How I Saved My Wedding Budget Contest: The Winner is ....

Happy Monday Budget Brides!

We took a small hiatus last week to take care of some business but now we're back and in action.

We wanted to end our short vacation with the announcement of the winner of our
"How I Save My Wedding Budget" contest. And the winner is ...................

We are pleased to announce the winner is Ingrid Ahlgren. Below is the submission that Ingrid submitted to The BBH for the contest. Congrats!!

Name: Ingrid Ahlgren
Fiancé’s first and last name: Alexander Liu
Location: New York, NY
Wedding date: October 24, 2009

We are having a big Catholic-Chinese wedding. My fiance needs to invite close to 200 relatives, so keeping costs down is tough. Luckily, we are doing the reception at a Chinese banquet hall, which is cheaper than a Western-style restaurant. Also, I became a parishoner at a Catholic church so that I could get the parishoner's price. We're also looking into a cupcake tower, which costs less than a traditional wedding cake.

In addition to a white gown (I scored a nice one at David's Bridal for $250), I need a red Chinese dress for the reception. One weekend my friend Kelley was in town from D.C. She's a photographer and has a great eye. Kelley also adore thrift stores and drags me into them whenever she is in New York. We went into a place called Cure Thrif Shop on East 12th Street. The proceeds from the store go toward diabetes research. We were looking at antique furniture and then went down to the lower level, which has clothing. Walking down the stairs, I joked, "Maybe I'll find a red Chinese dress here."

It turns out there was actually a red satin Chinese gown on the rack! It was marked XXL, but Kelley made me try it on. The dress ended up fitting really well, and it was in good shape. Also, it only cost $15, less than half the cost of the souvenir store dress. I might need to get it tailored a bit, and certainly dry cleaned, but it was a great buy! I've attached a photo of the red dress.

I recently got laid off from my job, so there is even more pressure to keep costs down. Now I'm trying to find an affordable day-of coordinator to help make sure the big event goes off without a hitch. Obviously, winning this contest would also help me save my wedding day budget!

Thanks for considering my entry.

--Ingrid

Here is the Picture that Ingrid sent us of her reception dress.

We would like to thank everyone who entered the contest and for your continued support for The Budget Brides Handbook as we strive to continue to bring you wedding inspiration and ideas within you budget.