Any DJ will tell you that their services are one of the most importnat details for your wedding day. While your guests being able to party and have a good time is a nice touch to your day, don't make it a top priority. You know what one of the most important things is? The two of you.

You don't have to spend thousands on a DJ. Our DJ is costing us a total of $200 for all 4 hours of our wedding. How did we do that? Social Networking.

A few tips to getting a DJ at a lower price:

1) Craigslist.com

For our wedding we simply put out an add on craigslist that discussed our budget for a DJ. You wouldn't believe the offers we had pouring in.

2) Stick to your guns

Do not jump at the first person who says they can help you. We got a different variety of emails from "I can do it for your price and only that price," to "You will find no one for that price, call me and we will give you a little of a deal but we can't do it for that low." Every email like that went straight to file 13 otherwise known as the trash can. No, DJ service who wants to charge out the butt you are wrong, we CAN find someone for our price. In fact, we DID find someone for lower than our asking price.

3) Go with a genuine, caring DJ service

We had an impromptu meeting at a Hardees on the way to Lakeland with our DJ. He found out we were headed that way to meet our photographer and offered to set up a meeting too. When we arrived, we were greeted by the DJ and his wife warmly and with respect. They didn't treat us like we were lower because we were not paying as much. This family business understood our budget, and they understood this economy. If you find a DJ who offers a lower price, make sure they have this same attitude. Being treated like a second class citizen because you have a lower budget is wrong.






Finding a DJ at a lower price is very possible if you just weigh all of your options. Do not accept less than you deserve. Our DJ has offered to use lights for us where most other places told us that if they did our price we couldn't have any extras.





If you are in the Tampa Bay/Lakeland/Bradenton area and are looking for a genuine DJ:

http://www.nuricproductions.com/

"You'll love David's Bridal" ...Maybe

I am sure we have all seen the commercials for one of the biggest wedding retail chains in the world, David's Bridal. The add claims in a sing songy tune, "you'll love David's Bridallllll." But will you really LOVE it? Well, I guess that is a matter of opinion but if you want to know mine read on...



Review of David's Bridal


Price:

The prices at David's Bridal are on average lower than other wedding dress salons. For a bride on a budget this is probably your best bet. From time to time you will see a "$99 dress sale" pop up at your local David's Bridal store. This could mean scoring a dress at a super low price, but if you want a dress with much personality you may want to steer clear of dresses on this sale. Here is an example of a dress you can get on the $99 dollar sale:








Is this dress beautiful? Duh, of course. But, does it have pizazz? No, not really. My point here is try on those $99 dollar dresses to see if you find anything worth taking a second look at but if you want the vavoom factor, it might not happen in that price range.

Overall Price Grade: A-


Service:

I can't speak for every David's Bridal because I have only had experiences in two that are located in the state of Florida. Now that my disclaimer is over with here is the truth: David's Bridal has horrible customer service. Before we go and shame their employees for this lets try and figure out an excuse for them. My theory here for why they are always so frazzled is: stress. That place is so busy!! Does this give reason for not so great treatment of a bride? It shouldn't but none of us are perfect. So if you are more into the price and can deal with a little rude bridal consultant without going all Bridezilla then I would still go ahead and look at David's. Here is what to expect at your appointment:
You will call in and make an appointment to try on dresses. When you get in the store the person at the front table will give you a catalog to look through in which you have to pick out dresses you like the style of for your consultant. The consultant then comes up and takes your suggestions, the dresses you liked from the catalog, and dresses that are in the same style as ones you express interest in but a little more expensive because they want to make that higher sale. The consultant will then lead you to one of their million dressing rooms, stick the dresses in there, and shut the door. My consultant actually walked away and I was forced to walk the store in a half zipped wedding dress to find her to help me. Your consultant will more than likely have two other brides other than you in the same dressing room row.

Here are a few tips with dealing with their service: 1) be prepared to not have that much attention 2) bring a friend who is experienced in zipping, tying, fluffing wedding dresses 3) do not be afraid to talk to a supervisor

Overall service grade: D


Return Policy:

WARNING WARNING WARNING! If you read nothing else on this blog please pay attention to this. David's Bridal's return policy can be summed up in two words: not fair. Lets say you buy a dress that you think is your dream from DB. The next day you have cold feet and decide to try another bridal salon. If you find your dream dress at this other salon do not expect DB to give you your money back from the one you bought at their store, even if they have not done any alterations yet. Their policy allows you to exchange for an item that is of equal or lesser value. So the tip here would be to make sure that before you purchase anything from DB you know it is the one and only dress or item for you.

Overall Return Policy Grade: C






Website:

David's Bridal has a really great website. Not only is it easy to navigate but it is fun. You can create your whole wedding parties look as well as your own in "dress my wedding." This tool is very helpful when trying to choose your wedding's color palette. Another tool I really liked is the color changer for their products. You can change the color of bridesmaids dresses, wedding dress accents, and accessories as you browse. Go to this URL and click on the small color boxes for an example:


http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49998974¤tIdx=1&subCategory=-49998976%7c-49998975%7c-49998974&catentryId=6142385&sort



Overall website score: A+


Alterations:

I have to give praise to the woman in alterations at the Clearwater, Fl store. At first I was quite angry because the tiny alterations room was crowded with brides, children, and bridesmaids when I went for my first fitting. This would would have been fine except the seamstresses helper kept letting people who were pushy cut me in line. I patiently waited for my "turn" and stepped up on the pedestal. The seamstress apologized for my wait and got to work. She pinned up to do my bustle but my mom and I fell in love with the way it looked. They were accommodating and said they could make my bustle permanent and the train would no longer be there. Now, on the other hand I had a friend who hated the alterations department at David's Bridal. Granted this was in a completely different store then the one I went to but I couldn't agree with her more. They were rude, pushy, and didn't want to listen to her ideas about the dress. I think this one may depend on who you get...

