're on sale) to line any sidewalks or hang in trees. You can also find battery powered LED lights that you can use within centerpieces to light and create a glow.
      -Invitations, thank you cards and food labels can be easily made from online templates or by simply making your own in a Word document. Purchase paper with a nice texture or color and use to print. Add paper punch-holes
  for a bow or feather for a touch of luxury. Use the same style and paper for your thank you cards as well as any placement/seating labels and for an added touch, make signs for your DIY Drink Bar with your favorite drink concoction and Help Yourself Signs for food and dessert.
  Always remember to choose decor that has a sense of refinement to avoid the "cheap" wedding feeling. Personal touches and additions will make your wedding feel more luxurious.
• Entertainment ($200): When contacting a DJ or Live Band, always tell them your plans for the wedding and your budget. Depending on location and where your reception is held, you may not be able to hold a formal dance. If this is the case, we recommend using a pre-made playlist to play in the background.

Instead of planning a vacation for your honeymoon, plan a stay-cation. Stay at home, cook meals with your new spouse and enjoy a stress-free, relaxing week.


Keep in mind to always remember to be upfront with your vendors and the people helping plan your wedding. Holding your wedding during a weekday can also help keep within a tight budget because any vendor you contact won't be required to give up their high demand days like Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. This means they won't be giving up a full wedding service and will probably more willing to work with you.

Time to get your sweat on! Sara is absolutely in love with these three workouts because "They're easy, I can do it from home and the coaches encourage me instead of annoy me." 

Visit the HASFit Website.

That's Right! There's no more excuses to get into shape, tone those arms and get that bikini bottom for the honeymoon. HASFit is providing EVERYONE a way to get into shape for FREE.

That's right... FREE.

And since Happy Planning is all about free information and help you plan a happy wedding, Happy Planning is teaming up with HASFit and sharing this information. (Sara's even been working out to their videos and loving it... oh and has lost 3 pounds... from HOME)

Want to learn more about HASFit? Go visit their website at http://hasfit.com/, Like their Facebook Page and subscribe to their YouTube Chanel.

As many of you know, SLP and Happy Planning loves fashion. We're all about finding the most beautiful dresses, latest styles and unique decorations-- and trust me, with planning my own wedding, I'm busy collecting and finding the best ideas, DIY Projects and styles.

Coco Rocha, one of the industries top Supermodels, and James Conran were married at the Chateau Challain in France.

When I say dream wedding, I mean, absolutely stunning and no details were missed. This short film of their wedding was done fabulously and tells their story, not just showcasing their wedding day.

I do want to note that things happen that aren't planned for, like raining on your outdoor ceremony. Have back-up plans and know, that no matter what happens, your wedding day is going to be gorgeous and perfect.

So, without further wait, enjoy this Short Film by Americana Cinema.

No, I'm not talking about dream weddings that costs millions of dollars... I'm talking about the wedding dreams while sleeping that if they happened in real life, they would be our worst nightmare of things that could possibly go wrong.

I actually started having wedding dreams- good and bad- way before Brent proposed to me. We had been together for so long and talked about marriage so of course, being the girl I am, I had already been secretly thinking about our wedding day which meant I was always dreaming about our wedding. After Brent asked me to marry him, I really started coming up with some weird scenarios in my dreams of things going wrong. 

For example, I arrive to my wedding venue and all the guests are there waiting for me to walk down the aisle. I'm in pjs, no hair or makeup done and I'm carrying the decorations frantically trying to get the place ready before the ceremony. I end up not being able to have time to get ready and I end up walking down the aisle in my bra and undies.

There's also another dream that's much more frightening that I frequently have: It starts with me getting ready by myself and walking into a room with where my bridesmaid are getting ready. Although I can see everyone getting ready, I can't see their faces. They help me into my gown and I then my dad walks in- which I again, can't see his face- and he escorts me outside to start walking down the aisle. I keep looking down as I walk closer to the aisle and when I look up, I can finally see everyone's faces, only I don't recognize any of them. I look at Brent and I also don't recognize him (literally they all have faces I've never seen before) and I start screaming and crying for Brent and asking where he is and what these people did to my family. That's usually about the time I wake up... and I'm ALWAYS sweating, really hot and panicking. Even after a few hours, I will still feel on edge from this dream.

