It broke my heart that I couldn't be rich and it brought tears to my eyes to see all of the beautiful pictures of the big Disney Weddings that other women were lucky enough to have. I looked into loans, I crunched numbers, I even thought about selling everything I own. But what for? One day? One day of my life that would be over in a couple short hours leaving me with a few beautiful pictures, a couple great memories that would fade in time, and a life time of debt that would possibly cause marital problems in the future? I had to just face the facts, I'm not rich, and "Daddy" wasn't paying for my big day. I 'm a middle class working mother, and if I want something I have to pay for it.
I finally somewhat got over the fact that was just a dream, and not my reality. I even considered one of Disney's Escape packages for about $5,000. But that seemed like a bit much for a wedding with only 18 guests, and not actually be in Disneyland. I started thinking about how I could get all the aspects of a Disney Wedding without having it there, so get ready to find out about my low budget "Happily-Ever-After."
First of all I am very fortunate that my mom has a pretty big backyard with a lot of open space because that dropped the cost of the venue big time. If you don't have a big yard to use try looking into parks as a venue if you are also having a low budget wedding. Remember to way your pros & cons, cheap also means a lot of work especially when it comes to setting up tables and chairs. If the surroundings are not good looking, rent a tent. It will change the whole atmosphere of your wedding. We found 2 inexpensive tents for under $500 for both of them, on a Facebook wedding group. They came out the night before, set them up, then came back the day after the wedding and picked them up. If we rented them from an actual rental company it was going to cost about $1,000-$2,000 for 2. Please keep in mind if you rent from anyone make sure you have a contract with them. I feel better making a small deposit because I feel like my time and date are secure, but I don't feel comfortable if they ask for a large deposit. I had one guy that kept asking for more money, it felt sketchy, we ended up cancelling him, so go with your gut.
I found another vendor on the Facebook group and ordered all of our tables, chairs, white table clothes, and chair covers for $370.00. I was really picky about my table overlays so I went to an actual company and paid full price. I wanted bold, iridescent colors and had a hard time finding the right ones. As a low budget bride I felt that I deserved to be picky about at least one thing, and I'm glad that I was and splurged with the overlays. They made the reception look incredible. I used different colors for the tables and did each table a different Disney theme. the guests had fun finding tables of their favorite character, and it gave our wedding a more playful vibe instead of the boring traditional flowers and candles.
When you are planning a wedding its all about making sacrifices. I wanted my wedding to be a reflection on the type of person I am, which is kind of quiet, carefree, creative, and Disney crazy. that being said the decorations were very important to me, because that's a way for me to show who I am. I spent the most on the décor, probably about $2,000.00. that's a lot considering the grand total of my big day is estimated at $5,600 compared to the average wedding costs being $12,00-$20,000.
Venue- Free
Tent- $500
Tables/Chairs/Linens- $370
Overlays/Napkins-$260
Décor- $2,000
Food- $400
Dress- $1,100
Cake- $185
Caricaturist- $400
Photographer- $85
Extras- $500
Grand Total- $5,615
For my wedding colors my base color was gold so I used gold vases and candle holders on all the tables than added extras for each theme. Each table had gold frames with pictures from Disney movies. Most Disney fans have what I call the "Disney Eye". I am drawn to anything that reminds me of Disney even if its not "Disney" brand. All Disney movies are set somewhere real so chances are you will find a lot of home décor that will remind you of Disney but not be Disney, you just have to be creative. I found a lot of my wedding décor at stores like Michael's, Ross, Marshals, and Home Goods. Some of the stuff even came off the clearance rack. I found a small clock down the clearance aisle at Home Goods for about $1. It was small, didn't work, and was clearly broke off of something. At the time I didn't know what I'd use it for, or even if I'd use it at all, but I had to have it. I ended up setting its time to midnight, propping it up in a ceramic shoe (that I got at Marshalls for $4.00 filled with potpourri) then stuck it into a wire pumpkin coach my Grandma bought me years ago for my yard. (By the way it was black but I spray painted it silver) This became the core to my Cinderella table, easy right? Simple yet still beautiful. Each of my tables have the similar story.
