So your getting married and your thinking about doing it all yourself. We just got married in September, and we decided do a DIY wedding. The reason we started to do a DIY wedding was because we had a few important things we couldn't get anywhere else:
1. Location: We wanted a place that allowed our family from all over the state and out of state to stay if they would like. Also a place that didn't restrict us on time, alcohol or other vendors.
2. Food: We also wanted good food. Lately we have been having food that tastes like plastic and you knew it wasn't cheap.
3. Music: We also knew we are dancing people. So having an awesome DJ that didn't play slow songs all the time, or weird 70's music was important.
4. Photography: I love photography, but I also love a natural look. We wanted someone that understood that and would be willing to work in our unique setting.
Location
So lets start with picking a location. We are located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We wanted to stay close since we were doing everything DIY. I was originally looking for a barn (see below for some awesome barn wedding sites around us). But that proved to be more difficult then I thought (all had too many restrictions or no bathroom).
So we moved on to Camp Grounds and rental homes. Which all proved to be too small for our 120 person wedding.
Being a Girl Scout I convinced my husband to go and check it out. We could rent the whole camp ground from Friday to Sunday, and pretty much do whatever we wanted. So this became a true DIY project. The best part of this was there were cabins for our families to stay at starting the night before the wedding and continuing on after the wedding. We also had ample time to set up and clean up. The total cost for our venue sight was less than putting everyone up in a hotel and paying for a venue to had restrictions ( less than $1,400).
This is outside of where we had our Reception (Stony Lodge).
Here were the places of the camp we used:
Cabins, Dining Hall (Stony Lodge), Old Lodge ( were I got ready), Bath House and Harriet Hall.
Harriet Hall was a new addition to the camp, where has a full kitchen and eat in area with fire places. The hall is also surrounded by all the cabins. So this was where we had a rehearsal dinner and the after wedding breakfast to open gifts.
A few downfalls of this type of location:
1. Bathrooms were a walk away. We ended up renting a porta-jon for our older guests that couldn't make the trek up to the bath house.
2. Watch for outlets. Sometimes they are plenty sometimes they are not.
3. Understand you are staying at a camp, it isn't always clean you may have to do some pre-cleaning before you even start setting up.
If you are interested in Camp Merrie Wood you can learn more here: http://www.gshom.org/about/rentals.html
Food
We wanted awesome food, but we didn't want to pay $25/plate. So we started looking outside the box on that as well. We thought about the best food we had in previous events (not just weddings). We went for a few tastings at various BBQ Catering Joints, and a few Pig Roast places. We found our love in Scott's Pig Roast. They cater, are professional, but also realistic about time and money. We paid less than $18/person and that included our dessert of Apple and Cherry Cobbler.
What was included in this:
2 Meats (We chose Chicken and Brisket)
4 sides ( Red skin potatoes, Mac & Cheese, Fruit Salad, Pasta Salad)
Rolls
And our choice of two cobblers
Not only did people love our food, we also got to keep all the left overs. Mind you we were giving away food the next day, but at least we didn't go hungry for the next few weeks.
We also decided to feed people appetizers. We did this ourselves as well, I chopped up the veggies the day before and then someone plated them, put plastic wrap over them, and we just laid them out before the wedding. We also bought cheese cubes from Sam's Club with crackers. This did just fine. We did have too much though. So we now have plenty of cheese and crackers. 120 people and 20 lbs of cubed cheese is too much! our total for appetizers with plastic clear plates was $200.
Overall this is one thing I would never change about our wedding! :)
If you are interested in Scott's check them out here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scotts-Pig-Roast/162536233771596?fref=ts
Music
Finding a DJ is just like finding a Photographer. LOOK AROUND. And if you really don't want to party through the night there are ways to do it yourself. But we decided we wanted to pay and have someone else stress about having awesome music and MCing our wedding throughout the night.
The way we were able to find them was through Facebook. He had glowing reviews, and was $500 for as long as you wanted him! Awesome since most you pay for a set time and when they are done they are done!
We met with him multiple times before the wedding, and he gave us the time of day needed. He played music we had sent to him, and was easy to work with. THIS IS IMPORTANT. You don't want someone set in their ways. You want someone willing to work with you, and check out your unique venue before the wedding weekend. He made it clear to us our first choice to have the reception would result in us not having sound. But he also was willing to suggest another place to have the reception where we could have sound.
If you are interested in our DJ you can check him out at:
https://www.facebook.com/DBFamilyPhotography?fref=ts
Denis also does amazing Photography.
Photography
I spent all too long looking for someone to do our photography here are a few important things to look for when working on a budget:
1. Do they give you a print release: This means you can print your pictures on your own via a CD.
2. How long will they stay? Just for the Ceremony and then 2 hours after? what is their time allotment?
3. Will they include anything else such as Engagement pictures?
4. How far will they travel before they start to charge?
5. Are these pictures worth holding on to for the rest of your life? This pictures are going to be your best memory of the day, you want to have them to remember what exactly happened, and to save those special moments you will never have again.
Our Photography was down to earth, which was very important to us. She wasn't afraid to try new things and gave us our print release. She started from when I started to get my hair done to almost 9pm at night. She worked almost 12 hours. She was also willing to travel without extra charge.She also included an Engagement session. Her cost was $1,000. And worth every penny.
Courtesy of Arowyn Photography
If you like our wedding photography check her out here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arowyn-Photography/180571887510?fref=ts
In the end our research paid off. We loved all our vendors and couldn't have asked for a better situation. Remember to take the time to look at all aspects before you jump into binding contracts!
Coming up next on Present Day Doris Day "What we bought vs. what we rented" and "Our wedding budget"
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