Married woman!

It's done, I shall make a few more entries on here to discuss my wedding diy, money saving projects, coupons as well as what went right and wrong on the big day. But for now I'm going to just break down the budget for everyone who is wondering if we kept it within the tight budget of $5000.

Before I continue it is important to realize that in this budget we did not include the three things that we would have still had if we had instead chose to elope. Those three things were our rings, which we still couponed for and got for nearly 50% off and just over a grand combined. Our Justice of the Peace & our Marriage License.

Now, let's get down to the math shall we? I am not going to include all prices as I do not want to get any vendor in any sort of complicated situation. I will however let you know how much they saved us off their competitors and the total for the event. DIY stuff shall have prices and savings.

Ceremony:

The breakdown:

• Veil - typical cost of veil at a bridal shop is $80. I bought mine on clearance for $5.75. Total Savings = $74.25 
• Bouquets - I had my bouquets priced. The cheapest I could get for real flowers was $324. The cheapest I could get for fake was $350 (how does that even make sense?!) I went out, purchased my own flowers on sale a year before my wedding and DIY'd my beautiful bouquets. I then sprayed them with my favorite scents for an added touch. Total cost of my DIY project for all bouquets was $27.49 total savings with couponing and diy projects = $322.51
• Jewelry - Typical Cost for bridal jewelry is $140 I bought mine second hand as well as through sales and my total came to $5.75...and I looked beautiful!! The daisies in my jewelry matched my theme and the y-style necklace was exactly what I was looking for! Total savings = $134.25
• Flower girl outfits (shoes and dress etc.) - typically cost $120 I picked ours and waited nervously until they went on sale. Not just on sale, BOGO (in both cases). I bought the flowers second hand and the total cost was $36.49. Total Savings = $83.51
• Tux rentals - we called in a favor/gift from a friend and saved $32.21 off the competitors price.
• Bubbles - for the ceremony - typical cost was $22.43 for the amount we needed. I bought mine and DIY'd tags for $16.10. Total savings $6.33
• Photography - The photography was a wedding present from a dear friend saving us $2000!!!
• Save the Dates - Typical Save the Dates including postage run you $64.06 for our amount. Ours was a video that I DIY'd and e-mailed to all our guests. Total Savings $64.06. ;) 
• Wedding invitations - Average cost for what we were wanting and in the amount we wanted them was $170.4 postage included. I DIY'd what we wanted and our total came to $37.50. Total Savings $132.90
• Shoes - My shoes were my old prom shoes. They were my something old. Unfortunately being that they are 8 year old shoes .... they broke on the way to pick up invitation material. We're going to guess that new (NICE) wedding shoes typically cost at least $50. My wedding shoes cost me $2.06 in super glue to repair the strap. Total savings $47.94. I did have back up shoes which I purchased on sale 40% off and then couponed to get an additional 15% off. Although these didn't end up being my wedding shoes I was still quite proud of myself for saving $60 off the market price for my spare shoes.
• Videographer - We were very blessed in finding our videographer. He was able and willing to provide me with raw footage for my own editing. This saved us $700 off the lowest priced competitor and he was worth every cent. 
• Hair & Make-up - Didn't bargain too much off this because I wanted to look my best on the big day. Typical cost was $130 with couponing I was able to get mine done for $86.25. Total savings $43.75
• Wedding dress - Now, this is a tough one. You see I bought my dress before finishing my weightloss. It fit me almost perfectly when I bought it but after I finished losing weight the alterations were necessary. However, had I lost the weight before shopping I'd have not been able to get the deal I got and therefor would have had to spend more on the dress and likely still get alterations. Therefore it is still a savings. The wedding dress budget was $600 which I just barely went over. the cost of my dress was discounted because I was buying it off the rack and saved me $230. 
• Dress alterations - As it turned out, the tailor was a cousin of my friends. Out of the kindness of his heart he saved me $28.75 off the comparable price. 