Overall alterations grade: B-

Partner Tux store "Mens Warehouse":

My fiance and I were curious one day to see what DB's partner store Men's Warehouse had to offer for him. We went in to the store and looked around some before speaking with an associate. At our wedding the men are going to wear suits not tuxedos so we were looking to see if they had those for rent. Unlike other men's wedding/prom attire stores they did not have this service. They could only rent out tuxedos, and not in many colors either. We also did not enjoy their selection of vests and ties. For each color there was only one design of fabric that you could choose from. The worst part was these colors were supposed to "coordinate" with the ones at David's Bridal but all of them were a little off. Maybe it is just me, but as a "matchy matchy" person I was not happy. Check them out for yourself and form your own opinion. We will probably go elsewhere.

Overall Partner Tux Store Grade: D-




OVERALL GRADE FOR DAVID'S BRIDAL: B-


In reflection, while David's Bridal is low in prices, they are lacking in service. They could really use some good customer service training, and team building exercises. Whoever designs their website deserves a kudos and a raise because it probably brings more people to the store than word of mouth does.

As with anything I think it is best that you form your own opinion of the store. If you would like to see more reviews from others, why not visit this site?


http://www.projectwedding.com/vendor/show/david-s-bridal




I would like to a get a few responses on this one... how was your experience with David's?

The early bird gets the discount worm...

Hey all you Ms. and Mrs.! I hope all is well. As you can see the title above captures the essence of today's rule.

Rule # 2: When it comes to a wedding, early always wins. In more than one way.

In what ways? Well, thank you for asking. (Assuming you did, although either way I will still explain so you might as well keep going.) Having an earlier start time can chop down the cost of your wedding by at least 25 %. Review the following advice to help motivate you to get your butt up with the sun.


Early wedding times talk money to vendors:

This is not to say the money talks to them from your pocket, but from the booking opportunities. Vendors like florists, DJ's, caterers, etc. will be more likely to give you a lower price on their services because your early start/end time gives them room to book another event later in the day.

Food costs go for a crash landing instead of sky rocketing:

People, ok most people, do not eat heavy during the day. Dinner is the time that most guests will pile up their plates at the buffet because they have been waiting all afternoon to eat a good size meal. Save your bucks by offering a lighter lunch reception menu at around 12 pm. Most guests won't notice the difference as they one, will still be full from breakfast, and two, have stomachs that are used to these portions at this hour.


Saturdays are popular, but early days of the week save you dinero:


Saturdays are obviously the most desirable days for a wedding to take place, but any other day of the week can put extra cash in your pocket. Some venues will practically throw a Thursday or a Sunday at you because they can't get anyone to book . Again, vendors will jump at the opportunity to make money on a day they normally wouldn't have business. Although a week day may be hard to work around, consider it as a viable option if you are looking to have a small budget.

Buy early, save more:

Not time to buy the DIY centerpieces yet but you found a coupon for an item? Early shermurly, buy that thing! Any way you can save money, go for it no matter how early it is. You will not believe how many times I have heard so far "Isn't it too early to do such and such?" The answer will always be no. Plus, the sooner you get some things done the less stressful your day will be when it finally arrives.







I will discuss many of these things in further detail in future blogs. Like, how I got my DJ for $200 dollars by being an early riser and other techniques. (That's right less than half the industry average, baabbyyy.)



Remember, not only does the early bird get the discount worm, but they also get to happily chirp, "cheap, cheap, cheap"!!

Once upon a time...

So, it finally happened huh? He got down on one knee and asked the question you have been waiting to hear since you were in pull ups. "I love you, yadda yadda yada, I can't live without you, yada yada yada, will you marry me?" And then it shows up, the queen of queens, the apple of your eye, the love of your life...your diamond. Ahh there is the real reason most women dream of this very moment in life when they can shove their hand in the snotty brat at works face and say, "look at my ring isn't it beautiful?" Should marriage and love really be about this? Of course not. But, if you are like me you are going with the traditional flow of things and planning your wedding. Lets face it though, this economy sucks. You will probably find on about ten websites right now this phrase "weddings do not have to be expensive!" WRONG. Weddings ARE expensive wether we like it or not. Of course if you have $10,000 (a "cheap" wedding by todays standards) to throw out on one day then it probably doesn't seem so bad. If you are one of those women going off with your fiance to the court house, run while you still can, more power to you! But honey, if you need the DJ, the flowers, the favors, the this, the that, and the other then stick with this lady. The phrase might be true "weddings don't have to be expensive," but there is one stipulation, as Ru Paul says "you better work" it girl. I as a Ms. will be taking you through my journey of DIY wedding planning on a budget throughout this blog. Afterwards I may just stick around and share new tips I learn as I "wife it" as a Mrs. Here we go...let's work hard to save money...let's make love more important than extravagance.... let's plan a beatiful wedding on a beautiful budget...

RULE # 1: DEEP BREATHS