I figured I wasn't the only one having these dreams so I asked to see what a few others were dreaming up!

Amanda G. wrote me this:
My dreams about my wedding started shortly after Christmas, my wedding is in August. I’m sure it’s because I did a lot of planning and crafts over my Christmas break, but they were disturbing none the less. Dreams have also not been limited to just me, my fiance has had a couple as well, but I don't recall what his were. One of my dreams involved my groom and I celebrating our reception in a poorly lit gym with a cardboard divider covered in plastic pink flowers, preventing the interaction of us with a rowdy kickball game going on. My next dream involved a too small church with people busting at the seams and standing outdoors. Deciding that it was too hot to wear my dress, I proceeded down the aisle stark naked.

The last, and most vivid, dream I’ve had so far involved my MOH, my younger sister, and I coming to fisticuffs. In the dream my sister had hidden a suitcase containing all my wedding things and refused to tell me where it was despite my pleas. My mother also got into the fun and was giggling annoyingly, especially while sister and I are pulling hair and wrestling on the ground. After my father persuaded them to hand it over, I threw it into a taxi that appeared out of thin air, announced that my sister and mother were not welcome at my wedding in 10 minutes and drove off. Looking back, I think this dream was post reality show watching, especially because it was completely out of character for all involved.

Angela M wrote: I've had several nightmares where I didn't have my dress, another one where I didn't have any makeup on....another where it rained

Stephanie G wrote: The only dream I had was one where a bridesmaid decided to cut her hair super short and dye it the color of the dress on the morning of the wedding. In the dream, I was completely ok with it... It happened about 3 weeks before the wedding so I took it as a good sign that I could handle anything crazy that happened haha

Casey H wrote: I had a dream about a month ago, it was our wedding day and I was getting ready and realized my mom had never talked to a florist or DJ so neither were going to be at the wedding. I called a DJ and he said he could only play music for an hour! I woke up relieved!

I researched forums searching for definitions about why we dream about weddings. The consensus was that weddings are supposed to be the most important single day of your life and you are meeting your opposite in the middle and committing to each other. Many people will have dreams about weddings when faced with a real-life decision like accepting a new job or running into an ex and being glad you've moved on (or if you're dreaming of the ex marrying another girl and you're watching... that usually means you wish the bride was you).

I wasn't able to come up with information about why engaged brides have dreams about the wedding day going wrong or strange things happening the day of the wedding. I would assume that with the information I wrote above, it's because we want the day to be perfect. One site did mention that wedding nightmares and dreams are very common in woman getting married soon and it symbolizes the anxiety and stress of the event and putting a huge event like this together.

While on my search, I did read hundreds of nightmare-ish dreams. One bride was frantically shopping for her wedding dress hours before the ceremony and had found the perfect yellow dress but then couldn't find shoes to go with it. Another bride wrote that her hair stylist shaved her head while doing her hair after she worked on growing it out for a year.

I think it's safe to say that none of us will end up having to walk down the aisle completely nude nor will our heads get shaved bald (well unless you ask for it to be done?). I'm also glad to know that I'm not the only one having dreams about my wedding that feel more like nightmares!

If you've had wedding nightmares while planning your wedding, please leave a comment below for other brides to read (plus I want to read about them too!)!

That's right! I'm finally writing my first post about my wedding planning. I want to prove that wedding planning isn't always easy, even for a professional in the industry.

To start, the first thing Brent and I did was decide our date, July 27, 2013. The second thing we did was set our budget and then lowered it by $1,000 to help keep us on budget.

We had talked about our dream wedding and what we would love to have for our wedding day. We both decided we wanted to have an outdoor wedding with the venue being woody and very natural.We talked about colors, guests, locations and music. After really getting a good idea of our ideal wedding, we started the search for a venue. I began emailing venues and included our wedding date and a short description of our dream wedding.I also started a Pintrest board with all of our wedding ideas to  help us have a better vision. (you can go check out!)

