The Best Wedding Gifts!

by Sarah Miller
(Acworth, GA, USA)

My husband and I planned our wedding on a tight budget, but we had everything we wanted for our special day. We are blessed with a talented and loving group of family and friends that really pitched in to help us.

My husband’s best friend is a videographer and did our wedding video for free. This same young man’s mother made our wedding cake, a three-tiered cake with flowers in shades of purple, and our groom’s cake for free.

Another of my husband’s good friends is a photographer and his wedding gift to us was our photo package. I worked as a piano teacher, and the owner of the studio at which I taught did our music.

My mother and I did the food for our reception. We stuck to lighter finger foods that were simple to make. My husband’s sister did our flowers. My husband and I created and printed our own invitations.

My suggestion to those planning a wedding on a small budget is to think of people in your circle that have talents and let them know that the best wedding gift they could give you would be to be a part of your wedding in their own special way.

My wedding dress was beautiful, and it also just happened to be the least expensive of all that I tried on. I didn’t exactly plan it that way, but it was meant to be. The dress was $300. I went in without having a firm idea of what colors I wanted, but we found dresses that fit all of the girls on a clearance rack, so we went with purple. Bridesmaid dresses were a total of $300. Tuxedos were rented.

We had our wedding at the church where I was a member at the time, and they do not charge for use of the sanctuary. The decorations for the church were handmade by my mother, a cousin and a member of my church family. Our church has an archway that we decorated with fabric, ivy and white Christmas lights. The church benches were decorated with matching fabric and flowers.

We had the reception at a local community college that cost $75 to rent for the day. My mother and I made the table decorations. We had hurricane glasses with floating tea lights and fresh magnolias on the tables.

In all, our wedding cost less than $3000, but we couldn’t have done it without the help of our talented family and friends to whom we are eternally grateful.