Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Budget Weddings: How to save money with a simple wedding


Save Money On Your Wedding 

  1. Wedding Planners
  2. Rental Halls
  3. Bands and DJ's
  4. Caterers and Restaurants
  5. Dresses, Apparel, and Tux
  6. Wedding Officials
  7. Marriage License Information
  8. Wedding Invitations 
  9. Wedding Photography 
  10. Wedding Books and other Interesting Links

Save On Wedding Planners

  Begin your planning with a notebook for that purpose and a list of what you need. There are many web pages with links to wedding services and product providers, use the web to set up your resources. Try to use the free service provided by most rental halls. Catering Directors of most wedding rental places usually have done many weddings and are great people to ask for advice. If you are using a facility the advice comes along free. No need to hire a separate wedding planner unless the wedding is large.  If you use a wedding planner get several quotes on fees and a written agreement. Buy a Wedding Planning Book.
Click here to visit Marriage Preparation Online , for an outline of how to plan a wedding. There are several free guides there about weddings and he also sells a book. The free guides are good information.

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Save On Rental Halls and Chapels

  Some smaller churches and public chapels allow use for a nominal fee. Check with the Yellow Pages and call the pastor. American Legion and VFW Halls rent out to the public. Ask if the price is cheaper on an off day like a Monday or Tuesday.  Some public places like parks and fountains do not charge a fee but require notice of use. A friends lovely home or back yard can be an intimate place to get married. 
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Save On Music and DJ's

  Buy a wedding music CD and have a friend play it in a boom box. Some amateur musicians and music students would play for free as practice, call a music school for information. Have a friend put together the music and be in charge of it at the wedding.
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Save Money On Caterers and Food

  Have friends make and bring food items. The old covered dish wedding.  For sweets buy Ms Debbie Cakes and place them on paper dollies and trays. Have a friend bake your wedding cake. Buy a sheet cake from a food store. Get frozen hors d'oeuvres. at a market or Sam's Club. Buy your flowers at the food store and arrange them yourself. Use disposable paper plates and plastic utensils. Serve grape juice instead of wine. Decorations can be made with candles and holders sold in those Dollar Stores.  Some party supply stores sell wedding decorations, look for sales.
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Save Money On Dresses Apparel and Tux

Save on your wedding dress by shopping early and looking for sample sales. Call the dress shops in your area and ask when do they have sales, then go and shop during that time. Look on E-bay for wedding dresses. After the wedding consider donating your dress to Charity and take the gift off on income tax. Many religious charities have Thrift Stores that accept donations and give receipts for the donated dress. Seek out places that will rent a dress like men can rent a Tux. Borrow a friends dress.
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Wedding Officials

Contact the American Association of Wedding Officiants for help in locating the right wedding officiant for you. Click AAWO .
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Marriage License Information

 The one necessary item that is not discounted but generally does not cost much.
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Save Money On Wedding Invitation 

  Use computer generated invitations  using Print Shop or any computer based publisher. Have them reproduced at a quick printer. Use Post Cards instead of fancy invitation, can get 4 to a sheet and postage is less. See these invitations sold on Fig Street Art Studio. See what they have or ask to design one just for you.
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Save Money On Wedding Photography  

  Have a friend do the pictures. Ask guests to share their photos with you after the wedding.  Have disposable cameras available and ask guests to take pictures and leave the camera for you to keep the pictures. See disposable wedding cameras on Beau Coup.
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Other Interesting Links

Dollar Store wedding decorations web page- http://dollarstorecrafts.com/find-projects/wedding/





This page is a service of Chaplain JK Schwehm former New Orleans area Justice of the Peace, and wedding officiant. Links may be out dated, e-mail him for information.
 New Orleans Wedding Officiant, Dr. Jerry Kenneth Schwehm  served as as Justice of the Peace in 1990 to 1994 in  Slidell, La. and was ordained in 1989 as a Lay Minister after serving as Elder and Deacon in his church for many years. He has a BA and JD from Louisiana State University (1972) and an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from a  local Bible Church in 1990. He has performed numerous wedding ceremonies and is available in the Greater New Orleans area to perform your personalized marriage ceremony. He will go to your location or at his office in Fig Street Studio. He may be contacted at jerryschwehm(at)yahoo.com. 

Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Secret to Affordable Weddings

Chaplain Jerry Schwehm at  New Orleans Pirates Alley elopement.



  For over 20 years I have done many weddings in the large New Orleans Metro area. I am often contacted by couples on a budget wanting to be married simply in a beautiful spot without a large expense. For an elopement of less than 12 people attending, several beautiful public spots are available for free to use. A marriage license is less then $30, a free location, several witnesses in a public park runs less then $300. A lot better then an office setting where an elopement may be a little less but also a lot less romantic. Cheap, budget, affordable, whatever you want to call it a simple elopement under $300 in a beautiful location saves the couple a lot of money and a lot of planning.
 Over the many years of doing weddings I have found several beautiful locations around New Orleans that we can meet and do a small wedding. I have pictures on my web page with instructions how to get a license and how to book me to meet you to perform a wedding ceremony. Stop in my weddings web page at www.figstreet.com/weddings and see some of the pictures. E-mail me for further details.

Chaplain Schwehm, elopement  in City Park, New Orleans


 I can assist you in locating an officiant in most any city in the USA. I am the President and Moderator of a nation wide group of wedding officiants.


Chaplain JK Schwehm
New Orleans
Wedding Officiant
President American Association of Wedding Officiants


Chaplain Jerry Schwehm at Simple elopement in the French Quarter. Photo by Kathleen Parker.


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Cafe in Pirates Alley. Place to meet before and after a wedding in New Orleans

Pirates Alley. Nice place to meet before and after a wedding in Jackson Square, French Quarter, New Orleans, LA. Chaplain JK Schwehm, Fig Street Weddings will assist.

 Couples meet at the Pirates Alley Cafe then find a nice spot to get married near Jackson Square for a small romantic elopement. Several spots in the French Quarter are available for an intimate ceremony. Larger weddings need to rent a place but for a few people a nice stand up ceremony can be done in certain public areas,



 A short walk from Pirates Alley are the gates to Jackson Square that also can be used for a short small elopement. More info here- http://frenchquarterweddings.blogspot.com/2010/08/get-married-in-pirates-alley-new.html


 Very short video of area by St Peter St gates to Jackson Square from Youtube.


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View of St Louis Cathedral from spot in Jackson Square, New Orleans. Nice spot for a wedding. Some spots rent out some are free for small elopement.

Gates St Peter St to Jackson Square

Chaplain Jerry Schwehm at gates to Jackson Square simple elopement.

                                    Elopement at gate to Jackson Square, New Orleans, LA..

Photo by Kathleen Parker.



NOTICE: Vital Records Central Office will offer walk-in services at Benson Tower, 1450 Poydras St, Suite 400, New Orleans, LA. Vital Records Customer Serivce Call Center can be reached at 504-593-5100 . You can also get a marriage license at Second City Court, Algiers or the Jefferson Parish Clerk of Courts Office or any Clerk of Court in Louisiana.


Google Map to Pirates Alley Cafe area   :  MAP Jackson Square Area



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