my small moment

What I wanted was simple. A small Victorian wedding for 85 guests. So I sat at the computer and plugged in all my hopes and dreams. $20,000.

My mouth dropped. So I had to make some changes.

I moved my day to Macon, Georgia. The ceremony was held at my mother's church for a small donation. We had the reception at a insurance building meeting room. The food was catered my Aaramark for less than $20 a head.

For my dress, I went to David's Bridal. I spend under $1,000 for ballroom gown. I brought the accessories on ebay. For my makeup, I purchased it from MaryKay. The representative was nice enough to do my makeup the day of for free.

With much gratitude to my two sisters Terry and Angela, I made my own wedding flowers. I used the book by Terry L. Reye Wedding Fl orals you can make. It saved me more than $500.

The photography. I found a guy in the yellow pages who worked out his home. I paid about
$400 for a hundred photographs in a book.

The invitations I used a catalog and ordered a white panel invite. I added a red bow to each invite and sprinkled silver rosed shaped foil confetti.

To organize my moment, I did hire a wedding planner. I found one who worked out of home and was new to the industry. I only hired her for the day of. She only charged me about $300 for a service which was deal for 2002.

For the music, the room was small. So I just brought my own. The wedding planer's husband kept the music moving for free.

Total cost: less than $5,000. Maybe to have an event, you do need a credit card and million dollars, but it does not take as much to have a moment.