Wedding Planning for Beginners
How on earth do you plan a wedding? This is not something that you do every day. I went to the bookstore to find some help. Funny enough, there are tons of books written on this subject. It even has its own section in the bookstore. So, I dutifully looked through all of the wedding planning books and binders that were there. They came in all shapes, sizes and prices. I chose one that was a three ring binder style, figuring that I could add to it if I wanted to. It also had pockets on each divider tab so that I could tuck papers into and a business card holder in the front. It had budgeting spreadsheets and questions to ask each person you would be interviewing for your wedding. Sounded like all I would need. On my way out of the wedding section, I ran into a table display dedicated to wedding books. This was the first hint that weddings were BIG business. Fortunately for me, on this table, I found the book that has become my wedding planning bible. It was called Bridal Bargains.
This cover stated “Secrets to throwing a fantastic wedding on a realistic budget. The Book the Wedding Industry Does NOT Want You to Read!” Woo-hoo! That sounded right up my alley! Plus, the authors offered a money back guarantee. If you didn’t save at least $500 by using the techniques in their book, then they would refund the cost of the book to you. It sounded like a no lose proposition. I have saved far more than that using this book, let me tell you.
THINGS I LEARNED: There is no need to buy a pre-made wedding binder. You can make one yourself with stuff from an office supply store. You definitely need pockets to hold pictures that you rip out of magazines and a place to store business cards. Everything else, is optional. I have many friends who bought a special wedding book from a store who only filled out a few pages of it.
Okay, I am Engaged, Now What?
Day One: I woke up after the “big engagement night” and put on the ring. Called Mom. Called Sister. Called Best Friend. Not necessarily in that order, but for not wanting to irritate anyone unnecessarily, I will leave it at that. I walked into work and faced the question that had been the standard question every morning for a few months… “Has he proposed yet?” I smiled because I knew this would be the last time I heard that question. I flashed my new ring. There were squeals of delight from my friends at work, demands to know the whole story (a story that I told over and over for the next few weeks) and the dreaded next question… “Have you set a date?” The ring had been on my finger for less than 24 hours and already the stress of planning the wedding had started.
Beginnings of a wedding blog
“You need to start a wedding blog.”
This came out of my fiancé’s mouth last week.
I need to what?! There are 4 weeks left until “the big day” and I still need to meet with the event co-coordinator at the reception site, meet with the minister to discuss the outline of the ceremony, make the wedding favors, meet with the florist, find and order the wedding rings, arrange the seating, pick the music for the ceremony, not to mention answer innumerable questions about minute details that I had no idea even existed. I am not sure where on earth this man thought I could find time to cram anything into my already packed schedule that was not VITAL to the major event that was in our not too distant future. I told him he was nuts.
Imagine his surprise when I told him that I thought he was right… I should write a wedding blog. I am not sure if he was more surprised that I was taking on a blog or that I admitted he was right. Either way, he kindly got me started on my first sojourn into cyberwriting and here we are.
I decided to write this blog because ever since the ring hit my finger, my life has been consumed with wedding planning: bridal magazines, bridal fairs (which led to tons of bridal spam - more on that later), bridal books, wedding websites, wedding TV shows and totally non-wedding related: more than a few not so subtle hints from my mother that she is ready for another grandchild and she is requesting a girl. Whoa Mom, let’s get the wedding over with first, okay?
My parents generously offered to for the wedding, up to a certain amount. I told them that there was NO way I was going to spend up to their budget. NO WAY. After all, I was an accountant. If I could do anything well, it was manage expenses and cash flow to meet a budget. This would be a piece of cake! Then, I started pricing things. GASP! It soon became apparent that what I thought a wedding should cost and what a wedding would actually cost were two radically different things. I was HORRIFIED at the prices. I soon figured out that it was going to take all of my budgeting and cost cutting skills to keep this wedding under control . And thus the quest to have a wedding that I could feel good about (read: not feel ripped-off) began.
My goal is to share with you what I have done and learned thus far, and hopefully keep you updated on my trials and tribunes up to “W” day – which as of today, is officially 4 weeks and 1 day away.
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