Wedding Help!!!!!

I am getting married in February and need some help on how to have a cheap hippie wedding....Any suggestions on how to go about this?

 

Probably not hippy but me and my husband 'ran away' to get married, went to this place called Hay-on-Wye (kind of hippyish and beautiful) stayed two nights in a B&B and asked the owners to be our witnesses. It was the most relaxing and inexpensive weekend of my life, romantic as hell too! (Well until we got home and told the parents!).
I can't express how wonderful it was not to spend our whole day worrying about guests and making sure every thing went smoothly. The actual wedding was literally two minutes long, I put the ring on the wrong hand but haha! Who cares!
After that we went back to the B&B, had a glass of champagne with our witnesses, had food in a little restaurant then went to a small pub. Bliss!
The whole weekend cost about £200 , if you wanted to go that route it's extremely painless arranging it.

 

There are a lot of things one can save of when having a wedding.

Limit the number of guests, or make the whole wedding a bottle party. Make it as a garden party or BBQ instead in a fancy place. Don't buy fancy outfits, but wear something that you feel comfy in! But if you go the hip way (don't know what this means exactly, but probably just less traditional and more comfy ) you're going to save a lot of money anyway!

 

my hubby and I had our small wedding on the beach.(32 people)....it was reall simple and cheaper! had our ceremony on the beach then walked to the restaurant/bar... and had ball the rest of night...

 

we did the beach thing too---i even had my beach dress that amy made. it was about 45 people, ten of whom were kids, and it was a friend's property so we didn't pay for that. borrowed a big tent, had people bring picnic-y foods, told them to wear shorts and bathing suits, no driving anywhere, it was all right there. it was great

 

If I am going to have a wedding, it's going to be like a garden party, no suits and fancy dresses, good, but no fancy food, prolly even at home in the garden, and no more then 40 people.

 

sweetdreadlover- It's been a while. Glad to see you!

Hippie wedding to me says "outdoor wedding", of course. I like the garden idea, that could have a neat theme, too. You're very creative, so I'm sure you can think of plenty of inexpensive ways to make your li'l ceremony unique. The only thing I'd recomend spending a bunch of cash on is pictures. You'll appreciate that later.

Oh and bubbles. Bubbles at weddings are awesome. Get your pets involved. Most of all, have a blast.

 

Keep the guest list small- either call everyone to invite or make the invitations yourself. It will be cheaper to design and get them done at a copy shop or hand make them.

Do a small bbq or pot luck style buffet. Wedding cakes can be really $$$$ look into a small round cake with topper for pics and cupcakes to supplement and as a treat for the guest.

If you *have* to rent a location- check local parks and see if you can rent a cabin. If it's a church wedding then ask to see if your church has a reception area. There are some great deals out there.

Use seasonal decorations and seasonal flowers, do the bouquet and boutonniere yourself. You can also use flowers for your headpiece... otherwise look into having one made or making one yourself. Also use flowers for the cake topper and let it double as the bouquet that you throw if you want to keep the bouquet that you walk down the aisle with.

Either help your bridesmaid (matron of honor) and groomsmen pick something out from their current wardrobe or make their outfit something that they can obtain and reware.

Try to plan ahead. And check out freecycles in your area bc/s ppl. tend not to keep all their wedding decorations and are usually willing to help others.

 

Hi Sweetdreadlover vbmenu_register("postmenu_1669276", true); First of all congrats! I see you live in Springfiels Ore. Do you know any of the Oregon country Fair folk? I have an old commune bro who s one of the founders and like most of that family a former tree planter, so they know the lay of the land so to speak. I'm almost certain there is someone in that family qualified to preform the cerimony. If you would like with your permission I could forward this post/thread to him and no promises, but he may have an idea or two.

 

for our wedding we had the ceremony in a sacred circle in the woods so we didn't need decorations except for on the tables of the reception it was in november so we did little white pumpkins and river rocks (the kind ya get at the creaft store)
my husband is a chef so we spent a bit on food but went cheap every where else
we saved a lot of money by making the boutineers and bouquets ourselves
and for music a friend played the guitar as everyone walked into the circle
as for clothing the boys got tuxes but my dress was homemade from hemp and the bridesmaids wore all black skirts and tanks with hand painted handmade shawls

one more cool idea : our cake had little merange mushrooms on it

 

We got married barefoot in the park. Well it was supposed to be barefoot, but there were geese everywhere so it wasn't safe to walk barefoot. We both wore hemp. Our reception was at the same park. We did potluck. We made lasagna and we did spring for a nice cake. We also bought a case of Martenelli's (sparkling cider). We printed in invites on our home computer. It was nice, relaxing, and cheap. In the middle of the reception this car drove up. A little man jumped out with a boom box. He turned it on to play the Star Spangled Banner. While the music played he did jumping jacks. As soon as the song ended he jumped back in the car and drove off. We never did figure out what that was all about. But no one will every forget it either.

