Create your own photobooth

One of the Internet’s favorite bloggers (seriously, it really seems that way), Michelle Woo, recently got married and is now sharing her favorite bits and pieces of her wedding — which I think was everything. Just about every detail from her wedding was unique and adorable and fun, but I think her and her hubby’s true genius comes through with their DIY Photobooth.

Photos courtesy of Michelle Woo

I don’t know exactly how much Photobooth rentals go for. Ballpark, it seems they go for at least a grand for a set number of hours, and that comes with a CD, a scrapbook and maybe ice cream. Just kidding. Michelle is a girl after my own heart, because she didn’t want to shell out for a photobooth, but still wanted the fun of those pictures — so she did it! For free! In a fun way!
Continue reading →

A wedding in paradise*

Regular readers may have noticed a bit of a lull around here. Let’s just say that your friendly neighborhood Wedding Decorator went on assignment — to the Big Island of Hawaii!

However, I was not decorating — just attending and taking pictures. So maybe I should simply call myself the Wedding Attender at this point. At any rate, the wedding was a tiny, very intimate affair at the Fairmont Orchid on the Big Island’s Kohala Coast.

Continue reading →

Want a REALLY cheap wedding?

I’ve been meaning to post something about this since last week, ever since I saw the story that my station‘s Dave Malkoff did — a wedding sponsored by the 99-Cent Only Store?! I think its an idea only a groom could love, but hear me out!

The 99-Cent Only Store is taking advantage of 9/9/09 (coming up really fast, actually) by offering to host weddings for 9 couples. The 9 couples won’t even have to pay for all their marriage license — the 99-Cent Only Store will reimburse the couple up to $70 for it. Of course, that means your wedding, including the decor and your wedding gown, will be made up of items from the 99-Cent Only Store. Hm, I wonder if this goes for the groom’s wear too? I have no idea, I should ask.
Continue reading →

Get married for under $1,000

You’re probably reading the title of this post, thinking, “is she nuts?” Not at all. In fact, if I could have made it $700, but it doesn’t have quite the same ring as $1000. But I’m warning you, this method of getting married is not for most brides. Basically, I’m going to share the story of how I got married.

All photos by Chuck Bennett

You’d think a wedding decorator would have a huge, fancy wedding right? You’d be wrong. Some might call this method eloping at home. There’s a pretty interesting story. Interested?

Continue reading →

A Minnesota Desi wedding

By Shruti Mathur Desai

You may recognize my name from reporting back to Wedding Decorator about the various weddings I’ve attended. But now I’ve been invited to write a bit about a very special wedding (to me): My own!

A bit of background: My fiance Ravi and I met on our second day of college at the University of Minnesota. It took us a year to start dating, but it’s been eight wonderful years with him! Last September, he ambushed me with a surprise proposal and on July 4, 2009, we were married at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Paul Minnesota.

I will spread out my wedding planning process over a few posts and I hope to add layers with pictures, as they come in from my talented friends and family.

Continue reading →

Big weddings go budget

If you keep up with current events as I have to for the day job, you know that the news is brimming with doom and gloom when it comes to the economy, even when it comes to happy events like weddings and babies. People are holding off on starting their families because of the economy, but at least people aren’t holding off on getting married — they’re just cutting back their wedding budgets.

Flickr photo by FamilyMan5k

The L.A. Times ran down the budget cutback details of one bride — invitations from Costco, a wedding cake baked by an aunt, wedding rings bought with coupons.

Scaled back, downgraded, digitized and homespun, weddings are getting a major economic makeover this year. While the number of weddings scheduled to take place in the U.S. in 2009 remains steady at 2.2 million, a recent “What’s on Brides’ Minds” survey conducted for gown emporium David’s Bridal found that 75% of brides-to-be said they would have to make adjustments to their wedding budget as a result of the economic climate. The average cost of a couple’s publicly traded “I do’s” is now $19,212, down 33% from its peak of $28,732 in 2007, according to the Tucson-based research firm the Wedding Report.

In the same issue of the LAT, there was also a story about the shift toward simpler i.e. more inexpensive wedding dresses. Now, I know I basically am part of the industry, but truly I applaud these changes and shifts toward simplicity — amid all the details, brides tend to forget that the whole point of all the hoopla is to get married.

Continue reading →

Dress up one candle to be a centerpiece

Jinah’s wedding is fast approaching, so I’m in prep mode. Just this week, I’ve set up time to go pick up some materials from my siblings to decorate with, I’m bugging a florist I’ve worked with before on the pricing of flowers and now I’m fretting a little over the candle arrangement plan we have for her guest tables. Right now, the plan is simply to place a 2×2 pillar candle in one of the vases that we picked up from Big Lots (really!) and surround it with four votives. However, now I’m fretting that this is too simple.

Flickr photo by DrGBB

So I began perusing Flickr for idea. There are a lot of people using candles nowadays for their centerpieces to cut down on costs. However, if you’re not careful, you could end up spending way more on a candle arrangement than on a flower arrangement if you go overboard. Plus, don’t forget that most people are not florists and don’t have access to real wholesale prices. So my thought is — how do you dress up one candle without breaking the bank?

Continue reading →