Cutting corners but staying square

Posted by Liz on January 18, 2011 · 5 Comments 

Part two.

Part of a DIY wedding is giving up anything that isn’t super important. We didn’t get a videographer, which can cost well over $1,000. Instead we passed around a Flip Cam and let our guests film or leave messages. We haven’t watched the end result yet because we are saving it for our one year anniversary, but I don’t doubt there’s some good footage.

Photo by Sarah Kobos.

Music. We also didn’t opt for a DJ or a band. We wanted to be able to control our playlist as avid music lovers. We took guests request with the RSVPs and created extensive iTunes playlists. When I started, we had 17 hours of music. We cut down from there into a few lists — Rehearsal Dinner, Cocktail Hour and the Reception. We also had a list of special songs for our entrance, first dances and exit. We didn’t have to hear songs we hate or deal with the dreaded Electric Slide.

My brother, my wedding day savior, hooked my computer up to speakers and just hit play. I still love to listen to our playlist on my iPod, another great keepsake. (Want some suggestions on great wedding music, just let me know. I’ve got it on repeat.)

First dance to "Knot Comes Loose" by My Morning Jacket. Photo by Sarah Kobos.

The band. For our ceremony music, my brother’s band played a few select songs. They were perfect and free. Although, I think we still owe them for their time. Maybe a plug would help lessen the burden. Check out Cooter Scooters in the Columbia area for some really great drunken, sweat rock.

The band. Guest photo.

Invitations. We also saved money — and trees and stress — by using an online wedding invitation suite instead of the paper kind. Glosite is just one of the many options for eco-friendly, money-conscious brides. The site allowed us to create our own invitations (via Photoshop) and website (also Photoshop). Then we sent e-mail invites. Guests were able to RSVP online, request songs and check out all our wedding information. We sent a few paper invitations to our family and close friends. But having all the information online, in one place really took the stress off my shoulders.

This might be the most contentious part of our DIY wedding. I know a lot of people don’t take online invitations seriously. My husband’s pretty eco-conscious so this was kind of important to him, and I agree. Printing paper copies of invitations that mostly just get trashed doesn’t make a lot of sense. Not to mention that paper invitation suites can cost well over $1,000. I’m just saying.

Photobooth. One of the biggest trends in weddings right now is photobooths. I loved the idea but certainly couldn’t afford a $1,500 rental. So we got creative. We used our Macbook photobooth program. My dad, the handyman, made chalkboard Talk bubbles and we let our guests go at it.

The result was over 300 crazy photos of our guests being silly. I like this one of my mom dancing.

Disposals. My mother-in-law, genius that she is, found a great deal on disposal cameras and bought a bunch. We put these around the reception and our guests enjoyed re-living the pre-digital era.

The hubby and his brother.

I also created a Picasa account and sent around information for our digitally disposed guests to add their pictures. I now have 28 albums in one place capturing many different view from the wedding. In our program we urged our guests to compete in a photo scavenger hunt and a photobomb contest. We had some great results.

Photo by Sarah Kobos.

Our guests photos weren’t our only way to capture the big day, but more on that later.

Part one: Our low-maintenance, totally awesome wedding
Part three: It’s all in the details
Part four: Flowers, cake and dresses, Oh my!
Part five: Bridal details 

Filed under Me, Uncategorized, wedding · Tagged with $5000 wedding, columbia, cooter scooters, disposal cameras, diy wedding, eco-friendly wedding, flip cam, glosite, photobomb, photobooth wedding, picasa, south carolina, wedding