How To Have a Great Wedding on a Budget

I made my own birdcage wedding veil! Cost was under $10 and I have plenty of fabric left to make a wedding collar for my dog and perhaps boutonnieres for the groomsman! I am also considering making fabric flowers instead of paper ones because I am really liking yo yos! I love these old fashion fabric circles!





What I did here was make a yo you out of sheer fabric that matches my dress, then sew on a cheap bling button in the middle. I then sewed feathers to the yo yo. Then I sewed this onto a hair comb. The veil is a 12 inch netting square I sewed onto another hair comb and tweaked the style until it fit right. Easy and cheap! Most of these veils go for $60 on Etsy or weddig boutiques.

I found this cute video on suggestions for how to have a great wedding on a budget. Enjoy!

How To Have a Recession-Friendly Wedding on Howcast

Put a Ring On It!

I bought a dress that fits because I am realistic about my figure. Gone are my single skinny jean days for now. But maybe with a little help from Beyonce I may need those jeans again and a tailor for my dress.

I am learning to do Beyonce's Put A Ring On It; All The Single Ladies dance. And let me tell ya, it's a work out!




My dance instructor has toned down some of the steps to make it Sueann Friendly. I have some rythm but my bootie needs the assitance of a vintage fat jiggling machine to shake it like Beyonce.

I plan to do this dance right before the bouquet toss. I am considering having my dance instructor and her friend do this with me, unless my Fiance and his best man are available!



Now that would entertain the guests!

Ben and I are still in talks about our dance together. We may end up doing something to a Journey song or Guns n Roses. LOL!

Hello Potluck Wedding

Oh? Do you feel this is in poor taste? That it is cheap and a burden on family and friends? Well darlings, what the heck did we do before catering and bloated wedding budgets? I have images of pioneer folk gathering in town square to celebrate the wedding of a young couple... braining food and sharing in the party. Now, before you get your hackles up we are going to ask a handful of special friends to do this for us in lieu of gift. Their dish is a gift to us and everyone invited! We are providing the main dish and alcohol. How does that sound?

A New Adventure: 2010 Wedding Bells

In June a new adventure begins for your local Morning Edition host. I will marry the wonderful, smart, handy, kind and handsome Mr. Harlow! But we will do it on a budget.

The average price of an American wedding and reception is $20,000.

This sum freaks me out, but I have taken it as a challenge to have a wedding and recpetion for under $5,000. Frankly, I think that is still a lot and would be happy if we could reduce it even further. However, with the number of friends we have, it may costs that much to feed everyone!

Which means we need to get creative. We also want to incorporate our ideas on recycling, reusing and reducing into the wedding. So far we have done a terrible job.

Case in point: Save the date postcards. They were printed new for us and cost after postage will be nearly $150. You may think this isn't bad but these are the announcements before the actual wedding announcements. I suggest sending out Evites as a 'save the dates' to guests and following up with invitations.

As for my dress I wanted to go non-traditional and add a bit of color. But on a gal pal outing to a couple of boutiques I found my wedding dress at David's Bridal. I really was holding out for a dress in a dumpster that I could upcycle. But once I put on the striped, short frock with flowers - Done Deal! Sounds terrible though huh? Stripes and flowers? You'll just have to wait to see it!

Price for the dress: $400. Not bad but I know women who have paid a lot less for a lot more fabric. After the wedding I would like to re-use the wedding dress and dye it to make a party dress, or sew it into pillows. Hahaha.

Next: How to DIY wedding invitations withoug breaking the bank. I have a feeling it will involve a graphic artists friend of mine and my own labor!

Making Kimchi with Sueann Ramella

My mother says not to add soy sauce. But I have read many store brands and they do. Personally, I like kimchi with the little tiny shrimp to speed up the rotting process. But I developed a slight allergy to the little guys. So Fish Sauce is in my recipe and I highly recommend going heavy on the garlic!

Enjoy!

Behind the Mic with Sueann Ramella

Here's a little audio slideshow that was created for our e newsletter, Connect. You can subscribe for free at www.nwpr.org !

I hope you enjoy this! Turn on the speakers and the captions!


Sueann Ramella Behind the Mic