Everytime I get an issue of Martha Stewart Weddings I find numerous DIY projects that I want to try! The website also has so many templates and ideas for free!

These are some of my favorites!

Floral Paper Fans

Paper Dahlia Favor Packaging

Cootie Catcher

Save-the-Date Envelope Liner

Ribbon Ring Pillow

Great camera deal!

Today on weddingchannel.com deals you can buy a 25 pack of wedding disposable cameras for $50.98-normally sells for$148.75! This is a great deal if you are wanting to put one disposable camera on each table... check it out here!

Groupon Alert

**Remember to go through Ebates and get 3% cash back! If you aren't a member of ebates go here. and if you aren't a member of groupon go here.**

 

 

Bridal Party Gifts:

 

Flexflop 

$12 for $25 worth of foldable flip flops

Groupon City: Florida | Miami

Stogie Boys 

$30 for $60 worth of cigars and accessories

Groupon City: New Jersey | North Jersey (Deal Nearby) 

barista bath and body

$20 for $40 worth of beauty products

Groupon City: Oregon | Portland (Deal Nearby) 

 

The Candleberry Candle Company

$15 for $30 worth of candles and gifts

Groupon City: South Carolina | Greenville

Lauren Klein Jewelry

 $25 for $50 worth of jewelry

Groupon City: Oregon | Salem

CitySlips.com

$15 for a pair of CitySlips flats for traveling (normally $29.95)

Groupon City: Massachusetts | Springfield

PhotoWeavers

$64 for a customized 70"x53" photo blanket. Normally $129!

Great present idea for a parents gift-could use an engagement pic or wedding pic.

Groupon City: Charlotte

 

Pure SKN

$30 for $60 worth of organic cosmetics and skin care products

Groupon City: Michigan | Detroit (Deal Nearby)

Favor/Welcome Bag Ideas:

David’s Cookies

$12 for $25 worth of brownies, cookies, and more. 

Groupon City: Nebraska | Omaha

The Bean Coffee Company

$13 for $26 worth of organic coffee

Groupon City: Ohio | Cincinnati

Nutty Guys

$10 for $25 worth of dried fruit, nuts, etc.

Groupon City: Indiana | Fort Wayne (Deal Nearby)

JustTheCookies.com

Pay $20 for $45 worth of cookies ordered online from

Groupon City: New York | Buffalo

Fancy Fortune Cookies

 $15 for $35 worth of personalized treats

Groupon City: Ohio | Columbus (Deal Nearby)

Our Guest Book!

I am beyond excited to share with you all our photo guest book....I bought it using a PhotoBook America Groupon and got an absolutely amazing book for $35 which normally would have cost me $115! I took our favorite pictures from our engagement shoot and created a photo guest book including different love quotes throughout the book. I am so happy with how it turned out and that I was able to get something at such a great price!

 

$25 for $50 to Beauty.com

This is a great deal! If you are going to be doing your own make up on your wedding, or want to get your BM's some make up as part of their gift, this deal is for you!

Today RueLaLa is selling $50 gift certificates to beauty.com for $25! To start, you have to sign up for RueLaLa go here-you must go here because RueLaLa is invitation only.

What a great deal!!

Today's Groupons

**Remember to go through Ebates and get 3% cash back! If you aren't a member of ebates go here. and if you aren't a member of groupon go here.**

Zazzle:

$25 for $50 worth of customizable gifts! Products on zazzle include t shirts, mugs, posters, cards, buttons, bags, etc. Unfortunately, they stopped allowing these Groupons to be used on custom postage. But there are plenty of other gifts you can use the Groupon for!

Groupon City: Calgary (Deal Nearby) 

Fancy Fortune Cookies:

$15 for $35 worth of personalized treats.

Groupon City: Gainesville (Deal Nearby)

Touched by Flowers:

$30 for $50 worth of floral arrangements-great for rehearsal dinner or a luncheon!

Groupon City: Dallas (Deal Nearby)

ShowStoppers: 

$9 for 2 boxes of ShowStopper double-stick garment tape (normally a $22 value!)

Groupon City: Orange County (Deal Nearby)

The Candleberry Company:

$15 for $30 worth of candles and gifts-Great for BM presents-or mother of the bride and groom.

Groupon City: Phoenix (Deal Nearby)

Southern Candle:

$20 for $40 worth of candles and other gifts. Also great for presents to the women in your bridal party.

