Overview of DIY Wedding on a Budget

Although we didn't have the most ideal budget friendly wedding since our biggest expense was the wedding location. I tried to keep the expense down on everything else! It was also difficult since I only had 3 months to plan. We made a spontaneous decision to have a wedding before Flora turned 1. Having that be in May, we emailed every reception hall we liked for dates in April. Came down to 2 but decided to go ahead with Long Beach Renaissance since they gave us a ballroom even with our guest count of 100 (which later stretched to 140). Double tree Hilton offered us the garden room but the ceiling was too low and made us feel trapped and their ballroom had a guest minimum of 200. Although now that I think about it, the outdoor ceremony would've looked nice in photos. Renaissance offers their outdoor poolside ceremony only if the guest count is under 100.

Bixby Ballroom at The Renaissance Long Beach

Anyways... here is a brief overview of things bought, made, etc. I (tried) to keep it as low budget as possible.

The invitations.

I researched a lot online, looked at reviews of services and scanned a lot of diy blogs. I would've have made everything if we only invited.. lets say.. 25 guests? Having over 100 guests and 3 months to prepare. I opted for wedding paper divas and got a 150 invitation (still have some left). Then I found a template for the wraparound to hold a little square memo. I printed the wraparound, memo and put together to invitation myself with the help of my husband. I also decided to use TheKnot's wedding website to take guest's rsvp's. I just assumed it would be easier since everyone is tech savvy. We just double checked with our elders for confirmation. I printed the memos and had them cut at staples. I cut the wrap around myself at the staples cutting board, it took me 20 minutes. Most of our invited were hand delivered since we see these people everyday.
Total spent: around $280 (invitation was 240, i know i paid around 40 for the printing and cutting service) plus 20 on stamps.

Stationary. I bought these champagne colored shimmer paper from amazon for the memo that goes in the invitation and the color was too dark compared to the wedding invitation. Having spent 20 dollars, I didn't want it to go to waste and turned them into table placement and seat placement cards.
We have a diverse family since both sets of our parents are divorced. So we placed them in seats for our ceremony accordingly and made 'reserved for family' lanes.

Guest Table List

I already had paint and ribbons. I painted 'find your seats' for the table placement chart. The frame was from home depot, we super glued and stapled the pieced together. The original idea was a wine carton, I saw it on a different diy blog. But the wine cartons were hard to find and the retail ones were too expensive. For the ceremony seat placement cards, I printed family member's names on white paper and cut it out to paste onto the champagne shimmer card stock I had. Too add a little something, I glued little rhinestones on the top and bottom of the pattern (I had a bunch since I used to stock up on them when I was into nail art). I should have just prints my own table placement cards too but it was the last thing to do after a I final headcount and had the florist do it. If I did it on my own, it would've been cheaper by more than half the price she was charging me..

Amazon- Shimmer cardstock paper: 20. Home Depot- Staple gun: 8, Wood panels: 15. Dollar store-  Mini laundry clips: 1
Already had: glue, paint, string, ribbons, rhinestone.

Guest Table

I'm using the same teal frame from my baby shower. So I decided to make the guest table theme color to teal. I looked for the posters on google and painted the sign I liked on a flat canvas. I ordered a teal cover guestbook sign in and card box online. I also bought these candle holders that were on sale at mokatels as an extra accent to the table.

The martha stewart octogon shaped card box was fairy easy to make, I didn't put the big white bow on it. If the the box is full, the bottom might come off from the weight as the only thing holding the box together is double sided tape.

Guesbook and cardbox from Amazon: $46, Candle holder from Moskatel: $20
Already had: wooden frame, canvas, paint.

Dessert Table

I pictured a much more extravagant dessert table but thought it wasn't necessary to purchase extra flowers or rentals. To make it simple, I just got some dessert bags for guests to fill - which by the way is a bad idea because we had one young guest who took 5 bagfuls of macaroons at once and the guests who went after dinner didn't have much of a selection left. I purchased all the glassware and this light up sign. The cupcake holders were a last minute purchase when I stopped by party city the day of the wedding.

Michaels- Light up Initials: 6 each, Candy bags: 3 each, Large glass vase: 9  each Dollar Store- Smaller glass: 1 each Party City- Cupcake Holder- 5 each, Candy Scooper: 2each
Whole Foods- 12 dozen macaroons (dozen special), assorted baked goods, some protein snacks for the day: total came out to almost 160 Target- pastel M&Ms, pastel Kisses, mini Reeses (all discounted after Easter and our wedding was on the 23rd)
Already had: white trays.

Overall... I feel like I did a pretty good job but the planning time was too short (3 months) and of course, if I've ever done a wedding before-which I haven't, it could've been better. And that's what most people tell me, nothing's perfect, but at least you married your perfect partner ;)