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 525 - Wedding crashers...

What is so complicated about an RSVP that people do not understand? Lending back to the beginning or at least the early part of our engagement I was asked, "Do I really have to RSVP? You know I'm coming." To which I gave a resounding, "YES...YES YOU DO!" Sure I may figure you are coming, I also figure most of the people I invite are coming. So, yes! Yes you absolutely need to RSVP.

I suppose I could have said, "Do I need to send you an invitation? You already know I want you there!" *facepalm*

But now we face a new problem. All along people who were not given a guest would ask if we would mind if they brought this guy/girl they just met the other night. Because of space we could not offer a guest to each of our guests. Had we done that we'd have only been able to have half the guests we invited. We'd have basically had to decide whether we wanted our friends there or our family. Our answer to these requests were for them to check back with us in April of 2012 after all the RSVP's were in. If there were any who RSVP'd with "not attending" then we'd clearly have room for an extra person or two at that point. These people were more than happy to oblige and as indicated in my previous post... by April.... they were broken up with that guy/girl and the extra space was not necessary.

We are fast approaching May now and still a few stragglers have not RSVP'd, this we expected, anticipated and are prepared to chase down those meal selections. What we were less prepared for were the guests who did not ask if they could bring a guest but we have now found out planned to bring one anyway. I don't understand how they planned on that working out. If you have an RSVP and it does not imply a guest then you have just invited your best friend since childhood to attend a wedding with you and they will not have a seat or a meal. What's worse is it's not the people in question who have told us, it's mutual friends who say, "Oh I didn't know you invited Sally Sue." and we squint and say, "who?"

Now we must sit over our guest list and thumb through to see how many other wedding crashers we should be prepared for! Not what we signed up for. As it is we are over quota right now by 3 people and that's before these uninvited guests are tallied in. I don't want to have to beg my Venue co-ordinator to make an exception for guests I didn't even invite! How embarrassing, it makes me look so unorganized when in reality I have kept on top of my numbers the whole time. It's my guests who haven't.


*sigh* oh the politics of weddings. I believe I have officially entered the realm of, "I can't wait to get this over with!"

<3 your flustered hippie bride

Day 518 - The curse of the guest

Today I am starting to wonder if my guest list is a curse to my guests' plus ones.

Let me explain. Our guest list has been so extremely shrunk over the months and for the most part our guests don't have plus ones. Some of these guests did as they were dating them for a while and/or living with them.

As the guests rsvp'd it became apparent that with the online RSVP I needed to give the plus ones their own RSVP ID because some guests's plus ones desired a different meal than the guest. I had told the guests I would rectify this in time. Since then, each time I add a plus one by name to the guest list ..... they break up!!!

This has happened half a dozen times now! Each time it goes like this:

Me - "Hey, can I have your boyfriend/girlfriend's name so I can give them their own ID."
Guest - "yeah sure it's Sally/Sam"

Me *insert name on guestlist*

~ 2 weeks pass ~

Guest - "So...um... you might as well take Sally/Sam off the guest list. We...well... we're no longer together."
Me - "what?! Are you serious?! I'm so sorry."

I would leave the plus one on the guest list for a few weeks and when I was certain the time had passed for reconsilliation I removed them.

I know people break up and life goes on. It's just tripping me out that my guests keep breaking up within weeks of having been added to my guest list. I'm relatively scared to add any other official names. I think they will remain plus one and any other alternate meals will just have to be run through us privately.

In wedding related news, picked up our marriage license today! Now to book an appointment with the Justice of the Peace.
I also found out I can't change my name for 3 weeks after I'm married. What's up with that?!

That's all from me, don't break up <3 your hippie bride

Day 362 - Surprise!!

WOW! Today I received my first wedding present from a friend whom I've never actually met. So unexpected and completely appreciated. The question is, do I open it now or save it until my birthday in 4 days, Christmas in a month and some weeks or my bridal shower in may. :p

I'm completely touched and surprised. Thank you so much Evelien!

<3 your hippie bride

Day 310 - 63% accounted for

Oh, so very addictive. Every day that I can't afford to put money into my wedding I instead input time. Time spent logging in to see if anyone new has RSVP'd.
63% of my guests have RSVPd, there are still more to mail out and we already know that Krista is waiting until May to RSVP .... maybe I shall serve the food in order of RSVP received ;)

I kid... I swear... or do I? :p

Day 309 - Party Rock was in the house last night!

The party went off wonderfully! :)
The theme, of course, was bridal fugly!

I had a fugly lace dress (old school) with homemade lace buttons that were so small and annoying it's amazing that this was legitimately someone's dress at some point! 



























One of my friend did my hair, it was supposed to be dreadful and dramatic but it ended up kind of nice just not my usual style :p

Wow can you see the size difference between the two of us here?! Oh my gentle giant! 

Terrible picture of me but I use it to show my over the top make up. I learned my lesson, when wearing a full body lace dress....don't wear metal chained beads 0_0 nearly killed myself on several occasions! Oh and David was trying to make our best man look at my ring which I had been attempting to have him notice. 

