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 502 - Productive!

I love when my maid of honor is around. I seem to get right into wedding mode when she is around. I think mostly because she typically is focused on it. Today I checked off so many things on my wedding list. They may seem small and trivial but at this point there are just a lot of trivial things left.

Bought the girls headdresses, designed the open dance invitations, bought lingerie for the honeymoon, bought another bouquet holder for the bridesmaids so I could finish another bouquet! Oh and made a payment on hubby-to-be's wedding band. :) All-in-all super awesomely productive day.

Now to lose these last 10 lbs...off for a night jog.

Only 110 days left!!!!!!!

<3 your excited hippie bride!!! 

Day 347 - Post Halloween invites

My hubby to be is the best the best fiancé ever! And who knew he looked so great in pink?

We took our daughter out trick-or-treating in our bridal fugly with her as a flower girl complete with curlers in her hair. It was super adorable.

 ♥ 265 ♥

I'm sending out the last of the wedding invitations soon. Once that is done I'll have to redesign the invitations a little and send out the open dance invitations. I'm not sure if I made an entry about that final decision, however, to balance the cost of a wedding reception with the desire to have everyone there we have decided to have people for the dance after the ceremony. Of course we ensured each person who would be invited to only the dance understood that it wasn't us shunning them it was us wanting to include them.

<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 301 - Addicted to RSVPs

I think I have reached a point where I might actually need clinical help! I log in as soon as I awake and squeal with excitement the moment I see that little rsvp check next to another guest.

However, a downside to this is that other guests who know they should be getting invites and have not yet received them are starting to question our friendship. David and I must hurry and finish up some more envelopes for the mail before we are disowned.

WEEEE WEDDING WEDDING WEDDING

I'm getting married! Yup, yup I am! *dances* 

Day 300 - Addicted to RSVPs!

Ever since I sent out my wedding invitations I find myself logging in first thing in the morning to see if anyone has RSVP'd.

I can see how this wedding stuff can be completely addicting. I have a small guest list of 50-60 people and everyday I get so excited by new RSVP's. I also smile when they sign my guestbook in addition to rsvping.
So when I woke up this morning to fresh RSVP alerts! I declared aloud, "EXCELLENT!" I love non-procrastinators :) ♥ 312 ♥

Day 296 - RSVP? YES PLEASE!

Invitations are sent out and as I was speaking with one of my guests the other day I was asked an RSVP question, "Do I have to RSVP? You already know I'm coming."

The answer: YES! and just in case anyone else was wondering it is yes for you too.




You see a lot of people think, "OH, I don't need to RSVP they know I'm going." Sure, you and 50 other people? Are we supposed to look at our final RSVP numbers and then add the other 50 people that we are pretty sure are coming? what if we miscount? What if when naming people off the top of our head that we are sure are coming we miss you or say you twice?




Sure I may know that you are coming but I also know that 15 or 25 others are coming. I can't search my list of RSVP's to see if you did or didn't RSVP. When I give numbers to venues I will be looking at the number of RSVPs and if your name isn't there then ... I guess you're not coming.

Hey, I like to think I made it really simple for everyone, it's all done online on our website. No postage, no post office, just a click and you're done.

Day 288 - Extreme Couponing Wedding style

All my couponing and sales watching has paid off. Today by paying the rest of my ring off and placing David's back on layaway plus combining my coupon for signing up for their e-mails I was able to save $232.5 off our rings! :) that's not including the original $300 I saved on them initially so all-in-all $532.5 saved.

Better yet, I will have my bridal set in time for the the engagement party. Had to get it resized down 2.5 sizes.

47% through our engagement! That day just keeps getting closer, as days typically do. Now if only my best man would hurry up and submit his RSVP. ;)

<3 your couponing hippie bride 

Day 280 - Invitations almost in the mail

So after much cutting, pasting, printing, sticking, pasting, cutting and address hunting the invitations are completed and ready to mail....well.... once I get them in envelopes. *whoops* 

Day 275 - Print, cut, paste, bedazzle, sparkle sparkle

Print, cut, paste...arrange, paste, dry, bedazzle, sparkle sparkle...envelope, slide, address, lick, stamp...send...repeat 50 times!
I have 20 invites made and ready for the mailing. Going to send them in spurts so that I don't lose them as they are made.
This makes it so real...maybe I should hurry and get that venue deposit in. :p

<3 your hippie bride.

Day 274 - Legal...tender and fine

Well, hubby-to-be wins! After encountering some very near problems last night I am FINALLY updating my expired ID...yeah...expired since 2009....and still hailing from a different province. I guess I'm stuck here for good now. *sigh*

I had planned on doing it regardless as it is a necessary component in acquiring a marriage license. But last night when I was almost not allowed to go into the club due to my expired license.... well time to change up.

And as fun as last night was it was so nice to come home and climb into my best friends arms. Then today I sent out our first wedding invitation!

