Also, I've noticed lately that whenever I talk about tentative wedding plans with friends, even just one or two friends, it's like I've jinxed myself and guaranteed that I'm not getting anything I really want for myself.
Mister and I were really close to signing a contract with our venue vendor. It was a really wonderful venue, a beautiful Spanish/Mediterranean-style venue with Michelin-star food. It was one of my favorites of the sites we visited. They were even very accommodating about giving us tons of discounts to try and make it work within our budget. But at the end of the day, we realized that our overall costs were still going to be a lot more than we wanted to pay. We had a pretty difficult conversation about it tonight, and in the end, we decided not to go with the vendor after all.
I'm not going to lie: I was pretty heartbroken. The relief of thinking that we finally had a venue and date down was wonderful, and to have to give up a venue that I could be so proud of made going back to square one even more daunting and anxiety-ridden. I found myself vacillating between feeling heartbroken to "I don't care" mode a lot within the span of an hour.
At this point, I've resigned myself to the fact that the sort of wedding I would feel excited about planning is not really feasible given our limited budget and the standard wedding costs in the Bay Area. (Actually, it would be plenty feasible if we were to elope, but too many important people would be upset at this point.) The fact of the matter is that I don't enjoy large parties or being the center of attention like that. To have to plan one makes me even more anxious because I'm already mildly sociophobic and I can't stand the thought of people judging something as personal as my wedding. It would almost be easier to have our parents plan it however they want and to just show up.
So right now, I don't care about my own wedding plans. Right now, it feels like we're just doing this wedding planning to make everyone else happy, and if there isn't a part of it that I can get excited about, it's like I own no part of it except for half the bill.
Don't get me wrong: I'm very excited to be marrying the love of my life. But this wedding planning and wedding event is really detracting from that experience for me, and I still wish we could just elope and just really focus on the part that matters most.
I feel guilty about not caring, too, like it's selfish to not want a wedding.
So as a sort of compromise, we're going with our second-choice venue. They're reasonably priced and are truly all-inclusive (invitations, DJ, food, coordinator, and hotel bookings if you want, etc.). The way I see it, if I don't feel excited enough about it, I just don't want to bother planning it. So we let them plan it instead.
On the other hand, I could probably get excited with creating our ceremony. We'll see how that goes. More updates on that later.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Guest List vs. Venue/Budget Debates
Side note: these last few posts on mixed feelings and budgetary blessings mark a changing tone in this personal wedding planning blog, and this pleases me. This is what I need right now, not all the wedding porn. (Not that there's anything wrong with bazillions of photos of wedding details that people love, but there are so many other places one can go to for that.)
---
Like the dutiful wedding planning couple we are, Mister and I sat down some time ago to come up with our initial guest list. I knew with my very large extended family that this would be no easy task, but we agreed on a few guidelines:
- Extended family would only go as far as aunts, uncles, and cousins.
- The "no ring, no bring" rule would apply to family members. The only exception we'd allow is my brother's girlfriend (who seems like she could very well become my sister-in-law in the near future).
- Friends may bring a plus-one under the following conditions: they are married/engaged, or we know and like their plus-one enough to want them at our wedding (in which case, they're probably friends already).
- We are not inviting people that neither of us personally know.
- We are not doing "courtesy invites" as the risk of RSVP acceptance is too high.
- We are inviting people that we are willing to spend $100+ per person on.
We were able to cut our list down to our core number of 140 guests, with a "waitlist" of about 30 guests (mostly friends) that we would like to invite but would be okay with not inviting. About 100 of the core guests are family members, so it would be nice to add more friends as family members declined an invite.
So as we're in search of our venue, we've kept the number 140 in mind as our baseline. Of the 8 venues we've seen so far, our favorites were the ones that offered a more intimate setting for 140 and 150 people maximum, respectively. It sure didn't hurt that these were the only two venues to also offer free tastings before signing anything!
But now we're worried because out of the blue, his parents gave us a list of about 60 people they want to include in our guestlist, 20 of which are not already on our list. Mister is angry and upset at this because these 20 extra people are people he doesn't know or barely knows and never talks to, and his mother is insisting that inviting these guests is an absolute must, even as courtesy invites. He's already explained that we already have a waitlist of guests and can add these 20 people to the waitlist, but his mother is continuing to insist that they be on the main list instead.
