Phew! I finally sat down and started tallying up the actual costs from our wedding (versus the budgeted costs) and was pleasantly surprised y'all. We done good. I was especially pleased with the overall cost of my wedding day outfit (gown, veil, shoes, etc) and thought I'd share a little breakdown with you.
My Wedding Day Outfit
Image Courtesy of: Miranda Laine Photography
Shocked? Here's a quickie walkthrough:
- David's Bridal Gown ($0.00) – Many of you may remember how it came about that I got this dress for free from the lovely Liz Fairchild (and then discussed how important it is to make your own moments during wedding planning). And remember y'all, next month that same dress will be all cleaned up and available to another bride FOR FREE at The Wedding Dress Project.
- Necklace ($0.00) – My childhood best friend currently lives in Thailand and knew she would be unable to attend our wedding. A talented jewelry maker, she offered to make my wedding necklace (and threw in some extra bracelets and earrings [that I wear for work] for good measure) as her gift to me.
- Jade Bracelet ($0.00) – This was a birthday gift from The Boy (jade is Alaska's state stone). He loves it when I wear it (which is not often as coding + bracelets = OWIE) so I slipped it on for the big day.
- Stella & Dot Bracelet ($0.00) – This is a little something that I picked in April as part of Stella & Dot's Autism Speaks Awareness program. Two of my flower girls are on the autism spectrum and I know how much these programs help them and their families. I've been wearing it every single day since then and didn't bother to take it off for the wedding.
- Stud Earrings ($0.00) – Got these last year at Express for job interviews. They worked just fine with the wedding outfit so I didn't bother to buy something else.
- Giant Underpants (0.00) – Some of you may be grossed out by this but… my best friend loaned me the ones from her wedding. I fit really well into my wedding dress but had a bit of a stomach pooch so I wore these and didn't have to think about sucking in (#winning). For the record, that was the only thing I wore underneath my gown (Much to the horror of the crowd assembled in my room when I got dressed. MY EYES! MY EYES!).
- David's Bridal Veil ($0.00) – Another loaner from my bestie. Actually, she and another of my bridesmaids both offered their veils to me (long before I even had a dress). This one was the winner because it was the same shade of white as my gown.
- TOMS Wedge Heels in Aqua ($60.80) – This is literally the ONLY thing I bought for my wedding outfit (and only a week before the wedding… I enjoy pushing my deadlines). The funny thing is, I had planned all along to buy some really nice shoes for my wedding (and wear them after for work) so I was fully prepared to spend up to $200 on my shoes. But that didn't happen (could NOT find anything that would work for my freakishly wide feet and also for our outdoor wedding terrain). So, at the last minute (with much advice from my Twitter followers), I ordered the TOMS wedge heels (they don't make the aqua ones anymore but there's loads of other colors to choose from). The shoes started off at $69.00 but I used a $5.00 off + Free Shipping code and got them down to $64.00. Then, I purchased them through the ebates program and got 5% back on my order which (technically) brought them down to $60.80.
Total Cost of my Wedding Day Outfit: $60.80!
Whee! I done GOOD, right y'all?!?! How many of you have scored a killer deal on your own wedding day wear? Did you get a designer piece at a killer price? OR did any of you receive part of your wedding gear as a gift? I want to hear all about it!