For my ceremony I wanted something Beautiful and elegant. I thought it would be too cheesy to go with a Disney themed ceremony so I tried to go a different way. If Cinderella was getting married she wouldn't have pictures of "Cinderella" and "Disney themed" décor. She would have a royal, elegant looking wedding. We made it as royal as we could inside of a backyard. White curtains as a backdrop, an arch decorated with flowers, chair covers with royal blue sashes, gold urns with flowers, gold mesh lining the aisle, topped with LED candles which gave it a romantic feel since we got married in the evening. I still wanted that Disneyland feeling so I made my own programs with Disney font, and used our engagement photos in front of the castle (I took the photos myself with a tripod and timer.) The program was suppose to represent the Disneyland maps so we set them on all the chairs along with buttons I made with our names and wedding date on them. I loved seeing all the guests wear the buttons just like the guests at Disneyland do. Instead of flower girls we had little girls wear Disney Princess dressed. My ring bearer carried a pillow with a glass slipper on it.
Keep in mind we got married in my moms backyard. There is a fenced pool, and we were worried about a chain linked fence being in the background of our pictures. My mom purchased a roll of fabric from a thrift store for $20 back when we had my bridal shower. We hooked along the front of the fence to cover it up. I bought some colorful spotlights for $15 each in the Halloween department at Walmart and we shined them on the curtains. We got so many compliments on that alone. I t gave the yard a true Disneyland vibe, because lets face it one of the best parts of Disneyland are the lights. These small inexpensive extras made or wedding day incredible, and gave it that extra touch of magic.
After the ceremony we had a metal yard cart set out for appetizers we called it "A taste of Disney." We served cotton candy, pop corn, mini churros, mini corn dogs, and suckers. It was a big hit for adults and children. Dinner was simple pulled pork, pulled chicken, rice pilaf, green beans, green salad, slider rolls, iced tea, lemonade, and coffee. Food cost was estimated at about $400. We had planned for about 100 guests, but had around 75 people so there was left overs. A girl I went to high school with made our cake and she did an amazing job. I honestly didn't have any expectations in my head for the cake, I told her what I was going for then kind of put it out of my had with all the wedding planning going on, and just trusted that she would make it look beautiful, and believe me with all the craziness going on before the wedding it was refreshing to see the cake and it be like a surprise. It was beautiful and everyone loved it.
I talked about sacrifices earlier, and one of mine was the D.J. I didn't have one it was more important to have a photographer. I found a very inexpensive photographer on Facebook and she did a great job. I had other options but they were asking way to much, and I had already had enough with people jacking up the prices just because you add the word "wedding." All I really wanted was a couple hours to photograph the ceremony and the wedding party afterwards. A few photographer wouldn't consider anything under 4 hours to do a wedding. As for the D.J. they were charging more than I could pay for so I made a playlist myself and we hooked an MP3 player up to some speakers, it turned out just fine. With the money I saved on making those sacrifices I hired a caricaturist to draw pictures of our guests as entertainment and as wedding favors. It was a lot of fun and well worth the $400. M y husband set up a projector and screen and towards the end of the wedding we played a DVD I got off Amazon of Disneyland Fireworks.
I f I was to have a wedding at Disneyland the price would have started at about $12,000 before taxes, and service charges, for certain days of the week, with rooms at the hotels blocked for guests. We are talking starting at $12,000 for plain white linens, food, tables, chairs, limited décor, at one of the selected locations at the hotels. It goes up even more to have it in Disneyland, plus any extras. I was able to have all types of "Disney" Magic in my moms backyard without going majorly into debt and still having money saved for my honeymoon. By the way we wouldn't have been able to afford a Disney Honeymoon after a Disney wedding. The Fairytale Suite at the Disneyland Hotel is worth any sacrifices you have to make, I promise.
