Wow. Being engaged for 18 months is insanely long for someone who likes to plan things. Granted, were just over the 1 year mark for being engaged, but we still have 8.5 months until the wedding. There are so many things that I want to do, but its just too early to do them. Do you know how annoying that is for someone who likes to make lists and get things done right away?
At the same time, I can't believe we only have 8.5 months until the wedding. I have a ton of stuff to do! We still have money to save. But, being that super anal organized person that I am, I have everything broken down into what needs to be done each month.
Last week two pretty exciting things happened. T received a call that our wedding bands were in and ready to pick up at our convenience. When he told me, I said "holy crap we're really getting married!" Later on in the week I received an email from the dress shop telling me that Maggie Sottero contacted my dress store and said my dress was being shipped before the end of the month and should arrive to the shop by January 10th.
Its funny how those two things make the wedding so much more realistic. I mean, I know we're getting married and all of that, but until you have the bands and the dress, its not quite real that its happening. Its like when I went on a cruise. We paid portions of money throughout the year and although I made those payments and knew what they were going towards, it wasn't until we received the tickets in the mail that I thought "Wow, we're really going on a cruise!"
Now I have to patiently wait 8.5 months to wear the band. :-( However, in less than 3 weeks I can try on my dress so that makes up for it a bit!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
My First Wedding Nightmare
So I know that these are pretty common and I figured that I would have one eventually, but I was not expecting to have one that woke up me shaking, angry and freaking out. Here's the dream:
T and I are standing in front of the officiant who is saying the ceremony. He starts talking about religion (we're not having a religious ceremony) and T gives me the side eye. I look at him confused because I have no idea why the officiant changed the ceremony on us. T gives me my ring but then the officiant forgets to have me give T his. Neither of us can talk so we can't stop him or say anything. Then my mom and dad come through the door carrying folding chairs and complaining about just getting there. Finally I can speak and I say to her "I can't believe you would miss my wedding! I'm your only daughter and here you are being typical as usual, late, late, LATE!". I look out at our guests and there is no one there. I run out of the ceremony room and outside. Someone is setting up this hideous orange and black cake and I start yelling at them because its not the cake we asked for. They start yelling back telling me that it is what we ordered. I randomly pull a picture of out somewhere and show them its not the right cake. Some lady yells at me and says well this is what you get for wanting a budget wedding. You can't have what you want or what you ask for.
T comes outside to find me and thats when I realize that our photographer never showed up and we have no pictures of the wedding. I call her and get her voicemail saying how shes really busy, not accepting new clients and has missed a lot of weddings recently. I started yelling at the voicemail telling her I paid her and she was supposed to be here. The voicemail starts talking back to me telling me that "its just too bad and I don't need pictures since no one showed up for the wedding."
My mom finds me and tells me that we need to have the wedding again tomorrow because no one is there. I argue with her that I don't want another wedding and if no one gives a shit about us to show up than thats just their problem. Thats when I realize that none of my bridesmaids are there and I start calling them asking why they aren't there. My maid of honor tells me that she had something else to do and couldn't make it. Then she says maybe I should have had the wedding closer to her house and she could have came.
Someone must have convinced me to have the wedding again because T and I are calling everyone that we inviting making sure that they are attending. Everyone says they are on their way except for one of his friends. We drive to his house and show him the invitation and tell him that he lied to us he was supposed to be there.
We go back to the venue and someone is setting up a cake again. Its still not the one I asked for, but its the right color so I say that its okay. It was three tiers and the middle tier was blueberry muffins. The lady tells me its the closest thing to purple that she had. The photographer shows up and starts taking pictures.
The dream fastforwards to me holding a bouquet which explodes flowers in my hands and then gets fuzzy until its T and I packing up all of our stuff saying that if people don't want to show up at our wedding and give a shit about us that we're moving to another country.
Okay, its not really that bad when its written out, probably because my brain still can't comprehend everything that happened, but I remember feeling so lost, confused, alone and angry throughout the entire dream. That was definitely not fun!
Hopefully I can avoid having any more wedding nightmares for a while....or at least until this one gets out of my head.
T and I are standing in front of the officiant who is saying the ceremony. He starts talking about religion (we're not having a religious ceremony) and T gives me the side eye. I look at him confused because I have no idea why the officiant changed the ceremony on us. T gives me my ring but then the officiant forgets to have me give T his. Neither of us can talk so we can't stop him or say anything. Then my mom and dad come through the door carrying folding chairs and complaining about just getting there. Finally I can speak and I say to her "I can't believe you would miss my wedding! I'm your only daughter and here you are being typical as usual, late, late, LATE!". I look out at our guests and there is no one there. I run out of the ceremony room and outside. Someone is setting up this hideous orange and black cake and I start yelling at them because its not the cake we asked for. They start yelling back telling me that it is what we ordered. I randomly pull a picture of out somewhere and show them its not the right cake. Some lady yells at me and says well this is what you get for wanting a budget wedding. You can't have what you want or what you ask for.
T comes outside to find me and thats when I realize that our photographer never showed up and we have no pictures of the wedding. I call her and get her voicemail saying how shes really busy, not accepting new clients and has missed a lot of weddings recently. I started yelling at the voicemail telling her I paid her and she was supposed to be here. The voicemail starts talking back to me telling me that "its just too bad and I don't need pictures since no one showed up for the wedding."
My mom finds me and tells me that we need to have the wedding again tomorrow because no one is there. I argue with her that I don't want another wedding and if no one gives a shit about us to show up than thats just their problem. Thats when I realize that none of my bridesmaids are there and I start calling them asking why they aren't there. My maid of honor tells me that she had something else to do and couldn't make it. Then she says maybe I should have had the wedding closer to her house and she could have came.
Someone must have convinced me to have the wedding again because T and I are calling everyone that we inviting making sure that they are attending. Everyone says they are on their way except for one of his friends. We drive to his house and show him the invitation and tell him that he lied to us he was supposed to be there.
We go back to the venue and someone is setting up a cake again. Its still not the one I asked for, but its the right color so I say that its okay. It was three tiers and the middle tier was blueberry muffins. The lady tells me its the closest thing to purple that she had. The photographer shows up and starts taking pictures.
The dream fastforwards to me holding a bouquet which explodes flowers in my hands and then gets fuzzy until its T and I packing up all of our stuff saying that if people don't want to show up at our wedding and give a shit about us that we're moving to another country.
Okay, its not really that bad when its written out, probably because my brain still can't comprehend everything that happened, but I remember feeling so lost, confused, alone and angry throughout the entire dream. That was definitely not fun!
Hopefully I can avoid having any more wedding nightmares for a while....or at least until this one gets out of my head.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Wedding Bands!
We stopped in the jewelry store that T purchased my engagement ring from while we were Black Friday shopping today and found out that both of the wedding bands we wanted were on sale. Mine was $175 off and T's was $25 off. We decided to purchase them today.
Here is mine:
And here is T's:
Of course he had to pick out the heaviest ring possible. I don't get his logic but he says that if he's going to wear a wedding band he wants to feel that it is there.
And the best part about buying our rings today? My dad called me later in the day when we were finishing up shopping and told me that he was going to give me a pretty decent amount of cash for T and I for Christmas. It was enough that it is going to pay for our wedding bands completely!
Both of our rings needed to be sized and mine will show up in the next week or so and T's should be here in a month!
Definitely a big check off the list of wedding purchases!
Here is mine:
Of course he had to pick out the heaviest ring possible. I don't get his logic but he says that if he's going to wear a wedding band he wants to feel that it is there.
And the best part about buying our rings today? My dad called me later in the day when we were finishing up shopping and told me that he was going to give me a pretty decent amount of cash for T and I for Christmas. It was enough that it is going to pay for our wedding bands completely!
Both of our rings needed to be sized and mine will show up in the next week or so and T's should be here in a month!
Definitely a big check off the list of wedding purchases!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Invitations
When I first started planning the wedding, I didn't care too much about invitations. Its just a piece of paper that eventually gets thrown away, right?
So I decided that I would just use Vistaprint deals and make our invitations that way. I created a few, but none of them were really what I wanted. They didn't have the color options or designs I wanted, and after the issues I had trying to create a monogram, I didn't want to upload an entire file as the invitation.
Then I started stalking knottie bio's and googling. I found the wonderful world of pocketfolds and knew I had to have them. But they were a bit expensive. For about 3 months I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I wanted pocketfolds, but I wasn't sure if I could justify that type of expense on well...paper.
I googled for a long time, searching every website that sold cardstock and pocketfolds to make sure that I could find the best deal possible. http://www.cardsandpockets.com/ had the best prices for the colors and style I wanted.
I'm kind of strange when it comes to paper. Well, anything office-supply related. I get really excited when stores put out the back to school supplies and there are tons and tons of pens, pencils, markers, post-it notes and other stuff on sale. I could honestly spend 2 or more hours in an office supply store, just looking at all of the stuff there. Sometimes I think I missed my calling as a school teacher, just so I could buy that stuff every year.
When I got an email from cardsandpockets.com that they were having a fall sale and saw a post on the DIY board that those sales were super rare, I made the decision to order pocketfolds.
I checked the guest list again and it turned out we needed 29 invitations. Of course, most pre-packaged items come in quantities of 25 or more. So I did have get higher quantites than I needed, but I figure at least I can definitely mess up a few times without having to order more. I also wanted to have extra invitations so we could keep one and send an extra set to our parents if they wanted them.
Here is the breakdown:
40 Signature Pocketfolds in Pine $0.98 each $39.20
2 packs of 25 qty. Blank Invitations $5.00 each $10.00
3 packs of 25 qty. Blank Enclosures $4.98 each $14.94
2 packs of 25 qty. RSVP Cards $4.00 each $ 8.00
50 RSVP envelopes $0.11 each $ 5.25
I had purchased 55 outer envelopes for the RSVP's from another knottie on the Trash to Treasure board for $6. Because the sale was for everything, I also ordered cardstock to back our menu's.
