How We Planned a Casual Montana Barn Wedding for $8K

Dani, Artist and University Employee & Chris, Musician and IT Professional

One sentence sum-up of the wedding vibe: Casual Montana wedding, with a chance of thunderstorms and double rainbows.

Planned Budget: $9,000

Actual Budget: $8,000-ish; you stop counting after a while.

Number of Guests: 70

Where we allocated the most funds

A good portion of our money, generously donated by my parents, went to the venue, which was just out of this world beautiful. Sure, it may not look like much, probably a bit shanty to those looking for a bit more indoor plumbing, but we fell in love the moment we first checked it out. The people that run the Barn were an absolute treat to work with. The setting was so beautiful that I didn’t feel the need to decorate very much: just some simple gilded glass, butcher paper for drawing, and blue tablecloths. Plus, there was a large orange tabby named Bob that greeted us and the guests. Can’t get better than that!

We decided from the get-go that an amazing photographer was extremely important to us. Luckily for us, I just so happened to know a top-notch photographer from a previous job. Loren and Katie, his wife, were worth their weight in gold. Or printer ink—whichever is more expensive. Being the generous person that he is, Loren also gave us gorgeous engagement photos. He and Katie made everything seem so comfortable, even when we were being staged for photographs, it was still so fun. They were ninja artists, grabbing candids, making everything feel so natural.

Of course, we decided that splurging on food would be a good idea. We believe that a wedding can be beautiful, the service lovely, but if the food sucks everyone will remember and comment on that. Not that we think food *needs* to be expensive to be good; it’s just in a small place like Bozeman, good catered food (that was willing to deal with my silly dietary restrictions) tends to be a bit expensive. Food for Thought, in Four Corners, Montana, was so lovely and so open to what we had in mind. Who doesn’t love breakfast? Especially breakfast for dinner?? They were more than happy to help us create a menu that was both different and just damn delicious.

Where we allocated the least funds

We probably spent the least on flowers—only about a hundred dollars. We scoured Costco’s floral section and the small selection at the local market. There are only a couple floral places in town, and the flowers I had in mind were different enough that I decided, “Hell, I can do this.” So I did. The day before the wedding. I made the bouquets, my floral crown, the boutonnières, and while I sat down to stave away the impended pre-wedding migraine, my lovely Ladies made the corsages for our mums. Our wonderful friends, while helping us set up the morning of the wedding, cut the remaining flowers and arranged them for me while I was kicked out by our Day-Of Coordinator Lauren to go get ready.

We spent absolutely zero dollars on music. Chris, being the music sleuth he is, put together a playlist, slapped it on the laptop, and borrowed his Dude’s speakers, which thankfully were powerful enough to be heard for the ceremony.

Also, stationery. This was another one of those, “Hell, I can do that” moments. Shortly after getting engaged, I ran to Photoshop and drew up our invites, RSVPs, etc. It was alarmingly fun to do! Except for the printing and cutting. Thank goodness for industrial office paper cutters!

What was totally worth it

Having my dad get ordained and officiate the ceremony. Ever since I was small, I always imagined my dad performing my ceremony. When I first asked him, he was a little hesitant, worrying that he would “ruin” the ceremony by getting too emotional. I was so happy (and relieved) when he told me that we would get himself ordained. Using the lovely APW archives, I built a little ceremony for him to read and gave him some space, telling him to include something a little sappy—like when he knew Chris would be a great husband. Instead, the day of, during the ceremony, he pulled out a whopper of an emotional bomb, saying my meeting Chris was the best thing to come from our move from California to Montana. I just about lost it.

Our Day-Of Coordinator, Lauren Caselli, was also worth her weight in printer ink. I actually met her because of a comment on APW! She went above and beyond the call of duty helping us come up with a table arrangement, staying from setup at 10am, and cleaning every little thing until late in the evening. She handled everything with grace and consideration, and not once made us feel strange about the decisions we were making. If there was something that went wrong at the wedding, we sure didn’t notice—she kept us calm and let us have fun while she handled all of the details.

