Budget Wedding Segment on GMA

My mom had Good Morning America on in the kitchen this morning and low and behold they did a segment about a couple who had (a decent looking--mind you) wedding for $6,000.

There are some things they did that I am unsure we could do, like find a great photographer for free, package deal catering/venue, but some things I wouldn't mind doing, like buying the BM dresses at a department store, finding a second-hand dress (tags attached), online coupons, and the fake cake idea!

Food (catering) and photography need to be high quality for me, and while we will do our very best to find the right price, if we have to spend more for the quality for those items, then so be it. Here is the link. For some reason I could not find a link/code to embed the video, oh well. ABCNEWS: A $20K Wedding on a $6,000 Budget: Their Love Was Real, the Cake Was Styrofoam

Venue Tour Round 2: Scottish Rite Masonic Center

After the slightly disappointing (price mostly) tour of Martin's Hunt Valley on 2/19, I was feeling hopeful about our 2/23 tour of the Scottish Rite Masonic Center on Charles Street (Bmore city). Well, here is the PRO/CON list and slideshow below:

Pros:
+Price. Now granted, they do not help with setup, etc., so that is why it is much cheaper, but again, we may be able to get help from the caterer or a "day-of" planner.
+Full kitchen, tables, chairs (sort of....see cons, lol)
+GREAT banquet hall: huge, 2 stage/platforms, clean, simple decor, modern/retro lighting, not as in your face and flashy. I was really, really pleased with the banquet room. Nice, clean slate.
+NO ugly carpet anywhere!!
+Coat room with huge window/counter
+Bridal lounge

Cons:
-NAUSEATING, and I mean it, odor of floor cleaner all through the main hall. Surprisingly, it was not present anywhere else in the facility though. It smelled like a latrine or dirty bathroom. It was immediately noticeable and made me feel sick. That is UNACCEPTABLE. After the tour was over, I sneaked away and asked a maintenance guy what it was and if it goes away, and he said they just cleaned the floors and it goes away. Hmmm. I'll believe it when I smell it! I may need to go back and investigate this further.
-UGLY, ugly, uncomfortable looking chairs. These were pretty unacceptable for a nice wedding. I'm pretty sure we'd either have to (whatever is cheaper): rent other chairs, or rent chair covers and cushions for the SRMC chairs. Alex and I both hated the chairs.
-Very grim and dark in the main hallway/entranceway, even with the lights on---and that was during the day!
-The dusty glass cases holding medals/badges/plaques that lined the hall were a little tacky and dated the facility (think antique store or grandfather's basement). This was more of a concern of Alex's. I see his point, but there were other things that were more of a problem for me.
-I am not sure I like that you have to walk through the bridal lounge to get to the only public restrooms. Now, I won't be needing the lounge for privacy, etc. when the guests are there, so I am not worried about that. What could be an issue is the maze-ish access to the bathrooms for the guests. Not a horrible concern, but something to work around. Additionally, I did not like the decor in the lounge at all, but no big deal, I am sure the excellent photographer we hire can work around this and make the prep pictures look good.
-After seeing the PIMP bathrooms at Martin's, the SRMC bathrooms looked pretty sorry, lol. But hey---they were clean and in seemingly working order, so there you go!

Here is the slideshow:
Click here for a direct link to pictures

Venue Tour Round 1: Martins Hunt Valley

Okay, so as I have mentioned, I am not a fan of the Martin's facilities. But since this one was brand new, we decided to check it out, mostly because it allows outside caterers. We went on 2/19 at night.

Let me point this out: If we go with Russian catering we WILL NOT go with Martin's, because it is WAY too expensive to rent the facility and the caterer together. It will knock out 3/4 of our budget, if not more.

And frankly, if we don't go with Russian catering, I don't want Martin's either, lol. We'll see how all of this pans out...

Anyway...I've posted a slideshow of our Martin's tour below. Here is the PRO/CON list:

Pros:
+Large, open lobby
+Nice crown molding on walls
+Nice floors in the ballrooms
+Nice bridal suite
+Well lit
+GREAT bathrooms: well lit, new, clean, and super big
+Everything is new, clean
+Full kitchen, tables, chairs provided
+All-inclusive service. They will set up, set tables, serve, clean, tear down, and man the bar.

Cons:
-Tacky! Hideous carpet, terrible chandeliers, staircase, and Roman pillar murals on walls in the ballrooms
-Um...it is directly attached to a GYM in a stripmall. Yep. A gym. Random! And kinda tacky.
-We have to share the venue. I really am not into that. We pretty much cannot have our wedding Saturday night. This is because it is crowded with other weddings, and we'd basically have other people around while taking pictures, ceremony, etc. Sundays are supposedly better, slower. I've been to other events where it was a shared venue, and you get loud music through the walls interrupting your first dance, and drunk---really drunk-- guests from other weddings running into you----NO THANK YOU.
-Price. Even though they do everything for you, it may be possible and cheaper to get the caterer to help with serving, etc. and hire a "day-of" wedding planner. This would require research.
-The saleswoman. OH LORD, this woman was so loud and in your face, frankly, I'm pretty sure our tour was the last time I could tolerate her. Ugh. I mean, she was really nice, but not my cup of tea. At least the Scottish Rite people were calm, soft spoken, and pleasant.

Well, here is the slide show, see for yourself!
Click here to go directly to slideshow

Venues Picky About Catering

We really want to have a Russian caterer (serving Russian food) at the reception, but apparently, almost every venue in the Baltimore area does not want us to. Or, the venue can, but cannot accommodate 130-150 guests seated indoors.