25 Pack 8x11 Pine Cardstock $5.25
25 Pack 8x11 Pansy Cardstock $4.99
The cardsandpockets.com total for the invite pieces and cardstock was $87.88. The sale was 25% off which deducted $21.88 from the price. Shipping was $9.40. Total: $75.40
So, the total for everything related to the invitations, the cost is $83.39
Unfortunately, this does mean that before postage (and excluding the stamps and ink pad I bought), each invitation is costing me $2.61. I know that is pretty un-budget friendly. However, I did price out what it would cost us for premade invitations, or ones where you print your specific information, and the ones I found decent enough varied from $0.08 less or $1.24 more per invite.
Maybe I'm just a paper snob. Who knows. :( But, even though its a lot of money, I'm getting the invitations I really want and we're still under budget.
So I decided that I would just use Vistaprint deals and make our invitations that way. I created a few, but none of them were really what I wanted. They didn't have the color options or designs I wanted, and after the issues I had trying to create a monogram, I didn't want to upload an entire file as the invitation.
Then I started stalking knottie bio's and googling. I found the wonderful world of pocketfolds and knew I had to have them. But they were a bit expensive. For about 3 months I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I wanted pocketfolds, but I wasn't sure if I could justify that type of expense on well...paper.
I googled for a long time, searching every website that sold cardstock and pocketfolds to make sure that I could find the best deal possible. http://www.cardsandpockets.com/ had the best prices for the colors and style I wanted.
I'm kind of strange when it comes to paper. Well, anything office-supply related. I get really excited when stores put out the back to school supplies and there are tons and tons of pens, pencils, markers, post-it notes and other stuff on sale. I could honestly spend 2 or more hours in an office supply store, just looking at all of the stuff there. Sometimes I think I missed my calling as a school teacher, just so I could buy that stuff every year.
When I got an email from cardsandpockets.com that they were having a fall sale and saw a post on the DIY board that those sales were super rare, I made the decision to order pocketfolds.
I checked the guest list again and it turned out we needed 29 invitations. Of course, most pre-packaged items come in quantities of 25 or more. So I did have get higher quantites than I needed, but I figure at least I can definitely mess up a few times without having to order more. I also wanted to have extra invitations so we could keep one and send an extra set to our parents if they wanted them.
Here is the breakdown:
40 Signature Pocketfolds in Pine $0.98 each $39.20
2 packs of 25 qty. Blank Invitations $5.00 each $10.00
3 packs of 25 qty. Blank Enclosures $4.98 each $14.94
2 packs of 25 qty. RSVP Cards $4.00 each $ 8.00
50 RSVP envelopes $0.11 each $ 5.25
I had purchased 55 outer envelopes for the RSVP's from another knottie on the Trash to Treasure board for $6. Because the sale was for everything, I also ordered cardstock to back our menu's.
25 Pack 8x11 Pine Cardstock $5.25
25 Pack 8x11 Pansy Cardstock $4.99
The cardsandpockets.com total for the invite pieces and cardstock was $87.88. The sale was 25% off which deducted $21.88 from the price. Shipping was $9.40. Total: $75.40
So, the total for everything related to the invitations, the cost is $83.39
Unfortunately, this does mean that before postage (and excluding the stamps and ink pad I bought), each invitation is costing me $2.61. I know that is pretty un-budget friendly. However, I did price out what it would cost us for premade invitations, or ones where you print your specific information, and the ones I found decent enough varied from $0.08 less or $1.24 more per invite.
Maybe I'm just a paper snob. Who knows. :( But, even though its a lot of money, I'm getting the invitations I really want and we're still under budget.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Checklist & Budget Templates
I've created my own Wedding Checklist, Excel Budget, and Vendor Payment Tracker. I thought I should share them with you.
If for any reason you can't access these documents, please leave me a comment with your email address and I'll send it to you that way.
Wedding Checklist
I compiled this list with the help of theknot.com and the Bridal Bargains book.
Wedding Budget
This is the actual Excel sheet that I am using, so obviously its not going to work for everyone. It is set up to calculate the Already Purchased column total from the Actual Amount column total to show you what you have spent so far.
Payment Schedule
You can enter in your vendors and payment information as you receive contracts. The Payments by Month portion is something I created where I showed a 12 month countdown to my wedding to figure out what needed to be purchased/paid for each month. It allows me to see how much money we need to have put away.
If for any reason you can't access these documents, please leave me a comment with your email address and I'll send it to you that way.
Wedding Checklist
I compiled this list with the help of theknot.com and the Bridal Bargains book.
Wedding Budget
This is the actual Excel sheet that I am using, so obviously its not going to work for everyone. It is set up to calculate the Already Purchased column total from the Actual Amount column total to show you what you have spent so far.
Payment Schedule
You can enter in your vendors and payment information as you receive contracts. The Payments by Month portion is something I created where I showed a 12 month countdown to my wedding to figure out what needed to be purchased/paid for each month. It allows me to see how much money we need to have put away.
Just Starting Out...
I feel like crap tonight so instead of cleaning my apartment, I figured I'd post this.
There are a lot of posts on theknot about being on a budget and how to figure out a budget, so I thought this could be useful. I'm basically going to give some general advice on planning and finding vendors. So, lets start at the beginning.
You Just Got Engaged
Congrats! Now what you should do is figure out how much money a wedding costs in your area. You can go to http://www.costofwedding.com/ and enter in your zip code. Did that number completely freak you out? I'll admit, it freaked me out, a lot. So now you need to figure out how much money you can afford to spend. How much money can you save in a month? How much can your fiance save? How long do you want to be engaged? Get that total and now you have a rough idea of what your budget will be.
A word of advice, don't depend on money from other people. Sure, your parents or your in-laws might tell you that they will give you money, but until that money is in your hand, pretend that it doesn't exist. Also, remember that he who pays has a say.
Start saving money right away! You want to create a cushion in case some emergency comes up that you need money for. Another bit of advice, pick up a copy of the Bridal Bargains book. Its definitely helped me along the way and will give you an idea of a timeline to get things done.
Creating a Guest List
Once you have a rough idea of what you can spend, you need to create a guest list to see if that number still works for you. First, make a list of all of your friends and family that you want to invite. If that number seems really large, start cutting back. Maybe you just want to invite parents, siblings, aunts & uncles, first cousins and close friends. Or maybe you have enough room to include 2nd and 3rd cousins, co-workers and old friends from college.
Finding a Venue
This is where you can get pretty creative. If you don't want to get married in your church or your not religious, there are a lot of locations where you can have a ceremony and reception in the same place. Use Craigslist, your local knot board, google and maybe even your friends to help you find some possible places. A family members backyard, a local park, restaurant, banquet hall, winery, mansion, etc. Or if you want a destination wedding, start looking those up. Sometimes its cheaper to do that than it is to have an at-home wedding, but it all depends on you and what you want.
Caterer
If you find a venue that isn't a full service one, you'll need to start looking for caterer. Warning: food can cost up to 50% of your budget. Now might be the time to start thinking about your guest list again. A wise knottie once said "Would you be willing to lend (name) $50 and never see that money again, or $100 for them to have a date?" If the answer is no, then you should start cutting back your guest list. A lot of brides are now serving BBQ style food because its filling and usually averages $20 per person. A steak and lobster meal can cost up to $110 per person depending on your area. You also want to find a caterer that will provide all of your rentals too. This isn't something that I did, but we were able to get discounts and it ended up saving us money.
Photographer & Videographer
For me, this was the hardest vendor to find. I knew what style I wanted, but I could not find anyone within our price range. You can use your local knot board for recommendations, Craigslist or check out http://www.ppa.com/ for a list of photographers in your area. Look at their websites and see what style of photos they take. Do you want more posed and formal shots or do you like artsy, off center pictures? Then find a photographer that fits your style. For me, its photojournalistic. I absolutely love that look.
Photographers are one vendor that you can definitely ask for a lower price. Most are willing to create custom packages for you in your budget. But you need to know what you want first. What is important to you? Having a ton of photos while you are getting ready and going all the way to the end of the reception? And engagement or trash the dress shoot? A CD of all of your pictures? Albums for your parents? Albums are typically what causes the price to go up, so a lot of brides are opting to make their own wedding album. If this is something that interests you, definitely ask your photographer about either removing that from a package or subsituting it for something else. In my case, we're subsituting a proof book for an engagement session because we'll have an online photo gallery instead. Now, meet with photographers and ask to see tons of pictures from their weddings. If you don't like their personality or their pictures, you don't want to chose them. Think about it, you're going to spend more time that day with your photographer than anyone else. You want to feel comfortable around them.
I'm not have a videographer. A few family members have video cameras and might film it for us, but it wasn't something that either of us found to be important. If it is to you, I'm pretty sure finding one is just like finding a photographer. When you have that connection, you know its going to go over well.
Officiants
If you're not getting married in a church, you'll need to find someone to marry you. In some states, a friend or family member can be ordained online and can marry you. This was not an easy search for us. Officiants in MD are pretty expensive. The more customization you want for your ceremony, the more money it will cost.
The Dress
You want to start looking for your dress 8-12 months before your wedding because some dresses can take up to 6-8 months to come in. Look online first and figure out what type of style you like. Ballgown, mermaid, sheath, tea-length, lace, silk, etc. Then, head on out to the stores to try some on. Make sure not to try on dresses that are out of your budget. You don't want to fall in love with a dress that you can't afford. And try on dresses that you didn't think you would like, you might just change your mind.
Florist
What is your favorite flower? Is it in season for your wedding? Flowers that are out of season can be really, really expensive. Pick out a few flowers that you like and then meet with a florist to figure out what they cost. If a florist seems to expensive for you, visit a grocery store and see if they will make the bouquets for you. Or, you could think about DIYing the flowers. There are tons of online wholesalers who provide flowers at pretty reasonable rates.
