Ok - I don't know how helpful this will be but following a bit of a chat in the UK thread, I thought it might be a nice idea to share wedding resources here!

Obviously when moving over, many people start planning after POE which can be a bit of a nightmare. Many people also have small ceremonies, contemporary ceremonies, traditional ceremonies... I have found my wedding planner an absolute godsend and thought I would share some things (if I can attach them!?)...

Ok - seems I can't upload the working budget as it is an excel spreadsheet but I have uploaded our ceremony wording along with some examples of other ceremonies that were given to us to look through by our wedding planner

Might be nice to share helpful websites and things too. Guess I should start with my wedding planner

http://www.weddingsinsedona.com/

They are awesome!

Hope this helps people and I hope people jump on the bandwagon and share all the goodies they want!!

We had a smaller ceremony in our home, stripped down the living room and decorated.

Our vows were simple, spiritual and we wrote them our selves using bits and pieces we liked.

Also made my own wedding cake

Being a guy and all, I'm not a very good wedding "stuff" resource. But for all the potential brides and grooms out there, just this piece of advice: don't bring a date. It's tacky.

I love the ceremony...so nice. We haven't even started wordings yet... I've never met the pastor but he's from Nick's family's church.

Thank you so much for making this thread!

I have nothing to offer currently, but I'm certainly going to looking at the attachments you posted!

mox - what do you mean, exactly?

Sorry, I'm just being a goofball. The bride and groom shouldn't bring dates because...you know...they're getting married.

Oh, sorry!

My joke detector's not turned on today

I think your joke detector's working just fine. It just wasn't a very good joke.

both nick and I suffer metal allergies to skin so we having titanium wedding rings from here

cascadia

Their service is amazing and I haven't actually seen our rings yet but nick thinks they are amazing! When titanium is highly polished it looks like platinum and these guys add that every 2 years you can send your rings to be re polished if you want.

Oooh - thanks for the ceremony with vows - I am having to finish writing mine by Tuesday and there are some really lovely things in there I might "borrow" I'll post mine here when I am done with them as well

BLAH BLAH BLA

??

Pay the trolls no mind. School is out early today, apparently.

I BOUGHT MY WEDDING DRESS TODAY!!!!

It changes a little from the one I was considering. I didnot like the veil I had posted in my other post so no veil yet. But I did get my shoes today too. This ine is similar to theother one just has halter neck instead of spaghetii straps.

http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridal_gowns_d...p;prodgroup=159

Of course we do not have a real date yet because our interview is not until February 11th and who knows when he is coming....But just in case he comes quickly like some do we will be prepared to get married quickly before our 90 days expire. That way we can start on other things we will need for AOS. Anyway, hope everyone had a great day. Anyone knowing of some good online sites or local stores to buy wedding stuff from let me know. I am doing as much as possible myself. I am also volunteering my sister.....I kind told her already. LOOOOOOL

Jeraly I am waiting on those finished vows. I started mine. I will have to post them and get input on them too. Looooooool
Hope yours are coming along nicely.

Take Care ALL!!

Cheryl

Thanks so much for starting this thread!

I've been so stressed out by the whole visa process that I suggested to Sam that we just skip the wedding and do a justice of the peace or courthouse ceremony, just to get it done and out of the way. I haven't really had any fun trying to plan a wedding when we can't even choose a day yet.

I'd really appreciate hearing any wedding stories of last-minute planners that managed to create a special day. The problem for us is that we really, really want to get married on a beach, but I'm from the Chicago area. Having a wedding in Florida like we want to do means getting his family over from England and my family down from Illinois, all with short notice.

Has anybody ever head of a wedding on a Lake Michigan beach?

A beach wedding sounds lovely!!

As for last minute... (have I said this before?!) I can really recommend getting a wedding planner!! If the wedding is to be small anyway then it can be really reasonable (we thought that our wedding with a 25% wedding planner fee was going to be $8-10k - in reality it has been less than half of that as they knew where to find things cheaper).

You can get a planner, tell them your budget, timescale and what you are looking for and seriously - they are soooo good. I laughed so hard when we first booked but now I wouldn't be without them! In fact we are having a non-legal ceremony next month (our "wedding" - yeah we jumped the gun before we knew enough about the process, yadda yadda) through them and we are now getting them to do our legal ceremony as well

Here is the link - they are based in Sedona, AZ but you can also research others in your area:

http://www.weddingsinsedona.com/

D and I are having a beach wedding...either in Key West, where we both love, or closer to home...like maybe St Augustine/Daytona (I hate Daytona Beach actually). Before we checked out any of this immi stuff, we wanted a cruise wedding...I am NOT playing tour guide-let's-do-Disney for 30 Brit peeps. So a cruise was the best idea, though as it sails intl, and there'd be no AP, it's a no go.

