Is it possible to get married in 3 months?

I don't want to elope, and I don't want a cheap, tiny wedding. I want the whole thing (flowers, reception, dance, ceremony). Is it possible to throw together a wedding by the end of August? If not, we will have to wait until next year sometime, and we don't want to do that because we need to get married soon. We have a strict budget, and have a HUGE family. HELP!



Also, my fiance's brother is getting married June 2009. I'm afraid if we get married this summer, we will steal their spotlight....what do you think???

Is it possible to get married in 3 months?
You can definitely put a wedding together in three months, but you will have to be very organized. The church and place for reception will have to be booked immediately. Then make up your guest list and send invitations so guests have time to respond. Everything else can be put together. You'll be able to get flowers, find dresses, music, etc

You may even find that things run smoothly because you have to make decisions quickly, without alot of debating with others.

Good luck!
Reply:No their wedding is a year away I wouldn't worry about stealing their thunder it's a safe distance apart.

Now onto the wedding part....You can still have the whole thing if you get working on it right now. If you are on that strick of a budget you probably will have to resort to cutting corners some. If you have that big of a family ask them to help...I mean with food and stuff...that would save a lot of money right there alone. Does any of your family have a huge yard that would accomodate a wedding and reception, if you are not opposed to an outdoor wedding that is. Ask if you can have it there that would also cut out some expenses. I pulled mine off in 3 months time so you can too, just get working on it now. Those were a few things I did to save money.
Reply:I am getting married August of this year and started planning about 3 months ago. I have been engaged for about a year and we just got financially ready. Honestly if you can book a caterer and your ceremony you should be okay. Florist I haven't even done yet and they said they need only 2 weeks notice before weddings if need be. My dress said 6 months but I got it a week later so don't listen to what everyone says. Just be careful and if you can puzzle it all together go for it!
Reply:Of course it's possible. If you have some idea of the type of wedding you want, and know what your budget is, you can do it. Most venues don't need a lot of time to get their items together, and you can certainly secure a place.to have your ceremony and reception. Don't stress yourself out. You have a huge family circle, use that to your advantage. Above all -DELEGATE!
Reply:As long as you wed in 2008 . . . not 2009 . . . you will not be stealing the spotlight from the other couple.



And yes, you can organize a wedding in 3 months . . . especially if family members are willing to help.



Go to the Knot and follow their checklist.

http://theknot.com/

You may not want or need everything mentioned at the Knot, but it is a good place to start.



This link may help:

http://weddings.about.com/od/getorganize...
Reply:You may want to find a wedding planner to help you get things together that soon. A wedding planner may cost you a little more, but they have leverage in price negotiations with vendors and are pros at putting all the details together and make a wedding what you want it to be. She can be as involved or uninvolved as you would like.
Reply:Spot light? What is this a wedding or a high school play?



Hon,get married when you want to...just make sure it's not too close to your bro's wedding otherwise your poor guests will get hit with double gift duty...hard on the pockets you know.....you have from now to Dec to choose this year so don't rush it......and there's no way it's gonna take attention from bro's wedding when his wedding 'comes up'....you get one day to shine, not a week, month, year, or decade...good luck.
Reply:Yes you can do it. You could proably find a dress already to fit. Florists can get flowers really fast. Finding a place, might be an issue if you live in a small town.
Reply:I think if you work really hard to prepare things, it is absolutely possible!
Reply:That depends on how hard you work. I've known people who've thrown weddings in shorter times than that, but they weren't able have everything they wanted venu and vendor wise. Even in a small town you need to book at least a year in advance, so set a budget, make a notebook, starta The Knot account, and start booking venues and vendors ASAP. When you have two months to go, start sending out invitations, so that people have plenty of time to take care of any arrangements required to come.



EDIT:



I had to double-check the date! I thought you meant June of this year and I had a good answer worked out =p haha. Anyway, there is roughly a year between the two, so I don't see how that would be stealing spotlight. Besides, it's about love, commitment, and family not being centerstage for a day, right? If either of them have a problem with you getting married, they're jut being petty. You shouldn't plan your life around anyone.
Reply:My husband was extended in his tour in Iraq, so we had two choices, plan the wedding in 2 months, or wait over a year to see each other again and we weren't waiting!!



Its very possible, as long as you have the venue booked and the invites sent out a month ahead of time, you have enough time.



Good luck and have a beautiful wedding!!



As far as pricing, I included a list of what we did below, hope some it helps, but you seem like you got it under control.



My husband and I were strapped for cash and had a very elegant wedding for 120 people and our friends and family said it was the best they have ever been to, this is what we did.



Things we skimped on:



Invitations: We purchased simple invites from Target for less than .50 an invite and printed them using pretty calligraphy font on a computer, everything down to the envelopes. They came out GREAT and no one knew the difference. Also, instead of including response cards with postage to mail back, which can get pricey. We included an email address for online replies and two phone numbers. We got a lot of response online and it was a big hit as it saved us money and everyone else the time of filling this stuff out and sending it back via snail mail.



Location: we rented an empty ambulance/fire hall and decorated it to our tastes and it came out better than most fancy reception halls. The GREAT thing was, because they do a lot of weddings they had things we borrowed free of charge such as tables, chairs, a wedding arch, a mailbox for wedding cards, a cake table, et. Invest wisely and make sure you can get the most for your buck out of the location. (We did "winter wonderland" and got married in January so a lot of snow and things were half off, that helped a lot. And it turned out BEAUTIFUL.)