Baker
By this point, I'm sure you've figured out that if the word wedding is attached, the prices go up...a lot. So, you have some options here. Fondant is expensive. Yes, it creates that smooth sleek look, but its going to cost your more money. From my research, I've found that a local bakery thats been in operation for years is usually pretty cheap. You could also use a grocery store for this as well. Another money saver is to have a small wedding cake to cut, but serve your guests from a sheetcake thats much cheaper to make and doesn't need to be decorated because no one will see it.
Paper
Invitations can be crazy expensive. Rising prices at the post office don't help much either. Find some styles that you like and then look around on other websites to see if you can find a coupon or sale. Or, the Budget Board #1 recommendation: Vistaprint. Vistaprint is freaking awesome. There are no other words for it. You can sign up and get offers in your email for free postcards, business cards, magnets, just about anything. And they have these deals ALL of the time. You can also go the DIY route if you feel crafy enough. http://www.cardsandpockets.com/ is another great website and I'll be using them for our invitations.
This is getting long enough, so I just want to give some other basic advice.
There are a lot of posts on theknot about being on a budget and how to figure out a budget, so I thought this could be useful. I'm basically going to give some general advice on planning and finding vendors. So, lets start at the beginning.
You Just Got Engaged
Congrats! Now what you should do is figure out how much money a wedding costs in your area. You can go to http://www.costofwedding.com/ and enter in your zip code. Did that number completely freak you out? I'll admit, it freaked me out, a lot. So now you need to figure out how much money you can afford to spend. How much money can you save in a month? How much can your fiance save? How long do you want to be engaged? Get that total and now you have a rough idea of what your budget will be.
A word of advice, don't depend on money from other people. Sure, your parents or your in-laws might tell you that they will give you money, but until that money is in your hand, pretend that it doesn't exist. Also, remember that he who pays has a say.
Start saving money right away! You want to create a cushion in case some emergency comes up that you need money for. Another bit of advice, pick up a copy of the Bridal Bargains book. Its definitely helped me along the way and will give you an idea of a timeline to get things done.
Creating a Guest List
Once you have a rough idea of what you can spend, you need to create a guest list to see if that number still works for you. First, make a list of all of your friends and family that you want to invite. If that number seems really large, start cutting back. Maybe you just want to invite parents, siblings, aunts & uncles, first cousins and close friends. Or maybe you have enough room to include 2nd and 3rd cousins, co-workers and old friends from college.
Finding a Venue
This is where you can get pretty creative. If you don't want to get married in your church or your not religious, there are a lot of locations where you can have a ceremony and reception in the same place. Use Craigslist, your local knot board, google and maybe even your friends to help you find some possible places. A family members backyard, a local park, restaurant, banquet hall, winery, mansion, etc. Or if you want a destination wedding, start looking those up. Sometimes its cheaper to do that than it is to have an at-home wedding, but it all depends on you and what you want.
Caterer
If you find a venue that isn't a full service one, you'll need to start looking for caterer. Warning: food can cost up to 50% of your budget. Now might be the time to start thinking about your guest list again. A wise knottie once said "Would you be willing to lend (name) $50 and never see that money again, or $100 for them to have a date?" If the answer is no, then you should start cutting back your guest list. A lot of brides are now serving BBQ style food because its filling and usually averages $20 per person. A steak and lobster meal can cost up to $110 per person depending on your area. You also want to find a caterer that will provide all of your rentals too. This isn't something that I did, but we were able to get discounts and it ended up saving us money.
Photographer & Videographer
For me, this was the hardest vendor to find. I knew what style I wanted, but I could not find anyone within our price range. You can use your local knot board for recommendations, Craigslist or check out http://www.ppa.com/ for a list of photographers in your area. Look at their websites and see what style of photos they take. Do you want more posed and formal shots or do you like artsy, off center pictures? Then find a photographer that fits your style. For me, its photojournalistic. I absolutely love that look.
Photographers are one vendor that you can definitely ask for a lower price. Most are willing to create custom packages for you in your budget. But you need to know what you want first. What is important to you? Having a ton of photos while you are getting ready and going all the way to the end of the reception? And engagement or trash the dress shoot? A CD of all of your pictures? Albums for your parents? Albums are typically what causes the price to go up, so a lot of brides are opting to make their own wedding album. If this is something that interests you, definitely ask your photographer about either removing that from a package or subsituting it for something else. In my case, we're subsituting a proof book for an engagement session because we'll have an online photo gallery instead. Now, meet with photographers and ask to see tons of pictures from their weddings. If you don't like their personality or their pictures, you don't want to chose them. Think about it, you're going to spend more time that day with your photographer than anyone else. You want to feel comfortable around them.
I'm not have a videographer. A few family members have video cameras and might film it for us, but it wasn't something that either of us found to be important. If it is to you, I'm pretty sure finding one is just like finding a photographer. When you have that connection, you know its going to go over well.
Officiants
If you're not getting married in a church, you'll need to find someone to marry you. In some states, a friend or family member can be ordained online and can marry you. This was not an easy search for us. Officiants in MD are pretty expensive. The more customization you want for your ceremony, the more money it will cost.
The Dress
You want to start looking for your dress 8-12 months before your wedding because some dresses can take up to 6-8 months to come in. Look online first and figure out what type of style you like. Ballgown, mermaid, sheath, tea-length, lace, silk, etc. Then, head on out to the stores to try some on. Make sure not to try on dresses that are out of your budget. You don't want to fall in love with a dress that you can't afford. And try on dresses that you didn't think you would like, you might just change your mind.
Florist
What is your favorite flower? Is it in season for your wedding? Flowers that are out of season can be really, really expensive. Pick out a few flowers that you like and then meet with a florist to figure out what they cost. If a florist seems to expensive for you, visit a grocery store and see if they will make the bouquets for you. Or, you could think about DIYing the flowers. There are tons of online wholesalers who provide flowers at pretty reasonable rates.
Baker
By this point, I'm sure you've figured out that if the word wedding is attached, the prices go up...a lot. So, you have some options here. Fondant is expensive. Yes, it creates that smooth sleek look, but its going to cost your more money. From my research, I've found that a local bakery thats been in operation for years is usually pretty cheap. You could also use a grocery store for this as well. Another money saver is to have a small wedding cake to cut, but serve your guests from a sheetcake thats much cheaper to make and doesn't need to be decorated because no one will see it.
Paper
Invitations can be crazy expensive. Rising prices at the post office don't help much either. Find some styles that you like and then look around on other websites to see if you can find a coupon or sale. Or, the Budget Board #1 recommendation: Vistaprint. Vistaprint is freaking awesome. There are no other words for it. You can sign up and get offers in your email for free postcards, business cards, magnets, just about anything. And they have these deals ALL of the time. You can also go the DIY route if you feel crafy enough. http://www.cardsandpockets.com/ is another great website and I'll be using them for our invitations.
This is getting long enough, so I just want to give some other basic advice.
- Decide on what you want vs. what you need. This is key for a budget.
- Create a budget sheet in excel to track what you are spending.
- No one is going to pay attention to your chairs or table linens. Your guests will remember the food and music.
- Ignore magazines and the internet. The wedding market is notorious for making you think you need personalized favors, a photobooth, a live band, chivari chairs and a ton of other crap that really isn't necessary.
- And, when all else fails, come visit us on the Budget Board on theknot. Navybaby1113 is an awesome moderator and so are the other knotties on there. We're going through the same things you are and I guarantee we can help you find the cheapest floating candles, centerpieces, linens, or anything else that you need.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Photographer Meeting #1
Today I had a meeting with one of the photographers recommended from theknot.com. Stephanie was a little out of our budget but we had been emailing back and forth and she said that everyone should have photography that they love regardless of the price.
T didn't want to come with me. He thinks photographers are boring and they won't ever show you bad photographs so whats the point. I tried explaining that you need to like the personality of the photographer, but he doesn't get it. So my mom came with me.
I was not expecting Stephanie to be my age. Her work is amazing for someone that young. One of the first questions she asked me was where we were having the wedding. When I said the name of the winery she got really excited and said that she's photographed weddings there before and loved it. That was a huge selling point for me. I looked through a sample book of hers that was actually from the winery.
We went over my huge list of questions and I found out that she's really good friends with similar photographers that if she ended up being sick that day we would get someone with the same style. She said she's never been sick before but its always great to have a back up like that. And if she was to be sick, we would be the first people to find out. Pretty comforting. All of her photos are taken in high resolution in color and then she chooses which ones look better in black and white but we can also tell her to change them if we want.
T doesn't want us to be on the internet so I thought finding a photographer to agree to that would be difficult. Stephanie said that she doesn't have any problems with it and she would ask our permission before putting any pictures online.
Here's what we can get:
4-6 hours of coverage
online password protected gallery of all edited images
a high resolution DVD with all images that we can have printed anywhere or order from her
engagement session
high resolution DVD of the engagement pictures
...and the price....$1050.
Then I found out something else thats also really great. We would pay her a 50% deposit when we sign the contract that seals us in for the date. The remaining balance isn't due intil 3-6 weeks after the wedding when we receive a CD of the pictures. I haven't found any other photographers who let you pay them after the wedding, so thats great with being on a budget.
We talked about photos I like and don't like and she really seemed to get all of it. I could describe a photo to her and she knew exactly what I meant. There was definitely a connection with her.
I met with another photographer today that I found on craigslist. I didn't feel the same connection with her as I did with Stephanie. Her pictures are great but not 100% what I'm looking for. She's a little bit more reasonable price wise, $950 for up to 9 hours of coverage, high res DVD of all of the photos, and a free engagement session.
I have a meeting with another photographer that I found through http://www.ppa.com/ which is a national photographers website. We're meeting on November 1st. She is a little bit more expensive, $1300 for 4 hours but she has the same style as Stephanie and we've had a lot of great email conversations.
