Monday, January 31, 2011
Who to Invite?
So this is where I am at right now. We have decided that we think we want to have a traditional wedding in our hometown, and by we I mean I because my fiance doesn't really care where we get married at as long as we get married. Which is nice that I get to make a lot of the decisions but I am a very indecisive person so it is very hard for me. I want to do whatever will save us the most money but I really want my friends and most of my family to be there. To decide how expensive your traditional wedding could potentially cost in my opinion a good estimator of that would be to decide and figure out who exactly you want to be at your wedding. Personally, we have decided to keep it as small as possible but to include all the people we really want to be there. I come from a really big extended family, my dad has 12 brothers and sisters and my mom has 3. My fiance's family isn't as big, his mom is an only child and his dad has 2 sisters. However to try and save costs and to only include the people we really want there we have decided to only invite our parents siblings and their spouses and to include just a couple of our cousins. That way it will leave room for inviting our friends and some of our friends parents who have really been a part of our lives throughout high school and college and even longer who will really enjoy being a part of our big day. This is what we have decided to do though so whatever works best for you and allow you to save money might not work for everyone. I know some people might not agree with not inviting all of our extended families, especially since we would rather have other people there that really know us and know our story and how much this day will mean to us. We have really struggled with who to invite and this has been a really difficult decisions but we also thought that we could do our invitations in waves that way if someone couldn't come then we could always send out an invitation to someone else and give them a chance to come. If you have any other ideas please feel free to share them! =)
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Where do I start?
When planning a wedding I have found that it can be very stressful. I had no idea where to start or even where to begin planning. I thought that I would start with some wedding checklists. If you're unaware of what those are or don't know where to get one most bridal magazines have them or I have found a website to be very helpful. You can find many checklists at this website for all kinds of things ranging from a wedding checklist to a guest list manager:
Wedding Checklists
Something else I found helpful was this Ultimate Wedding Planner that I bought from Amazon.
Once you get a time line of when you are going to get married hopefully everything will run a lot smoother from then on out. I am planning a traditional wedding that will include family and friends in the hometown both my fiance and I grew up in, therefore most of my information and references will be illustrating my type of wedding.
So after you begin to get started and after you look at a wedding checklist or make one of your own there are four things you need to think about. First is you need to set a date! This is one of the most exciting parts because every girl knows she has dreamed about this day almost her entire life, therefore I am sure there is a season or time of year that you already have in mind. After you set a day the second thing you need to figure out how much time you have to plan your wedding. I have a little under two years so I have a lot of time to budget and plan my wedding and hopefully save up a lot of money for my big day.
The third thing that you need to do is decide how elaborate you want your wedding to be (if you don't have a budget and you have no limit then you are one lucky lady and can move onto the fourth item). You should start by making a list, on your own for the items that you want most to have your dream wedding. Be realistic, and don't make a list of 100 things if you can really only afford 50. After you have your small list sit down with your fiance and make sure you both want the same things and maybe add to your list anything that he wants.
Now for the fourth thing to do before you begin any big planning, this one is very important. You need to decide who is going to pay for what. If your going to be the one paying for everything then I guess you don't need to worry about this. However if both parents are going to be contributing or even helping in the least bit you need to figure this out ahead of time so there is no confusion later. Sit down with both sets of parents (or just the parents that are helping) and ask them directly what they are willing to help with or if they are going to give you a set amount what will it be, that way you know what you will have to cover yourself. Since you decided in the third step what kind of wedding you want it will be easier to tell your parents when they ask.
I hope this helps because I know when I first started planning I didn't know where to begin. I finally decided though what kind of wedding I wanted and it made it a lot easier to talk to my parents about things after I decided that and had talked to my fiance about things he wanted as well. I can't tell you planning is going to get easier because these few things were the easiest decisions I have made so far.
Next blog we'll talk about the guest list which unfortunately might bring about a few, let's call them disagreements!
Wedding Checklists
Something else I found helpful was this Ultimate Wedding Planner that I bought from Amazon.
Once you get a time line of when you are going to get married hopefully everything will run a lot smoother from then on out. I am planning a traditional wedding that will include family and friends in the hometown both my fiance and I grew up in, therefore most of my information and references will be illustrating my type of wedding.
