- All right, so the next step after looking
at the budget is to find ways to cut the budget,
and so saving money obviously is important.
So I brought in the expert when it comes
to all wedding things, Alyssa.
She owns NashvilleBrideGuide.com,
and she's here to help us figure out, okay,
how do we take like a Pinterest, beautiful picture
but make it reasonable and within budget?
- Exactly, I mean there's this whole Pinterest effect
that happens when you're looking online
for your wedding and getting inspiration,
but you don't know the price tag
that's attached to that picture.
So that's what I like to call The Pinterest Effect.
And you, Meleah, congratulations, first of all (laughs).
- Thank you.
- You sent in some awesome inspiration photos
of some tablescapes that you love.
I love the whole, like, dark and moody look
that you have going on,
like with the black pops and stuff like that.
So I brought in two inspiration tables today, and--
- And I'll say this, I don't even know which one
is like the budget and which one is the Pinterest one,
so well done.
Okay, so walk us through kind of like what is all of this.
- So, this is the more luxury tablescape
versus the more budget tablescape,
which, like, they still look
pretty similar, right? - I like this one.
- With the more luxury table,
if you have this like picture in mind
and you're like, I really want this for my wedding,
you can still do it, just do it, like,
for your sweetheart table, or just
for your head table, if you,
you know, can't give up these black plates,
you know, because they're out of your budget.
It's like, you can just have two plates
and then everybody else has a white plate, you know?
So you can switch it up like that.
My next tip is guest count,
which, Rachel, I feel like you would agree,
the biggest way to save
on your wedding budget is through your guest count.
So as much as you can limit that or chop it,
the more you're gonna save.
- 'Cause here's the deal too.
I remember getting married and like,
when we got people saying they couldn't come,
we were like, yes!
Okay, good!
It's gonna save money.
Isn't that terrible though?
- I know.
- But it's true, it really is.
Being able to cut that, wedding guests. Yes, okay, like
get tactical with me for just a second.
- Let's break it down.
Let's start with linens.
So, this linen costs about $50 just to rent
for like one wedding table.
Versus this linen is a polyester linen,
and this is about $15 per linen.
And then let's talk about chairs.
So looking at that chair over there,
it's a beautiful Shibari chair.
I love those.
You had some of those in your images that you pinned.
Those run about $8.30 per chair
here in Nashville,
multiply that by a hundred, that's $830
that you're spending just on your wedding chairs.
- Which is crazy, and how much is that?
- Versus this is $2.90.
- [Meleah] I love it.
- Yeah, these are like the classic wedding chairs anyways.
I mean, they're comfortable. I feel like people expect these.
And then breaking it down even further, like
to the place setting, what's your wedding food looking like?
Like a buffet? - Maybe a buffet.
It would probably work. I've seen that
it will be less expensive than
a plated meal.
- Yeah, exactly.
So if you guys are doing a buffet,
you may not necessarily need a salad plate.
So that means you don't need a salad fork either.
And then, same thing with chargers,
these--food doesn't go on them.
They're just decoration.
I put it in there because I know you like the black theme,
but you could definitely have pops of black elsewhere too.
And then think about it for your cake
or for your appetizers.
You can do these clear plates that are still really nice.
They cost about half of what a regular rental plate costs.
You can get bamboo forks or like
the nicer plastic forks for this too.
And then same with your glassware.
Like, you can have little filling stations
around your wedding,
like for your water,
or like you could put wine in this, water in this,
and then that can even forego a champagne toast.
It can forego your water, wine.
So again, this is saving even more money.
- Okay, another great place to save is florals
because flowers are so dang expensive, like insane.
That's what I remember about our wedding budget.
That's places I cut. - Yeah.
- We got our floral budget back and we were like, what!
For flowers? So . . .
- Yeah. - It is crazy.
It's so easy to spend so much on flowers.
- Yeah, for sure.
So on your inspiration board,
you had like some little bottles with like
little sprigs of flowers in them,
which I think is a really great option.
Even these black faces are great too.
If you wanted this for your wedding,
it would probably cost $75 for all of the tables.
- Oh, wow.
- Yeah, and then this one,
which we see this on Pinterest all the time
and it looks so gorgeous. This costs about $500
for your full wedding.
So, I mean, think about that major price difference there.
- And I don't need the big bouquets.
It's really not a priority to me to spend money on that.
So I love this.
- So great.
- Another great way to save on flowers is like,
think of what season that you're getting married in.
If it's like summer, and make sure you pick flowers
that are in season in summer,
because you're going to pay extra
if you need to get them imported from somewhere.
- Okay, Alyssa, you have some great tips,
and it's like, so good, so tactical.
- Yeah. - Okay.
So for you, what is something that you're like,
oh yeah, I would cut that, it would be great.
- We don't need salad.
You can take the salad plates and the fancy glasses.
I mean, this is beautiful. - Yes, absolutely.
It's so good, I love it. Okay.
Alyssa, so I wanna know the total.
- Yes.
- Budget-friendly versus Pinterest-worthy.
Like give me, give me the total for both.
- Let's break it down.
So this table is actually three times more
than this table is. - Wow.
- That's incredible.
- Which is crazy.
So if you think about it,
each place setting at this table
is going to cost you about $25 per person.
Versus once we took everything away
between $7 and $9 per person.
- [Rachel] That's so great. That's incredible.
And here's the deal too.
When you're a guest at a wedding, it's like,
oh no, it's a great wedding.
It's my friends, they're getting married, we're eating,
we're drinking, we're dancing.
We're doing all the things.
And it's so fun, right?
People are not sitting there and nitpicking
every little thing.
- Exactly. - And if they are,
that's their their problem.
- Yeah, and they have nothing to compare it to.
- So great. Oh, that's awesome.
Well, Alyssa, incredible tips.
Thank you so much.
Thank you both so much for being here.
- Of course. - This was so good.
You guys, I feel like I learned stuff. So great.
If we renew our vows one day,
I'll use these tips.
- Yeah. - I will. Budget friendly.
Okay, well, I hope you guys learned a lot too.
And now that you know how to create a great wedding
on a budget.
And do not forget to check out Alyssa's website,
NashvilleBrideGuide.com.
Now, I want to hear from you all.
So what's one wedding lie
that you find yourself believing?
Because let's be honest,
we've all done it.
(upbeat music)