So today was my payday! Yay! Being that we have decided to start saving money in September, I started a little pre-wedding research and made a few small purchases today.
I began by sitting down and making a list of items we'll need to buy, just off the top of my head. I envisioned what I want the decorations in the church to look like, what the reception tables will look like, cake, etc. As I envisioned each detail, I listed what we would need to complete this look. My fiancee and I have decided on an Alice in Wonderland theme, and our colors will be red and silver. I jotted down items such as playing cards, tea cups, small cookies with the words "eat me" on them, etc. I also listed the small items that are necessities: floral wrap for the bouquets, tape and thumbtacks for the decorations, and so on. I have a master plan of purchasing items throughout the year as I come across something that we will need. I have a large weather proof storage box that I will store everything in until the time comes to use them.
One site that I came across which has incredible deals is Oriental Trading (www.orientaltrading.com). They have a section dedicated specifically to wedding decorations. One great buy is a satin "wedding set" (guest book, garter, flower girl basket, wedding ring pillow). The set is white with a colored accent (red, brown, silver), so you can match it to your specific wedding colors. The set runs for about $70 and will take care of some of the simple wedding necessities in one shot. If you're having a fall wedding, or if a rich, chocolate-y brown is one of your colors, Oriental Trading has a beautiful set, including personalized champagne flutes and a cake serving set for $90. The cake server is personalized as well. Not bad, right?
While browsing around on Oriental Trading, I found a really cool "save the date" product. The website offers wedding cake shaped magnets which you fill in with your wedding information. The magnets run for $5/dozen and include mailing envelopes. I ordered 2 dozen today to send to out-of-state relatives. Super cute and super cheap!
I feel like I've accomplished a few things today, and have officially begun purchasing items for our wedding. Total spent today: $90. I will post more as I come across other great deals. Have you found anything that's a great steal for a wedding? Post it in the comments section below!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Welcome to my Crazy World
373 days until my big day! Wow, how time is flying! My fiancee and I became engaged in May 2010. Being that both of us are procrastinators, we did not begin saving money for the wedding like most responsible couples would. Ha! Who needs 2 years to plan a wedding anyway, right? Right?! Well, we're down to one year and we are now officially in panic mode. Our original plan of running offto Vegas and eloping blew up in our faces when we really started thinking about how this is a once-in-a lifetime event. It's something we'd really like to share with friends and family. I mean, you only have one first wedding!
Let me explain our situation a bit more. We do not live together, and we will not be moving in together until about a month before the wedding. I am employed full time and my fiance is on disability (he is 28 and has COPD, so he's on oxygen 24/7). My dad passed away from cancer 3 years ago and I live with my mom. I help pay her bills, since she is disabled as well. "Beast", my fiancee, lives with his parents. His dad is retired and his mom is a full time nurse. Our families will not be contributing to our wedding in any way, shape, or form. In my mom's case, she is not able to financially. In Beast's case, his parent's refuse to help since they did not help pay for any of their other 3 children's wedding. So we're on our own on a very fixed income, and we refuse to take out a loan to pay for our wedding. There's no reason to start our marriage off in debt for a simple ceremony.
We do have a savings goal set up. Yay for us! As of September, my car will officially be paid off! That will save me an extra $300 a month. I figure that I can put that extra $300 in savings and have $3,300 saved by July 2010. On top of that, Beast can contribute another $100 per month towards our wedding fund. That will bring the total to $4,400. I also have a goal of taking an extra $200 from the second paycheck each month to add to that fund. That's another $2,200. If we can pinch pennies and scrape all this money together, we can have a wedding fund of $6,600. The other thing to take into consideration is that we also need to buy items for our soon-to-be house (we will rent for a while). Being that we both live with our families, we will need to buy everything to furnish a new residence. Whew! This will be a big task in a short amount of time! Stay tuned as we continue on this adventure!
Let me explain our situation a bit more. We do not live together, and we will not be moving in together until about a month before the wedding. I am employed full time and my fiance is on disability (he is 28 and has COPD, so he's on oxygen 24/7). My dad passed away from cancer 3 years ago and I live with my mom. I help pay her bills, since she is disabled as well. "Beast", my fiancee, lives with his parents. His dad is retired and his mom is a full time nurse. Our families will not be contributing to our wedding in any way, shape, or form. In my mom's case, she is not able to financially. In Beast's case, his parent's refuse to help since they did not help pay for any of their other 3 children's wedding. So we're on our own on a very fixed income, and we refuse to take out a loan to pay for our wedding. There's no reason to start our marriage off in debt for a simple ceremony.
We do have a savings goal set up. Yay for us! As of September, my car will officially be paid off! That will save me an extra $300 a month. I figure that I can put that extra $300 in savings and have $3,300 saved by July 2010. On top of that, Beast can contribute another $100 per month towards our wedding fund. That will bring the total to $4,400. I also have a goal of taking an extra $200 from the second paycheck each month to add to that fund. That's another $2,200. If we can pinch pennies and scrape all this money together, we can have a wedding fund of $6,600. The other thing to take into consideration is that we also need to buy items for our soon-to-be house (we will rent for a while). Being that we both live with our families, we will need to buy everything to furnish a new residence. Whew! This will be a big task in a short amount of time! Stay tuned as we continue on this adventure!
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