So after you begin to get started and after you look at a wedding checklist or make one of your own there are four things you need to think about. First is you need to set a date! This is one of the most exciting parts because every girl knows she has dreamed about this day almost her entire life, therefore I am sure there is a season or time of year that you already have in mind. After you set a day the second thing you need to figure out how much time you have to plan your wedding. I have a little under two years so I have a lot of time to budget and plan my wedding and hopefully save up a lot of money for my big day.
The third thing that you need to do is decide how elaborate you want your wedding to be (if you don't have a budget and you have no limit then you are one lucky lady and can move onto the fourth item). You should start by making a list, on your own for the items that you want most to have your dream wedding. Be realistic, and don't make a list of 100 things if you can really only afford 50. After you have your small list sit down with your fiance and make sure you both want the same things and maybe add to your list anything that he wants.
Now for the fourth thing to do before you begin any big planning, this one is very important. You need to decide who is going to pay for what. If your going to be the one paying for everything then I guess you don't need to worry about this. However if both parents are going to be contributing or even helping in the least bit you need to figure this out ahead of time so there is no confusion later. Sit down with both sets of parents (or just the parents that are helping) and ask them directly what they are willing to help with or if they are going to give you a set amount what will it be, that way you know what you will have to cover yourself. Since you decided in the third step what kind of wedding you want it will be easier to tell your parents when they ask.
I hope this helps because I know when I first started planning I didn't know where to begin. I finally decided though what kind of wedding I wanted and it made it a lot easier to talk to my parents about things after I decided that and had talked to my fiance about things he wanted as well. I can't tell you planning is going to get easier because these few things were the easiest decisions I have made so far.
Next blog we'll talk about the guest list which unfortunately might bring about a few, let's call them disagreements!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
First and Foremost - Where
Since you're reading my blog I want to introduce you to myself a little bit. I'm a 21 year old college student who recently got engaged (about 2 1/2 weeks ago) but I have been with my now fiance for a little over 6 years. We come from different backgrounds, I'm half Hispanic and half Caucasian and my fiance is African American. Not that it matters at all but I thought that it might help you get to know our situation a little better. I absolutely love him, he is my best friend and I couldn't ask for anything else. He is going to be a wonderful husband and a great father one day. Our wedding day is going to be two years from now, on January 20, which is our anniversary now. We picked our day because I originally wanted a fall wedding. It is what I had dreamed about for as long as I can remember, however I didn't factor his little brother (who will be his best man) playing college football. Since football takes place in the fall it would be impossible for his brother to get back for the wedding. Therefore since it is the only thing my fiance has asked for I guess I can compromise and move the wedding to January. Which in a way worked out for the best because 35 years ago today my parents got married and I couldn't ask for better role models for a marriage. However before that, I am not sure of the exact number but over 60 years ago on this day, and the same day my parents chose, my grandparents (my mother's parents) got married. So in the end January has special meaning for marriages in my family. I know it's not the same day but it's a special day to us in the same month which means just as much.
Now onto the wedding stuff. My fiance and I have talked about this for about the last year and have been talking about it a lot in the past couple weeks. In my opinion (and I have never done this before) the first thing when getting engaged is to decide where you want to get married. Our options that are on the table right now are, a) going to Vegas, b) going to a tropical island where we can have our wedding and honeymoon all in one, or c) the traditional wedding with our family and friends in our hometown. We have been talking about this so much that I think I am more confused now then I was before we started talking about it. They all have their pros and cons and since we're on a budget we're trying to decide what would be the best for us. I am so confused I cant decide. I am open to suggestions though so as I continue to post blogs and update you on my search for budgeted wedding items and DIY ideas please help me by leaving your opinions and comments they are much appreciated!
Until Next Time,
DIY wedding girl
Now onto the wedding stuff. My fiance and I have talked about this for about the last year and have been talking about it a lot in the past couple weeks. In my opinion (and I have never done this before) the first thing when getting engaged is to decide where you want to get married. Our options that are on the table right now are, a) going to Vegas, b) going to a tropical island where we can have our wedding and honeymoon all in one, or c) the traditional wedding with our family and friends in our hometown. We have been talking about this so much that I think I am more confused now then I was before we started talking about it. They all have their pros and cons and since we're on a budget we're trying to decide what would be the best for us. I am so confused I cant decide. I am open to suggestions though so as I continue to post blogs and update you on my search for budgeted wedding items and DIY ideas please help me by leaving your opinions and comments they are much appreciated!
Until Next Time,
DIY wedding girl
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