2 months ago, my wonderful boyfriend of 3 months (I know fast right - it makes sense later), proposed to me. It was amazing and wonderful, but that euphoria was short-lived. Within days, panic set in and all hope seemed lost. See, we wanted to have a beautiful summer wedding. Seems doable, right? Why, I would have a whole year to plan my wedding and hand make everything, etc, right? Wrong. See neither one of us is what you would call, how should I say this... "patient." (example: see above) So waiting a whole year seemed ridiculous at the time. Besides, we had already picked out our cruise for our honeymoon and it was leaving July 22nd, so we had to get married before then. Still not too bad? Plan a wedding in 5 months? I can do that, right? Well then we started to create our guest list which quickly reached into the 250-300 range; in addition, my bridesmaids and my mother and my family in general are spread out all over the country, which made giving me any help planning/doing things next to impossible. Finally, my budget was next to nothing; my parents are poor, his parents are poor, Justin is a full time student with a part-time job (annual income 10K) and I work for AmeriCorps, which means I get paid less than minimum wage ($4.9 per hour to be precise). Throw in 4 large scale events I was coordinating and 3 summer camps to create and teach and the panic reached cardiac arrest levels quickly.
But luckily, I am marrying a smart, calm, and comforting man; he rubbed my back as I pulled my hair out over wedding planning books, he looked at venues with me, he gave me opinions on fabric (even though he knows nothing about them), and in general, saved my sanity. We also had a few EXTREMELY lucky breaks with our budget, including both of our parents giving us more than I am sure they can afford. So now we don't have a huge budget, but at least enough of one to pull this wedding off.
However, in order to put on a wedding for 250-300 people, with less than $4000, I decided to take on a
few DIY projects with the help of the few bridesmaids that actually live in the area (unfortunately, my mom, my sister, and brothers don't). And by
a few, I mean
some. And by
some I mean ALOT! See, after some research on this wonderful invention called the Internet, I found out that I wasn't alone!!!! So many brides, now and before me, have gone through the same thing and have posted their wisdom here. And I found SOOOOO many AMAZING projects. As a generally crafty person already, the prospect of saving money and making unique things for my wedding, left my creative juices in overdrive. I soon had a list of projects that if I was lucky would take me all the way until the Rapture to finish. However, common sense in the form of my fiance finally prevailed and I trimmed back. I was left with the following:
- Dress Alterations
- Sewing Bridesmaid Dresses
- Making Bridesmaid Jewelry
- Growing my own Flowers and Arranging them
- Baking and Decorating Cakes (yes that is right there is a plural there)
- Making Decorations
- Building our 50x50 tent
- Making Save the Dates and Invitations
- Catering the Reception
Now, this may seem a little crazy (hence the name of this blog) but I want the magical wedding of my dreams and I have always been tenacious and determined in pursuing my dreams. And to risk sounding a little nausea-inducing, I want to inspire and equip future brides out there to do the same. No matter the budget, no matter the time frame, you can have the wedding you want. The question is are you willing to walk that line between crazy and crafty, between sleep and work, between exhaustion and inspiration? I am :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment