29 July 2009

Where on earth do I begin??

Once the fire was lit, I was ready to get started with my planning. My sweet girlfriend Sherri, who I love love love, has sent me various wedding blogs and ideas a few times a week over the last year, most of which I loved and swore I would incorporate into my wedding. But...all of these ideas for themes, favors, venues, invitation, cakes, decorations, gowns, etc., eventually started to just overwhelm me, which is exactly what I do NOT want.

First important attribute for wedding planning...FOCUS! There is no point in deciding on wedding favors when I have no venue, no bridal party, no dress, no caterer, no colors, no theme, no other solid ideas, and no real money to implement them if I did have them. So I set up a "wedding" folder in my email box and decided I'd look at her ideas again more thoroughly once I made some important decisions. While illuminated bags are an AWESOME idea...this probably isn't the best point in the planning process to be thinking about them.

The second important attribute that I learned, which I believe will be absolutely key for my wedding is to KISS -- KEEP IT SUPER SIMPLE! There are countless great ideas out there, but at the end of the day, there are only a few ideas and concepts that can actually make it into my wedding. And because this is all about D-I-Y and being budget-friendly, that limits the idea field even more. Add to that the fact that I want to be as stress-free as possible, and things are REALLY whittling down.

So I'm left with the list of things that are important:

  • budget
  • venue (which will be one of the largest contributors to the budget)
  • guest list (which is ultimately determined by the venue)
  • theme
  • wedding party
  • food

So those are the areas that I'm going to focus on. I also don't much care about the date, my only preference is for it to not be in the dead of winter or in the middle of summer. I prefer fall, so this gives me a LOT of planning time. My date will ultimately be decided by my venue selection and its availability. Decisions such as "what song will I walk down the aisle to"... are just not important at this stage in the game. Instead, I will spend my first month or two of planning devoted to the bulleted list above.

The Lengthy Engagement: He put a ring on it...now what??

We have been engaged for just over a year now. Though I’m excited about being married, the thought of wedding planning had me frozen with fear. We don’t have a huge pot of money to work with, and I knew that planning a wedding would be tedious, frustrating, costly, nerve wracking, and… did I mention tedious? lol.

I was never one of those girls that had the details of her wedding documented and tied up in a neat little binder waiting for Mr. Right to come along and pop the question. The proposal, though we’d talked about getting married, literally came out of left field. So in addition to being strapped financially, I felt completely overwhelmed by the idea and task of planning a wedding.

As the year went by, of course I was asked time and time again, when is the wedding. I’d see people at 4th of July cookouts, then at Christmas parties, and still not have any new updates for them regarding the wedding plans. Then FINALLY I just couldn’t take it any longer. There has GOT to be a way to plan a frugal wedding and still make it be an event I would look back on and cherish.

I’ve seen so many girlfriends and family members spend aaaaaalll this time and money on these dream weddings, only to see them stressed out, and sometimes disappointed, because one thing or another didn’t turn out quite how they expected. I’ve been to enough weddings to know what I liked, didn’t like, and never want to have happen to me when it’s my time to plan this special event.

I also am known as the do-it-yourself queen. I’m a jack of all crafts, and a master at none. But I like the idea of doing for free or for cheap the things that stores or other people will charge you an arm and a leg for.

So after a year of being engaged, and almost having to sedate my mother, I decided to get on the stick. Where there’s a will, and parents willing to put up a few dollars, there’s a way! And I’m going to find it!