New to the neighborhood!

spr0ut23

Hello!
I just moved to Queen Creek to be with my fiance. We got engaged in April and plan on having the wedding in March, 2011.
We decided to put our money for the wedding towards redoing our backyard to have a backyard reception. Anything budget friendly is great! (I'm a teacher, he's a firefighter) This made him happy because it's more of an investment than giving out money to people and places we won't ever see again, and I'm excited to have such a huge project finished and ready to begin our life as newlyweds!
I look forward to hearing about everyone's planning and ideas!

guamibear

Congrats and Welcome!

themelodywithin

Congrats! When in March?

spr0ut23

Mid March, the 12 or 19th

LedZeppelin

Hi there! Congrats on your engagement! March 19th is a good date, but I'm biased. Actually both me and mgumms have that date. lol.

I think redoing your backyard for the reception is a really good idea. You'll get to enjoy it long after the wedding!

mgumms

Welcome to the board! March 19th is a rad date! I'm a teacher, too, so I know all about the budget. My fiance teaches as well. Backyard weddings are so awesome and there are so many things you can do.  I reccomend getting on the email lists for Hobby Lobby and Michael's. Michael's just had little planter pots on sale for $1 that would be awesome to plant little flowers or herbs in for centerpieces. I just went to a wedding on Friday that was in someone's yard and they did a really nice job. How many people are you having? I'm just curious.

NillaWafer10

I love budget weddings!  My wedding was a budget wedding, and the only thing I wish I would have spent more money on was the photographer.  I wish I would have booked her an hour or two longer.  Other than that, I'm glad I didn't spend a dime more.  FI and I walked away from our reception not owing a dime, and I was so relieved.  Wedding day debt is no fun when you are a newly wed.

Any who...  Here are my ideas for a backyard garden wedding reception.  Will the wedding be in the backyard too?

I'm picturing guests entering in through your side gate.  Most AZ homes have a narrow walkway that goes past the house and into the backyard.  This will be the first taste your guests get.  Make a big statement on a little budget by lining the way with pomanders on shepherd's hooks.  We made ours by following the instructions on the website below.  We did a total of 20 balls, and the cost was about $100.  We purchased everything at 50% off from hobby lobby.  They run specials all the time on shepherd's hooks and silk flowers.  You can also resell them after the wedding to recoup some of the costs.

This would be the look, except they would be lining the walkway.  To be extra crafty, use them to line your ceremony aisle too.  This might be a little tricky, but you might be able to manage it.  For a more romantic look, sprinkle rose petals just below the pomanders.  Add a few tea light candles to be lit at night, and you have an awesome entryway and photo op.

I can't find the exact instructions I used, but these will work.  I can try to repost if I find them.
http://www.the-wedding-information-site.com/ball-of-flowers.html

These are made out of fabric
http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/how-to-make-fabric-pomanders

These are made out of tissue paper and might cost less
http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-tissue-pomanders

Pomanders can be used as flower girl bouquets and also hang in the trees.

You will need to rent tables and chairs.  I believe we used tri star for my bridal shower, but I didn't plan that part.  White standard chairs are about $2 each.  Painful, but they can be used for both the ceremony and reception.  

To dress the tables, purchase tablecloths from linentablecloth.com.  You have plenty of time, so keep an eye out for their sales or discounts.  They have some twiter deal going on right now, but I just use the coupon codes that the ladies post on the budget board.  You can sell them afterwards on Craig's List.  Make sure you know the size of the tables you are renting before you purchase the tablecloths.  It's important to know the diameter of the tables to determine the size of tablecloth you need.

For centerpieces, I have a few ideas.  Since it's a garden feel, garden flowers in a simple vase would be nice.  You can order bulk flowers from Costco or Fiftyflowers.com.  There are lots of online sites for bulk floral.  Lots of people recommend Sam's Club, but I ordered with them, and it was disastrous.  Gorgeous flowers, but terrible service.  You can place a small homemade garden tea cake or bunt cake on a stand.  Each one can be a different flavor and decorated with edible flowers (AJ's).  You could also buy pillar candles from Ikea.  Make sure to have something under the candles to protect the linens and tables from wax.  (Mirrors or wooden platters are popular)  You could also skip centerpieces and have water, iced tea and lemonade containers on each table.

For food, Dad's Catering has really great prices.  They will include the servers and all of the plates and flatware necessary.  If you are having a small gathering, this might be the most cost effective way to serve food.  If you want to DIY the food, I would recommend Crock Pot dishes. It's easy to keep them warm, and you won't have to buy chafing dishes.  Have a DIY bar with a spiked lemonade and beer.

If you are going to have dancing, you will need to splurge on a dancefloor.  Unless you will have it on the patio, you really need to have a flat surface.  The grass won't be enough.  It will be painful to spend so much on a dancefloor, but it will be much less costly than a sprained ankle.  DIY the music by making a playlist on your ipod.  Hook it up to some borrowed speakers, and put a friend in charge of it for the night.  Make sure to have separate playlists for cocktail, dinner, and dancing.

As a personal touch, plant a big tree now.  Carve your names in a heart on the tree.  This will be a great memory and a good photo op.  You can also skip the guest book, and have guests write their sentiments on a note and hang it from the tree.

Kind of like this, but a real tree

Finally, set the mood with lots and lots of candles.  As mentioned previously, Ikea has a lot of different sized candles for a great price.  Buy some Chinese hanging lanterns for your other trees, and your night will look incredibly romantic.

Check Ebay, Craig's List and the Trash to Treasure boards for great new and used wedding items.  You can find some great steals.  Craig's List is a favorite of mine, because you don't have to pay for shipping.

Hope that helps! Sorry it's so long haha!

NillaWafer10

I also forgot a few things...

For favors, I would bake some homemade mini chocolate chip cookies.  Put them in some cute favor boxes from Martha Stewart (Michael's).  Place one at each table to substitute for a formal place setting.

Never buy any of your wedding items from a craft store at full price.  Use a 40% off coupon found in the paper, or download them off the internet.  Micheal's and JoAnn's will take competitors coupons, but Hobby Lobby won't.

spr0ut23

Wow! Thanks so much!!
I'm thinking of using mason jars as vases for flowers.
My fiance is hispanic so all food and drinks are going to be of that nature. I want to have tortillas being cooked during the reception as little snacks that people can get when they want. Drinks- mexican beer, margaritas, some wine. I'm going to look at Carolina's for food, any experience with them??
I love the pomander idea!
The ceremony will be at a church.
I just looked into pretty potties and another "fancy porta potty" place they were a little pricey...we're going to have at least 200 people, so we're going to need bathrooms. Any suggestions???
Thanks so much for all of the great ideas!

SaraBell36

Hi, congratulations on your wedding and planning!

I am a photographer based mainly in Prescott but I travel all over Arizona. My motto is "beautiful, affordable photographs," and I work really hard to make sure I provide memorable prints, all images on a CD, and a beautiful hardcover book with photos of the day inside. I do all of this for under $1,000.

I am able to save by working a second job and paying myself less for my photography, and by cutting costs in areas like using a free website and not purchasing the copyrights to my photos (this also means you can print and re-print to your heart's desire without having to purchase a copyright from me or anything like that).

My website is www.SaraBellPhotography.weebly.com and I would love for you to consider me! If you have not found someone yet and are at all interested, give me a call or shoot me an e-mail with the date, location, and times of your wedding and I'd be more than happy to give you a price!

Good luck with all of your planning!

Sara