Who says only the rich and famous get to have the
fancy weddings? You, too, can get married like a star -- without
the Hollywood price tag!
The trick is to get inspiration from celebrity weddings
and execute their ideas with creativity and thrift in mind.
"Celebrity weddings are a great source
of ideas and trends that you can incorporate into your affair for
much less money," says Sasha Souza, a well-known wedding consultant
to the rich and famous.
For her lavish wedding, "Extra"
television host Dayna Devon had handmade monogrammed velveteen cones
trimmed with satin and filled with rose petals hung from every chair
so guests could shower the bride and groom with petals after the
ceremony.
"You can copy that look relatively inexpensively
by being crafty," says Souza who planned the Devon nuptials.
"Use velum that can be purchased at any fabric
store to make the cones, stamp on your monogram and trim with ribbon
or inexpensive rope to hang from the chairs. Ask your florist to
save the exterior rose petals and use those. Exterior petals are
often thrown in the garbage by the florist. Instead of spending
$800, you can copy the look for $50."
From your wedding cake to gown, there are many ways
to re-create that spectacular celebrity style on a shoestring budget.
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Get married like a celebrity: |
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Star-style wedding
It may not be in an Italian castle a la the Holmes
and Cruise nuptials or in a Scottish castle as in
the case of Madonna and Guy Ritchie's 2000 ceremony,
but jet-setting weddings have heated up even with
the budget set.
"Destination weddings are definitely
a big trend with celebrities and it's one that's
being followed by regular people as well,"
says weddingchannel.com senior editor, Marilyn Oliveira.
"For regular people it often
tends to be more affordable as 400 people probably
won't show up -- just the people closest to you
and who can take the time off of work will be there.
You actually have a much smaller headcount so it's
much more affordable," she says.
To save money hosting a wedding abroad,
combine the honeymoon with the ceremony. Save on
airfare and planning expenses by combing the two
events and spend more time with the guests and wedding
party.
Wedding gown
Celebrities often call upon world-renowned designers
to create their wedding dresses. You can find reasonably
priced designers who offer similar gowns at a fraction
of the cost -- do your window shopping on the Web
at sites such as weddingchannel.com, which lets
brides and grooms to-be search through a vast database
of every kind of wedding paraphernalia, including
a collection of over 30,000 wedding dresses..
"Once you know the details of
the celebrity's gown you can do a search based on
those criteria and find gowns that look similar
but are by different designers and are in a different
price range," says Oliveira.
For instance, if someone wanted to
copy Britney Spear's Monique Lhullier gown from
her 2004 wedding to Kevin Federline, they could
search for a strapless, A-line gown with a flare
at the knees and recreate her look for a lot less
money. |
