A MUM has thrown her daughter the “cheapest wedding ever” after refusing to spend more than $1,000 (£700) on her big day.
Shelley Watson has been penny pinching for years and was not about to change her ways for daughter Ashley’s wedding to groom Colby Cosgrove.
The mum, who appears on TLC’s Extreme Cheapskates, is determined to cut costs wherever she can, beginning with the venue.
Rather than splash out thousands on a grand country house Shelley takes her daughter to the local school gym.
“The best part about it is it’s free because my friends work here, it’s the perfect place to get married” Shelley says.
However, not everyone is convinced.
Denise, Colby’s mother, says: “I thought it was a f***ing joke, nobody in their right mind is serious about having it in a gym. It’s ridiculous.”
“This is going to be the cheapest wedding ever,” Ashley agrees.
When it comes to flowers, Shelley has come up with a budget solution, heading to a holiday warehouse
Shelley explains: “It’s a seasonal distribution company that would have flowers and those flowers are out of season right now so they would be cheaper.
“They could have Christmas flowers.”
The mum bags an entire box of festive poinsettia for under $10 (£7) dollars, much to her delight.
When the mother and daughter visit a local bakery, Shelley is horrified to hear the sky high costs of a wedding cake.
Shelley says: “I think spending $400 (£285) on a wedding cake is ridiculous, that is wasted money. It costs $2 (£1.40) for a cake mix.”
But the thrifty mum soon comes up with a solution.
She will bake a cake to give out to guests and they will simply borrow a display cake from the bakery.
“I think the display cake was the better option for their wedding because it didn’t cost us anything, it was free”, she says.
While Ashley was dreaming of picking out her dream wedding dress at a boutique, her mum has other ideas, taking her to a pawn shop.
Ashley has the choice of three dresses, and miraculously she finds one, but sister Britney points out it is covered in rat urine.
But this is music to Shelley’s ears as she is able to shave off even more from the cost, bagging the dress at a bargain $75 (£53).
When the big day finally arrives Shelley’s friends are roped in as caterers, preparing burger cheese sandwiches and serving them on school trays.
Shelley adds: “We actually have more people than we thought and they’re all bringing their BYOB and they’re also bringing their food and they seemed very happy to do it.”
Groom Colby, who got ready in the boys’ loos, says: “I’m not totally psyched about where and how we’re getting married, but I am excited to make that commitment to Ashley.”
As the organ music is played through a laptop, Ashley makes her way down the aisle only to be met by Shelley at the end.
She says: “The biggest secret about this wedding that I have not told anybody yet is that I am an ordained minister and I am going to officiate this wedding.”
In a final money-saving move Shelley saves another $300 (£200) by officiating the wedding herself.
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