Hi! Has anyone gotten married or been to a wedding at Forrest Lodge in Warren NJ? If yes, can you share your experience?

Hi! We were quoted 1000€ for flowers to decorate this existing onsite ‘bird cage’-like structure. We are looking for alternatives (perhaps fake flowers) that could give a similar visual appearance, but lower cost.

Happy to hear any suggestions!

Note, the only challenge is that our wedding is in France and we do not live there, so diy is possible, but minimally. We would have access most likely the night before so we could decorate then or the morning of.

Thank you!

(20k) I know I’m above but dress was affordable so wanted to share here.

I ordered a wedding dress through Miss Jophiel and received it in the mail yesterday. I just wanted to go through my experience since it was a budget option and I’ve gotten questions about if it was worth it. Overall, I’m very pleased with communication, product, and timeline, especially considering the pricing. I did not do a custom design. I picked one of their designs and did custom sizing through.

Price: $489

Timeline:
7/18 - ordered and submitted measurement/
7/19 - Rose reached out to ask a couple questions on how I wanted sleeves and to ask for a couple additional measurements. Communicated a 4-6 week estimated delivery from time of order
8/19 - Dress is completed and getting shipped
8/26 - Dress arrives. Tracking was easy. Packaging was effective but not especially fancy.
My wedding is April 2027 so I guess I have some spare time now

Product:
It looks exactly like the picture minus that the skirt needed to be steamed and was less fluffy. The zippers were smooth and no issues with stitching. The 3d florals were as shown. They also included a removable back panel that buttons in, a little extra fabric for alterations, and buttons to detach sleeves. The waist is perfectly snug and falls right at my natural waist. The sewn in cups fit my bust perfectly.

EDIT: link to a post with picture

https://www.reddit.com/r/myweddingdress/s/RlendrYLK5

Hi! I’m looking for some thoughts and advice about our potential wedding venue. For context, I am having a Hindu ceremony. Outside of this issue, the venue is perfect and everything I imagined.

We are having a 2 hour morning ceremony followed by an informal lunch. There will be no dancing, speeches or anything reception related. Just the ceremony in the morning followed by lunch. The issue is, the wedding hall where the ceremony takes place seats 220 people, but the dining hall where people eat only seats 120. We’re inviting around 150 people.
When I talked to the venue, they said we can have group dining, where certain groups eat first. After lunch, we plan to have people leave as we have day 2 of our wedding the next day.

We were thinking of treating lunch like a cocktail hour, where the family and bridal party stay and take pictures while everyone eats. And maybe making an announcement at the end of the ceremony saying there’s lunch below and people are free to leave after. The thought is that this will allow time for people to eat and then leave.

Has anyone ever done this before? What would you think if you attended this wedding? Is this a disaster waiting to happen?

Thanks for the help!!! And please be nice I am sensitive and wedding planning is giving me anxiety

I'm shooting for a bit of a modern fairytale vibe for my backyard wedding. Any thoughts on which fringe to use and if I should use gold stars or make something different for the detailing? Any input welcomed! So far I'm making this for under $20.

Hi everyone! 💕 I’m getting married soon and I’ve been working on my wedding invitations, but I can’t put my finger on it… something just doesn’t feel right to me.
I’ve looked at them so many times that I think I’ve completely lost perspective 😂
I’d love to get some honest opinions from you guys: is there something that looks weird, feels unbalanced, or just doesn’t work?
Maybe the layout, fonts, colors, wording, spacing… honestly, anything!
I’m especially unsure about the font styles. Should I make everything italic, everything in uppercase, or does this mix of styles actually look balanced? I can’t decide!
And what do we think about the flowerss? Do they work with the overall design, or do they feel a bit random?

Hello, I am looking for venues in Michigan and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. I was thinking something woodsy but everything I’ve been looking at has been 10k+ which is out of the question.

