Wedding Resources - Any Ideas for a short notice wedding?

Any Ideas for a short notice wedding?

So my friend called me the other day to let me know she is getting married on the 18th! I am going to be the Maid of Honor. So, we have three weeks to plan a wedding. We have the church and the Pastor. If anyone has any great cheap ideas about receptions, decorations, anything that I could do to make this a great experience for her I would love to hear it! We are on a limited budget but still want it to be a special day for her.

Public Comments

You can have the reception catered at someone's house or a local meeting room at a hotel (if you can get one). Your options are kind of limited due to the short notice. Good luck.
What is your budget? Maybe make the food yourselves, go to Sam's instead of having it catered. Order your cake from the grocery store, they usually do a great job, and go with silk flowers!
friends of mine planned their wedding in 3 weeks.. they got married in a park for their dinner they rented a room in a resteraunt.. and offered a choice for the menu.. um.. for the reception all the 20 sometimes.. went out to the bar :) it was a great time... and i don't think it was to expensive..as they only paid for the dinner.. you could go for an evening ceremony and that way most people have already eaten... you could offer snacks.. and veggie, cheese trays.. (which will be least expensive)
Try an Island Tiki theme. You can go to a Dollar store and get silk flowers, Tiki torches and other outdoor items to make the are into a tropical paradise. We bought stuff like that for under $200.00 and it really looked nice. Plus the bride and groom will have a relaxed atomsphere with Island style music. good Luck
Dollar Store and Party America are your only feasiable options now. Walmart has a small wedding section as well. Good luck
To save time and money you'd do best to find a local restaurant with a private room for the reception. Let one place take care of everything. I'm making my own cupcakes the night before, but grocery stores do great jobs too. For cheap and easy decorations try looking at the wedding section on martastewart.com. LOTS of easy DIY projects. Or visit a craft store for ideas. Candles always look classy and can be bought in bulk. For my bouquet I am literally running to Vons the morning or my wedding and throwing together some roses. Fresh, fast, and under $20. The dress will be the hard part. I recommend going to formal wear and high end retailers like Neiman Marcus and finding a gorgeous white/offwhite gown in her size. It will be faster and soooo much cheaper. The best advice I can give you to save money... do NOT say the word wedding. To vendors and venues I mean. If you go to a restaurant say "Private party". If you go to a baker or florist say "special event". The word Wedding will make the price jump dramatically.
Have a morning wedding. You do not have to serve liquor except for a toast to the Bride and Groom. And breakfast is ALWAYS less expensive than lunch or dinner. Toast with sparkling cider or sparkling wine instead of champagne. Order small bouquets of only one flower (all roses, all daisies, all mums, all carnations). Avoid buying "cute" or "clever" items like ring bearer pillows or guest books or feather pens. Give homemade cookies as table favors. Just put a few in a decorative cellophane bag with a fancy bow. Wedding guests like homemade edible items. Buy roses "in bulk" at one of the big discount stores (BJs - Costco - Sam's Club) and inexpensive bud vases. Put three roses in each bud vase (table centerpieces). Buy big bags of real flower petals at the big discount stores. Just saw a BIG bag full of rose petals the other day for less than $5. Spread them around the bud vases on the reception tables. Adds lots of color to the center of the table! Display old wedding photographs of the Bride and Groom's parents, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. Wedding guests love to see old wedding photographs of people they know. Did you know someone that owns a classic or antique car or a hot rod? The Bride and Groom can travel to the wedding or reception in something unique and fun. Answered by: A Certified wedding specialist / A Professional bridal consultant / A Wedding ceremony officiant
3 weeks??? Wow! I don't know what I would've done if I had had 3 weeks...probably would've spent a lot more money...ha! Planned my wedding in just over a week. check out department stores for your dress (got my dress for $100 and my 2 bridesmaids dresses for $25 each). And it looked as if I went to a bridal store. Go to places like Michael's for flowers and decorations. We made all 3 bouquets out of silk flowers...so our bouquets didn't wilt or anything and they still look as good today as they did on our wedding day. Use disposable cameras for pictures...the "real thing" is more memorable than having a photographer "pose" you certain ways. And if you have a friend who doesn't mind, get them to use a digital camera to take pictures or have them running a video camera as their gift... most of all though, you just want to have fun with it...and definitely help your friend out...if I had to do it over again the only thing I would've changed would to have only had one bridesmaid...as in, the one who actually cared enough about her best friend to help out with the little things...
