This is going to be tough in our area because of the high incomes here, but some choices for you might be to look at some parks local to you, churches with Fellowship halls or getting married at home if that is an option available. Small hors d'oerves, finger sandwiches and cake are wonderful options for a tea time (2 to 3 PM time frame) wedding and would be very elegant! Another option is have the people that are most important to you at your wedding....sometimes small and intimate is best. Have a dinner at a local restaurant and then have a barbeque to celebrate your nuptials at a later date. Most people understand the cost of a wedding. In our case, the only person who really didn't understand the costs associated with the day was the mother of the groom. I finally had to get tough with her and told her if she wanted more than we could do, she would have to pay for her guests. I never heard another word. My daughter was happy because she wanted the focus on her and her hubby, not standing in a receiving line meeting people she didn't know. ... View related article.
When my daughter and I were planning her wedding last year, we initially got a price of 750$ for real flowers. My daughter was in a little sticker shock even though we paid for her day. I showed her this site and we ended up getting all the flowers from this young lady. She does beautiful work and were very pleased. We got a bridal bouquet, 2 bridesmaids bouquets, 10 corsages, 10 boutoniers for roughly $200. I don't know where she gets her flowers, but I didn't see anything remotely close in Michaels or AC Moore. They were very rich looking and photographed very nicely. If you look at the links I sent, my daughter is Kira, but all of the flowers and young women look great with *their* flower selections. Elza does beautiful work and I highly recommend her! ... View related article.
I am relearning how to cook for both the hubby and I since our family has went from 5 to 4 to 3 and now many evenings it's just the 2 of us as the youngest child goes to the gym or coaches the volleyball team. I buy roast chickens when I see them on sale and pack them away in the freezer. When I see chicken breasts on sale, I individually wrap them. I pad out hamburger patties and freeze them individually as well. That way it can be a hamburger, small meatloaf or spaghetti. I cut sausage rolls in half for use in breakfast casseroles or sausage gravy. I boil down bones eaten at holidays for use in rich soups later. I have several large bowls I freeze in and it works very well. My hams usually end up split pea soup or baked beans and I just made turkey noodle soup for the first time (we don't have too many turkeys) and it was amazing!
Allrecipes.com is one of my best friends online! They have a scaler that will tell you exactly what you need to make enough for two. One of the recipes that I use VERY frequently is Roast Sticky Chicken. I haven't purchased a roast chicken from the grocery since finding that gem of a recipe! My daughter who is learning more about the thrifty life loves making this one. Learn how to use flour and shortening, or if you wanna be fast, a small can of Pillsbury flaky biscuits will make an awesome pot pie. Use some leftover chicken and vegetables. I make gravy with bouillon cubes, flour and water for the gravy. I also make a lot of stir fry. We always have enough left for lunch the next day or for me to make another dish out of.
I am not store loyal....I get a lot of good deals at Aldi's, Trader Joe's, and Wegmans. It takes a lot of willpower for me to stay out of the gourmet aisles, but I actually find that Wegmans everyday low prices here in the Baltimore area are lower than everyone....some of their stuff is cheaper than Aldi!
I love to bake with yeast and my latest fun food has been pizza! Comes out amazing and we can control what goes on it. I love making them and they are much cheaper than buying one out.
Think out of the box when cooking and I think you will find that you can come up with more than your share of budget meals! Good luck! :) ... View related article.
This is a really neat idea...I have made 2 so far and the one I am posting is out of a cheaper towel that I mail ordered from Penneys for my daughter shower a week ago. None of mine look like the above pictures, but I don't think either was bad and they certainly make a nice centerpiece for a shower. I bought some little things to go on it at A.C. Moore. I would say that anyone could make one. I certainly am *not* a craft sort of person so if I can, anyone can! ... View related article.
I totally agree! I was the Director of Daycare for 14 years at a local parochial school. I tried to make changes for myself and that of my staff to just get retirement pay for us! I found the mentality of the parents amazing...really. I had parents that just thought that I wanted to stay after the official close of daycare at 6 PM everyday because they had a meeting or worse yet they wanted to stop for a drink! I actually had several parents late one time because they were skiing. One of the same women at the time happened to be the head of the PTA and gave everyone a Christmas bonus and left me and my assistant out! Her logic was that I got gifts from the children, which in the case of the school usually came from the room that we had at the annual Christmas bazaar where nothing was more than $1. When I made a stink about it because I had received one every year until this woman took over, she had the audacity to offer me $20 from her pocketbook. I told her to keep it, as I felt she might need it for gas for her Mercedes (I didn't say that as I am way too gracious for that, but it did go through my mind). The lateness for a lot of the parents was habitual, one year being almost always getting home around 7 PM and my own family suffered in ways because of it, but I kept at it because my children were lucky enough to have always one of us, in this case their father home with them. That was always my logic. Our 3 children were close in age, we couldn't have afforded me to go to work any other way and with 5 mouths to feed, I needed to work!