Groupon City: Piedmont Triad

And of course, for the men...

Stogie Boys:

$30 for $60 worth of cigars, accessories and other gifts.

Groupon City: Buffalo (Deal Nearby)

Today's Groupon Deals

Mixbook:

$15 for $50 worth of cards, photobooks, etc!

I created holiday cards with engagement pictures with this one and they're beautiful!

Groupon City: Cedar Rapids/Iowa City

Picture it on Canvas:

$39 for one photo print reproduced on a 16"x20"x1.5" gallery-wrapped canvas (a $124.95 value!)

Groupon City: Lincoln

44 Wide:

Pay $39 for 16"x20" gallery-wrapped canvas (a $215 value!)

Groupon City: Halifax

Fancy Fortune Cookies: 

$15 for $35 worth of gourmet fortune cookies with personalized fortunes!

There is no limit on how many you can buy so these would be great to get as favors!

Groupon City: Charleston (Deal Nearby)

**Remember to go through Ebates and get 3% cash back! If you aren't a member of ebates go here. and if you aren't a member of groupon go here.**

Flexflop Groupon

Another Groupon to use towards bridal party gifts! Looking for flipflops to give them to wear for dancing at the reception? Pay $10 for $25 worth of foldable flip-flops from Flexflop.

Remember to go through Ebates and get 3% cash back! If you aren't a member of ebates go here. and if you aren't a member of groupon go here.

Then when you get to the groupon website, choose Cincinnati (deal nearby) to get your Groupon!

Red Envelope Groupon!

This is a great Groupon to use towards bridal party gifts! Pay $15 for $30 worth of gifts from RedEnvelope.com. You can also apply this Groupon towards shipping!

Remember to go through Ebates and get 3% cash back! If you aren't a member of ebates go here. and if you aren't a member of groupon go here.

Then when you get to the groupon website, choose Charleston or Philadelphia to get your Groupon!

100 free postcards from VistaPrint (just pay shipping)

I have come up with a clever idea for these 100 free postcards! Since a lot of people are traveling for our wedding, we want to make sure to do great welcome bags for our guests at the hotel! So I am going to create these photo postcards to put on the bags! Below is a mock up of the ones I am ordering with low res pictures. I am going to revise it tonight and order my free postcards! It's great being creative with deals and being able to use them for your big day! To get this deal, click here!

Groupons up for grabs today!

For Groupons, make sure to look in side deal if these aren't listed as the main deal. These are some great opportunities to buy things for your wedding. You could get a 16"x20" gallery wrapped canvas of an engagement picture to put on an easel at the reception. Or a photobook made of pictures of you and your fiance to be used as a guest book. Get creative!

Photo Related Items 

Chattanooga: $100 in calendars, photobooks, etc. from Picaboo for $35

Tampa Bay:  $50 in holiday cards, canvas prints, etc. from Paper Moments for $20

Nashville - 16″x20″ Gallery Wrapped Canvas for $45 from Canvas on Demand 

Cedar Rapids – 16″X20″ Gallery Wrapped Canvas for $39 from CafePress

Gifts   

Buffalo - $26 in organic coffee from The Bean Coffee Company for $12.

Fresno – $50 in Wine from Wine.com for $25

Charleston - $30 in candles from The Candleberry Candle Company for $15.

Free Address Labels!

Looking for address labels for christmas cards from you and your fiance/husband? or address labels for invitations? or save the dates? or thank you cards??

Right now they are free on Vistaprint for 140! Just pay shipping! Click here to take advantage of this great deal!

$10 for $29.99 name changing service from MissNowMrs.com

wedobo.com is offering the name changing service from MissNowMrs.com for $10 today! This is valued at $29.99. This is a great deal to save you a lot of hassle when it comes time to change your name after the big day!

Using Vistaprint for your big day!

Vistaprint is a great tool for brides to be! They have all sorts of stationary for all of your wedding needs-and all at GREAT prices!

One of my favorite purchases from Vistaprint for our wedding is the photo sharing cards I made! I am going to attach these to the favors and it gives our guests a log in for Snapfish so they can share their pictures with us from the big day! I got 250 of these cards for less than $10 (including shipping!)

I also got labels to use on our thank you cards with our new name and using one of our engagement pictures of our hands and my ring! 140 labels for free! Just had to pay shipping.