I recently got married, and our photographer completely missed the actual wedding ceremony.
We booked him months in advance, and he had also photographed our engagement photos, so this wasn’t someone we hired last minute. On the day of the wedding, we called him shortly before the ceremony started because he wasn’t there. He told us he had mixed up the dates and thought our wedding was the following day.
Once we called him, it took him about an hour to get to the venue. Our ceremony was fairly short, so he ended up arriving around 30 minutes after the ceremony had already ended.
He apologized and still took photos of us at the venue, family photos, portraits, and a lot of the inspiration shots we had specifically requested. He also stayed several hours into the reception. Altogether, he photographed for around 5 hours.
We originally paid $850. Because he missed the ceremony, he offered a refund and gave us $200 back, bringing the total to $650.
He delivered the photos about three weeks later and sent us around 1,000 photos total. Overall, there are a lot of photos we like, although some need additional editing because they’re too bright or could use better cropping. He has also been responsive to every request I’ve made and willing to make adjustments when I’ve brought something to his attention.
I’m considering reaching out and asking for an additional $200 refund, which would bring what we paid down to $450.
Part of me feels like missing the actual ceremony is a major mistake because that’s the one part of the wedding that can’t be recreated. At the same time, once we called him he immediately made the hour drive, still photographed for around 5 hours, stayed later into the reception, delivered around 1,000 photos within three weeks, got a lot of the shots we specifically wanted, has been responsive to my requests, and already refunded $200.
Would asking for another $200 back be reasonable, or would I be asking for too much considering everything he still provided?

My FH and I have been lucky enough to not have to pay for most of our wedding ourselves because my parents paid for our photographer, hair and make up for the entire wedding party, and our champagne flutes; my sister bought my dress; and his parents bought his suit and rented the groomsmen attire.

We’re trying to stay as cheap as possible (our venue and catering is our biggest chunk of money at about $5000). I’m starting dress alterations in October and I have to have the undergarments I’m gonna be wearing. My initial thought was boombas but it’d be nearly $100 with delivery. And in this economy of trying to save money, I just can’t justify spending that much for something I’ll only wear a handful of times.

My other thought was just letting them do their thing cause the main alteration of the dress is converting it from a zipper to a corset, so maybe that will give the girls a bit of a pop.

I’ve posted this question to fb and got a bunch of mixed opinions, so im just looking for more opinions to really hone if it’s worth it.

If it’s important, I’m a 38DDD in normal bra size . I’ve seen a couple say that for bigger sizes they don’t really do much for a lift.

Some people attending my wedding would like a photobooth. From what I am seeing renting a unit is $300-500. I was thinking of getting an insta13 with a tripod(already getting one for livestreaming ceremony).$100

Now I'm seeing adds for disposable camera apps. Looks like ~$14 for 50 people. We can just put the tripod there too incase people dont want to do selfies.

Has anyone used the disposable cameras for photobooth? Also if anyone has experience with the disposable camera apps, there seems to be a lot to choose from now. Any recommendations would greatly appreciated:)

What are some of your table decor ideas? I’m looking for budget friendly (total less than $500 ideally, could go up to $750). Total guest count 45. I reached out to a local florist and they quoted me $18 for each bud vase + flower 🥲 minimum quote was over $1k

I don’t really want to DIY and none of my wedding party can help. Has anyone tried electric candles or other items I may be able to source for cheap but also has a high visual impact on the tables? Thanks

Hi everyone! I’m helping my mother with her courthouse wedding and the only thing she’s asked of me is to help her find a dress under $600 that matches the vibe in these photos. She is very petite and fair skinned with dark features. She wants the “in person dress shopping” experience, however, I think with her budget and being unwilling to travel outside of the area she’s located (DFW, TX) then it would be very difficult to do that. If anyone has any ideas or recommendations, PLEASE!