Out of the 10 venues I emailed, we've heard back from 4.

The first venue we went and toured didn't have their facility completed, in which we were unable to actually see the room we would be renting. They also couldn't give us an idea of cost and packages, since they didn't have the facility they were advertising completed. To say the least, we decided they weren't for us.They also had a $40 vendor fee per hour for every vendor used not on their preferred vendor list (in my opinion, completely ridiculous).

Another venue coordinator called and told me that our date is shared with the Evergreen Jazzfest and that we should change our wedding date to fit their needs, especially since our guests would have "no where to stay" because of the celebration. I was actually shocked by her immediate response instead of providing better customer service (since I pride myself on excellent customer service as a wedding photographer). I decided that they weren't going to work for us since they were already telling me what to do instead of asking.

We toured two other venues (both Bed and Breakfast Inns) and liked the locations of each but offer different amenities and services. One venue offers catering, the wedding site and the rentals without any vendor fees for vendors not on their preferred vendor list but check-in time is at 12 pm (not leaving us anytime to set-up the day of). The other venue requires us to book two days and doesn't include catering or rentals but our dance is required to end at 10 pm (and for those of you that know B and myself, that isn't going to work!). Each of these venues are priced at approximately the same price.

Of these venues we've toured, we're not completely in love with them because of the stipulations. It's very frustrating to find venues you like and know you would love if it weren't for the strange time requirements are extra vendor fees.

Brides, I want to remind you that you should be asking to see their preferred vendor list and asking if the venue has any vendor fees if you were to choose to use a vendor not on their preferred list. Also, research these preferred vendors before signing a contract with the venue if they do have vendor fees. You don't want to be stuck with a vendor you don't love or to have to pay a huge fee to bring in a vendor you do love.

So far, Brent and I are still in love and haven't had any wedding planning arguments. Our goal is to have a very stress-free wedding planning experience (and hopefully sharing my experience will help all of you as well!)

Until next time! -Sara xoxo

Letter from Pastor Weber:

A wedding officiant can make or break your ceremony. An uncaring or unprofessional officiant can sometimes spoil the whole day. Even so, when it comes to finding an officiant, many couples simply focus on two things:

– Are you available on our date?
– How much is your fee?

So, if I may, I would like to suggest an approach to choosing an officiant.

Spend some time talking with your prospective officiant. Does she/he sound nice? Easy to work with? Does she/he have a pleasant speaking voice? Is there a photo of the person that you can view – perhaps online? Is the officiant focused on pleasing you, or will you be expected to “do as you’re told?” Does the officiant have any objections to your location, music plans, plans for pictures or video, etc. What experience does this person have, and can you get references if you want them? Some officiants are basically traditional Christian ministers – others like myself are interfaith ministers, that perform the ceremony of your choosing. It’s not a matter of one being better than the other – but only of matching where you’re coming from with your officiant’s style, and the ceremony offered.

Regardless of background the words she/he will speak over you are lifetime words and need to fit for the two of you. The ceremonies she/he offers should be words you want spoken over you. The ceremony fitting your life style, having freedom to add things that make this day special for the two of you.

I hope this helps. Choosing the officiant is a big decision with important consequences.
Your officiant and your ceremony are the two key components in your entire day, and the least expensive of all.

I’d like to say one thing about the issue of price. Keep your perspective. Think about the total cost of your wedding ... if you save $100. on your officiant by shopping around, how significant will that be in five or ten years? Remember, it’s not like renting a car. You need to invest some time in the interview process – but in the end, you’ll be glad you did. Not all officiants are created equal. Good luck and best wishes for your big day! If I can help you, please call me.