$100 Zazzle giveaway from a new blog called The Lookout

The Lookout is a new blog by WedScout. Check them out, they have post about sales, products, helpful articles and giveaways!

In honor of their launch, they are giving away a $100 gift certificate to Zazzle! You can enter here!

A great ebates double cash back today!

Beauty.com is the double cash back pick for today on ebates! Cash back goes from 6% to 12% for today only.

If you haven't already signed up, go to here and sign up to start earning cash back on your wedding day purchases!

Current Wedding Contests and Giveaways

Match the Alfred Angelo wedding gowns, and register your score for a chance to win the grand prize -the wedding dress of your choice from the Alfred Angelo collection!

Enter for your chance to win products from MAKE UP FOR EVER! 

Monogram Decal from Ten23Designs

Lots of Give Aways from Just Married with Coupons!

$100 Invitation Shopping Spree to MyExpression.com

 

Saving money on your honeymoon

One place I definitely didn't want to cut corners to save money was our honeymoon! This will be the biggest vacation we will have taken together, and the next time we go somewhere tropical, we could have kids! So we wanted to get the biggest bang for our buck and make sure we'd enjoy every minute of it. That meant the first thing on our list was a balcony! We want to wake up and sit on our balcony enjoying our time together, and looking at the ocean. We also wanted an all inclusive resort because we didn't want to worry about how much we were spending on food and drink during the week and then get a big bill right before we left. So that led us to Sandals Resorts! They always have big sales going on to save up to 65% off so it would be silly not to book it during one of those! They are actually having a big sale now!

Another way to save on your honeymoon is to look for web deals!
Right now Cheapcarribean.com is having a big sale through 10/17.
You can also book vacations on Orbitz and Expedia. They frequently have sales and you can also go through ebates for cash back on lots of travel and vacation websites! See the full list here!

New Groupon Deals!

Need photo save the dates? invitations? thank you cards? This website has beautiful stuff!

$25 for $50 Worth of Personalized Photo Cards at Photo Card Creations

Interested in doing a photo book for your guest book? 

$25 for $75 Worth of Photo Books, Cards, or Calendars at Picaboo

70% Off Keepsake Books from Photobook America. Choose from Two Options.

Want to display at your reception a wrapped canvas picture of the two of you?   

$45 for One 16"x20" Gallery-Wrapped Canvas Including Shipping and Handling from Canvas on Demand ($126.95 Value)

Use Groupons to save on your wedding!

Groupons are a great way to save on things for your wedding! Here are some below that are available for a limited time!

For Your Reception
$25 for $75 worth of wine from Barclays Wine
Ends in 1 day

For Your Wedding Favors
Side deal:
$25 for $50 on Zazzle
Ends in 1 day

For Your Beauty Supplies
$10 for $20 of supplies at Soap.com 
Ends in 16 hours!

A great resource for a bride on a budget...

Etsy is one of my favorite website for little wedding details. The vendors on Etsy are so incredibly talented and you can find some pretty great prices on things you normally did not think you could afford. Some of my favorites that I am thinking about for my wedding are below!

Bridesmaid Jewelry  

Seller: kymjewelry

Flower Girl Dress

Seller: mapletree2000

Wine Bottle Lanterns

Seller: WordCouture

Personalized Wire Dress Hanger

Seller: lilafrances

Win a Bridal Gown Hanger and Hankie!

Bridal Gown Blog is giving away a fantastic personalized gown hanger and also a bridal hankie. You can go here to enter!

 

Image from Bridal Gown Blog

Etsy Seller: LilaFrances

There are a few ways to enter so make sure you take advantage of them all!

HOW TO ENTER:

• You must choose to follow her blog PUBLICALLY! 
• For a SECOND entry blog about this contest and leave an ADDITIONAL comment to let her know you did that with a link to the post (she will check!)
• For a THIRD entry twitter about this contest and leave an ADDITIONAL comment to let her know you did that with a link to the post! You can find her twitter page here

Save 20% on Shoes.com

Still looking for shoes for your wedding dress? your rehearsal dinner dress? your honeymoon??

Save an EXREA 20% sitewide +  free shipping at Shoes.com with promo code SHOEDEAL. 

Good through 9/25/10

Get a free photo book!

