it's less than a year until our wedding day; 362 days away to be exact.
we have been engaged for over a year!?!
having this much time allows us to spread out decisions regarding plans and details.
we have a venue. this was the first and most expensive decision. it was important that the venue be inclusive: food, booze, accommodations and ceremony location. it also needed to be a place that wouldn't appear totally out of character for us.
i have a dress. this was a super easy decision for me and one that i wanted to get out of the way fast. thanks ebay!
we bought rings. other than the fact that adam's titanium band took forever to be custom made, this was also pretty easy.
we FINALLY have a photographer! those of you who know me in "real" life understand that this was my big fixation. i was willing to splurge on this and little did i know that i would have to in order to get what i was looking for. after an initial let-down by a photographer who "forgot" to mention that she had booked with someone else, we found a great professional photographer. check them out: eve event photography.
we have a solid guest list. amazingly, we have been able to stay true to our goal of keeping it small and intimate. i think we'll be able to keep it to around 50 people.
we have invitations and a website that i'm almost done tweaking. we're about a month away from sending out our save-the-dates which is very exciting. we're finally going to be letting other people into our plans!
speaking of save-the-dates, i got a bit carried away today and added a superfluous but awesome little detail to the mailing but i'll have to keep the specifics a secret for now :)
i am so excited for you! we have a short engagement going (engaged on labor day, getting married in april [and no, i'm not pregnant ;)]) and the planning has got me a little worried. we have big families and so our numbers are high (150-175?) but we're trying to do it on a budget. i'll let you know how it goes, but ideas are welcome! xo
ReplyDelete@vice girl
ReplyDeleteequally excited for you!!!
i wish you luck on your short engagement. i am glad we spread it out over so much time in order to not concentrate the stress, but sometimes we feel like it's so far away it isn't real.
i tell you that the budget is the biggest puzzle. if you know someone with a big awesome yard or property...become fast friends! the venue is a crazy expense!
We got married on the beach (free, with council permission), had the reception in the local caravan park in a huge borrowed marquee & furnishings (also free -it was dark green - a left-over local beer promotion tent). We paid about $300 to have us and the marquee and about 20 friends stay over at the park for the entire long weekend (it was Easter - we had the wedding on Good Friday and stayed on 'til Monday with our friends). Friends & the Beloved & I decorated the tent ourselves with various bits I'd collected up and made, on the morning of the wedding. I spent a little on a single bouquet for me, and then just ordered big bunches of loose flowers that I placed (ie. not arranged as such)in 12 vases I'd bought, on special ($5 each). They looked fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThe guests were asked to pay $25 for the event in leiu of gifts (we have so much "stuff' already, we didn't need more dinner sets or linen)- and no one had any qualms about that at all. A couple of people bought us gifts as well, but most obliged and didn't. I think we had 60 guests or so.
I got my hair done at a local haridressing college (half price) I did splash out on the cake, (about $450) that I designed. My dress I bought off the rack on my first visit to the local bride shop - it was the 2nd one I tried on ($500). I don't even remember where the Beloved got her pants and top.
Our celebrant was a friend, who did some research and did a course to become a celebrant, specifically for our wedding, and we splashed out on the bubbly and beer.
Our friends still talk about our wedding being the most relaxed and fun, guenuine and enjoyable wedding they've ever attended. They still rave about it. That brings me great joy!
Good luck, good luck, Renee, in finding venues and all the bits involved. It is possible to have the best day ever, with little cost involved. I'd offer you our local beach if I could!! :) (Aussie is a bit far to come, methinks!)