So, in case anyone reading is in the area and still needs a photographer, here is their contact information:
smillerphotography.net - Stephanie Miller
kilkerphotography.com - Gail Kilker (the one I didn't really like)
meadowsmoments.com - Stacy Meadows (meeting on 11/1)
T didn't want to come with me. He thinks photographers are boring and they won't ever show you bad photographs so whats the point. I tried explaining that you need to like the personality of the photographer, but he doesn't get it. So my mom came with me.
I was not expecting Stephanie to be my age. Her work is amazing for someone that young. One of the first questions she asked me was where we were having the wedding. When I said the name of the winery she got really excited and said that she's photographed weddings there before and loved it. That was a huge selling point for me. I looked through a sample book of hers that was actually from the winery.
We went over my huge list of questions and I found out that she's really good friends with similar photographers that if she ended up being sick that day we would get someone with the same style. She said she's never been sick before but its always great to have a back up like that. And if she was to be sick, we would be the first people to find out. Pretty comforting. All of her photos are taken in high resolution in color and then she chooses which ones look better in black and white but we can also tell her to change them if we want.
T doesn't want us to be on the internet so I thought finding a photographer to agree to that would be difficult. Stephanie said that she doesn't have any problems with it and she would ask our permission before putting any pictures online.
Here's what we can get:
4-6 hours of coverage
online password protected gallery of all edited images
a high resolution DVD with all images that we can have printed anywhere or order from her
engagement session
high resolution DVD of the engagement pictures
...and the price....$1050.
Then I found out something else thats also really great. We would pay her a 50% deposit when we sign the contract that seals us in for the date. The remaining balance isn't due intil 3-6 weeks after the wedding when we receive a CD of the pictures. I haven't found any other photographers who let you pay them after the wedding, so thats great with being on a budget.
We talked about photos I like and don't like and she really seemed to get all of it. I could describe a photo to her and she knew exactly what I meant. There was definitely a connection with her.
I met with another photographer today that I found on craigslist. I didn't feel the same connection with her as I did with Stephanie. Her pictures are great but not 100% what I'm looking for. She's a little bit more reasonable price wise, $950 for up to 9 hours of coverage, high res DVD of all of the photos, and a free engagement session.
I have a meeting with another photographer that I found through http://www.ppa.com/ which is a national photographers website. We're meeting on November 1st. She is a little bit more expensive, $1300 for 4 hours but she has the same style as Stephanie and we've had a lot of great email conversations.
So, in case anyone reading is in the area and still needs a photographer, here is their contact information:
smillerphotography.net - Stephanie Miller
kilkerphotography.com - Gail Kilker (the one I didn't really like)
meadowsmoments.com - Stacy Meadows (meeting on 11/1)
Friday, October 9, 2009
Venue & Menu
At the end of September we visited our venue with our coordinator. It turns out that we can fit everyone into one room which saves us money! I came home and created a basic sketch of how everything will fit into the room. I'm excited! I'm still waiting to get a confirmation back from the venue, but it looks like our price went from $1050 to $700. Yay!!!
Our coordinator is also our caterer. We came up with a basic meal plan:
What do you think?
Our coordinator is also our caterer. We came up with a basic meal plan:
- Cheese and fruit display immediately after ceremony.
- Choice of soup or salad
- Choice of rigatoni with meatballs or crab cake with roasted garlic mashed potatoes
What do you think?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wedding Dress Shopping Tips
Sorry for two posts in one day, but a post on theknot.com made me think this could be pretty useful:
1. Do not bring a lot of people with you. They will all have an opinion and you might not like it.
2. Bring shoes to try on with your dress in the same heel height as your wedding shoes.
3. Bring pictures of dresses you like.
4. Do not under any circumstances look at dresses out of your price range. You do not want to fall in love with a dress you can't afford.
5. Visit a few stores.
6. Think long and hard before buying a dress from a designer-inspired store in China or some other country. The dress will not look the same.
7. Take pictures if possible.
8. Cover your booty. No really, wear underwear that you are completely comfortable with people seeing. I had some butt cheek showing and the 70 year old woman helping me into the dresses wouldn't come near me.
9. Wear your hair similiar to the way you want it for the wedding. Even if that means a half pony tail or a pony tail to get a better idea.
10. Wear make-up. You'll get a better idea with this too.
11. Eat something.
12. Try on dresses that you never thought you would try on. I hate poofy dresses but I had the saleslady bring me one to try on and we cracked up the entire time. I looked like a marshmallow.
13. If you have a strapless bra, wear it or bring it. The stores usually have them though.
14. If a dress gets stuck in your head, it probably means something.
15. Check out places like oncewed.com, pearlsplace.com and bridalnet.com to see if you can buy your dress cheaper.
16. Don't be conned into buying the veil and all of the accessories at the store. Valuveil.com has super cheap veils but you can also check out craigslist, etsy.com, or ebay.
17. Find out how long it will take for the dress to come in and alterations to be done. It gives you a good idea of when you should order by if you aren't completely sure.
18. Ask about discounts. Free shipping, $50 off alterations. Refer a friend. Who knows, maybe it would work.
19. Wear clothes that are easy to get in and out of.
20. Do not order a dress 2 sizes to small because you are going to lose weight. Order the dress in the size you fit in when you try it on. If you lose weight, pay for alterations. Its cheaper than needing a new dress if you don't lose that weight.
1. Do not bring a lot of people with you. They will all have an opinion and you might not like it.
2. Bring shoes to try on with your dress in the same heel height as your wedding shoes.
3. Bring pictures of dresses you like.
4. Do not under any circumstances look at dresses out of your price range. You do not want to fall in love with a dress you can't afford.
5. Visit a few stores.
6. Think long and hard before buying a dress from a designer-inspired store in China or some other country. The dress will not look the same.
7. Take pictures if possible.
8. Cover your booty. No really, wear underwear that you are completely comfortable with people seeing. I had some butt cheek showing and the 70 year old woman helping me into the dresses wouldn't come near me.
9. Wear your hair similiar to the way you want it for the wedding. Even if that means a half pony tail or a pony tail to get a better idea.
10. Wear make-up. You'll get a better idea with this too.
11. Eat something.
12. Try on dresses that you never thought you would try on. I hate poofy dresses but I had the saleslady bring me one to try on and we cracked up the entire time. I looked like a marshmallow.
13. If you have a strapless bra, wear it or bring it. The stores usually have them though.
14. If a dress gets stuck in your head, it probably means something.
15. Check out places like oncewed.com, pearlsplace.com and bridalnet.com to see if you can buy your dress cheaper.
16. Don't be conned into buying the veil and all of the accessories at the store. Valuveil.com has super cheap veils but you can also check out craigslist, etsy.com, or ebay.
17. Find out how long it will take for the dress to come in and alterations to be done. It gives you a good idea of when you should order by if you aren't completely sure.
18. Ask about discounts. Free shipping, $50 off alterations. Refer a friend. Who knows, maybe it would work.
19. Wear clothes that are easy to get in and out of.
20. Do not order a dress 2 sizes to small because you are going to lose weight. Order the dress in the size you fit in when you try it on. If you lose weight, pay for alterations. Its cheaper than needing a new dress if you don't lose that weight.
Vendor Stress
So that miracle that occured when I found an officiant for $100...apparently it was short lived. After getting her contact information I've called twice and emailed twice with no response. Obviously, we're not going to go with someone who can't be bothered to return our calls. For all I know she would forget to show up to the wedding.
I found 3 other officiants in our price range, but I'm hesitant about them too. One only sends emails in all caps. Maybe I'm just being too picky because I spend a lot of time on the internet, but something about that just seems weird to me. The other one gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him between 12-3PM. I called at 1:30 and left a voicemail with my phone number. There hasn't been a return call. The 3rd one, emailed me back right away and said "I'm available now if you can call me on my cell." I didn't get the message until 9:30 PM and felt kind of weird about calling that late, so I emailed him and said "I didn't get your message until late, I'm available all day, my cell number is xxx, call me when you get a chance." Would you believe there was no call back from him either?
I'm starting to get worried that we're going to have to cut something big out of our budget to afford one of these $400-$800 officiants. And the closer it gets to the wedding, the more worried I'm getting about this.
I don't know what to do about a photographer either. There are tons of them I like, but none that I am really in love with. Or if I really like them, something in their email just made me feel put off. Or they don't respond to emails. I'm meeting with two more photographers on Saturday. Both are at the maximum that we can spend. I have three more that I'm emailing back and forth with and one of them is giving me a price quote on Friday.
As for the ones on Saturday, one I found off craigslist and I'm kind of leery about her because she has multiple posts on craigslist (for different days) and they all say "Great Wedding Photographer" but they all have a different price. So does that mean I could sign a contract for $800 but if she's posting on craigslist for $1200 at the time, she's going to think I'm paying $1200? The other one was a knottie recommendation. Her photos are great but I'm not feeling too much of a connection.
As for the ones I'm emailing, they were also recs. One is a guy who doesn't respond to emails very quickly, is in the process of setting up a website and has only done a few weddings. I'm not in love with his photos either. But he has a great price. The 2nd one, I like. Its easy to communicate with her via email and she responds quickly. But I don't love her photos either. And the 3rd one is the one giving me a price quote on Friday.
I found her on http://www.ppa.com/ which a bridal book I have recommended. I instantly liked her website and the fact that she only does small weddings. Her site says shes in the process of making the wedding portion of it and she links the pictures of 3 weddings she's done. They are all gorgeous. You can just tell she knows what shes doing. She has that photojournalist look to her pictures without being too artsy. We've emailed back and forth a ton and I feel really comfortable talking to her. I can't even begin to explain how antsy I am about the price quote. I'm so tired of finding someone that I like only to find out that we can't have what we want because its out of our budget.