Picaboo-who I mentioned is having a giveaway for a free photo book- is offering a new Photo Book deal. If you haven’t purchased anything from Picaboo before, you can get a FREE large classic photo book (up to 20 pages). Each additional page is $1.99

What you need to do is create a Large Classic, Classic Leather, or Classic Custom photo book with 20 pages and use the code 1FBLGB-&W.  you will receive a $39.99 credit from your order. There is an $8.99 shipping fee, but this is a great deal! You can use engagement pictures and make it your guest book and have people sign in the blank areas!

If you have already gotten a free book or you have already made a purchase from Picaboo, you can still get 50% off all photobooks with code: PNTG50

Photo Album Giveaway on Wedding Bee

Picaboo Wedding Album Giveaway!

To enter, visit Picaboo’s wedding albums,  and leave a comment on wedding bee's blog with th album style of theirs is your favorite. For a second chance to win, follow Weddingbee on Twitter and retweet this contest (if you’re already a follower, simply retweet by clicking here!). You must enter by Thursday, September 23 at 11:59 PM PST.

Ways that I have saved

Trying to save money is almost like a game for me. So I shouldn’t be surprised that it’s carried over into my wedding planning. It’s not as though I am cutting big corners, but I am looking for ways to save on whatever I can.

Simple ways I have saved money…

1. Shopping through ebates.
Ebates.com is amazing. You get cash back for doing your normal online shopping through them. They have cash back opportunities on so many on line stores. For example, I bought shoes for the BM’s at Ann Taylor. I went through Ebates and got about $7 cash back. It’s not a lot, but it starts to add up. You get a check every few months with your cash back money. Last one I got was for about $30 and it just went straight into the wedding fund.

2. Looking out for the best sales from wedding websites
I bought personalized stamps for our save the date postcards. I waited until zazzle.com had a great sale and got 120 personalized post card stamps for about $7 more than what they would have cost at the post office-and they were so much better than the blue polar bear stamps that is the only option for the post office! I did this by waiting for a good sale, jumping on it, and going through ebates!
I also did this for our invitations/reply cards. Saved over $65 on them with the 25% off sale!

3. Look for Groupons!
I recently got a Groupon for Zazzle where I got a $50 certificate for $25! I can now get personalize stamps for the invitations at a much cheaper price! My mom also bought one, so she can buy stuff for the wedding too!

4. Entering contests
I enter any contests I see on blogs…and boy has it paid off! Our engagement story won us a $50 gift certificate to Rexcraft. I plan to buy a cake topper or personalized napkins from there. and I won a $200 gift certificate off a blog to a great wedding boutique called unveiled bridal where I plan to get the ring bearer pillow, flower girl basket, and possibly a card box.

5. Using credit card points
We recently booked our honeymoon, and the travel agent encouraged me to use points if at all possible to help us save money. By booking our tickets with American Express and using my points, we saved $60. Not a whole lot of money, but it’s still $60!

6. Booking while vendors have a promotion
Since I was the first April bride for our DJ, we got $200 off of the package…$200 off?! I’ll take that any day! We also booked our photobooth when they were having a summer promotion and saved $200.


7. Vistaprint
Vistaprint is a great resource! I have gotten a few wedding items from here when they have their “free” sales and you just pay the shipping. I got return labels with an engagement picture of our hands with my ring on them with our new Mr. and Mrs. name. I got 250 business cards to put with our favors with log in information to a Snapfish account we created for everyone to share their photos for less than $10.

I also got a photo calendar with our engagement pictures for free at Vistaprint!

8. Getting magazine subscriptions on line
I am obsessed with bridal magazines. When I open the mailbox and one is in there, it’s like Christmas! But to buy them at the store, you could go broke in a month I swear! So I have found really good deals on year long subscriptions to Brides, Bridal Guide, and Martha Stewart Weddings. This way I can still look through them and enjoy “Christmas” but not pay the extra money at the store!

9. Don’t pay for a wedding website!
There are too many good wedding websites out there to pay for your own. Unless you are completely insistent on having the URL be just your names! We created ours at mywedding.com and it has been fantastic-and free!

10. Booking your honeymoon when they are having promotions
I think it would be silly for someone to ever book a Sandals vacation when Sandals wasn’t having a sale! They have them numerous times a year, and we saved 60%…that ended up being $5,800! Check on line for deals, or book with an agent. It’s silly not to save money that’s so easy to save!