Well, a couple of my friends on limited budgets had pitch-in receptions. It went off really well, and all they had to supply was the cake and beverages! Try to get an idea of what people plan to bring, if possible, so you don't wind up with 50 bags of chips and nothing else! Or have the reception between traditional meal times, say 2-5 pm, so you can get away with just serving hors d'oeuvres and finger foods, as opposed to a full meal. I have been to receptions at a conservation club building, a restaurant's banquet room, a yacht club, a large backyard, and one at a state park shelter. You can even rent a building at your county fairgrounds for the event. All are cost efficient and can make great reception halls! My neice used clear Christmas lights and floating candles in glass bowls of colored water to decorate for her reception. You can go to a party supply store and get paper tablecloths, napkins, and disposable dinnerware in the couple's colors, along with honeycomb tissue wedding bells, banners, streamers and all sorts of decorations. Factory Card Outlet carries everything, champagne glasses, guest books, thank you cards, anything you can think of, and way cheaper than retail stores, let me tell you! That's the way to go. There are rental places you can rent tables, chairs, arches, fountains, whatever, for pretty reasonable rates. They'll even deliver. Silk flowers can also save a bundle over the real thing. Have a guest who is a wannabe DJ operate a CD player hooked up to someone's really good house speakers for the music. Schedule the appointments for hair, nails, and make-up now. You will want to make sure the stylist of choice isn't booked when you will need her. You can get low-cost wedding and bridesmaid dresses at consignment shops, thrift shops, and Goodwill. There were so many weddings last month, and earlier in the summer, they should be easy to come by now. Do this first, in case they need to be cleaned and/or altered! Worst case scenario, David's Bridal has really beautiful dresses starting at $99! If your friend isn't registered yet, she should do that immediately! Some people are totally lost about gift-giving, and that way your friend will get the items she really wants or needs. She should be sure to choose some lower-priced gifts for her registry, too, for people who may be financially embarrassed at the moment. A lot of parents have just spent all their extra cash on back-to-school expenses and won't have much left for a gift. Just as an aside, I have to mention how thoughtless I think your friend is being to her guests! They now have less than 3 weeks to cancel and reschedule their plans for that day, rearrange their schedules, shop for a gift and perhaps a new outfit for the occasion, and make their own beauty and barber appointments! I don't even want to think if there'll be people coming in from out of town! I think it's unfair to place that sort of burden on your family and friends. If there had been any inkling this might happen, she should have sent a "Reserve the Date" message. Or chose a little bit later date to give people more time. Some folks will wonder if the rush is because she's pregnant! I just had to mention that because I would feel put out at having to get ready that fast! These are my best cost-saving suggestions from what I have seen, and some are what I intend to do at my own wedding, which I'm giving myself and my guests many months to prepare for! Hope you find some of them useful. Congrats to your friend, and good luck!
Try having the reception at a restaurant that's already decorated that way you save on all those extras. Or since it's summer (and if it's nice wherever you are) do a backyard bbq reception. Those are fun and memorable and can be classy and still affordable. The more intimate the affair usually the more affordable and special.
COSTCO! You can get flowers there for very little money ($15 for 2 dozen roses, for example). They do decorator cakes, plus they'll have the plates/napkins/silverware (even in silver-coated plastic!). They'll have a ton of food to choose from, too. Personally I'd start either there or Sam's (although I prefer Costco) and see how much you can get checked off the list! I think they even could do invitations (check their website, too!). Also, check with family and friends to see who can/will help out. You might find someone who is a budding professional photographer, or someone who would like to play or sing for the ceremony, or someone who would enjoy helping with decorations and stuff. Ask around. As far as the dress, check places that don't scream WEDDING -- like department stores (Penneys, Macys) who might have something in white or ivory on their end-of-season clearance rack. Don't forget Marshall's and TJ Maxx, too. A friend tried on dresses at a lot of bridal stores, then found her dream dress on clearance at Marshall's for about $60. Be creative!
lots of long and wordy answers and most of them are great advice. I personally would try this site www.frugalbride.com