So our Brit peeps are not coming to the first wedding....we'll do a church blessing a year later at Lumley Castle.

http://www.lumleycastle.com/

I know that I grew up with the idea of a fairy-tale type wedding (well, why not, I practically live next door to Cinderella's castle)...but gave up long ago that it would never happen...

Then I met Darren...

However, here's the kicker...I have very little money, so I gave up the idea of having it at Disney, and neither one of us are religious so we don't want a wedding in a church (me, I don't care one way or the other, but he doesn't want it). I'm not very keen on having it outside (weather in FL pretty unpredictable in the fall/winter), and my parents' house is WAY too small.

Any suggestions? Inexpensive is the key...

Thanks,
Dawn

Ok - just googling I found some things:

http://www.abeautifulceremony.net/index.html

http://www.orlandoweddinglocations.com/

http://www.orlandoweddings.com/

http://www.elegantweddingsoforlando.com/

Found these wedding planners on google too

If you're interested in seeing our budget from our wedding planner then pm me your e-mail address because it is on an excel spreadsheet and I can't upload it here. I can highly recommend them and if I show you our budget you might get an idea of how much/little it can cost and see where you might adapt things yourself to make it even cheaper

Aly

I know that I grew up with the idea of a fairy-tale type wedding (well, why not, I practically live next door to Cinderella's castle)...but gave up long ago that it would never happen...

Then I met Darren...

However, here's the kicker...I have very little money, so I gave up the idea of having it at Disney, and neither one of us are religious so we don't necessarily want a wedding in a church. I'm not very keen on having it outside (weather in FL pretty unpredictable in the fall/winter), and my parents' house is WAY too small.

Any suggestions? Inexpensive is the key...

Thanks,
Dawn

sorry about the double post

YAY I love this post. I refuse to pay ridiculous prices for stuff so most everything for our wedding was a bargain. And the wedding itself was beautiful.

One word: Ebay!!!

I got my veil here (actually I got 3 because I am picky....)

I got a bunch of other stuff for cheap from ebay too, but it's been too long since I bought them so they're not showing up anymore!

Other than ebay, I got my dress from a sample sale.... it's good to call the local bridal stores and find out when they are going to have sample sales because my dress was more than half off, and they cleaned it for free, so all I had to do was get it altered.

There are a number of forums for weddings only, I got a lot of ideas from them too.

Oooh and for decoration.... we got everything for our centerpieces from Hobby Lobby. They often have sales going on. I think each centerpiece worked out at $9 - way cheaper than if I'd gotten someone else to do it. This is what they looked like.

I also got my flowers and bridesmaid flowers from Hobby Lobby for mega cheap. They are silk, but I prefer that as they're cheaper and last forever.

That's about all I can think of for now. We did it without a wedding planner but with the help of my wonderful now hubby who was happy to go and meet people and so on..... but I definitely would have used a wedding planner if he wasn't so helpful

Oooh - that is awesome! Yeah I (kinda) got my bridesmaid dresses from eBay. The seller (Cherlone) had them specially made for me so I could choose the specific colour and have larger sizes etc but normally if you just bid at auction you can pick the dresses they make up for about £40-£50

Oh and for our guest book/photo album we are using:

http://www.designsbyloulou.co.uk/

Absolutely gorgeous and fully customisable. A little on the pricey side but much cheaper than getting them done professionally. We are getting our pics on CD and I will edit them and get them printed from online then mount them myself (well - will have a lot of time on my hands when I move!!)

mine was a very simple wedding yet very memorable. It was inspired by Hawaiian motif.

I registered on ebay about 5 years ago, but I've never bought anything - I've never dared to take that first 'plunge!' I might do so to save money, though.

I'm going to be oscillating over the coming months between wanting to do things properly and wanting to do things cheaply and quietly! Sometimes I think it'd be nice to have a proper dress and ask for a semi-formal attire and not use plastic goods, and other times I just think that it'd be far too attention-drawing and I'd be better off with wearing something more modest.

But you can have what you want on a budget.... if you are willing to shop around and barter with people. It's your wedding and you should wear what you want, there are plenty of huge princess type dresses for reasonable prices, especially on ebay. I got one of my bridesmaid dresses custom made for less than $60 (that included shipping). However, I understand that for large items like the dress you might not be comfortable buying it on ebay.... it's a risk, but remember that there are cheap alternatives like sample sales. Target also do wedding dresses, very simple but nice ones, for around $100.

Don't ever think you can't make it special without spending $$$! My now husband always said very simply that it didn't matter as long as he and I were standing in front of one another.

I hemmed and hawed, and agonized...how could it be special if it wasn't in a church, if every single person I knew wasn't there, if we didn't have the perfect flowers, decorations and location and reception?

I realized that I had never defined what I could live with or without and I spent FAR TOO MUCH time worrying about what family members might say. I thought people had certain expectations and I was letting them down if I couldn't arrange a perfect event (yes...I'm anal)

If you enjoy baking - take the Wilton Cake classes offered at Michael's - I did and they were fab! I made my own cakes...went for simple, but I've made fancier for friends. It was really fun and it kept me busy during the K1 wait for interview.

