The Frugalista Wedding

Heya frugies,

As promised, here is a glimpse into our big day! As a frugalista, I conscientiously looked at our entire budget and weighed what we deemed important (splurge) versus what I knew I could save on, all the while without compromising our sense of style and the overall experience we wanted our guests to enjoy.

What we splurged on:

• Venue & Food - Good food is very important to me and my newly-minted husband. We really know how to enjoy food. Sadly, budgetary limitations prevented us from choosing our first-choice. In serendipitous fashion, our decision to hold our wedding at the Richmond Golf & Country Club really suited my taste for modern luxury and my husband's love for picturesque, sprawling golf greens.
• Photography - Whether you're a once-only or experienced bride, you only get one chance to capture all the special moments on that day. Having the right photographer tell your story of your wedding day really helps. After all, there are no do-overs! We interviewed 3 professional and equally talented photographers and chose Katch Studios.
• Wedding Planner - Worth every penny, IMHO. Having an experienced wedding planner do the leg work for you is invaluable and we recommend considering one if you know exactly what you want but are unsure about how to go about obtaining it. We chose Leo Damien of Wish Events for his eye for exquisite and effortless-looking design.

What we saved on (pretty much everything else!):

Our Invitation

Your invitation is really the first point of communication that your wedding guests will see and helps to set the mood and style of your wedding. I found these gorgeous invitations at, of all places, Michaels. At 50 invitations per box, I needed 4 boxes to adequately invite the 200 guests on our list. But wait, I saved 50% on 3 of 4 boxes. How'd I swing that? For each purchase, my receipt offered 50% off 1 item on my next visit within a calendar week!

His Ring

His engagement proposal came to me as a complete surprise and therefore, I held no budgetary jurisdiction over the cost of my engagement ring (LOL)! Admittedly however, I do have discerning taste and only one other person, my maid of honour, knew that I longed for an Ascher-cut, conflict-free diamond. Thanks to his equally discerning taste, he opted for a non-traditional band, not made of gold but, made of tungsten carbide — an uniquely dense metal, so durable it won't bend, scratch, nor tarnish. Check out the many other styles of tungsten carbide rings at Black Tie Rings; you'll be surprised at how affordable these rings are!

My Dress

Simply put, I could not stomach the idea of spending upwards of $1,000 on a dress that I would only wear for a few hours. This dress cost me only one-tenth of that! In total, I spent about $500 on 4 dresses  of different silhouettes where 3 would serve as wardrobe in our engagement photo shoot. My veil was self-made using $5 worth of tulle and a hair comb from Michaels.

The Decor

Finally, the decor is what sets your wedding apart and helps to make the experience of your guests memorable. With the sophisticated mood set by our invitations, we chose decor that would carry that theme through to our wedding day; from Jeff Leatham-inspired flower arrangements at wholesale (thanks to our wedding planner), to the self-made card box for $10 (compared to $80 store-bought), to inexpensive, consumable party favours of M&M chocolates, I made sure to save wherever possible. Even our (fake) wedding cake, created by the wonderful Peter Fong of Ganache Patisserie, fit our desired theme to a tee!

Hope you enjoyed this sneak peek into our special day! Let me know your thoughts on splurging and saving on your wedding by leaving me a comment below.

Thanks for stopping by,
yvrfrugalista

Saying Yes to the Budget Savvy Dress

Heya frugies,

Let's talk about weddings... And how expensive they can be. There's the cost of the venue, flowers, bridesmaids dresses, rings, photography, favors, and the list goes on, and on, and on.

Naturally, when it came to my own wedding I looked for ways to be frugal without compromising my own sense of style. Let's start with one of the most important components that first comes to mind of a newly-engaged bride-to-be — THE DRESS.

I couldn't pick just one! Ever since Sex And The City: The Movie, I fell in love with the idea of doing a multiple dress photo shoot. Our chosen wedding photographers, Katch Studios, was excited to embark on this adventure with us and entertained my dream of shooting several dresses as our non-conventional engagement photo shoot.

The above 3 dresses, ordered from dhgate.com and milanoo.com, each cost an average of $120 shipping included. We lucked out as Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie opened their doors to us on a Sunday for Katch to capture these and other stunning images.

Now you've seen the 3 dresses I wore for the engagement photo shoot... What about the dress on the day of my wedding?!? Again, ordered from dhgate.com for $100 shipping included:

What are your thoughts on saving or splurging on a wedding dress? Leave me a comment below. Stayed tuned for photos and more frugal ideas from our wedding day!

Thanks for stopping by,

yvrfrugalista

Hand Cream To Change the World

Everyone could use hand cream. This was evidenced to me when a male coworker who works across the building from me approached me for hand cream. Okay, so maybe the drying soap from the soap dispensers in the washrooms are to blame. The point is, every now and again, from time-to-time, we all use hand cream.

This weekend, I serendipitously came across the hand cream to end child prostitution at The Body Shop. One hundred percent (100%) of the proceeds from their New Soft Hands Kind Heart Hand Cream go to benefit ECPAT in Canada, Beyond Borders and the Somaly Mam Foundation - a network of organizations world wide tirelessly working toward ending child prostitution, pornography, and trafficking for sexual purposes.

Since I had decided to buy hand cream to leave at work anyway, I feel that my $10 will be better served by purchasing this product over others. This cause is also one that is very close to my heart. If you had just $10 to spare, wouldn't you want to stop child exploitation?

Traffic-stopping facts about human trafficking:

• Human trafficking is the third largest⁽¹⁾ and fastest growing criminal industry in the world⁽²⁾
• 1.8 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade though this figure is thought to be much higher due to the underground dealings of the traffickers⁽³⁾
• Reports show that sexual exploitation is the most likely purpose of trafficking⁽⁴⁾
• Trafficking exists in countries all over the world. It doesn't only exist in the poorest countries⁽⁵⁾

⁽¹⁾ UNFPA 2006
⁽²⁾ UN.GIFT 2008
⁽³⁾ ILO 2002
⁽⁴⁾ UNICEF UK 2003
⁽⁵⁾ UNICEF UK 2003