The repercussions of extending our list from 140 to 160 are stressful. Doing this would mean we would have to give up on both of our 2 favorite venues and either go with our secondary choices or continue our venue search. Additionally, Mister and I are willing to spend more per person for the list of 140 we have. With the 20 extra guests, we're not so willing to spend that kind of money on them, and Mister says that if we had to include this additional list, we should try to reduce our total cost per person. I don't like that the invitation of these 20 people could end up downgrading the total experience of our wedding for our priority guests.
It's such a tricky situation, the guest list. I think we're being pretty reasonable by allowing these people to be in our wait list, but when his mother is making this a non-negotiable item, it's going to make tensions unnecessarily higher.
Time for consultation. Time to google the answer, lol.
---
Like the dutiful wedding planning couple we are, Mister and I sat down some time ago to come up with our initial guest list. I knew with my very large extended family that this would be no easy task, but we agreed on a few guidelines:
- Extended family would only go as far as aunts, uncles, and cousins.
- The "no ring, no bring" rule would apply to family members. The only exception we'd allow is my brother's girlfriend (who seems like she could very well become my sister-in-law in the near future).
- Friends may bring a plus-one under the following conditions: they are married/engaged, or we know and like their plus-one enough to want them at our wedding (in which case, they're probably friends already).
- We are not inviting people that neither of us personally know.
- We are not doing "courtesy invites" as the risk of RSVP acceptance is too high.
- We are inviting people that we are willing to spend $100+ per person on.
We were able to cut our list down to our core number of 140 guests, with a "waitlist" of about 30 guests (mostly friends) that we would like to invite but would be okay with not inviting. About 100 of the core guests are family members, so it would be nice to add more friends as family members declined an invite.
So as we're in search of our venue, we've kept the number 140 in mind as our baseline. Of the 8 venues we've seen so far, our favorites were the ones that offered a more intimate setting for 140 and 150 people maximum, respectively. It sure didn't hurt that these were the only two venues to also offer free tastings before signing anything!
But now we're worried because out of the blue, his parents gave us a list of about 60 people they want to include in our guestlist, 20 of which are not already on our list. Mister is angry and upset at this because these 20 extra people are people he doesn't know or barely knows and never talks to, and his mother is insisting that inviting these guests is an absolute must, even as courtesy invites. He's already explained that we already have a waitlist of guests and can add these 20 people to the waitlist, but his mother is continuing to insist that they be on the main list instead.
The repercussions of extending our list from 140 to 160 are stressful. Doing this would mean we would have to give up on both of our 2 favorite venues and either go with our secondary choices or continue our venue search. Additionally, Mister and I are willing to spend more per person for the list of 140 we have. With the 20 extra guests, we're not so willing to spend that kind of money on them, and Mister says that if we had to include this additional list, we should try to reduce our total cost per person. I don't like that the invitation of these 20 people could end up downgrading the total experience of our wedding for our priority guests.
It's such a tricky situation, the guest list. I think we're being pretty reasonable by allowing these people to be in our wait list, but when his mother is making this a non-negotiable item, it's going to make tensions unnecessarily higher.
Time for consultation. Time to google the answer, lol.
Blessed to have the friends/family that we do!
I've estimated that with a few of our friends and family stepping in to help out on wedding-related services, we're saving almost $6000:
- Photography, estimated value at least $2,500 (courtesy of a friend of a friend who is a published photojournalist going into the wedding photography business)
- Makeup/hair, estimated value about $150-$200 (courtesy of a good makeup/hair friend)
- Wedding dress, roughly estimated value at least $2,000 (courtesy of my fashion designer sister and longtime seamstress mother)
- Officiant services, estimated value about $300 (courtesy of a friend who will get officiated for us for free online!)
- Bentley "rental", estimated rental value at least $1,000/day (courtesy of a friend with resources and a generous heart)
Total saved: $5,950
Okay, so we probably wouldn't have even rented a fancy car, so it's closer to about $4,950 that we'd actually save, but still! The more we can save, the more we can afford on little luxuries for our guests. :) And the man and I would love to splurge on the food!
Seriously, though, I feel so blessed and thankful that we have the friends and family that we do. What a great community to start married life with. :)
- Photography, estimated value at least $2,500 (courtesy of a friend of a friend who is a published photojournalist going into the wedding photography business)
- Makeup/hair, estimated value about $150-$200 (courtesy of a good makeup/hair friend)
- Wedding dress, roughly estimated value at least $2,000 (courtesy of my fashion designer sister and longtime seamstress mother)
- Officiant services, estimated value about $300 (courtesy of a friend who will get officiated for us for free online!)
- Bentley "rental", estimated rental value at least $1,000/day (courtesy of a friend with resources and a generous heart)
Total saved: $5,950
Okay, so we probably wouldn't have even rented a fancy car, so it's closer to about $4,950 that we'd actually save, but still! The more we can save, the more we can afford on little luxuries for our guests. :) And the man and I would love to splurge on the food!
Seriously, though, I feel so blessed and thankful that we have the friends and family that we do. What a great community to start married life with. :)
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Alternative wedding music
Some music selections for the ceremony or cocktail hour.
FF VII OST - Aerith's Theme
FF X OST - Suteki Da Ne (Piano)
And the mister and I wanted to celebrate our joyful "I Do's" with a version of this finishing touch:
FF Victory Theme
FF VII OST - Aerith's Theme
FF X OST - Suteki Da Ne (Piano)
And the mister and I wanted to celebrate our joyful "I Do's" with a version of this finishing touch:
FF Victory Theme
Mixed feelings
I haven't updated this blog in awhile, but as my subject line so succinctly puts it, a lot of complex emotions have been stirred since the mister and I got engaged. We went from discussing elopement to doing a simple courthouse ceremony with a nice dinner (all immediate-family-only) to doing a casual beach wedding to doing a nicer wedding, etc. Most of our friends have been generally supportive of whatever we decide to do, even if it's an elopement. And I deeply appreciate that their support has been unconditional, even on whether they would be invited to a ceremony or reception, because they love and trust us enough to know that we will celebrate with all of them in due time and with the appropriate amount of fanfare. Family has been trickier to navigate, and I anticipate that more complicated issues with family will arise later, but for now, it's manageable.
Wedding planning stress also noticeably spikes when I'm PMSing. We've agreed to not make any major decisions while I'm in PMS. I think this is very wise.
We are also struggling with how to set our budget. The mister and I are not really broke and can afford a nicer wedding, but paying more for a nicer wedding means having to save more/longer for our first home. Really, the main thing is that we want to get married, and everything else about the wedding day (dress, flowers, guests, etc.) we don't really need or can do without.
But our parents would be the most disappointed about us not having a wedding ceremony and reception, and so we decided to at least make an effort to plan an event on our terms.
So far, this is what happened:
Wedding planning stress also noticeably spikes when I'm PMSing. We've agreed to not make any major decisions while I'm in PMS. I think this is very wise.
We are also struggling with how to set our budget. The mister and I are not really broke and can afford a nicer wedding, but paying more for a nicer wedding means having to save more/longer for our first home. Really, the main thing is that we want to get married, and everything else about the wedding day (dress, flowers, guests, etc.) we don't really need or can do without.
But our parents would be the most disappointed about us not having a wedding ceremony and reception, and so we decided to at least make an effort to plan an event on our terms.
So far, this is what happened:
- We started a guest list and narrowed the main list down to about 140 people, which includes immediate families, extended families (only as far as first cousins), and our closest friends with a select number of plus ones. Our plus-ones rule: If they're married or engaged, their spouse or spouse-to-be gets an automatic invite. If they're not married/engaged, we should know them and/or like them well enough to feel that they would contribute to a happy wedding atmosphere. We also have a secondary guest list prepared.
- We've settled on doing a Sunday ceremony with a lunch reception. The benefits are awesome. More dates are available than for Saturday weddings. A lot of places give additional discounts for doing Sunday weddings, and the decline rate for out of town guests could be slightly higher, meaning we can save more money from a smaller guest count or add people from our secondary guest list.
- Our friend M has a photojournalist friend who offered to photograph our wedding for free! I expect we'll cover the material costs and wedding food, and we'll probably still give her something for her trouble, but this would help our budget a lot!
- My mother's dream has been to make my wedding dress someday. Add the fact that my sister is a budding fashion designer from FIDM, and I've got my dress team! This will also enormously help our budget.
- We visited a few venues in Monterey/Carmel, one in Fremont, and one in Burlingame so far, and most of them have been great about giving us cost proposal estimates for comparison. Our favorite places are the most expensive, of course, and though I have a definite favorite, we are continuing our search.
- Expanding on the venue that is my absolute favorite so far: the place is so nice and comes with just enough that centerpieces would be the only decoration we need.
- Traditions we are intending not to include: bridal party (we just want all our friends to enjoy themselves on the day of as guests), engagement party, bouquet/garter toss, church ceremony (I have not yet told my parents about this yet).
- The expense of wedding cake is pretty hefty. And of the weddings I've been to so far, cake in general is good, but not great. We are considering cake alternatives, such as pie, or a small dessert buffet.
- By popular demand, we will keep the bachelor and bachelorette parties. And whoever wants to plan them can plan them.
- We are thinking of asking a special friend to be an officiant for us. :)
- I'm finding myself more and more interested in planning the ceremony and have found a number of readings that I can't wait to test out and possibly integrate in the ceremony. Maybe my baby sister Jenny would do a reading for us from a children's book.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Latest dress love
Love this flowy number from Le Spose Di Gio, but 1) don't know where I'd find it to even try it on, 2) probably way out of my price range.
Another post might be brewing soon, but it's less "scrap-booky" and more relational/philosophical.
Another post might be brewing soon, but it's less "scrap-booky" and more relational/philosophical.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Feather Bouquets!
I've opened up to the idea of including flowers in my wedding, but it's still tough for me to justify the cost for flowers when you have to throw them out later (though admittingly, that's part of the appeal for me as well... less clutter afterwards!). On the rare occasion that a boyfriend has bought me flowers, I enjoy them for the short time they're in bloom, but I always feel guilty about tossing them out as soon as they die. So today, I looked into feather bouquets!
Feather bouquets are a little tricky. While browsing through Etsy, there were more misses than hits for me, and the hits range from $100 or more for a bridal bouquet (with the high-end ones being about $150-$250), so it's not really a cost-effective option. But enough of the talk. Let's look at feather bouquet porn!
This blue bouquet is from Etsy seller Ardesign for $150. The colored ribbons make it easy to customize a bouquet to one's wedding colors, and the feathers make really great accents.
This feather bouquet is from Croska for $185. I love that it's almost 100% feathers except for the pearl stamens. The feathers also vary in texture and give the bouquet a more interesting structure and composition.
This really lovely bouquet is $219 from Etsy seller jujubee455. It's my favorite bouquet that I've seen so far, and the feather flowers really remind one of peonies!
Still, budget is our focus here! The mister wouldn't let me drop $200+ for a beautiful feather bouquet. And frankly, I'm thankful that he's here to stop me! :)
Luckily, a blogger bride was excellent enough to post a DIY on how to make your own! I'll do a cost analysis estimate on this soon to see if it's worth it to try making my own. Quick note: the poster suggested buying coquille feathers which have that natural curl to them. However, one commenter noted that she found curling the straight feathers with a large barrel curling iron helped enormously and helped keep the overall feather cost down as well.
EDIT: On a related note, check out this adorable feather flower headband! Perfect for a flower girl. :)
Feather bouquets are a little tricky. While browsing through Etsy, there were more misses than hits for me, and the hits range from $100 or more for a bridal bouquet (with the high-end ones being about $150-$250), so it's not really a cost-effective option. But enough of the talk. Let's look at feather bouquet porn!
This blue bouquet is from Etsy seller Ardesign for $150. The colored ribbons make it easy to customize a bouquet to one's wedding colors, and the feathers make really great accents.
This feather bouquet is from Croska for $185. I love that it's almost 100% feathers except for the pearl stamens. The feathers also vary in texture and give the bouquet a more interesting structure and composition.
This really lovely bouquet is $219 from Etsy seller jujubee455. It's my favorite bouquet that I've seen so far, and the feather flowers really remind one of peonies!
Still, budget is our focus here! The mister wouldn't let me drop $200+ for a beautiful feather bouquet. And frankly, I'm thankful that he's here to stop me! :)
Luckily, a blogger bride was excellent enough to post a DIY on how to make your own! I'll do a cost analysis estimate on this soon to see if it's worth it to try making my own. Quick note: the poster suggested buying coquille feathers which have that natural curl to them. However, one commenter noted that she found curling the straight feathers with a large barrel curling iron helped enormously and helped keep the overall feather cost down as well.
EDIT: On a related note, check out this adorable feather flower headband! Perfect for a flower girl. :)
Monday, August 15, 2011
Beach Wedding Dresses
I've been pretty enamored with the idea of a beach wedding ceremony and daytime reception lately, and while I've been exploring beach venues around California (leaning towards southern Cali because it's warmer), I think it's time to examine some beachwear, too. While I miss the structure that comes from more traditional gowns, I love that beach gowns are easy to wear and are a lot more affordable!
This one is Style BC148 from InWeddingDress.com and is currently on sale for $238.00.
This following one is Destination Bridal Style 1034 from Dessy.com. I ran a quick search for it, and the first online retailer that I found is selling it for $394.00. If I could fit size 0, Dessy.com has a Sample-On-Loan for $35.00 (what the heck is "sample-on-loan"? If that's like renting a wedding dress, I would strongly consider that).
I'm also gravitating towards a lacy, trumpet/mermaid style gown minus a train for a beach wedding. This one was in a previous dress-related post and is the Monique Lhuillier Monet. Unfortunately, the price point is closer to the thousands, and the used dresses on sale are about $2500 or $3000. I suppose that's to be expected for good-quality lace.
This one is Style BC148 from InWeddingDress.com and is currently on sale for $238.00.
This following one is Destination Bridal Style 1034 from Dessy.com. I ran a quick search for it, and the first online retailer that I found is selling it for $394.00. If I could fit size 0, Dessy.com has a Sample-On-Loan for $35.00 (what the heck is "sample-on-loan"? If that's like renting a wedding dress, I would strongly consider that).
I'm also gravitating towards a lacy, trumpet/mermaid style gown minus a train for a beach wedding. This one was in a previous dress-related post and is the Monique Lhuillier Monet. Unfortunately, the price point is closer to the thousands, and the used dresses on sale are about $2500 or $3000. I suppose that's to be expected for good-quality lace.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Suggestions from the peanut gallery
These came in at my sister's suggestion. I like that you can get them all in similar--if not the exact--same color and fabric, so my bridesmaids would have their choice of dress provided that I choose the color and fabric. I think Dessy.com's ocean blue is the closest thing to the color I'm looking for. (They have a teal color, but it looks too gray to be teal.)
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Pretty Noms!
Just a couple of adorable cakes that (as far as I know) were not originally wedding cakes.
I think my favorite is the faux sunprint cake. Food coloring and an airbrush gun! I love the minimalism and elegance of the design.
Edit on 8/12/11: Adding this!
Adorbs! I DIE.
I think my favorite is the faux sunprint cake. Food coloring and an airbrush gun! I love the minimalism and elegance of the design.
Edit on 8/12/11: Adding this!
Adorbs! I DIE.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wedding Colors
I've gone back and forth on the color thing, and I'm still undecided, but it'll be good to get some thoughts down on it now and see if it helps.
I'm a big fan of varying shades of blue, but one that I really love is teal. Teal looks great with a lot of different accents, but I love it best with orange or a dusty pink color.
However, the problem with a color like teal is that there seems to be different definitions of teal. Add the fact that teal options are difficult to find, and you end up either having to pay more to get the color or DIY more decorations. So now I need to look at other color options that are more readily available. Turquoise or Aqua might be acceptable options to teal since they're pretty similar but more available.
Here are some other palette contenders that are variations of teal and rose/orange.
I'm a big fan of varying shades of blue, but one that I really love is teal. Teal looks great with a lot of different accents, but I love it best with orange or a dusty pink color.
However, the problem with a color like teal is that there seems to be different definitions of teal. Add the fact that teal options are difficult to find, and you end up either having to pay more to get the color or DIY more decorations. So now I need to look at other color options that are more readily available. Turquoise or Aqua might be acceptable options to teal since they're pretty similar but more available.
Here are some other palette contenders that are variations of teal and rose/orange.
Turquoise, navy, and grey (wintry palette)
Yellow, orange, and aqua (summer or autumn palette)
Royal blue and gold (spring or summer palette)
Maroon, aqua, and "bubble gum" (spring or summer palette)
(Okay, so I'm not thrilled with the name "bubble gum," but it's a fun color combination.)
Papaya, navy, gunmetal (autumn palette)
(Seriously, who comes up with these names? No wonder colors are so freaking hard to find!)
I could live with any of these color combinations for a long time. Maybe the best thing to do is to see which season would work best, which means seeing when ideal venues are available.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Flavored Salts and Sugars as Favors
I had wanted to do flavored salts as Christmas gifts last season, but I think I might save them as potential wedding favors instead once I figure out the costs. There are a couple of benefits to using flavored salts as a wedding favor:
Other potential flavored salt recipes to use:
We could also try the flavored sugar variant, but I don't see as many recipes for this online. However, I did find these babies on AlwaysOrderDessert.com:
Holy crap, flavored/colored sugar cubes?? I DIE. Probably too much DIY work for what I want to do, but how adorable are these???
