I’d really like to know about anyone else’s photographer experience. Seems to me that anything marked “wedding” has an automatic 300% mark-up!

Other wedding cost-savers: Buying alcohol from Costco/Sam’s (they’ll let you return unopened containers for refund), having the local college of hotel management serve your reception/bar (they’ll do it for almost nothing and break their butts to do a good job!), and shopping for things without the word “wedding” (i.e. disposable cameras, invitations, photo albulms, bubbles, birdseed, shoes, jewelry/accesories, DJs, photographers, caterers, bakers, transportation, etc.).

For example . . .

These bubbles are “ideal for weddings” and cost $0.28 each: http://bit.ly/9gNSjY. These bubbles are “great for birthday parties” and are $0.13 each: http://bit.ly/99xlgJ

Yes, the bottle styles and colors are different, but this was a quick search and I’m positive better options are out there!

This 15-shot disposable flash camera will “help you capture memories from your special day” fo $1.95 each. This 27-shot shot disposable flash camera is for no discernable intent and runs $2.25 each: http://bit.ly/d2qREm

The 15-shot camera has a white cardboard cover, the 27-shot camera has a rainbow cardboard cover. Just tear off the cover!

Just observations . . .

That is so cool that we have the same date and are using the same book! It is quickly approaching…are you guys ready? I think we’re in a good place. My Maid of Honor purchased the Bridal Bargains book for me as an engagement gift (she used it herself), and it has been a great resource!

Best of luck!

I appreciate the offer; I am getting married in PA though (not Houston)…where are you located at?

Thank you all for sharing your information and experiences. Have a great Thanksgiving!

My only regret was not having a wedding video. Neither one of us can remember exactly what our vows were since we wrote them ourselves and have lost our “notes”…plus I cried all the way through so nobody could understand me anyway.

Our photographer was awesome and inexpensive. He had been a photographer for years, then moved to California for a few years for a different business, so when he came back to Houston he needed to build up his references again to restart his photography business.

He took more than 400 shots spanning from the chapel and us getting ready, the formal shots, and all the way through to the end of the reception (about 6 hours) for about $450-500 in 2005. That included 10 prints and 2 CD’s (one of every single shot and another of his 200 favorites). His name is Charles Spruell and his number is 832-265-3228.

I still have a few wedding photos on my cubicle wall and we still look at them every once in a while at home…he did a fantastic job of getting shots of everybody and lots of situations despite the fact we were too ignorant at the time to know what we wanted.

Our expenses were as follows:

Apparel: $300 ($125 gorgeous David’s bridal special, a $150 tux with tails and accessories rental, and my mom spent $25 on all the materials to make my 5 foot long veil…it was amazing and decorated with shinies and fake pearls…the patterns were awesome against the back of my dress and went great with the train)

Rings: $250 ($250 for hubby’s band, my bands are from his mother, and my engagement ring is from his grandmother)

Music: $0 (my mother set up a sound system and we played CD’s)

Miscellaneous: $500 (reception decorations and the fake flowers used for bouquets and decorations)

Ceremony Site and Officiant: $250 ($150 for chapel and organist and $100 for the preacher)

Flowers: $50 (the roses that my youngest sister handed out as the flower girl)

Cake: $125 (3 tier decorated in our light blue wedding color from Kroger’s)

Reception/Catering: $500-$800 (reception hall for 60 guests and linens were $125, my mother bought trays from Sam’s Club of shrimp, vegetables, meat, and fruit, my MIL baked and decorated an awesome groom’s cake, and my aunt-in-law and my MIL decorated the tables with glitter and little reception souvenirs)

Photography: $500

Videography: $0 (But please get one if you think you’d love it…)

Invitations: $100

Limo: $0 (our reception hall was in walking distance and we lived nearby)

So our whole wedding was less than $3000 and was absolutely fantastic!!!