Flashback Fridays

Happy March Everyone! This month is pretty special.Yes, it's St. Patty's month. It is also the month daylight savings comes. But it is also really important to us because this was the month we got married.

That's right. On March 20th, 2010 we got married. It was one of the best days of my life. We had beautiful weather. People still talk about it. 72 degrees and sunny in the middle of March! We couldn't have asked for a better day. We were worried too because that year brought some crazy snow in the beginning.

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In honor of our anniversary, every Friday this month we will be having Flashback Fridays! I will share some ways we saved some serious dough and also some other great tips and tricks we used. The first tip I'm going to share is how we got this great location.

This is Aldi Mansion in Doylestown, PA. It's a beautiful space. We fell in love with it the minute we found it. Although we got married in a church we wanted a reception place where we felt like things were very open and historic. We didn't want to be in a hall.We wanted sunlight!!

This place was perfect...but out of our budget. I was crushed. We went and looked at other places but this was always in the back of my mind. So how did we make this work in our budget? Here are a few tips that we used:

1. Pick a month that is not that common.
Many couples are catching on to this tip already with the economy being the way it is. Some months are considering "prime wedding months". These usually fall April-June and Sept-Oct. There is a reason- the weather is so beautiful! So the first way we got things cut was by getting married in March. There is always a risk with the winter because of snow and whatnot but we figured that if it wasn't snow it would be rain. And if it wasn't rain it would be a heat wave. So we took our chances. And we were blessed with awesome weather. They gave us a great percentage off for getting married that month.

2. Find a place that cuts you a deal if you book more things with them.
Aldi required that you went with their caterer (which was fine with me since it was one less thing to worry about) but they also worked with us on adding other options. But we were able to choose a buffet which was more cost effective and we also chose a very pretty basic cake which worked for us since all we topped it with was simple flowers (more on those this month). Since we got married in March, the caterer also gave us a percentage off!! Double duty savings.

We also had them throw in the linens and a wedding planner for that day so she could keep us on track the day of which meant Tim and I could have more fun!

3. Don't settle until you are both happy.
This doesn't really have to do with budget saving but Tim and I spent way too much time trying to find another place that was more cost efficient and still gave us that open and airy feeling without being outside. We tried to convince ourselves that we would be happy anywhere else but we finally realized that we were meant to have that space and we were determined to make it work. If that meant getting married in a possible blizzard, so be it. Do what makes you happy. If you spend more somewhere, then spend less somewhere else.

As long as you are both surrounded with great family and friends (and with our group- certain beverages.haha)  then you will have fun. So I hope you enjoy the next few Fridays reliving our awesome wedding and feel free to drop a great memory or tip from your big day! Its a regular ol' love fest in here. :)