Alcohol: If you want a really cheap alternative, don't serve it. But if that won't fly with your guests you can do what we did. We served only beer, wine, margaritas (most people pick one specialty mixed drink, that was just our choice) and we made it self serve. Invested in a wine fountain, Beer Keg and Margarita machine (rented of course) so the need to pay a bartender did not exist. If you are having it at a hotel hall you can opt for a cash bar where the guests pay for drinks but many people consider that bad taste. If that’s not an option either, cut down the amount of time in open bar.



Transportation: My husband and I were very active in our local ambulance squad so we rode away with our bridal party in an ambulance and everyone thought it was great when we pulled in lights and sirens. Be creative. Do you have a friend with a vintage car that you would look awesome in driving away? Can you use something creative? Like our ambulance idea. Or does it really matter to you to have it at all? Also a cheaper option is renting a cool car for the day and having a friend drive for you and have the bridal party arrive in regular vehicles, I assure you, its your day, they shouldn't care.



Photography and videoography: We asked a friend who studied video production to do that for us. And for photography we asked a photographer from a local paper to photograph our wedding, and it was at least half off. But don't skimp on these things if you can't get lucky like we did, these memories last a lifetime.



Cake: We asked an experience culinary student (graduating and we sampled her work beforehand) to make our cake and it turned out wonderful and was also half off. Students do these things for grades so they are very careful and much, much, cheaper than traditional bakeries.



Attire: My husband wore his army dress greens, but a good alternative is to wear a suit instead of a tux, all our attendants did and it looked just as good.



Flowers: I picked "in season" flowers and went with a smaller bouquet instead of a larger one and it was beautiful and elegant. And carrying that for a while when its heavy can get on your nerves anyway. Also, for any child/ junior attendants, get carnations, not roses, they hold up much better and are cheaper. I didn’t use roses in anything but picked in season cheaper flowers that looked really neat in my boutonnieres. For the bridesmaids: My bridesmaids carried a single white rose with a purple tip trim and it looked very elegant and the floral shop jazzed it up and added stuff so it didn’t look so plain. But your girls wont care what their flowers look like.



Favors: If you have a theme, go practical and go cheap. Our theme was winter, as I said. So I found porcelain ornaments for less than .50 each online, and I ordered custom ribbons off an eBay seller with our names and wedding date and hot glued it to the snowflake, they were a huge hit and looked expensive when they weren't. Another option is a "candy buffet" look those up online, they can be neat. But if you do that get smaller bags/boxes so the candy lasts.



This and that extras: I bought my disposable table cameras online from ebay from a woman who didn’t use them at her wedding, same with our bubbles and cake cutting knife and I found a beautiful authentic crystal headpiece second hand for $150 less than in the bridal shop in excellent condition. We found our "unity candle" and ring bearers pillow and white basket at a craft store for 60% off what they were in the Hallmark store. Look online, its a really great resource.



As for food, never skimp or not have enough, that’s not in good taste. We really wanted an evening reception s we just picked less options and less expensive options. Like 2 meats, 2 starches, vegetable, bread and salad and that was it and people had plenty of selection. And we did it buffet style which can be hit or miss because you eliminate the need for staff to serve them but you have to over estimate food since people serve themselves a lot more than a waiter would. We also got our own appetizers and desserts. we got cracker trays and shrimp cocktail from sams as well as some hot options a friend threw in the oven right before the reception and it cut down our costs. In addition to our cake we bought cream puffs (which were a HUGE hit) as well as some bakery cookies and it cut down our costs significantly.



Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate: We had our cater throw in a carving station and table linens in at no charge, work with them, haggle and see what you can do.



Another option: My friends for their second marriage had a "pot luck" where guests brought a dish and it was CONSIDERABLY cheaper. But only consider this for a informal wedding.



Another option for food: Have a breakfast or brunch reception, its thousands cheaper and gives you the day to celebrate with your significant other just to yourselves. And if you do that you only have to serve champagne for alcohol for the toast.



We borrowed a lot of things from friends, enlisted their talents and looked around the internet and looked second hand before buying new. I even found my dress more than half off. (I paid $300 for a $1500 dress because it was "last season," well, it could have fooled me, it was beautiful and white so what did I care...) Suggestions: For little things you need, search dollar stores or Wal-Mart or sams club before going strait to a wedding store. Dinner mints in white packages that would be $3.00 for 500 at Wal-Mart are now $5.00 for one hundred because they have a wedding bell on them. Shop away from wedding sections as much as possible. There is no difference. we even did things like asked the ambulance hall if we could clean up ourselves and took money off the rental.



Entertainment: Never skimp on entertainment if you would like your guests to have a good time. An option to consider if you are having trouble affording it is to make the reception shorter. But get an experienced DJ that will match your tastes in music and will do the whole thing for you, you don't wan to have to tell your DJ what to do on your wedding day, get an experienced person whether it be a live band or DJ. Some DJ's charge less in the "off season" (that’s why we got a discount on ours) and some bands will work for considerably less also during the off season as the amount of wedding gigs are more scarce.



Centerpieces: Go for balloons, candles and confetti and steer clear of flowers. A friend of mine for a beach wedding did little goldfish bowls with beta and goldfish. For our wedding we did little mini Christmas trees, flocked them ourselves and did silver ornaments and snowflakes. We bought them after the holiday and it was much much cheaper.



Solicit help: If your parents offer, allow them to help. Allow relatives to give you as much help as possible if they offer, it will help them feel involved and it will help you. For example, a friend offered to pay for favors as a gift, another family member offered to get the cake. But if you're on your own, you can still have an awesome wedding on a budget.



Which brings me to my last option: Have a winter wedding. Or a fall or "off season" wedding. (Not spring or summer) You can usually find everything from your wedding dress to catering and entertainment at a discount.



Hope this helps, have a happy wedding!!