Over the years, I actually had parents ask me if I *volunteered* to work with their child or worse yet, *why didn't I look for a "real" job, as if working with upwards of 50 children wasn't real enough! I put up with this abuse for 14 years when one parent who got on the PTA decided to make it part of his personal agenda to remove me from my job because I was asking for the school to spread my salary over 12 months (not an increase in pay mind you) so that I (and staff) would receive a check during the 6 to 8 weeks of summer break. When I didn't sign my contract for the following school year, I was told that I would need to reapply for my job. It was then I made the decision to give it up after a lot of heartache. I so loved what I did. Children are just the most precious gift, but what was done to me on a psychological level was enough. I took a job for my faith as a receptionist and haven't looked back. I loved the kids and it really meant something to me to love what I was doing because I felt it was important to care for children, but the respect of parents just isn't there. They would rather buy designer dog food than make sure daycare providers are treated fairly and paid accordingly, not to mention all the *helpful* advice you would get from them.
Just a side note, I was begged to come back by the leadership as I often had to call the church as we are affiliated with them by religion, not to mention that several parents who *did* have respect for the program pulled their children from the school because they knew the job I was doing and liked continuity. The school is not doing the best as good daycare was one of their selling points and staff turnover is very high. God closed a door but opened a window very wide for me and I found out that I have other abilities. At least I am not insulted any longer and I have a lot of respect from the people I work with now.
While I love to cook, I do get tired of doing it!! Once in awhile I like to go out and have someone wait on me. We have started eating breakfast out at one of our local places rather than a chain restaurant as they tend to be much cheaper. We have also been taking advantage of *Happy Hour* when we do want to have dinner out. A chain pizza restaurant offers 1/2 off appetizer and beer for a buck a glass. My hubby and I will have 3 appetizers and 2 beers a piece and usually only spend $20 which includes the tip. Certainly beats spending $60 bucks at that Australian steakhouse chain! ... View related article.
You don't say how many ppl you are looking to invite or how much you have to spend. You are going to have to get moving if you want to secure something soon, just because of the time of year that you want to have your wedding. Besides the suggestions already made, also try local community/fire halls.
My daughter is getting married in September and we booked last year. Many of the other vendors she wanted to use have already booked and they took bookings 2 years in advance. Tomorrow night we will book the DJ which is the last thing that has to be secured for us. Trying to get a budget place may be tough because cheaper things go fast so you need to start making calls and sending emails, pronto. Some of the places that we called were the Ferndale Community Hall which was $300 last year to rent for 100 guests. You could have them cater or do it yourself. You had to buy the bar from them, but the prices were rather reasonable.
My favorite place was the Baldwin Hall in Millersville. http://www.baldwinhall.org/ It's on the National Historic Registry and really quite lovely! It was $800 for a 24 hour rental. That may not seem cheap, but not only do you get 24 hours, but it includes the tables and chairs, a prep kitchen with warming ovens, an alcove for the bar and a wedding dressing room. The grounds would make for beautiful pictures. You have to get a one day liquor license from Anne Arundel County, but they have the paperwork for this and it would be well worth it if you are having a bar. This was one of our choices (more about the logic later in this post).
You could have Garry's Grill or Adam's Rib cater your meal relatively reasonably and/or use warehouse or grocery stores to assemble your own meal. My plan was to have Garry's cater and then I was going to get hor d'oeuvres and dainty desserts and the elegant plasticware from Costco. At this point, the only thing I get to do is make and decorate the wedding cake. We ended up finding a place in Silver Spring called Mrs. K's Tollhouse.
My daughter's entire wedding (DJ, flowers, invitations, guitarist, photographer, reception with 5 course meal, bar, garden with chairs) is $7500 for 70 ppl. My daughter was very concerned that I would be too busy to enjoy her day (this is the logic part) so we went with this place, which compared to most of the places we went to very inexpensive. (I could have pulled all of this off with some family help...ppl who have my food usually can't understand why I don't work in the industry!) One place on the Eastern Shore had $30 per person posted on their website and by the time the lady was done, we were at 22K and that was JUST for the reception. Maryland is NOT cheap...even for some of the parks in and around town. It really sucks because our tax money goes to maintain them!
Another suggestion to you, I bought a book called *Catering Your Own Wedding*. It has really good tips and tells you ways you can pull all of this off yourself. Ebay is a good place to get it, but if you can't find it, put the name of the book in Google and the site will come up. If you're talented and have talented friends, you can do everything yourself and save a lot of money.
I found this in the Maryland Gazette if you would like to contact the Ferndale Community Hall: Local residents may rent the Ferndale Community Club for private parties, showers, wedding receptions, and other special occasions. The hall is located at 15 N. Fifth Ave. in Ferndale. For more information, call 410-766-9727 ... View related article.
