Hello there, you intrepid readers! I'd like to welcome you to my humble blog, and thank you for visiting. My name is Alicia Dawn, and I am a 24 year old bride to be. I've been engaged since Feb. 14 2010, and the big day is fast approaching! I'll tie the knot to my wonderful fiancé Adam on May 29, 2011. We're both actors in our last year of graduate school and though our parents are graciously footing the bill for this celebration, we are still working with a strict budget and needed to come up with creative solutions for a big statement with a small price tag.
Trouble was, the more I researched wedding products, decorations, stationery, and everything in between, the more I realized that HOLY MAJOLEY some of this stuff is WAY overpriced. And by some I mean most. And by overpriced we're talking up to a 75-150% markup from material cost. (That's right, bridal stores. I 'm talking to you. You know how much tulle costs? 99 cents a yard. Plastic combs? 50 cents apiece. How is it that when you put them together it now costs $150? Ridiculous). And it doesn't stop there. Now don't get me wrong, I understand these people are running a business and they are charging for labor, cost of operations, etc. But the more I started thinking and working, the more I realized that with a little know how and some elbow grease, I could make a LOT of these things myself. Enter... the DIY extravaganza.
As I started on these projects and became very pleased with the results, (which spawned more ideas, which led to more projects), it occurred to me that there were many brides (and other people planning parties- not excluding you folks!) out there who were perfectly capable of making these things and saving a serious wad of cash, but maybe just didn't know how. Or lacked my copious amount of free time in between rehearsals to think up such devious corporate wedding machine-dodging projects.
So here we have it. A blog. I will be updating periodically with step-by-step instructions (with photos) of the projects for my wedding, and also with some posts about specific aspects of planning a wedding (us plannerless brides can do it, by gads). I'm sure some real-life posts will sneak in too, and you'll get a window into the personal effects of wedding planning too :-)
That's all for now, check back soon, and until next time... power to the crafters!
Alicia
Trouble was, the more I researched wedding products, decorations, stationery, and everything in between, the more I realized that HOLY MAJOLEY some of this stuff is WAY overpriced. And by some I mean most. And by overpriced we're talking up to a 75-150% markup from material cost. (That's right, bridal stores. I 'm talking to you. You know how much tulle costs? 99 cents a yard. Plastic combs? 50 cents apiece. How is it that when you put them together it now costs $150? Ridiculous). And it doesn't stop there. Now don't get me wrong, I understand these people are running a business and they are charging for labor, cost of operations, etc. But the more I started thinking and working, the more I realized that with a little know how and some elbow grease, I could make a LOT of these things myself. Enter... the DIY extravaganza.
As I started on these projects and became very pleased with the results, (which spawned more ideas, which led to more projects), it occurred to me that there were many brides (and other people planning parties- not excluding you folks!) out there who were perfectly capable of making these things and saving a serious wad of cash, but maybe just didn't know how. Or lacked my copious amount of free time in between rehearsals to think up such devious corporate wedding machine-dodging projects.
So here we have it. A blog. I will be updating periodically with step-by-step instructions (with photos) of the projects for my wedding, and also with some posts about specific aspects of planning a wedding (us plannerless brides can do it, by gads). I'm sure some real-life posts will sneak in too, and you'll get a window into the personal effects of wedding planning too :-)
That's all for now, check back soon, and until next time... power to the crafters!
Alicia
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