• Real Weddings

Bryan and Meg were together for seven years before their wedding and only had an eighth month engagement. They didn't want to wait much longer to get married, but also didn't leave much time for two artists to plan and create their wedding of their dreams. Read on to hear their budget breakdown.
Luckily, a small army of parents, friends, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins and Grandmas were ready, able and willing to help create this beautiful New Jersey Prallsville Mills Wedding. Read on to hear more from Meg, and see all the beautiful photos in the full gallery here. Artistically captured by one of our favorite New Jersey wedding photographers Pat Furey Photography.

Their ceremony was conveniently enough, only 30 minutes away from their Alma Mater, where they could have a Catholic ceremony on campus. We often get asked what is an acceptable distance from ceremony to reception and we would say that 30 minutes is totally doable.

What Meg Would Have Done Differently:For the most part, the day was wonderful and everyone had a great time. The only thing I wish I had differently was planned the schedule better. Since this was such a DIY event with a non-traditional venue, I didn't have anyone helping me set a timeline for the day. I did the best I could but everything until after dinner felt rushed. I wish I had just bit the bullet and shelled out for, at the very least, a day of coordinator.

On The Reception:The reception location lent itself nicely towards the rustic styling to which we were already leaning, so we really went to town making nearly all the decorations: mini topiary place-cards, moss covered monograms, herb themed tables with hand painted signs, a botanical print guest book with custom made wood cover, tree slice chalkboard signs, twinkle light wrapped grapevine garland, seed packet escort cards, vintage bottle garden stakes to line the canal. At this point - I almost struggle to remember all the projects!

Advice For Other Brides & Grooms:My advice to brides and grooms is to not listen to everyone telling you to stop stressing about the details. I hated when people did that. The details are important and they will make your wedding more unique than you could have ever imagined - and people WILL notice them! There were so many more projects that I had planned and didn't get to, but I am so grateful that my friends and family agreed to help me work so hard on getting as many as we did completed.

What wasn't handmade by us, we tried to get handmade by others. All our flowers were arranged by my incredibly talented college roommate. Our amazing video was shot by another college friend, Louis, and his (now!!!) wife, Oriana. The paper cake topper and beaded sash were purchased from Etsy. My mother even lovingly figured out how to make me a brooch bouquet (on top of helping with nearly every other project as well).

Be sure to check out Meg and Bryan's wedding flim captured by Atlantica Pictures. As we have said many times before we love seeing all the details and love seeing them come together in real life.

https://vimeo.com/49908386

Photographer: Pat Furey Photography

Venue: Prallsville Mills Hair: Imana Hair Studio Caterer: Emily's Cafe and Catering Cinematography: Atlantica Pictures DJ: Sugartown Industries Dress Designer: Jim Hjelm Flowers: Events by Val Groom's Attire: MySuit NY Jewelry: Kate Spade Shoe Designer: Badgley Mischka Brides Ring: Satomi Kawakita Grooms Ring: Metalicious Cake Topper: Concarta Sash: Millie ICARO Bridesmaids Dresses: Wtoo Makeup: Nikki DiGuglielmo | Stationery: Invitations by Meg McGrath Vaccaro Read on to see how much this New Jersey Prallsville Mills Wedding wedding costs. Please note that costs change as the years go by, and prices are subject to change. This is just one couples breakdown to give you a rough estimate on how much a wedding like this may cost you.

 Here goes this is the first time seeing these numbers all in one place so I may faint afterwards!Ceremony Venue: $600Reception Venue: $2000Catering: $13,000Event Rentals: $4000Bar: $2000ishPhotography: $4500Cinematography: $1500 DJ: $1950Flowers: $1200Brooch Bouquet: $200ishPhoto-booth Photography: $200Decorations: $2000ish?Trolley: $1250

Total Wedding Day expenses: $35,000+

I worked the numbers pretty hard in the beginning weeks of the planning stages - at first I really did think this approach was going to be cheaper than a reception hall, but afterwards it was right inline with a mid-level hall in NJ which was consistently around $100-$125/person. We would have still had to pay for flowers and a DJ and a photographer etc etc, so I'm happy with where we ended up especially since it wouldn't have looked or felt nearly as nice in a hall. That being said - if we didn't DIY as much as we did and work with as many friends as we did, it would have been even more expensive.When it all shakes down, its just really expensive to have a wedding in NJ. I'm in awe of how anyone can do it for less than $25k. (Easiest way to do it is the lamest of all - invite less people).