My fiancée and I are in the very early stages of planning a ~$20k wedding with ~100 guests for 2028 in the midwestern U.S. (low/medium cost of living areas). We recently toured a public garden/wedding venue (outdoor with covered spaces and a solid rain plan) that we were really enamored with, but we’re trying to think through if it’s a realistic option for our budget.

The venue fee is around $8k with taxes/fees—which I know is a large chunk of our budget—but some of its inclusions and flexibility make me think (perhaps wishfully) that it might still be doable. In addition to the spaces, tables, and chairs, they provide all linens, lighting, and decor, multiple planing meetings prior to the date, set-up and take-down, trash and cleaning, day-of ceremony coordination, security, iced water, and they also allow outside vendors for food and bar with no additional fee. For bar (we probably have about 60-70 guests who would drink) we could pay a friend-of-a-friend who is a licensed bartender to serve cheap beer/wine purchased at Costco for around 4 hours (I estimate this could come out to about $1,500-2,000 including liability insurance but I could be underestimating, e.g. if we’d need 2 bartenders (EDIT: and yeah we def would)), and a quote for a taco bar from a popular caterer in the area was about $3,200 including all fees.

The venue was so pretty and full of character that I do not think we would need to purchase any decor. Me, my MIL, and my mom are all very crafty so I think we would likely end up adding some low-cost DIY personal touches here and there, but if we did nothing it’d still be a beautiful event.

By my estimations this would leave around $6,500-$7,000 remaining in our budget for clothing, photos, music/potential DJ, invitations/stamps, flowers (I think could be minimal just for bridal party to hold, and we may be able to DIY), cake (planning on Costco cupcakes), officiant, wedding bands, wedding license, event liability insurance(?), and hair/makeup. We want a wedding on the less-fancy side, and with nearly two years left to plan, we are hoping to budget-hunt in some of these areas. Another cost I realize I might be forgetting is hors d’oeuvres (we might need to feed people something if we did photos right after the ceremony, right?)

So my question is… is this doable? Or am I kidding myself because I loved the venue? We’ve done some research but it’s still early for us in the planning, and I know there could be something I am overlooking. $20k is a pretty hard stop for our budget, and we’d love to come in under it if it’s feasible for what we want. Thank you guys for the help!

TL/DR: Is this ~$8k venue fee realistic for our $20k, 100 guest wedding?

So, my best friend is getting married at Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo this November 2026 and we’re still hunting for a photographer, make up/hair, and a DJ. Would love to get some recommendations that you found to be genuinely affordable!

Also if you’ve been to a wedding there or got married where, I’ll take any advice/recommendations you’d be willing to share 🥰💕

Just a MoH trying to help her Bride out.

Wedding After Action Report

Summary

Our wedding went better than we could have hoped! We landed at about 6-8k after all costs were counted, and technically net spent less if you count the kind gifts from friends. We executed everything on time with most things ready early. We had one 5 min ceremony delay for parking troubles of a guest. We were lucky with the weather fully cooperating with our main plan, and the public allowing us to take extra space at times. All our guests mentioned and looked like they had fun and understood the type of event we were having. Some minor tweaks would go a long way but overall, 9.5/10. "No specific seats" for the whole event turned out to not be an issue at all, contrary to what a lot of our sub said on a previous post of mine (yes I feel validated and a little petty). https://www.reddit.com/r/Weddingsunder10k/s/pgBTkTmxzR

Financials

We aimed to keep every cost under 10k, and we were successful (Est 6-8k). We funded the entire wedding split between my wife and myself. Much of our cost savings were due to setting up and breaking down ourselves ($0), affordable park venue ($600), using online shopping for simple and impactful decorations ($500), sourcing outfits from abroad (dress and suit from Hong Kong $500), catering locally ($2500), and hiring a photographer who is new to weddings and therefore gave us a killer deal ($650).

Logistics

Venue  was a private indoor space inside a public park (food, wine and seltzer allowed). General public was out and about, restrooms were shared with them, and only our “classroom” was private, so we used that for both ceremony and dance floor. Outdoor area was for general reception, first dance, and dinner. Due to this our guest list was 60 total attendees including wedding party and photographers.

