In honor of today’s DIY contest, I am so excited to share this DIY inspired wedding with you (that literally just came into my inbox this morning…it’s fate!). Beth and Mike were married on Beth’s family tobacco farm, an absolutely gorgeous 100 year old farm that provided the perfect backdrop for their under $10,000 affair…
all photographs by Lindsay Brooke Emeigh
Beth has been sweet enough to stop by for a bit to share a few of the amazing details…
Here is the basic Breakdown for our $10,000 wedding…Music 15%, Caterer, Beverages and Cake 39%, Tent and other Rentals 20%, Flowers 15%, Wedding garb, hair and makeup: 3%, Photographer: 4%, Invitations and other projects: 4%. There were about 80 guests at our wedding.
We were married on September 20th at my family’s tobacco farm in Greensboro, North Carolina. We had a budget wedding (under $10,000–I’m still tallying the final costs) that we made work by DIYing a lot and cutting back on some tradiitonally expensive categories (wedding dress, photographer) and focusing instead on food and music.
My husband and I are from Chicago, so we heavily relied on my family for help with vendors. The biggest expense by far was our caterer, Sweet Basil’s, in Greensboro, but they were by far worth every penny. They use organic food and locally grown produce. The food was AMAZING! Renee, who runs a restaurant and catering company, also acted as my de facto wedding planner, and came out to the farm on a number of occasions just to help with the set up and lighting. Also, Renee let us bring our own Beer and Wine, which was a huge cost saver. We bought the wine from Trader Joe’s and the beer from Costco.
The venue was free, as it was my family’s 100 year old farmhouse. The officiant was our friend (actually, the person who introduced me to my husband in law school!), and performed the ceremony for free. I kept my engagement ring as my wedding ring, which also cut down on costs. My dress was the infamous Sophia dress from Jcrew. I stayed away from the Bridal boutiques because I didn’t want to end up with a dress that cost half my budget. I’m a real clothes shopper, so that was very hard for me, but, in the end, I’m glad that I saved on that. The dress was very soft, minimalist and simple and fit the atmosphere of the wedding. My groom used a newer suit he had bought for work, and freshened it up with a fun tie.
Etsy was a complete lifesaver for my wedding. My hair flower was from Myra Kim at twigs and honey. My necklace was probably the best deal of all. An etsy jewler, Deb from BlazerArts, replicated an incredibly expensive necklace I loved but was out of my budget. I gave her a picture of the necklace and she made one from scratch for me and even let me pick up the stone–all for a fraction of the cost.
Stay tuned to see how the rest of Beth and Mike’s wedding turned out and find out the incredible sources where Beth found most of her details!