Halloween Wedding with virtually NO MONEY!

by Elyse Jordan
(Raleigh, NC)

First, I had to help my fiancee find my ring. One step ladies - tell your guy that a White Topaz looks the same as a Diamond, and is usually half of the price. And sterling silver looks just as beautiful as white gold. My ring is sterling silver with channel setting of emeralds. My family is Irish, and I've always wanted emeralds instead of diamonds. :)

The Halloween Wedding: Well, look for wedding dresses at discount and bridal outlet stores. Most states have at least ONE big outlet bridal store. If you live in CA, or TX, or another big state, I'm sure they have a dozen or so.

I bought a black dress as my gown (Halloween wedding, hello!) at an Outlet Bridal store. It was in the bridesmaid section, and only cost me $99. I saw at least 5 racks with white wedding gowns only $99 too.

Find a place that you don't really have to pay through the nose for. If you rack your brain enough, you'll find one. We married in a church that wasn't huge, but we got for free because my fiancee's brother is a deacon. But you can use a friend's house, a shared space, a park, anything.... be creative. If you don't like how it looks, hey, that's what decorating is for!

The Reception was in the elegant dining room of the community theatre we both do shows at. And it was a costume party theme. Do karaoke, having tradition bobbing for apples. Make it fun. Do a ton of hors d'oeuvres.

If there are going to be a ton of kids, set up bowls of candy on each table and encourage kids to go from table to table "trick or treating." It was a Halloween wedding, but I centralized the reception of "witches." If you go Dollar stores, or Michael's, you can find cheap little things that you can pretty yourself up with for pennies. I had tiny glass bottles filled with food colored water and labeled them different kinds of potions and put them on tables. Favors were little boxes filled with a pink tea candle, a spring of rosemary, and a love spell.... people LOVED them.

Our wedding cake? CUPCAKES! With a big sparkly fake gemstone and a fake spider on top. And instead of a guestbook, I bought two plastic pumpkins (the traditional buckets kids use to trick or treat with) cut off the wire handles, hot glued a fedora and a bow tie on one and a veil on another and people signed those! They loved them, and we still keep them on our mantel. After you move in together, it's a great conversation starter. :)