Planning
I haven't blogged all that much lately, and hopefully that will change, since I have to get myself writing more. It's been a month and change since Mike asked me marry him (and I said yes, of course!) so sharing wedding plans with you all seems like a good way to get back into it. This time next year I'll probably be freaking out because we'll be just days away from our wedding!
(Before I do that, let me tout our NaNoWriMo region's massive planning spree and our relationship with 7 library branches around town! And we got all this figured out in August!)
Being the somewhat obsessive person that I am, I have a bunch of wedding magazines and a couple of wedding books (aside: a few of these are a decade old, and the information is still pertinent, if some of the styles are terribly out of fashion and the prices are surely too low) and everything says the first step is to find a venue. The venue determines more than you think: how many people you can invite (though you have to have an idea of how many people you want to invite to pick a venue), what kind of dress to get, what sort of decorations work with the venue, how much extra you'll have to do (does the venue cater? Will you have to decorate the place yourself?), how far will people have to go to get from ceremony to reception, where your wedding photos will be taken, &c. It also seems to determine the overall budget. You can go low and rent a location only, and DIY that thing to high heaven. Or you can blow the biggest wad you've ever seen with a massive ballroom and a steak and lobster course.
It happened, though. We picked a place, and I can't say I wasn't stressed before and after we did. Writing that check for a deposit on our chosen date made me sick--it's so much money. Everyone says weddings will cost more than you think. That's scary when you're the ones picking up the tab. As much as my parents love me, there's no way my dad's going to hand someone a huge check at the end of the day. That's fine--I don't mind, and I always sort of figured that I'd have a DIY wedding. But this is one of those moments when I wish I had a trust fund.
We're going to be very poor for a while. Planning a wedding is exciting, but not when you have to pay for it. But that's okay. We have a budget, we know what we can spend, and we'll try our hardest to make it a great party. I just want to have fun. And if that means we spend the whole time in half-lit hotel lighting, that'll be okay. We'll save, save, save, and hopefully not go insane between now and next October.
If you've got any wedding related advice or vendors you love, please leave a comment!