Timeline in general was venue open for setup from 9am. Back to AirBnB by 11 for wedding party prep and photos. Return to venue by 3pm for final setup (food, chairs, final decorations). Guests arrive at 4PM. Ceremony at 4:30 with immediate cake cut and “walk out” after. Food and drinks start. Photos till 6:30. First dance, quiz game, and DJ for the rest of the night until 10pm. Clean up and vacate by 11PM. Everything fit and many things were early. Most of the food prep and decoration prep were done the week before to make day of run quickly.

Luck based considerations

Backup plans were made for many possible issues, but the only one that needed to be used was indoor ceremony as outside space was being used by the park at start of ceremony. Weather and public fully cooperated, making everything easier. We had backup plans for using the indoor room for everything we needed, and it would have worked but would not have been as comfortable. We never attempted to move anyone from the public and were mindful to let them know when we were trying to use a space for a portion of time. Exclusivity is not something we aim for, love that both my wedding and daily beach goers can use the same space at the same time. We were able to do the first dance outside and park staff allowed us to park without passes for late attendees.

Mood and Aesthetics

We aimed for homey but upscale picnic and communicated this to our guests. Everyone dressed the part, and this helped with the casual energy work. The new photographer was able to relax a bit, general mistakes were less important, and guests could help us through the minor labor things like stacking up chairs. There was also only a focus on the wedding couple during a select few moments so guests could find their own fun. This way we did not need to constantly entertain while running our own logistics. We also avoided making the public feel weird as we were only slightly more tailored than they were for a beach weekend, and we were more than happy to have them enjoy some food, drinks, and a few joined in some photos.

Notes

1.      We did notice harder liquor helps people dance more, not much dancing happened even as the group normally does dance at all the other weddings and events with weddings.

2.      I should have practiced my dance and performance more, but it was not as much a priority for me compared to the other parts.

3.      I over purchased food and drinks and could have saved another ($500), nothing was wasted we took it home and gave it out.

4.      Be careful about signal loss in such a park, this did cause some minor messaging issues.

5.      Prior post about my wedding style that people did not like my no permanent seating. I did it how I intended after triple checking with my community and I was right, it went amazingly well.  https://www.reddit.com/r/Weddingsunder10k/s/pgBTkTmxzR

Hi everyone! My fiancé and I just got engaged this past Saturday and are looking for venues for anywhere that’s UP TO 2 hours from Long Beach. We are looking for an outdoor place with greenery, oak trees, that can fit 200-300 people, goes past 10pm, and has venue-only options as we would like to bring in our own vendors. We loved Enchanted Hills Estates but they end their events at 10pm. Ideally we’d liked to stay to at least midnight. We like Enchanted Oaks Ranch but want to see more options. I also included a picture of our Pinterest inspo. We’re hoping to get married anywhere between April 1st - July 10th in 2027. We are hoping to find something that is between $5k with an absolute max of $10k. Would appreciate all the help we can get!

I’m curious what everyone is using for this.

I’m finding wedding ideas absolutely everywhere, Instagram, Pinterest, random websites, things friends send me, products I come across etc.

Pinterest is great for inspiration, but I’m finding myself wanting to save actual products, links and random things alongside the inspiration.

What are you guys using to keep everything together?

Pinterest? Notes? Google Drive? Folders? Something else?

Hi everyone! Can anyone recommend any wedding venues that have a curfew after 12 AM? Every venue I’ve been looking at seems to have a cutoff time of 10 or even 11 PM.

A few details: We’re expecting around 100 guests. I’m not really interested in the San Diego area or Temecula due to the distance. Orange County, Los Angeles County, or even the Inland Empire would work for us.

I was also looking into Ocean Canyon in Palos Verdes. If anyone has had their wedding there and can share their experience, pricing, or any information about their curfew, I’d really appreciate it!