That is definitely the most fustrating thing about being a budget bride. I'm sorry Mr. Photographer, I don't have $3,500 to spend on pictures. If I did that our guests wouldn't eat. Grrr.
So I guess we'll see how things go this weekend!
I found 3 other officiants in our price range, but I'm hesitant about them too. One only sends emails in all caps. Maybe I'm just being too picky because I spend a lot of time on the internet, but something about that just seems weird to me. The other one gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him between 12-3PM. I called at 1:30 and left a voicemail with my phone number. There hasn't been a return call. The 3rd one, emailed me back right away and said "I'm available now if you can call me on my cell." I didn't get the message until 9:30 PM and felt kind of weird about calling that late, so I emailed him and said "I didn't get your message until late, I'm available all day, my cell number is xxx, call me when you get a chance." Would you believe there was no call back from him either?
I'm starting to get worried that we're going to have to cut something big out of our budget to afford one of these $400-$800 officiants. And the closer it gets to the wedding, the more worried I'm getting about this.
I don't know what to do about a photographer either. There are tons of them I like, but none that I am really in love with. Or if I really like them, something in their email just made me feel put off. Or they don't respond to emails. I'm meeting with two more photographers on Saturday. Both are at the maximum that we can spend. I have three more that I'm emailing back and forth with and one of them is giving me a price quote on Friday.
As for the ones on Saturday, one I found off craigslist and I'm kind of leery about her because she has multiple posts on craigslist (for different days) and they all say "Great Wedding Photographer" but they all have a different price. So does that mean I could sign a contract for $800 but if she's posting on craigslist for $1200 at the time, she's going to think I'm paying $1200? The other one was a knottie recommendation. Her photos are great but I'm not feeling too much of a connection.
As for the ones I'm emailing, they were also recs. One is a guy who doesn't respond to emails very quickly, is in the process of setting up a website and has only done a few weddings. I'm not in love with his photos either. But he has a great price. The 2nd one, I like. Its easy to communicate with her via email and she responds quickly. But I don't love her photos either. And the 3rd one is the one giving me a price quote on Friday.
I found her on http://www.ppa.com/ which a bridal book I have recommended. I instantly liked her website and the fact that she only does small weddings. Her site says shes in the process of making the wedding portion of it and she links the pictures of 3 weddings she's done. They are all gorgeous. You can just tell she knows what shes doing. She has that photojournalist look to her pictures without being too artsy. We've emailed back and forth a ton and I feel really comfortable talking to her. I can't even begin to explain how antsy I am about the price quote. I'm so tired of finding someone that I like only to find out that we can't have what we want because its out of our budget.
That is definitely the most fustrating thing about being a budget bride. I'm sorry Mr. Photographer, I don't have $3,500 to spend on pictures. If I did that our guests wouldn't eat. Grrr.
So I guess we'll see how things go this weekend!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
I have a florist!
Do not underestimate the power of Craigslist. Sure, there are a ton of people on there who aren't what they claim to be and all they do is offer scam after scam. But do not let that deter you from finding something in your price range.
While randomly browsing Craigslist a while ago I found a post about a florist who works from home. Figuring it would be cheaper than any store, I emailed her what I was interested in and what my budget was.
Brittany emailed me back right away and told me of course she could work in that budget. It wasn't a problem at all. And yes, I could even have the flowers I wanted. So, we agreed that since she lives close to the winery, when FI and I made the trip up there we would visit her to look at everything.
Then came the great budget cut. My $600 flower budget was now $300. I needed my bouquet, 5 bridesmaid bouquets, a bout for FI, corsages for our moms and centerpiece flowers. So, I emailed Brittany again and she responded that it wasn't a problem. Obviously, I wasn't going to have the most expensive flowers, but my wedding would still have flowers and look nice.
I ended up finding the exact centerpieces I wanted on the Trash to Treasure board of theknot. So, I bought them. $87 and flowers were included because they were true touch silk ones. Woo Hoo!
Today FI and I met with Brittany. I was kind of hesistant because I have really expensive flower taste. I like calla lilies, orchids, and pretty much any other expensive flower. We sat down and went through everything.
Now here is the shocker:
My bouquet - mini calla liles in white with purple filler flowers, approx. 8 inches. $50
Bridesmaids - 5 bouquets of 5 lavendar roses with babies breath or other filler flower. $10 EACH
FI Bout - white calla lily $10
Mom's Corsages - carnations or roses, able to be pinned or worn on wrist, $10 EACH
Cake Flowers - approx 5 lavendar roses to put on cake. $10
Delivery and Tax: $46
While randomly browsing Craigslist a while ago I found a post about a florist who works from home. Figuring it would be cheaper than any store, I emailed her what I was interested in and what my budget was.
Brittany emailed me back right away and told me of course she could work in that budget. It wasn't a problem at all. And yes, I could even have the flowers I wanted. So, we agreed that since she lives close to the winery, when FI and I made the trip up there we would visit her to look at everything.
Then came the great budget cut. My $600 flower budget was now $300. I needed my bouquet, 5 bridesmaid bouquets, a bout for FI, corsages for our moms and centerpiece flowers. So, I emailed Brittany again and she responded that it wasn't a problem. Obviously, I wasn't going to have the most expensive flowers, but my wedding would still have flowers and look nice.
I ended up finding the exact centerpieces I wanted on the Trash to Treasure board of theknot. So, I bought them. $87 and flowers were included because they were true touch silk ones. Woo Hoo!
Today FI and I met with Brittany. I was kind of hesistant because I have really expensive flower taste. I like calla lilies, orchids, and pretty much any other expensive flower. We sat down and went through everything.
Now here is the shocker:
My bouquet - mini calla liles in white with purple filler flowers, approx. 8 inches. $50
Bridesmaids - 5 bouquets of 5 lavendar roses with babies breath or other filler flower. $10 EACH
FI Bout - white calla lily $10
Mom's Corsages - carnations or roses, able to be pinned or worn on wrist, $10 EACH
Cake Flowers - approx 5 lavendar roses to put on cake. $10
Delivery and Tax: $46
Total Cost: $186.
I damn near fell over. Seriously, I dont even think the grocery store can give you that kind of price!
And since my bouquet is kind of small, depending on where we save money elsewhere, she told me that I can upgrade it to a bigger one up until a week before the wedding. So, the more I think about it, I might as well see what another $20 will get me size wise on the bouquet. I mean, I don't want it huge since I'm short, but I want it noticeable too.
Oh and another awesome thing - she asked if we had a photographer yet. I told her no and she said "I'm not trying to sell myself, but since you are on a budget and its hard to find a photographer on a budget, I do photography too. Its nothing super fancy, I can edit the pictures if you want, but I'll stay the entire night and take a ton of pictures for $300." So, thats another thing we can think about. She said she would email me the pictures of the wedding shes taking in Oct.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Officiant
When I first thought about all of the vendors we would need for the wedding, I figured an officiant would be pretty easy to find and pretty affordable. I was thinking $250 max.
Then I actually start researching for officiants and found out that its a lot more expensive than I thought. Like, $350 if you want them to spout out some basic vows and thats all. $400-$800 if you want to add in anything that you like. Well, I damn near had a heart attack when it sank in that an officiant could cost us more than my dress.
Then a miracle happened yesterday. I was searching on craigslist and came across a Reverend who does non-denominational weddings. It said her prices were really affordable. So, I emailed her.
She responded and said that she typically does do Friday night weddings, but she could do it for $100 and we could use standard vows or completely customize it. I really did almost fall out of my chair at work. I think I sat there with my mouth hanging open staring at the computer screen for a good 2 minutes. And then I got hesitant. How did I know that this wasn't just some fraud, I mean it is Craigslist after all. So I emailed her back and said "although I am interested, I'm hesitant. Everyone that I've found charges $350 and up. How are you able to afford such low prices?"
She told me that she only does this on the side, she has a regular 9-5 job and just thinks its fun to marry people so she doesn't need to charge exorbitant fees for it. I emailed her back and now FI and I are going to meet with her.
Wish me luck that everything works out! Her prices are just too good to pass up.
Then I actually start researching for officiants and found out that its a lot more expensive than I thought. Like, $350 if you want them to spout out some basic vows and thats all. $400-$800 if you want to add in anything that you like. Well, I damn near had a heart attack when it sank in that an officiant could cost us more than my dress.
Then a miracle happened yesterday. I was searching on craigslist and came across a Reverend who does non-denominational weddings. It said her prices were really affordable. So, I emailed her.
She responded and said that she typically does do Friday night weddings, but she could do it for $100 and we could use standard vows or completely customize it. I really did almost fall out of my chair at work. I think I sat there with my mouth hanging open staring at the computer screen for a good 2 minutes. And then I got hesitant. How did I know that this wasn't just some fraud, I mean it is Craigslist after all. So I emailed her back and said "although I am interested, I'm hesitant. Everyone that I've found charges $350 and up. How are you able to afford such low prices?"
She told me that she only does this on the side, she has a regular 9-5 job and just thinks its fun to marry people so she doesn't need to charge exorbitant fees for it. I emailed her back and now FI and I are going to meet with her.
Wish me luck that everything works out! Her prices are just too good to pass up.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Photographer - Update
If you happened to catch the post I made over the weekend about the photographer, I'm sure you'll notice its now gone. Here's what happened:
I found an amazing photographer. Her pictures were exactly what I wanted. I emailed her in hopes we could work out something because she was more expensive than we can afford. I got a response back on Saturday saying that we could work something out.
On Monday, I got another email saying I'm sorry, I don't lower my prices for anyone. If you want 6 hours of photography its $1800. I can't do any better. Maybe since you're on such a small budget you can find a student photographer to help you.
I was furious when I got the email. I emailed this lady, gushed about how much I loved her work and she basically told me to F off because I don't have $1800. When I responded back about the initial email I was told oh thats just a generic email.
