Penny Pinching Resources

When Mr. Pineapple and I first chose our venue with the fancy schmancy food we were living rent-free. As part of Mr. Pineapple's job at the time (he is now working at a different University) he was required to live in on-campus housing. Our housing was amazing. We lived in a four bedroom, 3000 square foot split level, rent and utility-free. So all that money that we had been paying for two separate apartments we could put toward our wedding savings. Then the poo hit the fan. The big wig above Mr. P was asked to resign and to save money Mr. P's job description no longer required him to live on campus. They gave us six weeks to be out. Since we had already put our deposit down on the Rivers Club we wanted to try and make it work. We did this by eliminating anything we didn't "need" or care about. The second way was by doing a lot of searching before buying. Here are some of the resources I found along the way that helped me penny pinch.

1. Etsy
Everyone probably knows by now that etsy is a great resource for buying things handmade. However, I didn't realize until wedding planning that you can also buy supplies from etsy. I purchased large copper satin and silk remnants from etsy for super cheap, $7 each. I then used them as table runners. (I didn't even sew them. I just laid them loosely on the table and tucked under the seams.)

2. Michael's
I signed up for Michael's e-mail alerts and have saved so much money. At least every other week I am e-mailed a 40% off coupon. You can only use one per customer per day. So I would drag my mom and dad to the store with me, each of us armed with a coupon. This was great for items such as Xyron refills which are not cheap and I could only find locally at Michael's.

3. Ikea
One of the things that was hard to cut from our budget was fresh flower centerpieces. There is nothing quite like a wedding full of fragrant and fresh blooms. I considered DIY flowers then I scared myself out of it and decided on candles. I had no idea how expensive pillar candles were until I started my search. Even at online wholesalers they were $3-7 each. Then I checked Ikea.com and lo and behold 5 candles for $7. Perfect. I could make a decent centerpiece with 5 big candles without the risk of looking cheap.

I also got my mirrors from Ikea. Searching online and in craft stores I found a lot of circular mirrors, but the cheapest were $3 each plus shipping and handling. (Not cheap for such a heavy and fragile item.) Then I checked Ikea. I bought 4 packs of 12" square tiles for $5. Our tables were rectangular so the square worked out better than round anyhow.

4. Amazon.com
So much more than books. Amazon.com now has something called Amazon Prime. It is a $70/year membership. The primary perk of the program is "free" two-day shipping on every order. Mr. P and I were first interested in the program when we moved to the farm. The closest shopping is 13 miles away, at the bottom of the mountain ridge we live atop. So going to the store is a huge trip and a gas guzzler. From Amazon we can get all of those regular items like kitty litter and paper towels, often for less than buying them retail. You can also buy 20 boxes of coffee filters for your paper roses and big boxes of discounted paper for... for everything. It is not a program that makes sense for everyone, but it definitely works for us.

5. Question Everything
The thing that really saved us the most money was when we changed our perspective on the whole wedding thing. There are so many things you "have to have" and "have to do" for a wedding and it really blows any budget out of whack. Everyone's priorities and resources are different, just for an example following a few must-haves we were able to eliminate.

A DJ, thanks to my lovely friend and actor Mike + a MacBook Pro we had our freeJ. A videographer, some people love wedding videos I didn't have an opinion and Mr. P didn't really like them so there was no reason for us to splurge on this item. Both my parents and Mr. P's had someone there with a camera they entire time, so there is evidence. :) A tux for Mr. P, he purchased a suit that he will wear over and over again at work. Ceremony decorations and such, we decided against having children in our wedding saving us on a lot of little things like ring pillow, flower petals, a basket and little lovely outfits. We also cut out any decorations, bubbles/bells/rice, what have you. We are also lucky to have very talented friends who could preform the music before and during the ceremony. Finally, there were a lot of little things we cut that really added up like new shoes, elaborate gifts for the bridal party (they really loved the simple gifts we gave), all additional rentals (linens/chairs/lighting), and upgrades for things such as the cake, bar, and dinner service.

What are some of your favorite money-saving resources?