<3 your hippie bride

Day 272 - Maid of honor celebration

This weekend promises to be productive. Today is Jenny's birthday and we are to going to take her out to her first club to celebrate on the weekend. To prepare for my weekend with my maid of honor I have acquired lots of material required to complete the invitations and prepared myself to get all dressed up for a night on the town afterwards.

Promises to be fun and productive!

<3 your hippie bride

Day 262 - And it begins!

Today, with all of the necessary components in place I began printing and constructing the wedding invitations. The first two or three were .... not as attractive as the rest. After a while you get accustomed and develop your own system.
The most important part of course is ensuring everyone's personal RSVP ID is accurate as they are to RSVP online using it. Pretty exciting to get these started!

<3 your hippie bride

Day 249 - Money, Money, Money, it isn't funny!

It's been a while, I've been busy. But lately I feel like I'm at a standstill. I have all the planning done but can't move forward until we have the money. Having budgeted for $300/month towards the wedding this means I can only take care of so much at once.
For instance, right now we are making 2 payments a month. One for our rings at a little over $160 and one for my dress at a little over $150. So I'm already over budget by $10. This means no payments on my selected venue, dj, invitations, flowers, favors and everything else.
Well I broke the rules this month. My bridesmaid and I went looking at flowers and got a great deal that we would otherwise miss out on. what would have cost me $370 minimum to have done cost me $35. I spent $35 and acquired the flowers for myself and all my bridesmaids. So this month I am over budget by $45 but that's not too bad considering it saved me a hella lot in the long run.
The venue deposit we have saved and waiting for us to go over the contract. There is only one more payment on my dress and so that will open up payments for other things. Scarily though, the payments on the venue will be $250 a month. meaning we are going to remain over budget by $100 for the rest of the year. This also means we won't be able to start payments on anything else as we will already be over our head with the other payments. I guess I will have to reassess our budget. My guess is we were under budget a few months and thus confused our schedule. :)

Long story short I am sitting here with everything sitting in front of me waiting for me to move forward with them but I can't until the toothfairy leaves money under my pillow at night. Something tells me getting my wisdom teeth pulled would lose more money than it would make though.

I have my invitations designed but I can't afford to start producing them. I have to buy ink, paper and craft supplies to start production. As much as we're saving money on them by my making them the ink itself is about $65 at most. What we decided to do was to send the invitations out in spurts of 10-30 invites. Three separate months of invites being sent out to budget our postal service into it.

Next month the money maker is on vacation and so overtime is not an option. What ever will we do? 

Day 241 - Invitations Designed

I have finished designing the wedding invitations! They are beautiful, prefect! They combine his original fairytale story about us, his love for video games and my hippie style.

Now I have to decide on a good day to have an invitation party and construct some invitations with my bridal party. Maybe some time in September when one of my bridesmaids returns home from summer vacation.

Oh how I want to start now! Of course I don't yet have the material though so I suppose I should just set money aside to acquire the necessary equipment. 

Day 239 - Flower, by any other name

I've learned that cutting wired flowers is a lot harder than it looks. Having a few drinks before attempting this does not help!

I began construction of the bouquets today and have taken some pictures with my brothers help.

What a co-operative if not a little ... um... enthusiastic model he made.

I'm getting super excited for our wedding in 373 days! I received an e-mail today from the knot to remind me that I have to finalize my guest list, decide on the invitations, research videographers and sign the venue contract by the 23rd! Geesh! Thanks for the stress factor! I realize I set up these reminders and with good reason. However, until I received that reminder I felt I was ahead and now I feel like I'm falling behind.

I decided to have one more nail biting glance at the guest list and ensure we invited everyone that would otherwise throw eggs at us.

After going over and over the guest list I came to a final decision with the exception of one guest. Being a family member I am not sure if I want the possible drama that will follow their entrance. At the same time there could be a hefty amount of drama in not inviting them.

Invite or don't invite.....invite or don't invite.......*bites nails*

<3 your undecided hippie bride

Day 196 - Wording is everything

Given the incredible drama surrounding my family and the fact that I have not referred to myself by my maiden name in years I don't know what to do for our wedding invitations. I want it to be formal and proper but I do not want to use my last name. I can't use his last name though because that would give the impression I was marrying a relative. I also can't use his last name and use no last name for me because that gives the same implication.

I pondered over this for a while, most of the day. Before I came up with the wording that solved everything. It was inspired by the story hubby-to-be once told me as a joke when I couldn't sleep. In the story he was climbing the tower to rescue the princess (predictably me) which I said was kind of creepy. The idea of someone climbing your house and into your window isn't necessarily romantic. The story was more detailed and completely romantic and funny.

The wording I have worked out for our wedding invitations will state that he has rescued the princess and now Bwings & Asmerus wish to invite you to their wedding. This way it is just the right amount of formal while casual enough that it needn't include our last names. I'll work out the specifics later.

For now, sleep <3 your hippie bride