So, I deleted the last post because it gave out her website. Maybe its immature but I'm not going to gush about someone and recommend their work when they are so unwilling to budge on anything.
I'm not stupid, I understand that everyone needs to make money and be paid what they are worth, but last time I checked there is this little thing called a recession going on and it tends to make most people think about their prices. Obviously there are still enough people out there who can pay her $1800 for 6 hours and $5000 for 8 hours with a CD and engagement session that I'm not important enough to consider. So yeah whatever. Back to looking for a photographer.
I found an amazing photographer. Her pictures were exactly what I wanted. I emailed her in hopes we could work out something because she was more expensive than we can afford. I got a response back on Saturday saying that we could work something out.
On Monday, I got another email saying I'm sorry, I don't lower my prices for anyone. If you want 6 hours of photography its $1800. I can't do any better. Maybe since you're on such a small budget you can find a student photographer to help you.
I was furious when I got the email. I emailed this lady, gushed about how much I loved her work and she basically told me to F off because I don't have $1800. When I responded back about the initial email I was told oh thats just a generic email.
So, I deleted the last post because it gave out her website. Maybe its immature but I'm not going to gush about someone and recommend their work when they are so unwilling to budge on anything.
I'm not stupid, I understand that everyone needs to make money and be paid what they are worth, but last time I checked there is this little thing called a recession going on and it tends to make most people think about their prices. Obviously there are still enough people out there who can pay her $1800 for 6 hours and $5000 for 8 hours with a CD and engagement session that I'm not important enough to consider. So yeah whatever. Back to looking for a photographer.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Questions to Ask A Photographer
After my last post, I realized that this would definitely come in handy for anyone who is on the photographer hunt. I suggest that once you meet with the photographer you ask them questions that are already listed on their website just to make sure nothing has changed.
One thing I learned is that some photographers will only offer you some of the photos they took, the ones that they believed are the best. I think the bride and groom should make that decision. So, if thats something you want, make sure you ask if you get copies of all proofs.
Some of these questions are catered more towards what I was looking for, but obviously feel free to adjust them as necessary.
I compiled this list from google and bios on theknot.com.
1. What type of camera do you use?
2. Are there any extra fees associated for travel?
3. Do you have back up equipment?
4. What happens if you are sick that day?
5. Can guests take photos during the ceremony too?
6. Can we provide a "must-take photo" list?
7. How long after the wedding will we receive the photos?
8. Do we get to choose which photos we would like to have touched up or switched to black and white?
9. Do you have a limited amount of photos to take?
10. What happens if you reach that number?
11. How do you describe photojournalistic photos?
12. When is a deposit required?
13. When is the final payment due?
14. What happens if we need to cancel?
15. Are there any other fees not included in the price?
16. What happens if we go over on the ceremony?
17. Will you visit the location beforehand?
18. Do you create custom packages?
19. Can we add or take away from a package?
20. What type of photos will be taken? (black/white, sepia)
21. Do the hours in the package include travel time?
22. Do we receive all of the proofs?
23. Do we need to order photos from you?
24. Will you have any other events that day?
25. How long have you been a wedding photographer?
26. Did you take formal classes for photography?
27. What do you do about people who do not photograph well?
28. What was the most difficult wedding you ever photographed and why?
29. How did it turn out?
30. How long do you keep the negatives?
One thing I learned is that some photographers will only offer you some of the photos they took, the ones that they believed are the best. I think the bride and groom should make that decision. So, if thats something you want, make sure you ask if you get copies of all proofs.
Some of these questions are catered more towards what I was looking for, but obviously feel free to adjust them as necessary.
I compiled this list from google and bios on theknot.com.
1. What type of camera do you use?
2. Are there any extra fees associated for travel?
3. Do you have back up equipment?
4. What happens if you are sick that day?
5. Can guests take photos during the ceremony too?
6. Can we provide a "must-take photo" list?
7. How long after the wedding will we receive the photos?
8. Do we get to choose which photos we would like to have touched up or switched to black and white?
9. Do you have a limited amount of photos to take?
10. What happens if you reach that number?
11. How do you describe photojournalistic photos?
12. When is a deposit required?
13. When is the final payment due?
14. What happens if we need to cancel?
15. Are there any other fees not included in the price?
16. What happens if we go over on the ceremony?
17. Will you visit the location beforehand?
18. Do you create custom packages?
19. Can we add or take away from a package?
20. What type of photos will be taken? (black/white, sepia)
21. Do the hours in the package include travel time?
22. Do we receive all of the proofs?
23. Do we need to order photos from you?
24. Will you have any other events that day?
25. How long have you been a wedding photographer?
26. Did you take formal classes for photography?
27. What do you do about people who do not photograph well?
28. What was the most difficult wedding you ever photographed and why?
29. How did it turn out?
30. How long do you keep the negatives?
Saturday, August 29, 2009
DIY Project 1: Table Numbers
Last night I decided I would try out making table numbers. I had purchased 10 white frames from the dollar store to use. While at Michaels craft store the other day, I found a 10 pack of white metallic card stock. I only bought one to see if it would work with my printer because a lot of home printers have issues with metallic card stock for some reason.
Luckily, I didn't have that issue. I thought black and white would be too boring, so I decided on purple and green. The font for the words is Lauren Script which I downloaded from dafont.com. The font for the numbers is Lucida Handwriting.
The only problem I had with this project is that even though the dollar store frames are 4x6 and so is the cardstock, it was still too big. It seemed a waste of money to have the cardstock professionally cut to fit, so I did it on my own. Its not a perfect cut, but you can't tell.
I also like the idea of using words for table numbers too. But, I can't decide on whether to use types of wine (because we're getting married at a winery) or just names of alcoholic drinks. What do you think?
Once I decide on wine names vs. alcoholic drink names I can print out the rest. DIY Project #1: PARTIALLY COMPLETE!
Oh, and of course since this is a budget blog, I'll show you the costs, including MD sales tax.
10 White 4x6 picture frames from Dollar Tree: $10.60
10 pack 4.5x6.25 Metallic cardstock from Michaels: $4.76
Colored Printer Ink: $0 (free with purchase of printer!)
Total Cost: $15.36
Not too bad!
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Great Phone Debacle
So this is completely non-wedding related but I thought I'd share just what I've went through trying to get new phones for work. The phones that we have suck. They're 4-line Panasonic phones with 3 cordless handsets. In order to be heard on the handset, you basically need to scream to the party on the other end. So, we decided new phones were in order.
The Search:
We canceled one line figuring that 2-line phones would be easier to find and we might have a better chance of actually being able to hear someone. Well, as it turns out, 2-line phones aren't very popular. At least ones that actually work. Which was kind of important to us. We looked into getting a DECT phone because, well its the new technology and it claims that you won't have the same interference that you have with 5.8 phones. It seemed like a good idea until I read that while DECT phones don't have interference, to actually hear on them, you need to be within 10 feet of the base phone. We have a small office, but 10 feet wasn't going to cut it. Back to searching.
AT&T:
I found a AT&T phone on Newegg.com that said it had 2 lines and had great reviews. It even came with 3 additional handsets and was reasonably price. Score! ...Or not. So the phones arrive and after being really excited at the idea of being able to hear our callers, I realized that the phone not only did not have a Hold button, it didn't actually have 2 lines. Okay fine, easy mistake. Lets send it back and start the search all over again.
Uniden:
I decided that Amazon.com reviews would be pretty accurate and this phone had everything that we needed. Granted, it was more expensive than we planned on paying, but hey, if we could hear people, it would be worth the cost. I found it a little odd that no store carried the base phone and the handsets together, but ordered them from 2 separate websites anyway. The next morning the base phone arrived. Almost immediately afterwards I got an email from the company we ordered the handsets from. The handsets were on National Backorder with no expected date to arrive. Well, this could be an issue as we needed more than 1 phone. I searched some more and called a few places only to find out that they believed this phone was now discontinued and they would never received more. To add insult, I realized a note in the instructions on the base set. That you can not answer Line 2 from any of the handsets. Actually, the only way you can answer Line 2 on any of the phones is to be on a call and press the Flash button. Why in the world would you advertise as a 2-line phone, when there really isn't a line 2??? So I cancel the order for the handsets and drive over to Staples to return the base phone. And then have to get in an argument with the manager because he says they can't be returned without a proof of purchase. So that receipt I printed saying I bought the phones with a credit card is what then exactly? Finally, he agreed to return the phones.
Panasonic:
We were really hesitant to get another Panasonic 5.8 phone because its what we have and we can't hear crap. But, the phones that I found with a good review and rating are the same ones that I have at home. My fiance brought them home from work when they switched his office to a call-center and no longer had a need for them. So, I grilled the fiance. Have you ever been on both lines at the same time? Could you hear an echo? Can you hear the other person? Did you have them near your computers? What about have your cell phone next to it? And you could still hear people? Really? You're sure? He passed the grilling so I went ahead and ordered the phones the next day.
This morning (only 20 hours since I ordered them) they arrived. Excited but hesitant, I took them out of the box and started putting them together. Reading the quickie install manual, I plug in the phones and we don't have Line 2. Its just dead air. So I use the other cord they gave me. Nothing. I stare at the back of the phone for a few minutes and try plugging it into another jack. Still nothing. At this point, I'm frustrated! What in the world do I need to do to have working phones?
I pull out the big manual and find out that we need a jack splitter. Come on now, really? So, I have the guys in the shop head out to Radio Shack or somewhere to get one of these. They're not back yet so I have no idea if these phones will work or not, but hell, 3rd time is the charm, right?
Right? Good lord I hope so!
The Search:
We canceled one line figuring that 2-line phones would be easier to find and we might have a better chance of actually being able to hear someone. Well, as it turns out, 2-line phones aren't very popular. At least ones that actually work. Which was kind of important to us. We looked into getting a DECT phone because, well its the new technology and it claims that you won't have the same interference that you have with 5.8 phones. It seemed like a good idea until I read that while DECT phones don't have interference, to actually hear on them, you need to be within 10 feet of the base phone. We have a small office, but 10 feet wasn't going to cut it. Back to searching.
