Surprisingly

My friend Sarah just got married, so I asked her to share some advice for those in the planning process.  Looking through some of Sarah's pictures (more of those to come!), I immediately fell in love with her dress.  It manages to be both classic and modern, and is really just plain gorgeous! 

As it turns out, Sarah had the dress custom made, something I always imagined to be ridiculously expensive.  Nope.  I'll let Sarah explain the experience.

I was in the fortunate position to know a seamstress very well who I have worked with before. She copied (and significantly modified) a Monique Lhullier dress for me. Retail value of the dress we based it off of was $3500 (not including veil, bustle, alterations, etc.). She made the dress, veil, bustle - everything for $600 + the cost of materials. The designer dress was a silk-poly blend (not even real silk for that price!), and we purchased 100% Italian silk-satin fabric for a reasonable price (about $40/yard). I went to Sposabella Lace (in NYC fashion district) and HIGHLY recommend them for NY brides. I don't know if other brides feel this way, but I felt very frustrated with the dress selection out there today. I am very much a "less is more person" and had a tough time finding that. Its either glitzy-glam, the princess look, or super plain and the plain dresses can be very expensive. I also felt I wanted to change every dress I tried on (modify the color, bust-line) so if other brides have that same feeling - thinking about having a custom dress can sometimes be more economical if you know and trust the seamstress. I was very lucky to know someone, but it was an amazing experience to create the dress with her and you get exactly what you want when you construct a dress from the ground up. Its not for everyone - but worked for me :)

I'll file that under "good to know!" 


(Photo courtesy of Sarah)

of the Season

Make it easy on yourself and your budget by choosing seasonal flowers.  Since they are more readily available, in-season flowers will be of better quality and less expensive (no long-distance shipping costs), plus you have a better chance of buying organically grown blooms.  Not sure what flowers are in season where you live?  Check out these websites to get you started.

As usual, Martha Stewart has an answer ;) Here is her guide to seasonal and regional flowers.

The Wedding Flowers Guide is a guide to seasonal, though not regional, flowers.

If you live in a region with a more limited growing season (ahem, the Rocky Mountains), try searching for wholesale flower retailers in your area, or call around to different florists.  They will be able to help you decide what is in season and local.

Then you can arrange some of your flowers yourself, or all of them, or none!  More on DIY flower arranging later.  Or, consider alternatives to live flowers.  Nettleton Hollow offers branches, dried flowers, fruits, and seed pods, and grasses.  Bonus: keep them after the wedding to decorate your home, or send them home with guests.

Flowers by Saipua. Branches and dried flowers by Nettleton Hollow, via What Junebug Loves.

When you don't live in NY or LA...

Wedding planning can include hurdles that city dwellers don't have to consider.  I'll be talking about this a lot since many of the wedding blogs I follow cater to more urban readers, and I live in a county of less than 15,000 residents.  Vera Wang doesn't exactly have an outlet here. 
One of the difficulties with rural areas is simply finding vendors and sites.  Often rural sites serve as destination weddings and sites can be priced accordingly.  Below are a few affordable wedding site options for rural areas. 
 - National/state/city parks.  Be sure to ask about details and restrictions - for how long do you have the site, is alcohol allowed, what kind of equipment do they have and what will you have to provide, etc.  Some of the benefits are choosing your own caterer (be sure they are familiar with the site and have all the gear they need to get the food out - you may need a generator or catering kitchen), affordability, and a unique setting.
 - Museums and historic sites.  These can include gardens, historic mansions, and ghost towns.  You may have to be a member, but membership could still be cheaper than other sites.  Bonus: if the fee is listed as a contribution instead of a rental, it could be tax deductible. 
 - Inns, ranches, bed & breakfasts.  Chances are you can rent out the entire space for the weekend, providing a home away from home for friends and relatives, and the luxury of having one space fulfill multiple requirements - hotel, ceremony site, and reception site.  While luxury destination ranches will be expensive, smaller inns can be reasonable.  Check with the inn about catering - they may require you to use the in-house facilities - and the number of guests allowed.  
 - Also check with the chamber of commerce.  They will likely have a list of meeting and event sites in the area.

Welcome!

I've been so excited to share these inspiration boards that I forgot to introduce Ampersand. So, welcome! I hope that this will be a place for lovely ideas on weddings and design, and actual ways to achieve these lovely things without an unlimited budget or the endless skills of Martha Stewart. Besides inspiration boards, there will be resources for planning, shopping, and crafting, feasible lists, and stories of real weddings from people who have managed to pull off the big day as an authentic and personal reflection of their love.