Ceremony average cost $5852.61 Compared to my total cost of $1979.29! 66% savings

Reception:

The breakdown:

• Venue - Our venue gave us a deal & then combined that with a generous contribution from the grooms parents and our total savings off the compared market was $1060
• Wedding Cake - Our cake price changed as time went on but even in it's final realm it was a bargain as compared to the next lowest quote I was given. Total Savings $60
• Food & Misc. - This was HUGE for us! Not only did they work with our budget but they also helped to customize our meal so we (the vegetarians) could have a delicious and special meal for our wedding day. If anyone is looking for a place to get married they can't do much better than our venue! Although we did have some wedding crashers in the end we still managed to stay within budget. Our total savings as compared to market $4513.63 and with their help was $1012.65. I'm not going to use the total as compared to market as the two venues were very different. But it still gives you an idea of what we were dealing with before finding them. 
• Centerpieces - I had what I wanted priced by several independent and company owned locations and the average cost per centerpiece was $55. I bought all my own stuff and DIY'd my centerpieces. With a contribution from a dear friend my DIY'd Centerpieces cost me $35 in total! Saving me $597.5!!
• DJ - Our DJ was a long time friend of mine whom I used to have DJ our school dances. I had always teased him in High School that someday he'd DJ my wedding. I was so glad that when I contacted him he was actually still interested in DJing my wedding. Because our wedding was on a Monday the market had offered us a deal which my friend gave me an additional deal on. Total savings for the Monday wedding + a friend DJing the dance was $200. 

Reception average cost $5849.02 Compared to my cost of $2918.87! 50% savings

So our budget to start was $5000. I thought I was too ambitious but in the end our wedding came to a value of $11,701.63 and with couponing, DIY and shopping around for a better deal our total cost came to $4898.16 meaning we stayed under budget by $101.84! 

With a time machine would I change anything? Not a thing. The personalized DIY details were some of my favorite parts. I made a lot of new friends in the industry as a result of shopping around and I learned a lot about sticking to a tight budget over the year. We survived the crazy budget and can tell the tale about how we saved 58% off our entire wedding cost.

Thank you to everyone who helped us make it down the aisle!!

Day 611 - Last entry

Not even sure what to put here. I'm running around ensuring everything is ready for tomorrow but not the slightest bit scared. I was smiling at something David said yesterday that I thought I'd share with you.

Everyone keeps asking David if he is getting excited and/or nervous. He is so relaxed and laid back and he said one time when someone asked and he seemed casual they said, "Am I more excited than you?" he said, "I don't know how to explain it. It's not that I'm not happy, or not looking forward to it. It just .... it just feels right."

That about sums up the emotions in the house lately. Our daughter has been coming into our room in the morning counting down the days. I even accidentally captured her excitement at the rehearsal when I ended up recording her squealing about our wedding. I believe she thought it was our wedding that day and not just practice. Regardless she was extremely excited! I'm scared that I'm going to forget something but then I remind myself of just how organized I am so with the exception of mother nature and others I can't control what happens and I'm just going to have to relax and enjoy the day....YA RIGHT! ;p

But really, I've done this before. I've choreographed 24 kids into a shakespearing play which we then executed in front of an audience of their family and friends. I can choreograph a measely 70 adults to do the same....right? :p

No matter what happens tomorrow I will be happy because tomorrow I marry my best friend!

<3 your hippie bride, will return as a hippie wife 

Day 536 - Musical Chairs

I don't know that you would classify last nights dream as a nightmare or just a restless nights.

You ever have one of those nights where you dream you are studying, cleaning or doing homework all night and wake up feeling as though that is what you did all night instead of sleeping? Well that's what last night was.

There have been some guest list changes, as indicated by my posts over the past few days. With these changes some rearranging must be done for optimum enjoyment. Betty Sue can't sit anywhere near Cousin Sam because he once walked in on her in the shower. *AWKWARD* but Cousin Sam would want to sit near Alfred who is best friends and has flirtations with Betty Sue. Playing the seating arrangement game is similar to Tetris. You are not only trying to place them in the perfect fit but every now and then you have that awkward z shaped guest who only fits in 2 or 3 ideal locations without fudging up the works.

With some guests unable to come now and extra guests having been invited, it's time to play musical chairs. I wasn't too worried about it, thus it not being a nightmare, but it is high on my to-do list and apparently my brain has been processing it.

What amused me most about last nights dream was the combination of seating chart, reserved seats in the front with the possibility of that one surprise guest and the extra guests people keep inviting. This is how it went down.

