Miss Cheeseburger, Baltimore, MD/State College, PAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Medical StudentEngagement Date: June 28, 2008Wedding Date: March 2010Venue: Catholic Church Ceremony & Hotel ReceptionAbout Me: I'm a passionate girl from Pittsburgh, currently living in Baltimore for school, who loves Penn State, seeing movies, football, thunderstorms, black and white photos, Christmas, good beer, my amazing friends and family, and of course, my mister! We met, fell in love, got engaged, and will be married at our alma mater (go lions!) in a traditional Catholic ceremony followed by a hotel reception with lots of DIY details. It means so much to have our families and friends meet at our favorite place on earth to celebrate our love for one another - I truly couldn't ask for anything more!
The Budget. The elephant in the room. The thing that no one wants to talk about.
After reading many, many posts on lots of different blogs about budgeting, staying on a budget, how not to break your budget, why not having a budget is wedding suicide - I was planning to establish said budget early on...
Miss Spaniel, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 28, Law StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, PsychologistWedding Date: March 2010Venue: Calamigos RanchAbout Me: I'm a third-year law student trying to balance graduating with starting my career, keeping up a relationship, and, oh yeah, planning an Old World, multi-cultural, "mountain lodge" wedding for 180 guests! A South Asian Jewish girl getting ready to marry my handsome Catholic Dane, I'm hoping to blend our cultures in our wedding just a bit more gently than by providing samosas as appetizers and offering æbleskiver for dessert. (Although that would also be awesome.)
Once we were within a year of the wedding, I wanted to start thinking more seriously again about the actual wedding planning, and where, exactly, we wanted our budget to go.
Other than the venue and catering, which we took care of early, things that were really important to us were the paper, the dress, the photography and the music. I couldn’t care less about the…
Mrs. Cowboy Boot, Santa FeAge and Occupation: 25, Magazine EditorFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Artist and Whitewater Rafting GuideEngagement Date: April 28th, 2008Wedding Date: October 2009Venue: Devil's Thumb Ranch, ColoradoAbout Me: I grew up in Los Angeles and have since lived in San Diego, Boston, Italy, Hawaii, New York City, and Santa Fe. I speak Italian and love pasta. My real passion is the outdoors, though. When I'm not at work, I'm snowboarding, hiking with my two dogs, mountain biking, surfing, cross-country-skiing, or boating New Mexico's rivers. Despite my boyish love for adventure, I'm a girly-girl at heart and am overly-excited to pull off the romantic, vintage-inspired, country wedding of my dreams.
Before I get on with the portraits Mr. CB and I took after our First Look, I thought I’d fill you in on my bouquet, my bridesmaids’ bouquets, and the guys’ boutonnieres. After the post on the guys getting ready, I had some requests for close-ups of the bouts and since my bouquet debuts during our portraits, I figured now was the best time for…
Miss Spaniel, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 28, Law StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, PsychologistWedding Date: March 2010Venue: Calamigos RanchAbout Me: I'm a third-year law student trying to balance graduating with starting my career, keeping up a relationship, and, oh yeah, planning an Old World, multi-cultural, "mountain lodge" wedding for 180 guests! A South Asian Jewish girl getting ready to marry my handsome Catholic Dane, I'm hoping to blend our cultures in our wedding just a bit more gently than by providing samosas as appetizers and offering æbleskiver for dessert. (Although that would also be awesome.)
When I talk about budgets I like to be specific, so I’m going to share with you our wedding budget.
Mr. Spaniel and I have a budget of around $30,000, most of which is generally being paid for by our parents. I would have loved for us to be able to pay for our own wedding, but—alas!—I am a starving student and he is a starving recent graduate.
Mrs. Peep Toe, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, Policy AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 36, Olive Oil Production ManagerEngagement Date: December 16, 2007Wedding Date: May, 2009Blogging Since: November 26, 2008Venue: Hotel VitaleAbout Me: I am a west coast lady who loves the San Francisco Bay Area. I love living with Mr. Peep and our animals: Huck the Dog and Ferris the Cat. I work to save the environment in San Francisco, while Mr. Peep makes ridiculously delicious Olive Oil. On any day you can find me reading the latest book I have gotten my hands on, eating Swedish Fish, and perusing wedding blogs! We are both champagne drinking foodies on a Bud Light budget. We are planning an eco-chic, intimate, and interfaith San Francisco City wedding.
I was never planning on doing this post. It seemed less evasive to show you a picture of Mr. Peep in bed the day after our wedding than showing you the nitty-gritty details of our budget.
BUT a few weeks ago, Mama Peep commented that every penny spent on our wedding seemed well spent. So maybe this post is an ode to our good work—the hours…
Mrs. Sprinkle, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 26, Preschool Teacher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Television Production/WriterEngagement Date: December 24, 2008Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: The Marvimon HouseAbout Me: I'm a Bay Area native trying to create a life for myself (and my fiance, and our three cats!) in the vast city of Los Angeles. I love vegan red velvet cupcakes, pilates ,and mid-century furniture. Mr. Sprinkle and I met when my band toured through his city (we bonded over cake and a mutual love of Morrissey) and we are getting married on the four year anniversary of our first date. When I am not teaching preschool (or blogging!) you can find me perfecting recipes, petting kittens, hiking in Griffith Park, and overusing exclamation points. We are planning a vegan, green-as-possible, DIY wedding, and I couldn't be more excited to share all of the details!
A tragic thing happened four months before the wedding. So tragic, it hurts me to even think about it.
Our computer died. The little Mac laptop that could. It was four years old and working fine until one day, during a crazy Los Angeles heat wave, the motherboard sizzled. We were not fortunate enough (or smart enough!) to backup any of our work.