- Edible wedding favors are fun!
- Flavored salts probably last a long time since you don't need to sprinkle a ton of salt in one sitting (though I'm not sure what the shelf life is on these babies considering any moisture content).
- They're easy to make in batches as long as you have a food processor!
- There are so many flavors you could make that there's really something for everyone.
- Different types means different colors, too! So pretty!
- They should be pretty cost effective. How much is a pound of salt at the store, maybe a few bucks? Add in whatever flavors you want to combine, and I'm guessing you could make it for less than $1 per favor (add in the cost of the container and labels, and it's probably about a dollar per favor). I think the salt bowl and spoon are super cute, but I gotta keep this under budget. Maybe wooden spoons.
Other potential flavored salt recipes to use:
- Sriracha salts
- Sichuan peppercorn salt, citrus salt, or matcha salt
- Bacon salt, yo! (not the vegetarian kind)
- Almost too many recipes to name (including curry salt, vanilla salt, and Chinese five spice salt)
- No recipes on this link, but they have so many pretty colors! (vintage merlot salt, espresso salt, Thai ginger salt, and more!)
- Or I could just make up a recipe and call it the signature wedding flavor! Maybe something representative of the bride and groom. :)
We could also try the flavored sugar variant, but I don't see as many recipes for this online. However, I did find these babies on AlwaysOrderDessert.com:
Holy crap, flavored/colored sugar cubes?? I DIE. Probably too much DIY work for what I want to do, but how adorable are these???
The Most Important Things
I've been thinking a lot about wedding budgets lately. I've been serious enough to attempt to fill out a budget sheet with various numbers just so I could get an idea of how much to save and for how long. Eventually, when we get this planning thing started for real, it'll be useful to get realistic estimates. But for now, the numbers aren't looking fun yet. To help with this, I'm going to break down the most important things and the least important things for me.
Top 3 things I'd spend my wedding money on (no particular order):
might will think I'm crazy for wanting to nix those first three things, but they're really not that important to me. The flowers are probably unavoidable, but I've never been much into florals and am open to alternatives (e.g. fans for the bridesmaids, non-floral arrangements, feather boutonnieres).
I'm also considering hiring a wedding planner--not just a day-of coordinator. The mister and I are capable of planning really tiny events, but when it gets to be, for example, 15+ people (ahem, birthday events), we stress out. Neither of us like to haggle prices, either, so negotiating contracts seems daunting. We'd want to enjoy our wedding day, and putting the coordination responsibilities on our friends and family is only going to keep them from enjoying the day, too. And they say that the planners end up paying for themselves in the cost savings they can get you--if we're going to spend x amount anyway, I say we get a little extra peace of mind with that.
All in all, the most important thing to me is that everyone (guests, wedding party, groom and me!) all have a great time on our day. I don't think that would be best served with the nicest invitations, the prettiest wedding video, or grand floral decorations. So I'm going to put my money in where I think people will enjoy it the most: delicious food, a fun DJ/emcee to keep the night going, and great wedding photos for guests to relive the moment a little longer. :) But I still want a reasonably nice environment for all of this to happen... on a budget. Crossing my fingers for the planner of my dreams.
Top 3 things I'd spend my wedding money on (no particular order):
- Day-of wedding photography
- Food (catering mostly... my cake priorities are not as high)
- A great DJ/emcee
- Videography
- Engagement photos
- Flowers
- Engagement party (added 9/8/11)
I'm also considering hiring a wedding planner--not just a day-of coordinator. The mister and I are capable of planning really tiny events, but when it gets to be, for example, 15+ people (ahem, birthday events), we stress out. Neither of us like to haggle prices, either, so negotiating contracts seems daunting. We'd want to enjoy our wedding day, and putting the coordination responsibilities on our friends and family is only going to keep them from enjoying the day, too. And they say that the planners end up paying for themselves in the cost savings they can get you--if we're going to spend x amount anyway, I say we get a little extra peace of mind with that.
All in all, the most important thing to me is that everyone (guests, wedding party, groom and me!) all have a great time on our day. I don't think that would be best served with the nicest invitations, the prettiest wedding video, or grand floral decorations. So I'm going to put my money in where I think people will enjoy it the most: delicious food, a fun DJ/emcee to keep the night going, and great wedding photos for guests to relive the moment a little longer. :) But I still want a reasonably nice environment for all of this to happen... on a budget. Crossing my fingers for the planner of my dreams.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)