Wedding pie. I do love a good cake every once in a while, but we’re more pie people. Plus, our local bakery, the Wild Crumb, makes out-of-this-world pastries and pie.

What was totally not worth it

The stress. Sure, it got me through making all the decisions that needed to be made, but man, the heartburn, the lack of sleep—it was totally and completely bollocks.

A few things that helped us along the way

Our friends and family were absolutely incredible. They were up and at it the day-of, with doughnuts and breakfast booze, and helped up set up the entire area. I’m so grateful for each and every one if them. Of course, APW helped me keep my sanity throughout the planning process. Dem spreadsheets—damn.

My best practical advice for my planning self

Ask for and take advice from other married (and not married) folks, but with a grain of salt. If you don’t think that something that worked for them would work for you, don’t feel obligated to do it because you asked for the advice.

Also, if someone asks to help, let them help you! (So long as you think that they’re up to the task, of course.) Even if it’s the smallest thing. I had a hard time reconciling the fact that when people say they want to help, I’m not wasting their time.

Favorite thing about the wedding

Dani: The fact that my dad got ordained to perform our ceremony.

Chris: The final dance.

Registry Roundup: Building Your Home Bar

One of the more frustrating things about registry checklists is that they can be super presumptive about what married life looks like (goodbye adventure, hello home-cooked dinners). Which is why I’m a big fan of flexible registries like Zola Registry. With a sizeable internal inventory, the flexibility to add registry items from any online retailer (plus experiences and honeymoon fund options), Zola lets you create a registry that’s reflective of your actual life together with your partner, not some marketer’s prescription for marriage. If you’re going to go to the trouble of creating a registry, and if your guests are going to go to the trouble (and cost) of buying you things off of said registry, you might as well like the stuff you’re registering for. (Case in point: When Michael and I got married, we didn’t have the option to put together a non-traditional registry. But we did put the word out that we wanted camping gear, and now every time we go for a camping weekend, we think fondly of the wedding guests who helped make it happen.)

Instead of just creating registry checklists (though they do have a few of those), Zola has what they call “starter collections,” which are groupings of registry items by idea or activity, as they might exist in your real life, from outdoorsy adventure, to entertaining, to baking, and on and on. My favorite is the “Build Your Bar” starter collection. Because while Michael and I might not be great cooks (working on that), it’s an important part of our weekend to sit down with a good beer (him) and a cocktail (me) and unwind. For us, it’s less about the drink itself (I almost always fall asleep before I can finish), and more about our rituals together. And ultimately, that’s really what a registry is about: facilitating the rituals that will make up the future your life together. So inspired by Zola’s “Build Your Bar” starter collection, today I’ve rounded up my own home bar essentials that I would register for today if I were getting married. (P.S. If you’re on the gift-giving side of the equation, you can never go wrong with a bottle of something. It’s affordable and appreciated.)

Tribecca Home Myra Rustic Mobile Kitchen Bar Serving Wine Cart

1. THE BAR CART: We’ve always been hard up on cabinet space, so most of our drinkware and booze selection does double duty as decor in our house. Bonus: this bar cart has a removable tray that you can use when you’re entertaining. And since Zola makes group gifting super easy, your friends can all go in on it together (because let’s be real; it benefits them as much as it benefits you.)

1. Bar Special Saucer Champagne Glass Set 2. La Cite Highball Glass Set 3. Jonathan Adler Pop Rocks Glass 4. Fitz & Floyd Daphne Goblet Set 5. Gold Luster Stemless Glass Set 6. Optimist/Pessimist Glass Set 7. Ultima Thule Double Old Fashioned Glass Set

2. DRINKWARE: Because I listened to all the registry checklists, I assumed you had to have every kind of drinkware under the sun, even if you never touch red wine, or have no plans to drink beer out of anything other than a mason jar (which is why we now drink smoothies out of tulip glasses, lest they go unused). So don’t feel pressured to register for wine glasses if you’re never going to drink out of them. There are a plenty of pint glasses and Old Fashioned glasses that can do double duty and would make great everyday drinking glasses. (This highball set would be the fanciest everyday glasses. So clearly I need them.)