Kathi

 

We got married in a 100 year old country church. The local farmers maintain it, but we didn't have to pay for it. Just had to notify the locals and clean it out a bit. It was very small, so it was a great way to keep guest numbers down. Just our parents, grandparents, siblings and kids at the ceremony.

I paid $80 (on sale) for the fabric for my wedding dress, and asked my aunt and granny to sew it. My hubby just wore black dress pants and a white cotton dress shirt. My maid of honor got her mom to sew her dress, cost $50 in fabric and we split the cost. My daughter's flower girl dress was ordered from a Sears catalogue for $40. The best man just wore khakis and a white dress shirt.
I did all the decorations and flowers myself. I picked daisies from farmer's fields and grew sunflowers for the bouquets, coursages and decorations. I made boutineres out of wild grasses. I made vanilla scented candles for decorations, hung paper butterfles from the ceiling and had daisies floating in dollar store saucers. I used wooden cut outs of daisies as guest gifts; painted them, stamped our names and wedding date, glued a magnet on the back and voila!-a very inexpensive gift for your guests. I think they cost $0.15 each to make.
We had our reception at the local ski lodge, cost us $100 because we have connections. We provided all the food and drinks. My mom and my mil made the food,(salads, cold meats, buns, etc) my dad bought a small amount of beer and ciders and my mil made the table wine. We just bought a flat cake at Costco for eating, and used a fake cake for pictures. I decorated the fake cake with sunflowers, daisies and fake butterflies, topped off with the cake topper that my granny used at her wedding.
A couple of friends of ours acted as photographers for us, and we also had a friend DJ for us. We just had to pay for developing the film, and the sound system rental.
We had about 120 people at the reception. I have a very large family, so we comprimsed by having an intimate ceremony and a large party afterwards. We played the wedding ceremony video at the beginning of the reception, so everyone could see. Just set up our tv and hooked it up to the camera. We also used the tv for videos for the kids and had coloring, crafts, etc to keep the kids happy.
Good luck and all the best wishes to you and your mate.

 

This thread is full of some really great ideas. I think people spend a ridiculous amount of money on weddings, so it's refreshing to see how you all got creative instead of emptying your bank accounts.

 

My sister had a beautiful and inexpensive wedding! She was married on our grandparents farm underneath a tent in the garden. She bought a dress that was inexpensive, had someone sew more material to snazz it up, then she tea stained it and it came out a beautiful color! We released butterflies at the very end. Their were only about 30 people tops there. Close loved ones only! The reception we had under another tent with christmas lights hung all around not to far from the house!

 

Did you ever see the movie "My Girl"? You know the spot with the willow tree and the mini dock? Find a nice place like that! Then you won't have to rent a space. Find a long flowing white gown and make a wreath of daisies for your hair!
As for food, I'm sure your friends won't mind making some good food!

 

okay everyone you have suggested is awesome...since its 13 days til my wedding i should let everyone know what im planning huh?....well i decided to have it in a building in the small town of coburg oregon..ive been to numerous family get togethers there and i love the building...i am going to wear purple and black tye dye wrap sarong pants and so is my maid of honor( ive already gotten alot of crap for not wearing a white dress)..we are both going to wear black tank tops as well....my music is going to be beautiful .i am going to do mostly celtic drums and stuff since my family is Irish...my fiance(husband) is going to wear black slacks and a button down black shirt...we are both going to wear silver jewelry, and my centerpeices are going to be these heart shaped glass dishes with glass votive candle holders in them with purple candles and those little clear/colored jeweled rocks in the bottom. I thought about doing bubbles but i am afraid its going to be too messy what with about 20 children showing up....my guest list is about 70..yikes i know but theres so many people i want to share my day with..also i am going to wear a silver heart tiarra with purple flowers in my hair .... also i decided my reception is going to be a potluck....half vegan food and half for the meat eaters like my fiance....i will DEFINITLY post pix....i will post back when the wedding is all done and let you guys know how it all went.

 

iv always wanted to stay in a tipi in the middle of nowhere......
and have my wedding in the woods!

 

well i really want my wedding to go my way....but my older sister is trying to but in nd make things go more like her way then mine. i dunno what to do to make them step back and let me do what i want...it should be fun in the next 6 days.

 

Just say NO and stick to it. It is your wedding....

 

heck yeah sweet i think your ideas sound great. screw stupid traditions, make your own! love the wrap pants, i want to see pics!