Tips For An Inexpensive Wedding, From Colin Cowie

In my "Mondays With Marlo" interview with Colin Cowie, a viewer wrote in asking for tips on how to keep costs down, but still have an elegant and tasteful wedding. As always Colin had lots of ideas, and here are some of his brilliant suggestions:

• First of all, you have to think that most weddings take place on a Saturday. There are only 52 Saturdays in a year, so that is the day when all your top quality vendors are invariably booked and charging a premium. So first think of a different date. If you were to do it on a Friday or a Thursday or do a Sunday morning reception you’re going to get better vendors and be able to negotiate a much better price.


• Deejays are tomorrow’s rock stars, so rather than working with a live band, work with a deejay and the big trend we’re seeing today is when the deejay works with a rock violinist or a percussionist or a saxophonist to come and add one or two more elements to it.


• Instead of doing the sit-down dinner you could possibly think of maybe having a cocktail party or doing a reception where you have small stations of food. This way you don’t have to do seating for everyone. It would be kind of like a more lounge environment.


• If you do a brunch in the morning on a Sunday you don’t have to necessarily end up spending money on lighting and the big dance floor and all the other things.


• Instead of doing the big wedding cake perhaps you do cupcakes; maybe do a big croquembouche, something along those lines.

Simple and stylish! Here are some more tips from Colin on entertaining and weddings:

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Comments

[debdora]

12:56 PM on 06/15/2012

Great ideas, but...as a professional wedding cake maker, don't disregard the wedding cake. We are not all overpriced. There are many ways to meet the couples budget. Cupcakes are all ready on there way to becoming outdated and a crocumbouce? Awesome idea but be very careful to find the right baker to make a REAL one. It is not just cream puffs stuffed and stacked. It is assembled with caramelized sugar. Not only are they temperature sensitive, they also are not that easy to serve. They break when you pull them apart so guests only get portions.

[Harlee Cohn Mahmet]

05:46 AM on 05/08/2012

Ohh. A "croque-en-bouche ". Now I know where Groucho got that name for Margaret Dumont!

[Harlee Cohn Mahmet]

05:43 AM on 05/08/2012

"Maybe do a big croquembouche."

A WHAT??? Is that a drinking game?

[LemmonHerk]

04:30 AM on 05/08/2012

"... have bowls of pasta and roasted chicken ... pierced [sic] all the way down the table."

WFT does THAT mean? How do you have a bowl of anything "pierced down the table"? That's very unclear. Basically, there are three elements to consider in planning a wedding. You can have any two, but not all three. They are: 1) a wedding on a tight budget; 2) the beautiful wedding of your dreams; and/or 3) the easy-to-plan wedding. You can have 1+2: a wedding on a tight budget, and it can be the wedding of your dreams, but it won't be easy -- it'll take a lot of leg work, time and imagination. (But it can be done -- I did it!) Or 1+3: a tight-budget wedding that's easy to plan, but it won't be the glitzy wedding of your dreams. Yes, it can still be nice, but it'll be less extravagant (which is fine). Or, you can have 2+3: the dream wedding that's easy to plan, but it won't be cheap. You'll pay a fortune if you don't make the effort to shop, compare prices, etc. I got a $2,100 dress (in 1989) for $199 at a sample sale (undamaged); I substituted peacock feathers for flowers in the centerpieces, accented with greenery and small "filler" flowers; and the "pew bows" (peacock feathers w/ greenery + fillers) were "recycled" to decorate the cake table. Use your imagination -- it can be done!

[AsherJudah]

02:47 AM on 05/08/2012

Some years back while living and working in NY, the women I worked with was planning a wedding for her daughter - the cost was going well past $60.000 which freaked me out. If I could afford that sort of money to throw a wedding, I wouldn't. Instead I'd offer it to the couple as their financial start - perhaps a down payment on a house, apartment/condo - but to spend it all on one big party (where each person at a table received small gifts/memorablia) seemed to me just plain nuts. Also when she said she expected that each person should be bringing a gift equal to the $100.00 per plate she was spending - I clearly made the point not to invite me. When I was growing up, an invitation to a wedding was because they wanted you to share the day - not guarantee a cash payoff or gift of equal value.

[Simi Sue]

02:25 AM on 05/08/2012

many use a sheet cake to serve to the guests and get an in expensive wedding cake mainly for show

[time2talk]

02:59 AM on 05/08/2012

At my granddaughter's wedding she had a one layer round wedding cake with a cake topper. Then she had a tower of cupcakes in the shape of a wedding cake that was served to the guests. They took the cake with the topper home for their first wedding anniversary. It was practical, but personally I missed the piece of wedding cake.

