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 576 - Bottom done gone falled out!

As that number of days until our wedding gets smaller and smaller so does my brain! You hand me something, I'll lose it within a minute and where we find it will make very little sense. Our best man got to witness this foolishness first hand this weekend when he handed me his iphone for a moment. I was sitting on the sofa with it and stood up, I remembered specifically putting it on the coffee table and then going to the bathroom to help him with my daughter.
In the bathroom I used both hands to open the cupboard looking for a thermometer to take her temperature. Because of this when we later went looking for the iphone we knew it couldn't have been in my hands when I left the living room. We looked everywhere, even my bedroom. I had gotten up and went straight to the bathroom, he was here... he can verify that when we found it on my computer desk behind the dining room table his reaction was, "when were you over here?!" and my answer was, "I wasn't!!!" I swear, I have gremlins running around my house right now, that's my only explanation to where things are turning up lately.

I have tried to keep myself completely distracted and our kitchen counters have never seen this much attention. Between our abstaining and my flighty mind I have all this pent up energy to use and I have been bleaching the crazy out of my counters, stove, walls, you name it. That's not to say the house doesn't have the usual amount of chaos but it's super sanitized where it's clean and neat. I just keep looking at that number of days remaining and feeling as though I have just enough time to finish all necessary wedding tasks and that if I waste a single moment I will have to forgo something :(
This worries me so much that I use my distractions as best I can.

However, when the day comes to an end and I sit down to say goodnight to the world I always come back to that same beautiful fact. In 5 weeks I will marry (yes I'm saying it again) my best friend!

Years ago we made a video to tell the story of how we ended up together and now here we are taking that next big leap. I laugh sometimes when I think of how much life has changed in the past few years. I laugh and say, "Had someone told us we'd end up here 8 years ago....we'd have rolled our eyes."
Anyway, the video of our story has always been a pretty good summation of our union and to this day the blooper reel makes me snicker. We had so much fun making the video even though it took far longer than we expected and two different days. Now I make videos in a very different way and am currently completing our wedding video for the day of the wedding. Fun times. I can not wait to walk down the aisle towards David. To see him for the first time that day and then of course take out some of this pent up...erm... I'll end this entry here ;)

<3 your ..um... forgetful...um...what is it... oh yeah, hippie bride! 

Day 282 - Genevieve says yes to the dress

Nothing particularly productive, however my toddler has found her dress!

My daughter and my maid-of-honors daughter were copying us and flipping through bridal magazines. Genevieve ended up getting really into it. :)

The link is relatively private and so can't be embedded. Click here to enjoy. :)

<3 your hippie bride

Day 218 - Extreme Couponing

I have been couponing where I can and shopping for a bargain everywhere. Today I managed to save our wedding budget $133.90 by acting on a tax free event. This meant rushing my poor daughter outside in such a hurry that.... well let's let the video tell you the story

Worth it in the end...hoping to save another $300 plus dollars soon. I took some of that saved money and bought her new shoes. :) 

Day 8 - Singing and dancing

I've begun to envision my wedding reception. The people I want to see there, the people I want to dance with, those I want pictures with and what songs make me think of these people.

This song came to mind today and took me back to a time in my life when romance was only just starting to play a part. A simpler time when I was not even a teen yet. I remember dancing around for hours to this song with my best childhood friend Kathy! It's one of those times in your life that you'd gladly relive again.

As much as my relationship with her has faded in the years and we've grown apart with busy schedules, distances and different life choices here and there she will always hold an important place in my heart and memories.

On my wedding day I'm going to drag her ass out onto the dance floor to shake her tail feather with me to this song! Her and anyone else I can grab sure but absolutely must dance with her!

I can still combine my childhood dreams and happiness with my future happiness. I just have to negate the inbetween bits. ;) 

Day 2 - continued glee

It seems the phone doesn't stop ringing lately. Everyone wants to know, how did he ask? What did you say? Were you surprised? When did he ask? Where did he ask? What does the ring look like? When are you getting married?

I don't mind answering and in fact I go over the details at night by myself. But the big thing is the wedding seems that much more real now. We've been planning this wedding since 2007 and now I can talk about it and not sound like the crazy desperate spinster who is in denial. The ring on my finger removes all doubt. I'm getting married.

I didn't work out too many new  details today, spoke to more people and just walked around glancing at my hand and thinking, "wow...it's really real..." I'm more than excited to marry my best friend and wish now that I'd been a little more spinstery and had more planning done for I would love if  I could have this wedding in 3 months!

I did find time to make some foolish video to announce our engagement. I also learned that throwing rice does not make birds blow up. I'm relatively disappointed in myself for not having already snope verified that one years ago. *facepalm* The productive part of the day was spent decorating our tree together.

Alas, today I am thinking colors. I'm torn between deep pinks, reds, blues, whites... everything looks so nice. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't want to move forward with any one thing until I tackle another. I don't like the idea of unfinished business. I need to decide on my colors before I move forward because decorations depend on my theme.

I know I want to be non-traditional, non-denominational and something that is close to home for us. There will be a lot of "kal Ho Naa Ho" integrated into the wedding. I won't reveal too much in this blog as far as these things are concerned because some things are intended to be a secret until the day. But I think anyone who knows us knows how much the movie "Kal Ho Naa Ho" means to us and the music. Songs from Kal Ho Naa Ho and Dil Se Re always take us back to when we first started dating. I've listened to Kal Ho Naa Ho every night since we became engaged. Just makes me feel that little extra burst of love that I felt when we were younger. The suspense, the anticipation, the unknownn.  All those feelings come back and I just can't wait for those next steps down the aisle. But one thing I know is I don't want to wish away this moment now. Too often we are so anxious for the next step we forget to embrace today. I've always avoided that in the past and I will continue to do so. I'm going to enjoy being engaged because I'm only going to be engaged once.

I'll live life to the fullest, kal ho na ho {tomorrow may not be}


Here it is 12:39 am and once again I'm up late unable to sleep. The house is quiet and so I must plan my tomorrow. Good night, your hippie bride.