All About Weddings

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Make your own bridal bouquet, save a bundle!

This bouquet was quite simple and inexpensive to make. You can apply the same technique to any flower of your choice.

I started with about 24 roses. I removed the lower leaves and thorns. I did leave quite a bit of foliage on near the top of the roses. You can remove leaves to your personal preference.

I began with a rose in the very center pointing straight up at me. I held that rose in my hand and added some baby's breath. (You can, of course opt to leave the baby's breath out.) I then proceeded to add one rose at a time making sure that each row of roses was at the same level as well as slightly lower than the previous row. I kept adding roses and baby's breath as I went always making sure that everything looked symmetrical all the way around.

Finally I taped the stems together with floral tape and finished it off with satin ivory ribbon. For this bouquet I measured and cut rows of ribbon. Then I wrapped it around once and folded over the edge. I did the same for the next layer and the next, making sure to line up the folds exactly. Then I secured each layer with a pearl pin which you can find at any craft store.

Finally I trimmed the ends of the stems to the same length. You'll want to save this step for last since the places where your stems end will change with their position in the bouquet. So that's about it!

Quick and simple way to make yourself a bridal bouquet for a great price!

Monday, October 13, 2008

The CHEAPEST wedding invitations ever!!!

I have a fabulous find for you today my wedding minded friends.

Really cute, AMAZINGLY cheap wedding invitations.

This example shows the front and back sides using the hot new trend of double sided photo invites!

This particular couple ordered 250 invitations for the grand total of $34.96! That's not a typo. It is, however the most awesome price I've ever seen for wedding invitations. That's under $0.14 per invitation!!

Here's the trick. They are just standard custom printed postcards! You'd never even know it. The front is glossy and the paper is nice and thick (like a postcard) instead of flimsy like traditional photo invites. You can also have a

color back but it costs extra. The back isn't glossy but it really doesn't take away from the quality at all. They measure 5.47" x 4.21." They also have an over sized postcard as well.

You can also add 250 white envelopes for $10.99 which takes the grand total to $45.95 which is still only $0.18 per invitation with envelopes. You can either use those for your only envelopes or if you're more traditional you can find somewhere to buy just your outer envelopes.

But heck, since they're postcards you could just skip the envelopes and stick a stamp right on the invite and send it out! Ha ha! (But seriously, you could!)

I have been getting fantastic feedback from my couples using these and they are always so excited about the price. Even with my custom design fee ($99) it's still an amazing deal! I think you can use their templates for free (although I don't think they have any wedding templates) or you can upload you own design if you know your way around photoshop.

The website is vistaprint.com and these are their standard postcards. If you need someone to design your invitations for you don't hesitate to contact me at amy@amyhansenphoto.com

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Craigslist. AWESOME place to buy wedding stuff cheap.

If you've ever used craigslist.org in the past you already know that you can get some amazing deals there. If you haven't, allow me to introduce you. Craigslist.org is a local classified ads website and they have one all the major cities and a lot of smaller ones too. People post all kinds of things from jobs, to items they are looking for and items that they have for sale. If you haven't checked it for wedding items yet, you should!
Just to give you an idea of what amazing deals you can find, I bought the dress in the slideshow below for $60 from my local craigslist for Bridal shoot I was doing for my website. I know. I should have steamed it first! It's a little wrinkly in the pictures. Anyway it was a beautiful dress, only worn once (wink) and in perfect condition. $60 is a tough price to beat for a nice wedding dress.

Bytheway, I have the dress for sale now (it has since been steamed) for only $50 if anyone is interested! Haha.
Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes! Craigslist can be a gold mind of wedding discounts! When it comes to wedding dresses the seller is usually eager to sell and will come down in the price if it doesn't get snatched up right away. Start low with your offers and work your way up. The dress I bought was listed for $150 (already a great price) but it went unsold for months and she finally yeilded to me for $60!! You can also find small companies or even just indiviuals who will do your catering, make your cake, or do your flowers for a great price! When my baby sister was getting married I saw someone who made beautiful 3 tier wedding cakes on craigslist for $150!!! Wow!
Craigslist is also an awesome place to find vendors as well as decorations, favors and pretty much just about anything you need for your big day!
To find the craigslist for you city go to craigslist.org and look for your city or state.

Friday, October 10, 2008