[Simi Sue]

02:24 AM on 05/08/2012

heard a lot of folks do a small wedding cake or even have fake( cardboard) layers. then they get a sheet cake and that is the one that is served.

[VoiceOfReality2012]

02:12 AM on 05/08/2012

Fancy weddings are just a joke thats engrained in little girls heads by their moms and all of the 'cinderella' fairy tales. The bills for these extravagant events are usually divied up in the divorce court a year or 2 later. Its sad how so few marry for whats important anymore. Its all about the fancy 'show' these days.

[football nut]

04:22 AM on 05/08/2012

Chill out francis!! And stop being such a Debbie Downer..

[VoiceOfReality2012]

04:26 AM on 05/08/2012

Im not familiar with this Francis or Debbie person???

[Greenpaddy]

02:07 AM on 05/08/2012

Wedding cakes do not have to cost much, WalMart do them and they are actually not at all bad, spending thousands on a wedding is a huge waste of money.

[florencebrady]

01:51 AM on 05/08/2012

Oh oh! The wedding industry isn't going to like this.

[mimidec67]

01:21 AM on 05/08/2012

I had exactly the kind of wedding I wanted four years ago,and people are still talking about how much fun they had at the reception. It was just close family and friends. I had a cake..and a DJ and food..and a lovely chapel/reception hall...for about $3500. I decided bridesmaids and live flowers and a limo were all unnecessary. My day was perfect.

[nikkitytom]

01:03 AM on 05/08/2012

I can't believe what sheep people are! We're being conned every time we turn our heads. From silly dietary fads to every dumb weight loss gimmick out there. And of course "name brands" on everything. We even have fancy covers for toilet rolls.

Now it's weddings. People paying as much for a silly one day bash as it costs for a mortgage on their first home. Utter nonsense.

One of the nicest weddings I remember was my sister's. Held on my parents beautiful patio overlooking Victora harbor. We baked the caked ourselves and had it professionally iced. Some catered food, mostly home made. The entire house decorated with flowers. The ceremony outside on the patio, conducted by a minister in a pale blue safari suit And the guests were ONLY our family and near and dear friends. Not a single "obligation" guest. ALL of us close.

No band .... no dancing. We sat together and shared memories and jokes and laughter. Then all piled into our cars and took the newly weds to the docks for their honeymoon cruise to Seattle and a hiking trip in the Olympic Mountains.

I wouldn't trade a moment of that great occasion for a loud band, silly favors and a horde of people seated around trying to make small talk while trying to figure out what each one's relationship is to the bride .... or groom. No way.

We're being conned into this "wedding" extravanganza fever. Wake up Sheeple .....

[football nut]

04:23 AM on 05/08/2012

very nice wedding if you're a redneck!

[nikkitytom]

04:51 AM on 05/08/2012

Cracking up here. I'm glad you appreciate it ... LOL

Lavishness does not gentility make. Dad was a Harvard Grad .. three of us are Mensa members. Sissy and husband are both PhD.s World travellers all of us. We spend our money on travel, high tech electonics and education.

Odd that so many people think showiness equates with importance ..... it doesn't.

[joanngclef]

12:27 AM on 05/08/2012

All the best weddings I have ever been to had a LIVE BAND. At the end of it all, what people are going to remember the most is not the food or the way the cake looked. They are going to remember how much fun they had or not. A live band is always, always better than a DJ. They are able to draw the people up onto the dance floor to have a great time. It does cost more, but if you want a wedding that people will remember for years to come, a live band is very much worth the cost.

[jenniferkizzy]

12:25 AM on 05/08/2012

my family is not wealthy i'm not either and i find platinum wedding's disgusting bye

[time2talk]

03:03 AM on 05/08/2012

My granddaughter saved a fortune by getting her flowers at Safeway. They were very nice and very reasonable.

[jenniferkizzy]

03:35 AM on 05/08/2012

cool

[wingsfan81]

04:16 AM on 05/08/2012

I do flowers for fun for people close to me. I only do silk but they are gorgeous. I'm actually working on flowers for a wedding this weekend for a friends daughter. It's a small wedding at their church with the reception in the church hall right after the wedding. Total cost for the flowers, 1 brides, 2 bridesmaids and 5 lapels for the guys is around $50. And for the front table we are using vases and putting their boquets in them for centerpieces. My sister and her husband are making the food for them and they are having a stereo and lots of CD's for music. It will be a nice party even without the big price tag.

[jenniferkizzy]

12:25 AM on 05/08/2012

if i do plan on marrying i will do what my brother and sis in law did and have a common law wedding and go out too eat simple no frills no over the top whoop te do just a nice normal small wedding there see ya

[LemmonHerk]

04:34 AM on 05/08/2012

There's no such thing as a "common law wedding"; I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.