I too got my dress on ebay. Before you buy… find the dress designer website and look at their sizing charts… I had to order mine in a bigger size than I normally wear too. Anyway… dress was a $500 dress for $45 and $20 shipping… they threw in a crinoline but it didn’t fit so I bought one on ebay for $12. The only alteration I needed was an inch off the front at the bottom… cost $10!
Other things… I bought all my flowers at Sam’s club for the bouquets, boutineers, Mothers corsages, Holy family bouquet, and church decorations… and I did it myself! They looked beautiful and were so much nicer than the florist because I could use the flowers I wanted… all together the roses (6 dozen), spray roses, baby’s breath, lilies, gladioli, and fern leaves plus supplies (ribbon, green florist tape, forms for bouquets, floral foam… cost $125 and I couldn’t even get a bridal bouquet for that! Only hint about this… did them on thursday… but had to use the fridge at work to store them… make sure you have an empty fridge to store them in!!!
All the bridesmaid/groomsmen were our collective children which made it more of a “family” celebration. They ranged in age from 18 down to 10.
Staying chaste before the wedding (it was a long 6 years) was so worth it!!! It made the wedding night even more enjoyable.
We had a very very formal nuptial mass… then we had a very fun and relaxed reception at a reindeer ranch. The reason for this was that there was going to be alot of kids and I wanted them to have a good time… so on the invites (which I printed myself from the Wilton site) we told everybody to wear jeans to the reception… BBQ food was awesome (and I don’t like BBQ) and the place threw in the use of go-carts for the kids for free… also they got to run through a corn maze too… they had a blast and spent almost the whole time outside playing while the adults wandered in and out of the place to sit on the old fashioned porch, see the reindeer, etc… it was a good time!!! Funny thing was that a local celebrity heard about it and 2 weeks later when I met her, it was because she was asking my boss about it… everyone talked about what a great wedding and reception it was.
But I think one thing that really really helped was scheduling people to keep my mom out of my hair… at the wedding it was my sister… then at the reception it was the owner of the ranch… my mom was hyper critical about the idea of a non-formal reception until she actually went… she did enjoy herself after all…
After the wedding we spent an extra day at home because my sister decided to stay an extra day to visit with us… that was incredible!!! Especially since our honeymoon location got changed abruptly… thanks Hurricane Katrina!!!