1. Shiraleah Xaviar Cocktail Shaker 2. Godinger Airplane Cocktail Shaker 3. W&P Design Mason Shaker Cocktail Set 4. Schott Zwiesel Basic Bar Boston Shaker 5. Yours, Mine & Ours Cocktail Shaker Set

3. A COOL SHAKER: Since Zola lets you add gifts from anywhere, I searched high and low to find cool cocktail shakers that didn’t remind me of the ones I used in college. While a more professional technique probably involves this Boston shaker, I am all kinds of into having a gold cocktail shaker, because bling. (Though this airplane-shaped one might be the most absurdly amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I’m trying to figure out which Mad Men character would own it. Roger? Harry when he had those sideburns?)

1. La Cite Pitcher 2. Gold Upcycled Pitcher 3. Etched Globe Whiskey Decanter & Glass Set 4. Jonathan Adler Pop Decanter 5. Soho 6-piece Bar Set 6. Gold Luster Decanter

4. SOMETHING TO PUT IT IN: You can find lots of information online about how to properly stock your bar (if you’re entertaining, then some combination of beer, wine, whisky, bourbon, brandy, gin, rum, scotch, tequila, vodka, vermouth, liqueurs, plus mixers and bitters). But ultimately, it comes down to what you and your partner like to drink. I’m not embarrassed to admit that my fanciest decanter is where I house the Kahlua. Accessories Bar Essentials

1. Oversized Truncated Whisky Stone Set 2. The Curious Bartender 3. Pentahedron Coaster Set with Trivet 4. Aztec Tribal Coasters 5. Stag Bar Tool Set 6. Private Mixology Class for Two 7. GoHome Tray with Curve Horned Handles

5. THE RIGHT TOOLS AND ACCESSORIES: Building your home bar is a process. Don’t try to do it all at once. You’ll end up like me, with twenty different bottles of booze you never drink because… what are you supposed to do with vanilla cake flavored vodka? If you and your partner are looking to up your mixology game, Zola lets you add experience gifts to your registry (like this mixology course). Or you can always self-teach with one of the many books available on the art of cocktail making. Best homework ever, is what I’m saying.

ABOUT ZOLA

If you’re not yet familiar with Zola Registry, you can read more about them here. But the concept is simple: they like to keep things flexible. So you can browse items from their two hundred different brands like a regular registry (except in addition to housewares, Zola offers experiences and cash registries and honeymoon funds all rolled it one), or install a button in your toolbar (kind of like the Pin It button) and you can add items from anywhere online. (You can also scan items you find in stores when you download the iPhone app.)

If you’re adding items from an external source, Zola aims to keep that pretty simple. With each external item you add, you can choose to have your guest purchase the item off the external site or you can decide to get the value of that gift in cash and purchase it later yourself. (With the latter option, there’s a small 2.7% processing fee, which simply covers the processing costs that Zola incurs themselves; no extra fees added. More about that here.) And if you (or your guests) ever need support, Zola’s customer concierge team is available during business hours any day of the week, and they will gladly walk your guests through their options, and even help them place an order.

So if you’re thinking you want to create a wedding registry, but the traditional offerings just aren’t doing it for you, then check out Zola today. I went ahead and made my own Zola registry for this post (that’s it in the photo above), so if you want more awesome bar essentials, or if you just want to see how a Zola registry works in real life, click right here.

AS AN ADDED BONUS, ZOLA IS OFFERING APW READERS $25 TO SPEND WHEN YOU SET UP YOUR REGISTRY AT ZOLA (credit will be applied four weeks after your registry is set up.) SO GO EXPLORE EVERYTHING ZOLA HAS TO OFFER AND THEN CREATE YOUR REGISTRY TODAY.

This post was sponsored by Zola. With Zola, you can create a modern, universal registry that’s reflective of your values and interests. Add items from anywhere online (or any retailer with their iPhone app), or choose from one of the many experience gifts that Zola offers. Thanks Zola for helping make the APW mission possible!

Editor’s Note: At this time, Zola registry is only available in the United States. Though they gladly accept international credit cards for the convenience of your out-of-town guests.