I shopped around for my dress and actually found it at Sears...of all places...a beautiful long ivory gown, sleeveless with beading all over the bodice. was $165 + $100 for alterations at a dressmaker....I didnt think I'd find one, but once I realized I wasn't being married in a huge church, I could adjust my dress requirements....I love that dress, was fitted to perfection

I made my own favours....saw an example in Martha Stewart - and found the supplies all at Michaels, my husband and I spent an evening folding little boxes, threading ribbon and inserting fine chocolates from Laura Secord(Canadian store)

Our theme was winter/ snowflake theme since the wedding was at the end of Nov...Navy and silver..we bought beautiful snowflake decorations rom a fancy Christmas store - those probably cost the most

What I found was that everyone just wanted to come and enjoy the day with us - I could have told them we were going for a hike in the mud and I think they would have been game

Opps - one more thought:

I made the mistake initially of thinking - there's only a small number of guests...it isn't 'worth' getting all dolled up etc etc..getting hair done, having fancy food, having favours etc......

Do what you want within budget...you will only get married once, don't think you're not worth it.

The K1 process leaves you drained and feeling like you'd rather just 'get it done'...but why let the US Gov ruin it, ya know?

Yeah - it is your day - defo do what you want And as for eBay - the biggest piece of advice I can give you is check the seller feedback Here is the shop where I bought my bridesmaid dresses. The guy's name is Kin and he was really great

Also I have finished my vows now... but for some reason firefox won't let me paste... ah well - will add them another time

Sorry - I didn't mean I was thinking of spending a lot of money, I hope that whatever I do pick is on a budget!

What I'm worried about is seeming overdressed or exposing too much flesh. It's only going to be a garden party, and although sometimes I can be outgoing and gregarious, at other times I can be painfully shy. Seems to depend on my hormones! Some days I think 'oh hey this is an opportunity to wear a big skirt and corset' and other days I think 'perhaps I should just look for a nice suit'.

But yes...my friend suggested we go and try on bridal gowns this weekend, then, when I've found a style I like, I can look on ebay/in charity shops for that style! She pointed out that when I try a dress on, it may change my feelings completely - I may feel that a big dress is what I want, or I may find I am too self-conscious in it


Hurrah for finishing the vows! Can't wait to see them!

Here we go:

Perfect! Just perfect, and really lovely sentiments, too. Jeremy is a lucky man!

Yeah - I am going to totally cry... I am saying my vows first so I don't blub *all* the way through them

If anyone is getting married in Houston, my fiancee is a wedding planner. Let me know!

I'm sure once you start trying on gowns you'll have a better idea of the style you want. I wouldn't worry about being too overdressed though - at our wedding I and my family were all dressed up nicely, my mum wore a hat, and they were dressed like they would be for any wedding. Ben's family wore black pants and boring shirts, and our pastor wore shorts! I was surprised because I would always buy a nice dress for a wedding and make an effort, but at the end of the day who cares? As long as you're comfortable with what you wear it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks. But like I said, once you've tried on different styles I'm sure you'll have a good idea of what you want
Shopping for the dress is the best part, so have fun this weekend!




That is so beautiful.... I'm all tearful now!

Thanks! Although I'm not sure about the fun part...I find it really, really hard to shop without feeling obligated to buy something, so I hardly ever go shopping! If a salesperson is nearby I think they're going to start pressuring me. I'm a bag full of insecurities when it comes to shopping; I always get my friend or fiancé to order for me if possible and if a person recognises me I'm out of there like a flash.

Girl - this is YOUR day! Try a day when it's not busy (ie - not Sat) Wedding dresses are made for trying on....go in and say 'I'm just here looking for styles, not buying anything today' That will let the salesperson know what you're after...they may try the sales pitch, but just remind them again.

It's really hard going in there sometimes, because they're nerds and have dresses in size 0....I'm a 14, but I'm tall....but the dresses have to be held closed or something....that didn't give me a good idea of whatit really looked like at all

I'll do my best!

And I know what you mean - I'm also taller than average and a typical size 10 (US) - shopping's harder when you're surrounded by 5'2 size 2s!

Rachel, I'm like that too..... tall and a US size 10. I first tried on dresses in the US and they were all tiny! They had to be held with a clip at the back like Udella&Wiz said, because they wouldn't zip up! Plus it was 100 degrees outside and the place didn't have a/c, it was horrible.

I found it different when I tried on dresses in the UK though. Most sample dresses I tried on were a UK 12 or 14, so they actually did up! The one I bought was even too big! It gave me a lot of confidence and that's where I ended up buying my dress. Granted, I only went to one store here in the US, but I hated it. I have pics of me in these dresses I tried on and I looked like a cow! Stores should have 3 samples - small, medium and large!