Thinking About The Wedding...
I have been engaged for less than a week and already I am intimidated with wedding planning. It's funny because Boyfriend and I already planned our entire hypothetical wedding months ago (before the engagement) and now I am nervous about putting that plan into action....for fear that the offbeat venue won't be available or that our families wouldn't want to travel to our city.
So far our families have been very excited about anything wedding-related. I still feel like it's a little premature to plan something that won't take place for over a year and a half - even though just about everyone else in the wedding industry thinks differently. I guess I'm also still feeling insecure about my job and that's making it hard to think about bouquets and the color of table linens.
I have been doing a lot of research into wedding planning and have decided to prioritize what's important to us for The Big Day since that will guide how we structure our budget. Here's my preliminary list in order of importance:
- Boyfriend is there
- Good food
- Live band
- Great photographer
- Outdoor cocktail hour
If we follow the business model laid out by my parents for my sister's wedding, then Boyfriend and I are on the hook for the band, invitations, flowers, my dress and photography. My estimated budget for these items are as follows:
Band - $1200
Invites - $200
Flowers - $800
My dress - no more than $500
Photography - $2500
Thus, we only need to save up about $5k in the next 1.5 years to have the wedding of our dreams, assuming Mom and Dad pay for the caterer and the church. If not, we're gonna invite everyone to a pig roast in someone's backyard and that will be that.
At the end of the day, while I suspect I will enjoy many aspects of wedding planning, I'm just excited to be spending the rest of my life with Boyfriend!
Sounds like you got your priorities straight Sallie! And remember how you did so much for your sister's bachelorette party? Reciprocation time!! Hee hee.
Shtinkykat said... January 30, 2009 7:55 PM
Sallie you need to enjoy this moment! I would not plan for anything for awhile if I were you. That's what I did.
Chicky said... January 31, 2009 1:13 AM
I agree that you should relax and enjoy this time! The giddy first weeks are the best!! As someone who got engaged a little over a month ago, I now that a part of you want to get the things that would worry you set so you could relax. Must-haves and basic budget was the first things we did too. Part of what we did with our budget was have a contingency number, 5% of the total, in case anything went over. Since postage alone is $1.01 each invite you sent out, you will probably spend more than $200 assuming you are inviting a good number of people. The cheapest real flower bouquet just for me was $150 and each corsages is $30 (I'm in NJ local to NYC, if that makes a difference), not including centerpeices we are $1000 with taxes and delivery fee. Both of these were over our budget, so when things like that come up, we already have the money.
Christina said... February 1, 2009 5:43 PM
Yikes Christina, didn't factor in postage at all. We're not really making any decisions for a while. Just going to enjoy this time for a while.
Sallie's Niece said... February 1, 2009 6:48 PM
don't go on theknot.com just don't. I had a bit of a panic attack when I saw that site.
Look into getting your dress made, it's usually cheaper in the long run. Also check out offbeatbride.com - I'm not that offbeat but loved the spirit of her blog (and got great ideas too!). Congrats!
Anonymous said... February 2, 2009 11:40 AM
Yeah I went on the knot and freaked out too. Apparently to plan a wedding for summer of 2010 I needed to start at, I don't know, birth.
Offbeat bride is awesome!
Sallie's Niece said... February 2, 2009 1:34 PM
Just relax and enjoy for a little bit. If I can make one suggestion it would be book your church and reception venue now. The rest will work out, but don't let the places that you really want slip through your fingers.
Also-if you aren't fully set on a brand new dress, you could check Craigslist. I am always seeing designer gowns on there for like $500 or less because the wedding only lasted a few months or didn't even happen at all!
Shala said... February 2, 2009 1:45 PM
Time to stop calling him boyfriend and start fiance! Yay... dont stress out too much though, its your happy day and all that matters is that you've got your sweetie with you
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Wedding Flowers said... February 4, 2009 3:09 AM
That's definitely a good list to keep! Boyfriend is there… haha, I might just have to steal that one for my own wedding. Wouldn't want it to take place without him! I will trade you a good idea for a good idea− get a planner. My bf and I are trying to go on record for world's least expensive wedding (that still looks really nice) and we found a great planner through http://www.gatheringguide.com/ec/event_planners.html" who has saved us thousands by knowing all the little ins and outs of getting cheap stuff. Good luck and have a great one!
Tracey said... February 13, 2009 11:13 AM
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