The first thing I did was browse the wedding section at the library. I found a couple interesting books that might be helpful, although they seem to focus on more traditional weddings, which isn’t what we really want. There are some good tips, especially in one book called “The Everything Weddings on a Budget Book,” about planning a honeymoon on a budget, which might come in useful. But we really want to keep it more casual than the weddings these books are geared toward, and do most of the work ourselves rather than hire people to do it. One thing I really want to do myself is bake the cake, because I love to bake and also because I really hate traditional white, tiered wedding cakes. I searched my library’s catalog for “wedding cakes” and got twenty three results, most of which didn’t look very helpful (most of them had those traditional-looking white cakes on the cover). I did, however, find a book called “Wedding Cakes You Can Make: Designing, Baking, and Decorating the Perfect Wedding Cake.” This book includes recipes for a few cakes that really interest me because they don’t look like traditional wedding cakes and they sound like cakes I would actually want to eat. I’m also planning on cooking most of the food myself or with the help of my family, so I wanted to find some books that would help me with that aspect. Searches for “weddings and food” and “weddings and cooking” yielded very few results, most of which had nothing to do with what I was looking for. Many of the results were for fiction, and some didn’t seem to have anything to do with weddings. Some of the information I found at the library was useful, and I consider it all valid because it comes from professionally published books. However, it was just not enough for my purposes. I figured I needed to expand my search beyond the library, so I turned to the web.
I first Googled “cheap weddings” but didn’t find much about actual wedding planning or ideas. Some of the results were about wedding gifts and wedding favors, which is a little ahead of the game for me at this point. I was interested more in locations ideas, themes, food, and of course the dress. Like my search at the library, most of the results were focused on more traditional weddings, which I’m not interested in. I did find the weddings page on about.com, which had some good tips on making and mailing invitations and some interesting ideas for wedding locations. I consider the information on this site to be valid, in part because it is supposedly written by experts. Admittedly, I don’t know much about how qualified the experts are, but it sounds like they are at least not just random people posting their opinions. My biggest problem with this site was that none of the articles was very in-depth; they gave ideas, but not very many specifics. At this point, when I’m searching more out of curiosity than actual need, that’s fine, but when I get to the point where I need specifics, this kind site probably won’t be that helpful. I decided to search some more.
I then went back to Google and searched for “cheap non-traditional weddings” because I thought it might yield some results that were more in line with my plans. I found these results to be a bit more useful. Many of them were sites for non-traditional wedding dresses, the best of which was unique-vintage.com. I also found a discussion at getcrafty.com about non-traditional wedding and reception locations which I found very interesting and which gave me some ideas that I will definitely use. The information I found at the latter site was opinions and personal experiences, not hard facts, which was fine for my needs. At this point, I am looking for ideas, not specifics.
I then decided to go back to the issue of food, since I want to make the food myself rather than have it catered. I searched Google for “wedding food” and found a website (http://lotsofinfo.tripod.com/weddinghelp.html) that had lots of good information, including menu ideas, amounts needed for various numbers of guests, and information on food safety. The information on how much food is needed was very helpful; it’s hard to judge its validity other than to say that it sounds about right based on the amount of food I would expect most people to eat. The food safety information all seems valid based on what I have heard before, but I would want to check with other sources before actually preparing large amounts of food. Most of the other results of my Google search were for or about caterers and catering, which was not helpful, so I Googled “wedding food menu ideas” and got some better results, including an ehow.com page on do-it-yourself wedding reception menus.
Although I found some useful information online, I had a problem with the amount of information I had to sort through to get it. For all of the searches I tried, many of the results were useless for my purposes. Often they came up because my search words were present in one small section of the site or in the comments section, even though the site was not really related to the topic. I think I had better luck with the books because at least they are all about the topic of weddings and I didn’t have to sort through vast amounts of information to find them. I was able to go to the wedding section of the library with confidence that everything there would be on topic. This has been my problem with internet searching in the past as well; because there is so much information, it’s sometimes hard to find what I need.
I decided at this point in my search not to ask people personally because everyone I know who has gotten married recently has had a traditional wedding that cost much more than I am looking to spend. When I get to the point where I am seriously planning a wedding, though, I will ask around to see what elements of friends’ weddings I might find useful. I’m just not at that point yet.
My information search came to an end at this point because I felt I had enough basic information to think about and to begin making some (very) preliminary plans in my head. I wasn’t looking for specific, in-depth information, so I tried to keep my searches general so that I could get a better idea of my options. I feel that my search was successful because it did give me some ideas and some resources to consult for more information when I start planning for real. Although I started at the library, I realize that most people would probably go about starting a search in a different way, either by going online or asking people they know. Honestly, the main reason I started at the library is because I work there, so I was there anyway; it wasn’t out of the way for me at all. After conducting my search, however, I do feel that the books I found at the library were some of my best resources because they contain so much information. Even if most of it does not apply to my situation, I can pick out enough bits and pieces that do apply to put together what I need. In general, I do accept “good enough” information because it’s usually easier to do so than to keep searching indefinitely for the perfect answer. In this search, I stopped when I felt I had enough “good enough” information for my purposes.
Books I Found Useful:
Do It for less! weddings : how to create your dream wedding without breaking the bank / Denise Vivaldo. Portland, Maine : Sellers Publishing, c2008.
The everything weddings on a budget book : plan the wedding of your dreams--without going bankrupt! / Barbara Cameron. Avon, Mass. : Adams Media, c2008.
Intimate weddings : [planning a small wedding that fits your budget and style] / Christina Friedrichsen. Cincinnati, Ohio : North Light Books, c2004.
Wedding cakes you can make : designing, baking, and decorating the perfect wedding cake / Dede Wilson. Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley Pub., c2005.
Websites I Found Useful:
http://weddings.about.com/
http://www.unique-vintage.com/wedding-dresses-traditional-wedding-dresses-c-102_173.html
http://www.getcrafty.com/viewtopic.php?p=36653
http://lotsofinfo.tripod.com/weddinghelp.html
http://www.ehow.com/way_5255988_do-reception-food-menu-ideas.html