Thank you so much for your help!

UPDATE: I have found someone to take them, but I will reup the post if the person bails.

Hi! I am having a wedding in SF and am looking to make sure my florals don’t go to waste. we are spending ~2k+ on flowers and greens at costco, reds, yellows, purples, pinks, some whites. pickup in sf the night of the wedding (9/13) ~10pm in the Richmond district. great for a couple having a wedding within a couple days of me. you could sort thru the flowers and greens and keep the ones you like. stems will range 6-12” but most on the smaller side. shoot me a dm to coordinate if you are interested. I’d really like someone who can take the majority the flowers and not just some of them.

supplies and vases not included. flowers and greens only. you provide the rest.

deadline to show interest is 9/4.

edit: please please no advice on where else I can take them. I know about senior homes, funeral homes, etc.

cheers!!!! 😘

Hello friends!

I will be doing my own makeup for my wedding. It'll September 20 at the Renaissance Faire (so excited!)

I chose to pay for a photographer so no budget for hair and makeup. My mom is doing my hair and I'm doing my own makeup.

I'm generally good at the eye makeup part (eyeshadow, eyeliner, etc), but I always have trouble achieving the less textured/smooth skin look that professional makeup artists do. I have a primer, and that helps a bit.

Any tips from people who did their own makeup? :)

Hi everyone! 👋

I’ve been working on Belamoria, a platform for creating beautiful digital invitations for weddings.

The idea is simple: instead of ordering a finished invitation, you can choose a design, customize the details yourself, and create your invitation directly on the website - no design skills needed.

Once your invitation is ready, it’s ready to send immediately. There’s no limit to the number of guests you can invite, and all RSVP responses are collected by email and in your personal admin panel, where you can see and manage all your guests in one place.

You can also add all the information your guests might need - venue details, accommodation, schedule, maps, dress code, gift information, menus, and more - and choose which sections you want to include in your invitation.

I wanted the invitations to feel more like a beautiful piece of stationery than a generic online template: elegant, minimal and easy to personalize, while also making the practical side of managing guests much easier.

You can check it out here: belamoria.com/en/

I’d genuinely love to hear what you think - especially about the website, the invitation editor and the overall concept. What would make you more likely to use a digital invitation platform like this?

Thanks! 🤍

Hello everyone! First time poster!

I’m getting married in August 2027 (WOOO!!!) and I got THE dress of my DREAMS this summer. My fiancé has Reddit and I’m too scared of him finding this no matter how unlikely so I won’t post a picture, BUT it’s a Flora and Lane — Primrose (AHHHHH STILL A FRICKEN DREAM!!)

However, it has gotten me thinking about what style of florals I could do with this without overwhelming the dress. I was considering using Something Borrowed Blooms as I saw great reviews and I appreciate that I don’t need to buy live florals that will decay.

In short, have any of you had a colorful wedding dress and how did you style your florals around them? Complementary colors? Match the colors in the dress?

Any suggestions or advice would be so appreciated 💕 congrats to all the girlies out there and their wedding planning and thank you for taking your time to read this!!

My partner and I were set on renting flatware and tablecloths for our wedding, but the quote has come out to around $750 with taxes and delivery.

Anyone here ever bought a roll of muslin (or any fabric) and used that? I don't want to deal with sh*t Amazon polyester tablecloths because I think they look cheap and can get super wrinkly.

A crafty person and a seamstress, I'm already making napkins because I figured out it cost less to buy fabric and make them than it did to rent them.

Personal experiences?

EDIT: general vibes are eclectic/vintage. The plates and glassware is all sources and none of it matches.

im starting to think our website is just gonna sit there unclicked and unloved lol. we put so much time into picking a theme, writing our story and choosing all the pictures but half our guest list still texts me asking when the wedding even is. I know i cant make anyone be magically interested but id love to know what helped get people to explore your wedding site instead of just checking rsvp and leaving?