Everyone's costumes were awesome (I should know, I helped to pick them out and even sewed up a few of them ;p ) However, not everyone would want to be on a blog and so I will only show a few ;)

Our best man wore a red silk-like cowboy ... pj style top :p

Why do people insist on "eating pictures"? :p 

At one point he ended up wearing the beads apparently. Oh and taking pictures with two cameras :p

Not quite sure what we were doing here... oh yes, she was showing the multiple layers of her dress and I said, "I have multiple layers too!!! Then for whatever reason our multiple layers...erm...umm... humped each other? I'm not certain on this but take from it what you will. :p 

Also not sure what I'm doing here either.... I swear drinking was uninvolved in this party! Promise... my best guess is someone compared the color of her red hair to candy and I was implying she was tasty.... I do not remember this happening but it is my best guess

Even the beast got into play with her lovely "flower girl" ensemble. 

Beast getting ready for the party! 

Once everyone had noticed I'd received my ring back from being sized (after losing all my post-baby weight) I then showed it off to everyone. 

 Of course, as per usual in my line of work, the party was interrupted by some drunk (not my guest) who decided to jump a fence (not mine) and break his leg (also not mine :p ) and buzzed someone's apartment (not mine) and someone let him in (not me!) and as a result he became my bloody (literally bloody, bleeding) problem. Fortunately it was late in the night so we just bid our guests adieu and proceeded to get in our landlord scrubs. ;p Ignoring that, the party was so much fun. I should get engaged again so we can have another!!!

And the rest is history!

Day 127 - Hippie says yes to the dress

Today was amazing. Those who know me know that I don't have family I have family drama. I have no parents (by choice) and only 1 sister. Although my family is biologically a 6 person gathering the actual family of mine is just two people. Myself and my sister (who is also a bridesmaid). It took many years for me to fully accept this and begin the healing process. In that time I have made some very dear friends. In the past 4 years I began saying, "Friends are the family you choose." Never has this felt more true than when planning my wedding.
Instead of a mother to brood over my decisions and hear me cry over small insignificant tiffs with my fiancé I have mama Jer (our best man) to listen to and offer a shoulder for my tears. Instead of a surrounding family of sisters excited for my wedding I have one bio sister and 3 others who I couldn't imagine life without. I have the logical one who lives in an organized chaos. I have the deep one who, like me, enjoys studying body language and different human behavior and I have the wild one who is as quiet as a mouse but as dangerous as a cheetah! ;p
Together they form my crazy family.
I gathered this family together today and went to the bridal shop. One bridesmaid had to work so although she wasn't there this time she had seen the dress and gave it her vote! Of the other 3 bridesmaids one had seen the dress in person and the other had seen it in photos. My best man had also seen it in photographs and so it was only my biological sister left to see it.
The plan was we would each select one dress and she would not know which one was the actual dress. She would know it wasn't the one she had picked of course but by picking one she would also be adding to the options she would then be picking from.
As I said before, I knew that a bride can get caught up in the moment and love the dress because it's in her budget and it's pretty but not because it's HER dress. Since I had already proven this before I was determined to ensure this was my dress beyond a shadow of a doubt.
We started by running around picking all our dresses. While we waited for the consultant to become available we paraded around picking out possible bridesmaids dresses. I wanted the same consultant that had initially picked out the dress for me. Once she (michelle) became available it was onward for the barrage of bridal. Everyone had cameras it seemed and before the dress trying began I laughed with two cameras in my face I said, "I feel like I'm on a TLC reality show." I enjoy editing together video of the important moments in life and so having the multiple angles to work with made it something special. I enjoyed not only being able to capture the dresses but also the people who were there to enjoy the day with me as well.

And although one of my bridesmaid couldn't make it, I later cropped in some photographs and made sure she was included in the video. Of course my fiancé wasn't there either so I had a few photos of him thus including my entire family. I have uploaded the video to my facebook page and for the first million times I watched it I teared up!
After all the dresses were tried on I put on and stood in THE dress and the discussion began. One dress was a close second but it was super heavy. Another I found had too many things going on and thus was shoved in the scarlett o'hara pile. Another, although gorgeous, was too blunt for my sister. Something that didn't even bother me while IN the dress but upon review of the video I see what she was speaking of and is an example of why others input is so important when you are surrounded by bridal glow.
There I stood, in the dress I felt best represented what I had always imagined for my wedding day next to another beautiful dress that is gorgeous on me but was more for a big church wedding than for what I have planned.
It was agreed by everyone quietly that the dress I was wearing was absolutely my dress. But it wasn't until one of my bridesmaid brought tears to my tired, stressed eyes that everyone knew for sure that this was my dress. She began talking about how long I'd been planning and all that I could think of was everything I'd gone through to get to this point in life. All the trials and tribulations I had endured to bring me to the safety of these friends. The people who had hurt me and made me who I was and how now I left only room for loving people such as these. Leaving me overwhelmed and wimpy I bawled like a baby without it's blankie.
And thus the dress was decidedly chosen. Now the concern left is that I have another 20 lbs to lose before I'm completely happy. I sure hope the dress still fits in a year.

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.