AT&T:
I found a AT&T phone on Newegg.com that said it had 2 lines and had great reviews. It even came with 3 additional handsets and was reasonably price. Score! ...Or not. So the phones arrive and after being really excited at the idea of being able to hear our callers, I realized that the phone not only did not have a Hold button, it didn't actually have 2 lines. Okay fine, easy mistake. Lets send it back and start the search all over again.
Uniden:
I decided that Amazon.com reviews would be pretty accurate and this phone had everything that we needed. Granted, it was more expensive than we planned on paying, but hey, if we could hear people, it would be worth the cost. I found it a little odd that no store carried the base phone and the handsets together, but ordered them from 2 separate websites anyway. The next morning the base phone arrived. Almost immediately afterwards I got an email from the company we ordered the handsets from. The handsets were on National Backorder with no expected date to arrive. Well, this could be an issue as we needed more than 1 phone. I searched some more and called a few places only to find out that they believed this phone was now discontinued and they would never received more. To add insult, I realized a note in the instructions on the base set. That you can not answer Line 2 from any of the handsets. Actually, the only way you can answer Line 2 on any of the phones is to be on a call and press the Flash button. Why in the world would you advertise as a 2-line phone, when there really isn't a line 2??? So I cancel the order for the handsets and drive over to Staples to return the base phone. And then have to get in an argument with the manager because he says they can't be returned without a proof of purchase. So that receipt I printed saying I bought the phones with a credit card is what then exactly? Finally, he agreed to return the phones.
Panasonic:
We were really hesitant to get another Panasonic 5.8 phone because its what we have and we can't hear crap. But, the phones that I found with a good review and rating are the same ones that I have at home. My fiance brought them home from work when they switched his office to a call-center and no longer had a need for them. So, I grilled the fiance. Have you ever been on both lines at the same time? Could you hear an echo? Can you hear the other person? Did you have them near your computers? What about have your cell phone next to it? And you could still hear people? Really? You're sure? He passed the grilling so I went ahead and ordered the phones the next day.
This morning (only 20 hours since I ordered them) they arrived. Excited but hesitant, I took them out of the box and started putting them together. Reading the quickie install manual, I plug in the phones and we don't have Line 2. Its just dead air. So I use the other cord they gave me. Nothing. I stare at the back of the phone for a few minutes and try plugging it into another jack. Still nothing. At this point, I'm frustrated! What in the world do I need to do to have working phones?
I pull out the big manual and find out that we need a jack splitter. Come on now, really? So, I have the guys in the shop head out to Radio Shack or somewhere to get one of these. They're not back yet so I have no idea if these phones will work or not, but hell, 3rd time is the charm, right?
Right? Good lord I hope so!
Monday, August 24, 2009
DIY - its not always easy
Bracelets
After random bio-stalking on theknot, I thought it would be a neat and fun idea to make my bridesmaids pearl bracelets that they could wear again. I checked at Wal-Mart, Target, and even the dollar store before deciding that it was actually cheaper for me to make these bracelets instead of just buying them.
The idea in my head is two strands of pearls on a bracelet with a purple bow to include one of my wedding colors. The bow could be easily removed so the girls could wear them again.
This sounds simple enough, right? Buy some pearl beads, string, clasps, ribbon and you're good to go. ...Yeah, not really. This is prooving to me more of a difficult task that I imagined.
Round 1 - I stood in the craft section of Wal-Mart for about 30 minutes. I picked up two sets of pearl beads, 64 in each pack, a spool of stretchy string, a packet of clasps and some sage green ribbon. (That was the initial color idea.) I go home, all excited and start stringing the beads onto the string. Or tried, I should say. Apparently, the majority of the beads didn't have holes poked through on both sides of the bead, or if it did, it wasn't something that the flimsy stretch ribbon would go through. About halfway through I also realized that I only had 1 end of the clasp and nothing to hook to it. I decided to finish the bracelet anyway, using two claw clasps attached to each other. It actually wasn't bad, but the clasps made it look cheap and it was a real nightmare trying to tie the string onto them.
Faithful to the DIY board on theknot, I posted to find out what to do. Crimping beads was the overall response.
Round 2 - I stopped at AC Moore one day when they had a huge sale going on. I picked up 660 pearl beads, purple ribbon, non-stretchy string, a better set of clasps and the opposite hook, and crimping beads. The following weekend I get everything out and start planning attempt 2 of the bracelet. I can't find the crimping beads anywhere. They weren't in the bag, so I searched my car in case they fell out. Nope. So I look at the receipt. There are no crimping beads on the receipt. Apparently, while I was juggling all of the crap in my arms, I managed to drop the one thing that I had really come for. So, lets just say the bracelet didn't turn out. Sigh!
Stamps
During that last trip to AC Moore, they had buy 1 stamp, get 1 free. I had already learned that wooden rubber stamps are pretty hard to use on my invite mock-ups because I couldn't see where I was placing the stamp. Enter the lovely world of clear stamps! Of course, being as decisive as I am, I stared at the stamps for a good 20 minutes before finally deciding on what I wanted.
After my bracelet debacle, I decided, hell, lets try the rubber stamps. It didn't turn out so well. The stamp instantly got gooey with ink and appeared to smear over parts of the stamp where I didn't want ink. So I stamp the paper and ironically, it looks like I hardly touched the stamp to the ink. It was all splotchy and missing ink in spots. Already peeved about my bracelet issue, I said "EFF it" and threw everything back into the bin-o-wedding stuff.
The Results
Basically, I just wanted to share that not all DIY ideas are genius or right for everyone. Just because it might save you money doesn't mean its not going to cause a headache. I'm not giving up just yet, I mean, I still have a little under 13 months until the wedding.
Maybe I just need more practice with the rubber stamps. Maybe there is some awesome knottie out there reading my post on the DIY board who has the fool-proof response for it. Or maybe, I should just give up on being a perfectionist and not really care if the wooden stamp is 1 centimeter different on each invite. Its not like anyone is going to look at more than one invite at a time.
And maybe the 3rd time will be the charm for the bracelets. Who knows, but I have faith I'll get it right eventually. So, whenever that fateful day happens, I'll be sure to post directions and pictures to guide you through the process.
After random bio-stalking on theknot, I thought it would be a neat and fun idea to make my bridesmaids pearl bracelets that they could wear again. I checked at Wal-Mart, Target, and even the dollar store before deciding that it was actually cheaper for me to make these bracelets instead of just buying them.
The idea in my head is two strands of pearls on a bracelet with a purple bow to include one of my wedding colors. The bow could be easily removed so the girls could wear them again.
This sounds simple enough, right? Buy some pearl beads, string, clasps, ribbon and you're good to go. ...Yeah, not really. This is prooving to me more of a difficult task that I imagined.
Round 1 - I stood in the craft section of Wal-Mart for about 30 minutes. I picked up two sets of pearl beads, 64 in each pack, a spool of stretchy string, a packet of clasps and some sage green ribbon. (That was the initial color idea.) I go home, all excited and start stringing the beads onto the string. Or tried, I should say. Apparently, the majority of the beads didn't have holes poked through on both sides of the bead, or if it did, it wasn't something that the flimsy stretch ribbon would go through. About halfway through I also realized that I only had 1 end of the clasp and nothing to hook to it. I decided to finish the bracelet anyway, using two claw clasps attached to each other. It actually wasn't bad, but the clasps made it look cheap and it was a real nightmare trying to tie the string onto them.
Faithful to the DIY board on theknot, I posted to find out what to do. Crimping beads was the overall response.
Round 2 - I stopped at AC Moore one day when they had a huge sale going on. I picked up 660 pearl beads, purple ribbon, non-stretchy string, a better set of clasps and the opposite hook, and crimping beads. The following weekend I get everything out and start planning attempt 2 of the bracelet. I can't find the crimping beads anywhere. They weren't in the bag, so I searched my car in case they fell out. Nope. So I look at the receipt. There are no crimping beads on the receipt. Apparently, while I was juggling all of the crap in my arms, I managed to drop the one thing that I had really come for. So, lets just say the bracelet didn't turn out. Sigh!
Stamps
During that last trip to AC Moore, they had buy 1 stamp, get 1 free. I had already learned that wooden rubber stamps are pretty hard to use on my invite mock-ups because I couldn't see where I was placing the stamp. Enter the lovely world of clear stamps! Of course, being as decisive as I am, I stared at the stamps for a good 20 minutes before finally deciding on what I wanted.
After my bracelet debacle, I decided, hell, lets try the rubber stamps. It didn't turn out so well. The stamp instantly got gooey with ink and appeared to smear over parts of the stamp where I didn't want ink. So I stamp the paper and ironically, it looks like I hardly touched the stamp to the ink. It was all splotchy and missing ink in spots. Already peeved about my bracelet issue, I said "EFF it" and threw everything back into the bin-o-wedding stuff.
The Results
Basically, I just wanted to share that not all DIY ideas are genius or right for everyone. Just because it might save you money doesn't mean its not going to cause a headache. I'm not giving up just yet, I mean, I still have a little under 13 months until the wedding.
Maybe I just need more practice with the rubber stamps. Maybe there is some awesome knottie out there reading my post on the DIY board who has the fool-proof response for it. Or maybe, I should just give up on being a perfectionist and not really care if the wooden stamp is 1 centimeter different on each invite. Its not like anyone is going to look at more than one invite at a time.
And maybe the 3rd time will be the charm for the bracelets. Who knows, but I have faith I'll get it right eventually. So, whenever that fateful day happens, I'll be sure to post directions and pictures to guide you through the process.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Inspiration Board
A knottie on my club board mentioned polyvore.com to create an inspiration board. I've never made one before and thought it might be a neat idea.