Here's an example of part of my ceremony:
Real love is something beyond the warmth and glow, the excitement and romance of being deeply in love. It is caring as much about the welfare and happiness of your marriage partner as about your own. But real love is not total absorption in each other; it is looking outward in the same direction – together. Love makes burdens lighter, because you divide them. It makes joys more intense because you share them. It makes you stronger so you can reach out and become involved with life in ways you dared not risk alone.

When we speak of love we are not speaking of love, as this world knows it, that love is selfish and often subject to change. The love we want in this union is not based on feelings but rather on a decision to see one another and treat one another as valuable and precious all the days of your lives. May this love be the law by which your marriage is conducted and fulfilled.

About Pastor Weber:

I am an ordained, licensed, non-denominational minister, pastor, chaplain and officiant, who specializes in beautiful wedding ceremonies. As your officiant It is my commitment to help create the ceremony of your dreams. Often times the wedding is less formal. I travel to parks in the Loveland, Colorado area. I have been known to climb a mountain, and ride a horse, motorcycle, ATV, or aerial tram to get to my weddings. Lots of lovely weddings have taken place by the fireplace in a home and in a back yard. I will travel to surrounding areas, from my hometown of Loveland, to perform your wedding at your honeymoon location.

I started performing weddings in 1997 as a favor to my daughter. It turned out to be so enjoyable, being part of uniting couples, that I continued doing more and more weddings. I am licensed and ordained with Happy Feet Ministries. I attended two years of Chaplain School and one year of Ministers Training school. I worked as a Chaplain for Hospice for nearly 3 years.

Please visit my website at www.happyfeetweddings.com to learn more about my services.


Written by Pastor Weber of Happy Feet Weddings

You want your dream wedding and no matter what budget you're on, you can create it!

All you have to do is have the ability to express what you both want to your vendors. Seems simple enough, but many of us don't know how to explain what we want. Individually, not as a couple, complete the exercise below. Compare notes and then compromise to create your visualization.

Imagine your Wedding Day and write down what comes to mind when thinking about…...

The location. Is it modern, traditional, outside, inside?
The smells. Does it smell tropical, home-cooked meal, fireside?
The colors. Is it bright, dark, rainbows, black and white, blue?
The lighting. Is it daytime, nighttime, candles, spotlights?
The clothing. Is everyone dressed in white, red, flip-flops, hats?
The season. Is it cold, warm, raining, snowing?
The décor. Are there lots of sparkles, flowers, branches, lanterns, ribbons?
The sounds. Do you hear music, talking, wildlife, laughter?
The food. Are you eating finger food, using salad forks, having a buffet?
The reception. Are you dancing, talking, sitting, boating, gambling?
The honeymoon. Are you swimming, hiking, getting a massage?


Take this with you to every vendor you meet and share it with them. Not only will it help them understand your wedding day, it will help you understand and stick with your vision.

Know-How.......Contacting Wedding Vendors: I wanted to take a moment and talk about Wedding Photography (and wedding vendors in general) and how to approach them to get your needs fulfilled while still keeping within your budget.

First, when contacting a vendor, you should already have your budget in mind. Vendors can't help you build a package if you don't even know your budget. Know your budget and know your needs.

Second, tell the vendor why you're interested in them and what your budget is. Why? They are more willing to work with you on your budget if they know you're truly interested in their services or products.

Third, never use the word "cheap vendor" when telling them what you're looking for. Contacting a vendor and telling them that you need a cheap vendor is like telling them that their work is inferior. It also says that you're just shopping around and not really interested in that particular vendor. Tell them you need an affordable yet professional vendor instead of cheap.

Fourth, if you are on a tight budget, understand that you may need to compromise. If the vendor is compromising on their price, understand that you will have to compromise on a service or product like only getting 5 hours instead of 8, or giving up silk linens. Also know that many vendors offer payment plans-- ask about it!

Fifth, don't compromise on quality. If you're on a tight budget for your wedding photography, know that you don't have to get packages that include albums, digital images, prints, etc. Most photographers will allow you to purchase these items after your wedding day... this is a great option for couples that don't want to skip on quality but can't afford to pay for all the bells and whistles BEFORE the wedding.