I had my wedding on September 5! I used so much advice from this community while planning my wedding that I wanted to return the favor by sharing some things we learned and highlighting some of the amazing vendors we used.
Wedding Venue: Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, CA
We got married at Asilomar Conference Grounds, a state-owned venue that also operates as a hotel. One of the things I loved about this venue is that its profits help support the preservation of the sand dunes, plants, and wildlife on the property.
One of my biggest recommendations is to look into state-owned venues in California! There are so many beautiful options at affordable prices.
Asilomar offers wedding packages that include almost everything: food, drinks, ceremony setup, chairs, tables, and reception table settings. They also have multiple reception spaces depending on your guest count. For the ceremony, you can choose between the beach or a beautiful meadow.
One thing to keep in mind is that the ceremony and reception costs are separate. You can have your ceremony somewhere else and just host your reception at Asilomar. This could save you a few thousand dollars!
DIY Flowers: $700 Total!
We decided to DIY our flowers, and I was fortunate to have amazing family members help assemble all the arrangements.
Initially, we planned to use Costco flowers, but we weren’t sure how we would store them at the venue. Instead, we found a wholesale flower shop called Ceasar Flower Shop in Royal Oaks, CA.
This saved us SO much money! We picked up the flowers the day before the wedding and assembled everything ourselves. We spent only $700 on gorgeous, fresh flowers! I 100% recommend them if you’re getting married in the area.
I’m terrible at coordinating colors, so I looked through floral websites for arrangements I liked and decided to recreate one. I found an arrangement I loved and then searched for those same flowers at the warehouse.
The trickiest part was figuring out how many stems we needed for each arrangement. Costco actually lists the number of stems included in its floral arrangements, so I used those numbers as a reference.
Photography: Undergraduate Photography Club
For photography, we hired photographers from an undergraduate photography club.
Our pictures turned out AMAZING. Seriously, top tier!
Of course, this approach comes with some risk. You really have to be confident in their work and be able to see their potential, lol. But the photographers we worked with were incredibly talented, and we couldn’t be happier with the results.
DIY Wedding Signs and Vases: Makerspace!
Another money-saving discovery was finding a local makerspace with a laser cutter!
We made all of our wedding signs using the laser cutter, and they turned out incredibly professional. I purchased designs from Etsy and uploaded them into the laser cutter software.
I even made our vases using wood that we cut with the laser cutter!
If you have access to a makerspace, I highly recommend looking into this option. You can make some really beautiful, high-quality decorations without spending a fortune.
Welcome Party: Eden Rift Vineyard in Hollister, CA
For our welcome party, we chose Eden Rift Vineyard in Hollister.
This location is absolutely breathtaking AND affordable!
They have a beautiful outdoor area where you can reserve picnic tables with a minimum wine purchase. I believe the minimum was around $400 when we booked.
The best part? You can bring your own food!
This saved us so much money and allowed us to host our guests at a gorgeous vineyard without paying traditional event venue prices.
Between Asilomar and Eden Rift, our guests couldn’t believe we had found such beautiful locations at affordable prices.
Lessons Learned: What We Would Do Differently
- Don’t assume your guests won’t drink!
This is one area where we went over budget.
We were convinced that our guests wouldn’t drink very much, so we were conservative with our alcohol estimate.
Well, we clearly didn’t know our crowd as well as we thought! 😂
My advice is to be realistic about alcohol consumption and leave some room in your budget for unexpected costs.
- Follow up with guests multiple times about RSVPs.
We followed up with guests several times to confirm whether they were actually coming, and I’m so glad we did.
This helped us get a much more accurate guest count.
Of course, we still had a few people who didn’t show up, but it wasn’t too bad because we had already identified most of the guests who were unlikely to attend.
Don’t be afraid to follow up! It can save you a lot of money.
- Make most of your purchases early, while you still have the energy to think clearly.
This was another area where we went over budget.
As we got closer to the wedding, we became much more careless with our spending.
We were exhausted from all the planning and honestly just wanted everything to be DONE. We reached a point where we were willing to spend money just so we wouldn’t have to think about another decision.
Looking back, I wish we had made more of our purchases earlier, when we had the time and energy to compare prices and think things through.
- Be careful when buying sample wedding dresses!
I purchased my wedding dress from a bridal store that sells sample gowns. These are dresses that brides try on in traditional bridal stores.
I actually really liked this option because you can find beautiful dresses at discounted prices.
However, I made one BIG mistake: I bought a dress that didn’t fit me properly because I assumed I could just have it altered.
Well, the alterations ended up costing more than the dress itself!
If you’re buying a sample gown, I highly recommend choosing one that already fits you reasonably well. Otherwise, those savings can disappear very quickly.
I hope some of these tips are helpful to anyone planning their wedding in California!
I learned so much from this community throughout the planning process, and I’m happy I finally get to share some advice of my own. ❤️
