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By, Jamie Lewis
We got engaged in September 2014, and at that time money was tight for us and both of our families. I would have been perfectly happy eloping or having a small courthouse ceremony, but my husband was set on having the wedding he always dreamed about.
In order to have everything we wanted on a tiny budget(around $1,500), most of our wedding was DIY. Our family friends let us rent out their barn for a great price, and we used every bookshelf and plant in my parent’s home to bring the space together. Most of our decorations were things we already owned wrapped in twine or painted in our colors, but I was also able to find many cute and pre-used items on the All things Wedding Buy/Sell/Trade Facebook page.
Most of our vendors were willing to work with us on our budget, including our photographer and florist. We had family and friends step in to help make our cake, invitations, and refreshments. In the end, the only problem we ran in to was having our officiant cancel. Luckily, we were able to locate an officiant on the ATW Buy/Sell/Trade Facebook page who was also willing to work with our budget based on our situation.
We were married on August 14, 2015. The day was lovely and went without incident. If I could have changed anything, I would have planned ahead for the tiny details. We used a Spotify playlist for our music, which worked great, except we had to find someone last minute to be in charge of it. I also never realized we would need an M/C of sorts to help announce everything and move the night along. (I suppose a DJ could help with that, but it just wasn’t in our budget.)
Our wedding was a success in my book, and we couldn’t have done it without all of the help from our family, friends, and random Facebook brides who helped us through the rough patches.