A Dollar Store Wedding

by Nikki
(Indiana)

My husband and I were married just a little over a month ago. We both come from pretty large, but split families. We decided to have just a simple at home wedding with only 2 closest friends, and my parents.

We chose a date late in November because Autumn is both of our favorite season. Having an Autumn wedding means you need Autumn inspired decorations. We started with ordering our cake from the local WalMart. With having such a small wedding, we only needed a 1/4 sheet cake. We chose whipped icing, leaf sprinkles, a white cake and orange edging. For only $10, our wedding cake was personalized just for the occasion.

Now that the cake was done, we had our color scheme so we went to the local Dollar Store to look at flowers. You can watch free how-to videos online to make your corsages and how to make your own bouquet. I chose a few autumn leaf vines and a few lily's. I also bought a dollar can of glitter hair spray to spray on the flowers. We also found our Autumn Leaf invitations, vines of leaves for decorations, bags of single leaves to use as traditional "petals" and they had autumn leaf napkins, cups, a table cover, & orange plastic eating utensils. Amazing for the Dollar Store!

So, we have all the decorations and the cake. Now let's talk attire. I chose a tuxedo flyaway prom dress from a local DEBS. It was under $100 and fit the color scheme! My hubby-to-be went to the nearest Goodwill and found a black pinstripe name brand suit for only $3! You cant beat it! It came with the jacket, matching pants & a matching vest! Perfect!

Clothing was taken care of so, we headed to wonderful WalMart. They have an amazing wedding section! Everything from scrapbooks to cheap invitations, tiaras, cake decorations, and favor bags!

We decided to have the wedding at my Mother's house so we didnt have to pay for any seating, ceremony fees, music or anything. We used my Mom's laptop to play all the music and we used a few benches she had to set everything up like a chapel.

Another wonderful thing is that my Mother is an ordained minister so we didnt have to pay for a high dollar minister on a Saturday! Other than that, our guest list, totaling 7 people, were asked to bring a dish for a lunch following the reception.

Our wedding, though only totaling about $300, was wonderful, elegant, matching and perfect! I know a lot of people knock the Dollar Stores but it isn't about how big or lavish or expensive the wedding is. All that counts are the vows & love behind your day! It is amazing at how fast the day goes after SO much planning & worrying!