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raeanna74 · 08-02-2005, 05:12 AM

I've only been in one wedding as a bridesmaid. My wedding cost very little because of all the help we received.

Wedding that I was bridesmaid in. I live in Wisconsin - this was in lower Michigan. I drove to lake Michigan and paid to take the ferry across. She arranged for an Uncle to pick me up and I stayed at her house. She had three other bridesmaids but they all lived nearby. Lightening hit the transformer outside the church on the day of the wedding and we had no lights until about noon. It was an afternoon wedding. Also had no A/C and it was humid. Everyone pitched in to cut, trim, and arrange the 300 white roses she had ordered but which had not arrived till the day of. The bridesmaid's bouquets were made with a fine fern that had tiny thorns in it. They were designed to lay across their arms - STUPID. My arm was cut up even though I attempted to hold mine a little up off my arm. This wasn't possible once I was holding her larger bouquet too. She had TWO dresses of her own and her mother insisted she wear the one the MOTHER bought because the one SHE made wasn't good enough. She had the bridesmaids make or have made their own dresses and bought the material and patterns for them. Also had us purchase matching shoes. Not too bad. Except she didn't buy ENOUGH material for me. I was the tallest of the girls. So I altered the pattern just slightly so that I was able to make the dress floorlength as intended. After I got to the wedding I discovered the other bridesmaids had encountered the same problem, had not altered theirs, and were wearing tealength dresses. Whatever. The dresses were green velvet skirts with dark purple satin tops. The tops were supposed to be made with lining. She had not purchased any lining for me. I made it without. I was the lucky one. With the heat I was feeling much nicer without lining and the material was not shear. The bridesmaid's received necklaces with ceramic roses on them.

My wedding - we had the 3 groomsmen purchase their suits from a source we found. They got double breasted black suits for only about $50 a piece and they were able to keep them then. The women wore pastel green satin dresses. I bought the material and one girl paid for hers to be made, one girl made her own (excellent seemstress), and I made my SIL's. I bought pearl necklaces for each. The guys stayed at hubby's apartment the night before. The girls stayed at my house the night before. We had a college friend who was excellent with a camera to do our pictures. His ambition was photagraphy so he was given some of the photos for his portfolio. My dress was my mother's with no alterations. The girls were just asked to buy (or use what they had) simple white dress shoes without open toes. They were then able to use them later. We had some friends who played the trumpet and violin provide some of the music. I did not use the wedding march. They played Trumpet Voluntare, and I forget the other piece - both with trumpets. Those who helped were all given corsages and did not have to pay for more than their travel which for most was no more than a 2 hour drive. We were lucky to have so many friends willing to help. The ladies of my church all pitched in to help with the food for the reception in the church basement. We had a full meal with all guests invited. My family paid for the food but each lady from the church prepared the foods. I had one girl at church who was excellent with cake decorating (had won awards) make our cake and had planned to pay her for it. In the end she said it was her gift to us. It was a three tiered white basketweave cake on which my mother placed real flower arrangements. The flowers were lillies, peach carnations, Blue forget-me-nots, and English Ivy. My grandpa who was a florist for 30 years along with my mother made all the arrangements from a mixture of silk and real flowers. My wedding was in the spring - April. It rained that morning but was clear by the afternoon when we had our wedding. We were married in a small white church with stained glass windows. The church had been built in 1901 and had started another church soon after - the church it had started was the one where my parents had been married. We included a lot of tradition and a lot of new in our wedding. No one had much to do and it was a miracle it turned out like it did. That miracle was a result of our friend's and families efforts.

08-02-2005, 05:12 AM	#4 (permalink)
raeanna74 I'm not a blonde! I'm knot! I'm knot! I'm knot! Location: Upper Michigan	I've only been in one wedding as a bridesmaid. My wedding cost very little because of all the help we received. Wedding that I was bridesmaid in. I live in Wisconsin - this was in lower Michigan. I drove to lake Michigan and paid to take the ferry across. She arranged for an Uncle to pick me up and I stayed at her house. She had three other bridesmaids but they all lived nearby. Lightening hit the transformer outside the church on the day of the wedding and we had no lights until about noon. It was an afternoon wedding. Also had no A/C and it was humid. Everyone pitched in to cut, trim, and arrange the 300 white roses she had ordered but which had not arrived till the day of. The bridesmaid's bouquets were made with a fine fern that had tiny thorns in it. They were designed to lay across their arms - STUPID. My arm was cut up even though I attempted to hold mine a little up off my arm. This wasn't possible once I was holding her larger bouquet too. She had TWO dresses of her own and her mother insisted she wear the one the MOTHER bought because the one SHE made wasn't good enough. She had the bridesmaids make or have made their own dresses and bought the material and patterns for them. Also had us purchase matching shoes. Not too bad. Except she didn't buy ENOUGH material for me. I was the tallest of the girls. So I altered the pattern just slightly so that I was able to make the dress floorlength as intended. After I got to the wedding I discovered the other bridesmaids had encountered the same problem, had not altered theirs, and were wearing tealength dresses. Whatever. The dresses were green velvet skirts with dark purple satin tops. The tops were supposed to be made with lining. She had not purchased any lining for me. I made it without. I was the lucky one. With the heat I was feeling much nicer without lining and the material was not shear. The bridesmaid's received necklaces with ceramic roses on them. My wedding - we had the 3 groomsmen purchase their suits from a source we found. They got double breasted black suits for only about $50 a piece and they were able to keep them then. The women wore pastel green satin dresses. I bought the material and one girl paid for hers to be made, one girl made her own (excellent seemstress), and I made my SIL's. I bought pearl necklaces for each. The guys stayed at hubby's apartment the night before. The girls stayed at my house the night before. We had a college friend who was excellent with a camera to do our pictures. His ambition was photagraphy so he was given some of the photos for his portfolio. My dress was my mother's with no alterations. The girls were just asked to buy (or use what they had) simple white dress shoes without open toes. They were then able to use them later. We had some friends who played the trumpet and violin provide some of the music. I did not use the wedding march. They played Trumpet Voluntare, and I forget the other piece - both with trumpets. Those who helped were all given corsages and did not have to pay for more than their travel which for most was no more than a 2 hour drive. We were lucky to have so many friends willing to help. The ladies of my church all pitched in to help with the food for the reception in the church basement. We had a full meal with all guests invited. My family paid for the food but each lady from the church prepared the foods. I had one girl at church who was excellent with cake decorating (had won awards) make our cake and had planned to pay her for it. In the end she said it was her gift to us. It was a three tiered white basketweave cake on which my mother placed real flower arrangements. The flowers were lillies, peach carnations, Blue forget-me-nots, and English Ivy. My grandpa who was a florist for 30 years along with my mother made all the arrangements from a mixture of silk and real flowers. My wedding was in the spring - April. It rained that morning but was clear by the afternoon when we had our wedding. We were married in a small white church with stained glass windows. The church had been built in 1901 and had started another church soon after - the church it had started was the one where my parents had been married. We included a lot of tradition and a lot of new in our wedding. No one had much to do and it was a miracle it turned out like it did. That miracle was a result of our friend's and families efforts. __________________ "Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama My Karma just ran over your Dogma.