(Alex and his family and many of their friends are from all over Eastern Europe, which explains the Russian food.)

If we have a Russian caterer, and there are only about 3 in Bmore, we must have the wedding in the Baltimore area, as they won't travel. And, it's better to keep it in Baltimore anyway, due to most of our guests living in this area. They also must have a kitchen on site.

Typical venue responses:

"You must choose an approved caterer from our list"
"You must use our caterer"
"We don't have a kitchen"

SIGH.

I have tried JUST ABOUT EVERYWHERE, and I MEAN EVERYWHERE in Baltimore, and checked EVERY WEB LISTING, called around, you name it, and there are 3 places (SO FAR) that can accommodate our catering needs and have indoor space for at least 150 people:

1. Martin's Hunt Valley Mansion......toured on 2/19
2. Scottish Rite Masonic Center......toured on 2/24
3. Baltimore Zoo Mansion...............touring on 2/28

I am not interested in any of the Martin's facilities other than what is listed, as I have not been satisfied with experiences there or the decor.

I am waiting to hear back from the Lyric Opera house.

So far, we are not completely impressed by both the Martin's Hunt Valley or the Scottish Rite, but we have not ruled them out altogether.

We both really want to have the Russian food, but if we decided against it, or had only Russian appetizers, it would REALLY give us a lot more options as far as better venues.

I really liked the pictures I saw of the Evergreen House's indoor rental facilities and the M&T Bank Pavilion at the Hippodrome Theater. I wish they would let us use our own catering! I would love to tour those places. I have actually painted at a beautiful wedding on the exterior grounds of the Evergreen House, and I was IMPRESSED. I'd love to see the inside ballrooms.

Well, wish us luck at the Baltimore Zoo Mansion this Sat!

Attire

Updated October 13, 2009:

I chose black as the BM (bridesmaid/s) and MOH (maid of honor) dress color, because it:

a. makes it easier on the BM and MOH; it’s practical, and easy to find
b. goes with the color scheme, the green and black look great together!
c. is classy, classy, classy!

Two of my bridesmaids will not be wearing dresses due to religious/personal restrictions—which is NO PROBLEM at all, I want them to feel comfortable and be themselves :). All the ladies will go and choose/purchase their own style of black attire/dress within their own budget.

For the fellas, I want to have black tux suits, with a white shirt and citrine/lime green necktie–not bowtie (in the same shade of green as the one for the color scheme). I hate cumberbuns, so I’d like to leave them out. We may buy the ties for the guys (hey that rhymes!) because we know it might be tough for them to find!

As for my 2 flower girls, my niece, age 6 at the time of wedding, and Alex’s cousin, who will be around 11, they will wear white dresses with a yellow-green ribbon around their waist.

I made a collage of styles, some are ideas, and it also includes a dress someone has already purchased (bottom left corner).

Decor

I decided on my decor and color palette a couple of weeks ago. I always knew I wanted Indian elements added to my wedding, such as marigolds, because I have quite a love for Indian music and culture. So I knew orange would need to fit in there somewhere (marigolds). My absolute favorite color is bright green, in 2 shades, a kelly/grass green and a chartreuse/citrine/lime green. I decided to choose the citrine/lime green because I had run across some wedding pictures on the net featuring black, white, and the lime green, and I LOVED it. However, being an artist, I felt it was still a little serious, so I knew that the orange would add to the green very well. So orange, green, black, and white it is! Here are my decor and floral collages:

You can see how the bright green, black and white work well together, and the orange will complement nicely. The orange will mostly be in the flowers, as an accent. The black and white will also be more of an accent on the invitations, other print work, table decor, and wedding party attire.

I really want to use the garlands of marigolds seen on a traditional mandap (south asian wedding canopy), but hanging on our chuppah (Jewish wedding canopy). I may do the strips of fabric on the chuppah, as seen in the last photo, but we’ll see. These are brainstorming ideas. But, I really like the idea of the “mand-chuppah,” half mandap, half chuppah. (heehee)

Another idea I may try is making those lovely orange tissue paper “pom-pom” flowers seen in the top right photo. They are from Martha Stuart’s wedding website and are just darling—and very easy to make might I add. I would hang them from the ceiling over the tables, if the venue allows it.

You can visit my attire page for how I will incorporate my colors into the bridal party clothing.

As for the flowers, I want to use mostly mums (spider and other varieties), carnations, marigolds, dahlias, and perhaps peonies (not seen in collage). I just LOVE the green and white spider mums!! (the spikey ones). Any of the mums are spectacular. I love that green shade, it matches perfectly. I am NOT A ROSE PERSON . I am into the puffy, round flowers, and like them tightly bunched. White and green hydrangea don’t appeal to me because they are kind of cliche for weddings. I am happy with the flowers I’ve chosen so far. Once we decide on the venue, secure our budget, we will eventually find a great florist :).

Well, that should do it so far. Any other ideas will be added here later!

hello all.

Hey everyone! Melissa here. Alex proposed in Jan 09′ and we are getting married in April 2010.

Like many others, I have started a blog for our wedding plans in order to:

1. Make it fun for friends and family to see our process

2. Obtain advice and ideas from friends, family, and others

3. Help keep me organized and make planning fun for me and Alex.

4. Inform the wedding party about details that may apply to them

Please feel free to post any comments and ideas, but remember to check my wedding pages that will give you a better idea of what I am already thinking of or what we have already done.

Thanks and I’m looking forward to a wonderful day with Alex and my other loved ones