Wedding plans

For some reason I found myself volunteering to plan my daughter's wedding (translation, paying for it). Anyone that needs to do a great wedding on a reasonable budget there are lots and lots of resources to help. First, I would recommend going to http://www.theknot.com/ this site will give you tons of ideas and then you can find less expensive ways to use them. I will post more pics after the wedding, but I have a few of the wedding site to share. I recommend finding the location before you make any other plans. When I first learned about the little church in La Villita on the Riverwalk I thought it would be WAY out of my price range and booked for years in advance. Surprisingly, it was neither. For $700 I was able to book the church in August for an October wedding. You will see how beautiful from the pictures. Another one of my cheap tips is to go to your local grocery store for flowers (I can almost see David Tutera crawling on the floor in agony at the suggestion, but hey...he did not come to save me and move the wedding to the Plaza Hotel). For $285 I got all flowers needed for the wedding, and the woman in charge of the floral dept. is a professional florist and not just a clerk. I limited my daughter to 50 guests, and the reception is going to be held at their favorite mexican restaurant. There are many benefits to not having a traditonal wedding reception, but the cost savings was a major one for me. A dinner for 50 people, wedding cake, champagne toast and tip (tablecloths and a few table decorations) cost approximately $1200. The tip was included in this, but I believe in being generous to people that work hard and will tip extra at the end of the night if the table is not neglected. I'd be more than happy to share more of my tips with anyone that is interested (just drop me an e-mail) and I did splurge on a few things such as paying all expenses for the wedding party, limo, and honeymoon to Hawaii. The grand total was still under 10k . Considering how fast that money went I can see how weddings get out of hand, but when the envelope was empty, it was empty. Enjoy the pics of the little church and watch for wedding photos in the near future.