Bridal Party on a Budget

Obviously, for most budget brides, the main point is keeping the costs low for the bride and groom. There may be some concerns about not putting your parents out in the street by racking up lots of bills, but most budget brides are actually watching their own nest egg disappear into piles of taffeta and confetti.

However, there is a sister issue that isn't discussed very often: keeping your wedding budget-friendly for everyone else involved. In our case, our bridal party pretty much runs the gamut. Some people don't really need to budget (but aren't big spenders) and some people rely on the Dollar Menus of local fast food establishments for their daily caloric intake. It's sort of the thing about having a bridal party where the ages all fall between 16-26. Not a whole lot of pocket change lying around. So, Kyle and I have been trying to keep costs down, especially because people are dropping so much of their pocket change on things like flights, hotels, and park tickets. Reasonable, right?

Well, we're debating now about what we can ask of our bridal party when it comes to fashion. The plan at the moment is that everyone is wearing either a black dress or a black suit with a white shirt. (Don't get any ideas, Michelle. You aren't allowed to wear a suit and if you show up in one I will cut it up, staple it together, and fashion a skirt for you.) Anyway, they're going to be tied together with the flowers we're providing, but we were thinking about taking it a step further with the 11 men in the bridal party. I was thinking about finding 11 ties at Macy's and then letting them each pick the one they wanted to buy. It doesn't leave a lot of option for numbers 10 and 11, but since it's only a 20-30 dollar investment, I figured it wasn't the end of the world.

Kyle isn't keen on the plan, though. His take on it is that people are spending enough to get down there, whether they're in the bridal party or not, so we shouldn't be forcing them to spend any more money. He also has friends who don't have black suits, so they have to spend money anyway. His take is that we should buy them all the same tie (a Disney tie) and give it to them as a groomsman/bridesman gift. I think ties are the lamest gifts ever, but since I've never been given a tie I can't really weigh in.

I really want something to tie everyone together. I actually wanted everyone in our party to wear Mickey ears for the whole ceremony/reception, but nobody is on board with that idea. One hostile-ish bridesmaid (I'm not naming names but she might start with a "J" and rhyme with "Banean") even threatened to remove afore mentioned Mickey ears and light them on fire if I made her wear them to the wedding. As flaming Mickey ears do not evoke either a sense of romance or solidarity, I think I'm going to drop that idea.

Bah!