Mrs. Mary Jane, Grand Forks, NDAge and Occupation: 26, Instructional DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Lead ProgrammerEngagement Date: February 28, 2009Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: City HallAbout Me: I'm a career woman on the surface and a homemaker at heart. I love fast cars and high heels, and my favorite food is cake. Mr. Mary Jane and I are both full-time employees and students, and we just bought our first house. We love to curl up on the couch with buttery popcorn, Sour Patch Kids, and the latest Netflix arrival -- whenever we can get a break from everyday life.
Our wedding took place on September 9, 2009 in Hillsboro, North Dakota at the Traill County Courthouse. There were seven guests: our four parents, two siblings, and one mutual friend. Our original budget, set back in March almost on a whim, was $1000.
This post will break down the costs of each element of the wedding. Then I’ll tell you how close we came to our…
Miss French Fries, MilwaukeeAge and Occupation: 27, ParalegalFiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Investments AdvisorEngagement Date: September 20, 2008Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Ceremony: Catholic Church, Reception: Hotel BallroomAbout Me: I'm a Midwestern girl who longs to live in a warmer climate (my feet would be happy in flip flops any day!). I love travel, impromptu napping, grilled cheese sandwiches, my iPhone, singing with reckless abandon in my car, and Mr. French Fries.
The other day, I was getting my teeth cleaned. (That really has almost nothing to do with the story, except that the hygienist who cleans my teeth is always super chatty, and usually asks me questions while that sharp pointy hook thing is in my mouth, painfully scraping away at my gumline. This makes it pretty hard to answer, as you might imagine.) The point…
Miss Parfait, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Senior Online ConsultantEngagement Date: February 14, 2009Wedding Date: April 2010Venue: Signature EventsAbout Me: I have a soft spot for all things sweet and romantic. Desserts, love songs, sappy movies? Yes, yes, and ohh yes. My fiance and I enjoy singing to our dogs, creating crazy ice cream sundaes, and generally being lovey dovey cuddle bunnies. We also do socially acceptable things like dancing, throwing Frisbees, playing high stakes board games, and taking unreasonably fun road-trips. We're planning a Korean/Serbian wedding with plenty of playful, personal touches!
Mrs. Swan, New York CityAge and Occupation: 31, Legislative RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Finance GuyEngagement Date: August 9, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: Battery GardensAbout Me: I am an un-crafty but resourceful, Caribbean-born but New York-raised woman who's been known to analyze "Dancing with the Stars" and “So You Think You Can Dance”, buy stinky cheese, and use way too many parentheses. I keep lists for fun, am constantly daydreaming of my next international travel adventure (four continents down, three to go), debating sports (let’s Got Mets/Giants!) and dancing around my apartment to stay sane. I am excited to share our wedding planning journey as I hope to plan a streamlined, personal, and fun wedding with the greatest life partner I could ever imagine, Mr. Swan.
Miss Parfait, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Senior Online ConsultantEngagement Date: February 14, 2009Wedding Date: April 2010Venue: Signature EventsAbout Me: I have a soft spot for all things sweet and romantic. Desserts, love songs, sappy movies? Yes, yes, and ohh yes. My fiance and I enjoy singing to our dogs, creating crazy ice cream sundaes, and generally being lovey dovey cuddle bunnies. We also do socially acceptable things like dancing, throwing Frisbees, playing high stakes board games, and taking unreasonably fun road-trips. We're planning a Korean/Serbian wedding with plenty of playful, personal touches!
One sunny Saturday, I was having an all-out brawl with our budget. Meanwhile, Adam was having a Super Soakers war with his little cousins. I think that means we were pretty much in sync that day.
That morning, I created a budget worksheet to keep track of our wedding expenses. I made four columns: Item, Percentage of Budget, Expected…
Mrs. Joey, SeattleAge and Occupation: 28, Project Administrator for Public Health NGOFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, High School History TeacherEngagement Date: June 24, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: Eastside Catholic Chapel and Lake Union CafeAbout Me: I'm a Seattle girl through and through except for the fact that I don't drink coffee. I love my job most of the time because I get to travel and work with brilliant people who are trying to prevent Malaria. I love DIY projects of all sorts, cooking, and watching sports. I'd wear anything at Anthropologie and could spend all day on Etsy. I love to travel but shouldn't because I always get myself into unbelievable situations!
Thanks to everyone who voted on how I should tackle the daunting task of recaps. It looks like I’ll be starting with the budget, then what I’d do differently, followed by the week before, and the recaps.
Right. Now to the task at hand: the budget breakdown.
Mrs. Penguin, Northern CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in ChiefFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical TherapyEngagement Date: January 29, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 14, 2007Venue: Winery in the Gold CountryAbout Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
I am blessed on the wedding front. I was among the first of my friends to get engaged, and dutifully, my family, best friends, and bridesmaids went all-out and provided me with the full “bridal” experience that I was hoping for, but wasn’t necessarily expecting. I really got the “bridal works”. In turn, as my close friends travel their own roads to the altar, I’m…
Mrs. Sprinkle, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 26, Preschool Teacher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Television Production/WriterEngagement Date: December 24, 2008Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: The Marvimon HouseAbout Me: I'm a Bay Area native trying to create a life for myself (and my fiance, and our three cats!) in the vast city of Los Angeles. I love vegan red velvet cupcakes, pilates ,and mid-century furniture. Mr. Sprinkle and I met when my band toured through his city (we bonded over cake and a mutual love of Morrissey) and we are getting married on the four year anniversary of our first date. When I am not teaching preschool (or blogging!) you can find me perfecting recipes, petting kittens, hiking in Griffith Park, and overusing exclamation points. We are planning a vegan, green-as-possible, DIY wedding, and I couldn't be more excited to share all of the details!
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