Weddingbee Blog

Originally, the plan was to have a marquee (tent) wedding in the garden. Naive little me didn’t quite take into account the massive expense of hiring a marquee that is big enough for 100 people to be seated under. Then the venue changed their prices on us, and we had to scramble to find hundreds of extra dollars that we didn’t budget for (This is a long story that will be told another time). So, after a few stressed Skype calls to my parents, and going over and over alternative plans with Mr E, we decided to just ditch the marquee. I felt better. We decided to have umbrellas over the tables instead, which look gorgeous, as seen in the photo below:

via Elizabeth Anne Designs

I still ache for those pretty umbrellas.

Sadly, none of the hire companies available to us could help. They either didn’t have umbrellas, or they had “six blue ones that are not in very good condition”. Hey, at least they were honest with us. We even contacted all the South Island hire companies (NZ is not a big country… there are a limited amount), but no dice. There was a company that had the perfect ones in Auckland, but they were too far away.

So, the umbrellas were out. We thought about the marquee again: specifically if I could sell my kidney to get it. Mr E likes my kidneys where they are, so we kept on thinking.

Then came the High Tea wedding phase. We thought about have an English-type tea party in lieu of a full-on reception. There are many many reasons to love the tea party idea (all the sweet things! The china! The ladies in pretty dresses! The endless possibilities of a tea theme!). Also, it was a feasible way to self-cater and therefore cut money from food costs and put them towards a marquee.

Project Wedding

As good as this sounds, when we weighed up everything we still wouldn’t have been able to afford the marquee. And costs in other areas were rearing their ugly heads and I was on the verge of wedding planning breakdown (seriously, I started crying every time someone mentioned the word “wedding”). It just seemed like too much work and no fun anymore… which isn’t the way planning your wedding is supposed to be!

Simplification was in order. We decided to cull everything that seemed unbearably stressful about the wedding and work with it. Can’t figure out how to afford a marquee? Cull it. We will eat under the trees. If it rains… um. We’re working on a back-up plan. The odds are in our favor though (January = middle of summer in NZ which usually = drought).

Self-catering sounding scary? Cull it. Sort of. We will have someone cater for the “main meal” part of the reception (story to come!), get desserts from a yummy local place, and take care of drinks, snacks and cupcakes ourselves.

It is with a touch of sadness that I let go of our high tea reception, as abstract as it was. So, we have come up with some other plans for our teacups and cupcakes that I can’t wait to write about soon. Mr E was never too “into” the High Tea anyway (”I want man food,” he says. I love his fluffy head). Also, most, if not all of our guests are from out of town or out of country and we would much rather give them a full meal for their trouble.

Hiring tables is ballooning our budget way too much? Cut them (!). Well, most of them. The venue has 6 tables—we will use them for bridal party and serving food. Then there are 8 picnic tables for guests who can’t sit on the ground and some extra chairs scattered around. And… picnic blankets for everyone else! I will make those, because sewing is fun. Plus, the “picnic theme” is what seems to fit best with what we want most for our wedding—family and friends celebrating together in a relaxed setting without me losing my sanity. I won’t lie, beautiful pictures of picnic weddings done well on some of my favourite blogs also helped with making this decision.

via A Practical Wedding

Finally it seems like our wedding is heading somewhere after all these changes. No, I don’t think we have seen the end of the chopping and changing, but we are a few steps closer. One thing I have learned from all these changes is that (surprise, surprise) they don’t mean the end of the world or that our wedding will be any less meaningful. We have to roll with the punches, and in the end it is still going to be the two of us getting married. Even if it pours with rain, and my dress gets soaked/ stained, even if we have to do it in a parking lot or a small room where all 100 of our guests squeeze in. Even if the decorations aren’t what I planned, or not every single thing matches to a “theme”. It’s our wedding, damn it. And it is going to be awesome.

Did you have to change the vision of your wedding several times to accommodate your budget? What was your initial vision, and what did it turn into?