I had the grooms men at the front with fancy clipboards DIY'd to be pretty and bridal. They would ask the guest for their name, check the list and if they were to sit in a reserved seat then one of the groomsmen without a clipboard would usher them to their seat. If they were simply one side of the room or the other they ushered them to that side of the room and the guest chose their own seat. If they were not on the list it was very high security. "I'm afraid I do not see you here on the list. Are you sure you wouldn't be under another name?" then they would put their finger to their ear and turn their head away from the guest like a presidential security squad and say, "Let me check with our bride. Yes, Gena, we have a Frankie Smith here but I do not see him on the --- uh huh, okay. That's what I thought." turn back to the guest and say, "No I'm sorry sir, you were not invited to this wedding." "But betty sue brought me!" "well I'm afraid Betty Sue has done you an injustice. If you wish here is a map of locations in the city where you can visit for the next 4 hours before the open dance."

Finally the extra special evil guest who not only is not invited but whom we have a peace bond against and has been instructed on several occasions in a formal manner to cease all communication with us. She showed in a video game style episode. It became an arial view of the ceremony location and her weapons showed above her head to let us know that she came armed with a pitchfork, knife and blowtorch. She first began by setting the headtable on fire, immediately put out by the best man as she swung around and lit 4 other tables on fire. Two groomsmen and the groom himself jumped her while the best man began putting out those tables. Meanwhile the Maid of honor were calling the police and they eventually showed to drag her away. It's funny in a sad way that I have had a similar dream about this guest going way back to my childhood. She was such a horrid person my entire life that I used to have dreams of her ruining my wedding back before I had ever been kissed. She would throw wine at me and I always ended up punching her in the face. The biggest change as years have gone by is that she is actually not allowed near me now and I have a group of security officials (tee hee) who will ensure that it does not happen.

Although I have been sent e-mails to tell me that she plans to attend with or without an invite, I am ensuring that does not happen. Perhaps I will start talking about my wedding location and time in detail to throw her off the scent. She won't know whether the location I speak of is the actual location or if I'm tricking her.

By the end of the dream we were trying to make room for guests in our tiny apartment. As we mushed furniture against the wall and rearranged our whopping 6 chairs I said, "wait....we booked a venue to take care of this for us!" and that's when I woke up thinking, "this is so incredibly foolish that it must be a dream.

The end result is me sitting down with my bridal bible and revamping my seating chart. I feel I should turn it into a digital copy so changes can be quicker if necessary. Maybe I will ax my pretty diy seating chart since changes keep being made.

<3 your hippie bride

Day 163 - Ceremony readings

While reading through some ceremony readings to find a few for our ceremony I came across this gem. Although I will not likely use it in my ceremony it is still awesome and maybe a bridal party member will use it in their speech. :p

"To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it
Whenever you’re right, shut up."

Day 117 - Save the Date

It was a bit scary to do it but I've decided that we can make this work. So today I bundled up my wallet and shoved it to the bottom of my purse. Thus forcing inconvenient digging when spending is desired and saving me a dollar here and there. Well... my purse is actually about the same size as my wallet, so in reality I did this just in my head. However, I did send out my save the date video to all whom I intend to invite. 

It felt good to get it done and true to our style to send them out in youtube/video format. Done as a teaser I show all the dresses I have tried on up until now and end with a "to be continued" attitude. See the video above.

So success sandwich? I've had success with officially setting the date. No success in making Jer the marrying type...or at least the type to marry us. I discovered it is no longer permitted in our province to have a friend made officiant for the day. LAME!

However, I am now down 22.1 lbs! So... altogether not bad. Save the dates *check* Guest list tided up *check* wedding dress picked out *check* Down to last ten pounds *check* Solved first bridezilla crisis with rational and logical thinking *check* Saved money? *empties pockets and faints* lol

Seriously though, not bad overall. 

Day 62 - Naptime is my time

So while the beast slumbers I have been dedicating precious minutes to planning out the wedding ceremony and reception and searching for venues. Never have those naps meant so much to me. Sure it's easier to do regular chores when she's asleep than when she's awake but planning a wedding just can't be done when she's awake. For one thing I feel incredibly guilty if I'm not teaching her something or playing with her in some way. This girl is my life and I can't put her aside for wedding planning, no matter how perfect it needs to be.
I have managed to find one possible location that is pretty much attached to the hill where we want to have our photographs taken so it's really not that bad a deal. In addition I will be attending the local bridal showcase in a few days. I'm so excited to be going and glad I looked when I did. I would have otherwise missed out on it.