Budget Advice: Make a List and Be on the Look Out

Most of us are on a budget especially when it comes to weddings where most everything is marked up. Therefore, it's important to be on the lookout for things that you need to buy, even if you think that it's still a little early, because you might miss out on a deal.

When you start planning, make a list of things that you know you'll need to buy. Even if it's just a general one, it's good to keep a list handy (I'm a dork so I still carry around a filofax and keep my list there) so that when a good sale comes up, you can quickly look if the sale might fulfill any of your must buy items.

Some of the things on my list which I've found deals on are:


Wedding dress - Well, we all know what happened with my wedding dress shopping "situation". I went a little crazy and ended up with multiple dresses. Luckily, they were all deals while keeping an eye out for sample sales and I didn't do too much damage to my wallet. You can read about it here and even after that trip, I did actually end up buying two more which are the two that I will be wearing (one for the ceremony and one for the reception). In total, my wedding dress purchases total $1500...but retails for well over $8000.

Bridesmaid dress - From the get go, I knew I wanted my bridesmaids to wear long black dresses. You'd think it was easy to find long black dresses right? I have to admit, it was a little too easy and this is when I had to learn my lesson of buying too many wedding dresses to be a bit pickier with my bridesmaids dresses. A couple of deals came and went and at times I thought I passed up a good thing - Like this dress from jcrew (in black) that was on sale for $200 from almost $500 full price.

But at that price point, it still didn't seem like a deal. A few more visits to jcrew's website when they e-mailed me about sales and I finally took the plunge with classic silk chiffon dresses for $100 (orig. $350). I was able to snag the remainder of their stock which were all luckily in my bridesmaid's sizes.

Flower girl dress
A month ago, I was really sad to hear that Priscilla of Boston was closing. I spent many crazy hours there during their sample sales and was looking to someday be able to take my friends when it's their turn to shop for their dresses. However, store closing = closeout sale and leave it to me to come up with an excuse to go...partly to see what I could find to cross out something on my "list" but mainly so I could take a peek at the wedding dresses on sale =). Keeping my focus (after porousing through EVERY wedding dress they had), I headed straight for the bridal party section and found the cutest blush pink dress with a tulle skirt for our two flower girls. The store only had one (luckily in my flower girl's size by the time the wedding comes around) but another store was willing to ship an identical dress to me. The dresses ended up costing $25 each so I didn't mind paying the extra $10 shipping cost for the second dress. The dress can still be found at Nordstrom for $150:





I've found a few more great items at a great deal by simply keeping a list on hand when a sale comes up like a picture card box that I purchased for my friend's bridal shower (I also got one for our wedding) on the sale for half price at http://www.theperfectcardbox.com/. I also found my bridesmaids presents at a great deal but I don't want to divulge since I haven't given it to them.


All of these things are typically "last minute" purchases for weddings but if you're on a tight budget but don't want to sacrifice the nicer things in life, spacing your purchases and keeping an eye out for deals is the way to go.


I hope you guys don't think I'm too cheap.


Ok, I AM cheap ; )


Happy shopping!