Pics are a bit out of order.....BUT IM MARRIED!!!!
August 11 was one of the best days of my life
I got to marry my best friend!! We dont have all the professional photos yet and we won't for awhile, but these are some that we have so far! Along with some that are just taken by friends.
Here's the budget breakdown of it all. It's just a guesstimate. I was doing pretty good on keeping track until around the middle of the process. We did not have a set budget. We were just being cautious and tried to get the best price for each thing.
Venue: Saint Clements Castle, Portland, CT. This venue was amazing and almost all inclusive. It came with the catering, open bar, cake/cupcakes, day of coordinator, 2 bridal suites, all the tables, linens, etc. With about 150 guests, that all came out to about $16500 after taxes (they were also a no tipping venue so that saved some money).
Bakery: As I said, the venue provided all that, but the bakery they use chimirri's bakery. They are super delicious!
DJ: We went with the company The Pros. They provided Steve Wlliot as our DJ. Over all, he was pretty good. There were a couple things that bothered me that he did throughout the day, but nothing too crazy. He kind of took our first dance from us when he congratulated the dinosaurs rather than us, but not a huge deal. He also was out with us during cocktail hour, so I dont think music was played at that time. The other thing was that he was in the bridal suite a lot. Weird, but whatever. Other than that tho, he was pretty good and kept the reception fun!! We spent about $1400 on him.
Uplighting: Also used The Pros for this. Spent about $200 for I think 8-10 lights. They couldn't match our colors, but it didnt really matter to me. It still set a nice mood.
Videographer: We used The Pros for this as well. We so far just have the raw footage, but they will be providing a highlight video as well. This was something my husband was originally against due to costs, but now hes saying that out of everything, hes so happy we had a videographer. We obviously didn't see any intros because we were last, and we missed a bunch of funny parts, so now we get to relive it and see what we missed! That was about $1400 (we also had him for the full 8 hours).
Photography: We had 2 vendors for this. The first one (my primary one) was with us for about 8 hours. Her business name is Brogans Photography. Over all, I think she was good! We don't have most of her pictures yet, but the ones we do have came out really nice. She knows a Drone guy, so she brought him along too for some awesome drone shots free of charge!! She was also supposed to provide a 2nd photographer, but she couldn't line one up in time. I paid about $1200 for her. I ended up hiring a 2nd photographer literally 2 weeks before the wedding to be with the guys in the beginning, to get another angle of the ceremony, and to cover cocktail hour. So happy I did. He only charged $175.
Shuttle: we spent $900 on Specialty Transportation to and from hotel at the beginning and end of the wedding
The dress: I went to Penny Jane Bridal and bought a dress from a private designer. After alterations, it probably came to about $1900.
Suites: they got them from Jos A Bank. I think they spent a little over $100 each.
Bridesmaid Dresses: they all ordered from Azazie. I gave them color and length and they chose design. They spent about $110 each depending on the dress.
Hair and Make up: We went with Bernadette's Traveling Salon. She was amazing and everything came out so perfectly. I covered the girls, my mom, and a friend who tagged along. Spent about $1600 for all that...more than I orginally wanted to, but it all came out nicely at least.
Flowers: we hired Events By Amy. She did an amazing job on everything. Came out to about $1400.
Invites/save the dates: we got the save the dates from vistaprint and the invites from basic invite. Probably spent about 800 on it all.
There was a lot of miscellaneous things (like decor and gifts). Probably spent around $2k on the combo of all that.
Advice: I know everyone says this, but take a moment to soak it all in. I didnt get a chance to really look at the decor, but luckily there are pictures. I was very focused on making sure we try and go to all tables, so we didnt get to see the dance floor too often. Looking back, I wish we got to dance more, but it was still so much fun. I got to marry my best friend and the day turned out so perfectly. Dont sweat the small stuff. The day will have the same result in the end regardless of what happens. Enjoy the day since it will fly by