It was fun searching for wedding items in my colors. I was kind of impressed with how many pictures they offer and how you can search for something and then filter it by color. Pretty neat.
However, it was a real PITA getting it to post on here. I couldn't figure out how to save it as a picture. There was some link on the website saying Post to Your Blog and figured, "hey I have a blog thats where I'm supposed to click." Apparently not. I just got a huge paragraph of HTML text that I had no idea what to do with.
So if anyone else out there creates one of these using polyvore.com and is as HTML challenged as I am, I managed to figure out what I did. And I thought it would be nice to share.
- Create an account.
- Click on Create at the top.
- Type a word into search or click on one of the categories and look through the pictures. Click on the four color block at the right to chose a specific color to filter by.
- Click and drag the item to the blank space. You can resize it from there. Options also pop up to remove it, flip it or flop it.
- When you've added everything you want, click on Save Draft. Then click on Publish. Enter a title and select a category.
- Click on My Home. Click on the smiley face icon by your name. Below it will show the sets you have created. Right click and select Save Picture As.
- Then you can upload it to blogs, websites, etc.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
The Dress Adventure
I have some issues with wedding dresses. The first one is that I thought it would be very hard to find a dress that fit my body type. I'm barely 5'2 and very busty. My other issue is that I HATE poof. Crinoline, petticoat, netting, whatever you want to call it - I absolutely hate it. Its itchy, annoying, and just not-my-style.
When T and I first got engaged, one of the first things that I did was look for dresses. I figured it would be a really long process to find something that I liked. Then I came across the Maggie Sottero Destinations dresses and I instantly fell in love.
The dress that caught my eye the most is JD8103. So once we got closer to the 1 year mark I started calling stores to see if any of them carried the dress. No one did. I was disappointed, but not ready to give up yet. I ended up finding a company that replicated dresses online and it was 1/3 of the price. I figured, hey, this is my only chance to get this dress, so why not.
Two weeks ago, my mom and MOH came with me while I tried on dresses. The first store carried a lot of Maggie dresses, but not the one I wanted. I knew that I was going to get a Maggie dress and didn't bother to try on any other designers. The 2nd store didn't carry any Maggie dresses, but had Mori Lee ones and a few were similiar to what I wanted. Some of the dresses looked absolutely amazing on me. I would have never expected that. But I could not get JD8103 out of my head.
Last week I started calling stores again and found 2 stores that might have the dress. The first store was really rude to me on the phone and after some googling, I realized they are just horrible to everyone. So, I called the 2nd store. I spoke with the owner, Brenda, who told me that she didn't have the exact dress, but she had it's sister. I scheduled an appointment for today.
I ended up going to the store alone. Brenda had me try on 2 dresses before I tried on the sister dress. As soon as I put the sister dress on, I knew that I needed to order my dress. With no regard to the budget, the fact that I was alone, or that I could wait to order the dress still, I placed an order.
JD8103 is now mine! When I had found the dress online, I cut my dress budget down to factor in the savings. The real dress ended up costing me $200 more, but that included shipping and tax that I never added in for the first dress. In all, the dress came to $492.
While part of me still thinks its crazy that I'm going to only wear this dress for 5-6 hours and its $500, I know this dress is meant for me. I'm never this decisive and I had to have it.
Now I get to enjoy the waiting game. Brenda told me the if the dress doesn't come in by December, then it will come in February. (Apparently Maggie Sottero takes off for January) I absolutely can NOT wait for the dress to come in!
As for the budget issue; well, I went over, but it wasn't by too large of an amount. So, if I don't cut $200 from somewhere else, I'll just take it out of my non-wedding related savings account. My mom also mentioned she would have some money saved next year and planned on giving it to me. So maybe Mom will cover the extra cost in the dress.
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Budget Breakdown
This has changed quite a few times and I'm sure it will again before there is a final "budget breakdown" but I wanted to include it as is. We are calling in a lot of favors from friends to pull this off. Our guest list is approximately 50 people.
Venue - $1050 Local MD Winery, use of 2 rooms for 4 hours. Access to the venue the entire day for set up.
Photographer - $840 An old friend of mine from high school who does this on the side. Definitely the best price.
Caterer - $1000 FI's brothers restaurant will cater for us. We're going for a heavy appetizers style.
Baker - $165 I'm 99% sure we will use a local grocery store. It saves $1-2 per slice.
Rentals - $600 The winery only provides tables and metal folding chairs. I work next to a party rental company and they are providing us with chairs, linens, tables, plates, utensils, just about everything at the 20% off neighbor discount.
Music - $300 An old friend/co-worker of mine does DJ'ing on the side. We asked, he said yes.
Flowers - $400 I found a florist on craigslist that lives minutes from the winery. She works out of her home and is giving us an awesome discount.
Dress - $230 I am ordering a designer-inspired dress from helenebridal.com.
Shoes - $50 I have these already. http://www.unforgettablemoments.com/ in the Jackie style
Invitations - $150 DIY pocketfolds from cardsandpockets.com, the price includes estimated shipping costs too.
That comes to almost $4,800. The officiant, accessories, centerpieces, etc. will all fall in the remaining $1,200.
Venue - $1050 Local MD Winery, use of 2 rooms for 4 hours. Access to the venue the entire day for set up.
Photographer - $840 An old friend of mine from high school who does this on the side. Definitely the best price.
Caterer - $1000 FI's brothers restaurant will cater for us. We're going for a heavy appetizers style.
Baker - $165 I'm 99% sure we will use a local grocery store. It saves $1-2 per slice.
Rentals - $600 The winery only provides tables and metal folding chairs. I work next to a party rental company and they are providing us with chairs, linens, tables, plates, utensils, just about everything at the 20% off neighbor discount.
Music - $300 An old friend/co-worker of mine does DJ'ing on the side. We asked, he said yes.
Flowers - $400 I found a florist on craigslist that lives minutes from the winery. She works out of her home and is giving us an awesome discount.
Dress - $230 I am ordering a designer-inspired dress from helenebridal.com.
Shoes - $50 I have these already. http://www.unforgettablemoments.com/ in the Jackie style
Invitations - $150 DIY pocketfolds from cardsandpockets.com, the price includes estimated shipping costs too.
That comes to almost $4,800. The officiant, accessories, centerpieces, etc. will all fall in the remaining $1,200.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Shoe Review
A fellow knottie on the September 2010 board had posted about finding her shoes at Payless and they were a brand called Unforgettable Moments. Bored on my lunch break, I decided to check out the site.
Unforgettable Moments offers 13 different styles of shoes of which 9 have the option to be dyed with 64 different color choices. I've looked at shoes online for quite some time and never have I found anything like this before. FI and I had a previous discussion that he didn't want pink flowers for the wedding but he said I could have pink shoes.
The Jackie style really caught my eye and the fuschia color really stood out to me. On 7/31/09 I ordered the shoe for only $44.99 (impressed by the free shipping) and started waiting patiently.
The shoe arrived today at my work and I could not wait until I got home to try it on. So, I whipped off my flip-flops and put the shoes on. They look perfect. The color is almost exact to what shows on the computer screen and is the exact color I wanted. I am flat footed and I have a really hard time buying heels because most of them come with such a high arch. Not the case with these! Something else that really impressed me is the ankle strap. I was blessed with ridiculously skinny ankles and I've always had to poke a new tighter hole in the strap for it to fit. Amazingly, the last strap was perfect for me.
I am super-happy about these shoes. Like, unusually happy. I think I'm going to have to buy another pair because I don't think I can wait until the wedding to wear them.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Introduction
Hi! Welcome to my Maryland Budget Bride blog. (That's a tongue twister, huh?)
I'm getting married September 17, 2010 at a winery in Maryland. My fiance and I started off with a budget of $10,000 and figured we would come in around $8,500. The budget included everything from wedding party gifts to the honeymoon to my fiance's passport to our wedding bands. It was kind of crazy.
We looked at the budget again recently and decided we're just not the type of people to spend close to $10,000 on one day. We cut all of the unnecessary stuff out of the budget (and kept it to just what's necessary for that day) and started over. So far, I've learned that Maryland really isn't all that cheap. (I blame it on being close to DC where everything is more expensive.) The new budget amount is $6,500 and I want to come in as far under that as possible.
I'm just starting out, but read along to follow my adventures of how to be budget savvy in Maryland. I'll try to include as many links for sales/coupons/deals and specials as I can find, as well as links to other budget brides. One thing that will definitely be here...DIY instructions.
If you are crafty, one way to save money is DIY projects. I have quite a few. And if you're interested in what I've chosen for the wedding so far, check out my wedding website:
I'm getting married September 17, 2010 at a winery in Maryland. My fiance and I started off with a budget of $10,000 and figured we would come in around $8,500. The budget included everything from wedding party gifts to the honeymoon to my fiance's passport to our wedding bands. It was kind of crazy.
We looked at the budget again recently and decided we're just not the type of people to spend close to $10,000 on one day. We cut all of the unnecessary stuff out of the budget (and kept it to just what's necessary for that day) and started over. So far, I've learned that Maryland really isn't all that cheap. (I blame it on being close to DC where everything is more expensive.) The new budget amount is $6,500 and I want to come in as far under that as possible.
I'm just starting out, but read along to follow my adventures of how to be budget savvy in Maryland. I'll try to include as many links for sales/coupons/deals and specials as I can find, as well as links to other budget brides. One thing that will definitely be here...DIY instructions.
If you are crafty, one way to save money is DIY projects. I have quite a few. And if you're interested in what I've chosen for the wedding so far, check out my wedding website:
www.momentville.com/lovethebeach16
If you ever want to talk to me directly, comment on a post here, or page me on the Baltimore or P&E boards of theknot.com.
Thanks for stopping by!
If you ever want to talk to me directly, comment on a post here, or page me on the Baltimore or P&E boards of theknot.com.
Thanks for stopping by!
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