How to create a blog on Wordpress - step by step guide for beginners

If you are wanting to start a blog, you need to check this out!!

 

A few budgeting resources to check out

Here is a great step-by-step guide showing you how to make a budget. And if that wasn't good enough there a bunch of budgeting spreadsheets that you can download as well -including a wedding budget spreadsheet!

Got any other budgeting resources that you want to share?  Share them in the comments below!

CSN Product Review

So I figured out the perfect hostess must-have that you really will use when you have people over.  It's something that I completely overlooked when compiling my own wedding registry and have resorted to things like big mixing bowls and pots to compensate... A nice pitcher.  If you make any kind of cocktail, mixed drink or juice for more than 3 people, you really do need something to serve it out of.

And I realized this just in time.  I was having a pirate- themed birthday party for my son and invited a bunch of my own friends.  Since the party was in the middle of the day, I figured people wouldn't really drink wine, so I made a "pirate punch" and served it out of the pitcher.

 

It is a beautiful Pfaltzgraff 2.5 quart pitcher that holds a lot more than it looks.  The design is beautiful and the quality of the pitcher is also top notch- especially for $27.95 (list price $43.00).  And I also have to give them props for getting it to me within 2 days from ordering it.  A lot of their stuff has free shipping, too, but this wasn't one of them.

However, there was one little snafoo.  Although the pitcher was wrapped in bubble wrap and seemed to be handled well, there was a little chip around the mouth of the pitcher.  I thought about returning it and having them send me a new one, but I wanted to use it for the party and decided that it wasn't all that noticeable. 

So, I'd say my experience with CSN stores was average.  I love the pitcher, love the price, but don't love the chip :(  I would definitely give them another chance, though.  I'm sure it was just a one time glitch.  Check out their site to see the variety of household items they offer (at great prices)...

www.csnstores.com

Product Review Coming Soon

Well, this is very exciting stuff. CSN has offered me the opportunity to review one of their many products- they have over 200 online stores where you can find ANYTHING you need; whether it be a chic handbag, bathroom shelving or even cute cookware! It will be a tough decision :)

Looking back, I now realize how much you can get wrapped up in the whole wedding registry craze- often picking up a lot of cute junk that you will never use, and forgetting the bare essentials.  I need A LOT of housewares right now, so I'm going to think long and hard about some of the items that would have come in handy for a newly married couple.

For instance, a DIY sushi set with spinning plates, bamboo serving stands, and 8 soy sauce holders may seem like a good idea before you get married... but after, you'll be pulling your hair out trying to find space at the back of your cabinets to store this once a year use novelty.  Let's get serious- what do we really need?  I'm on it ;)

Stay tuned!

Discount Wedding Favor of the Month

Favors are always so tricky.  Most people don't even bother to take them, but you still want to offer some token of gratitude for sharing your special day.  You don't want to spend too much money or make too much of a fuss about them, but you want people to remember (and actually want) to bring it home with them.  What's a bride to do?

I think these personalized wine glasses are a great and affordable token.  You can get 150-250 of them for $1.27 a piece.  How great is that?!  The personalization will remind your guests of the great day, and the wine glass is a very functional and practical gift.  They also have optional colored stems. Hope you like it...

http://www.discountmugs.com/nc/personalized-glassware/1265/65oz-arc-grand-noblesse-wine-glass.htm

Affordable Dress of the Month

I found this wedding gown on sale for $250 from David's Bridal (where I find all of my affordable dresses)... and I was so pleasantly surprised to finally find a pretty dress that wasn't strapless.

I remember searching for my gown and desperately trying to find something different from the typical strapless dress.  Unfortunately, it seems that most designers these days think that any kind of strap or sleeve is completely out of the question.  Anything that I found was unflattering and totally old school/ boring.

This one is a nice fresh take on the cap sleeve.  Subtle, but something unique and classy.  I hope you like it!  (Sorry so small, I had trouble enlarging it without making it blurry).  Visit the webpage to see full details...

http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Satin-Gown-with-Beaded-Chiffon-Bodice-WG9940_Sale-Sale-Bridal-Gowns

San Diego Budget Wedding - It Happened!

I recently helped my stepsister with planning her August wedding in San Diego.  You might be asking yourself how "San Diego wedding" and "budget" could possibly show up in the same sentence.  But they do, and it was a beautiful day!

Here were her basic tricks...

Location:  her ceremony took place FOR FREE on the beautiful cliffs of La Jolla.  They simply sent someone to stake out their spot early that afternoon and set up the chairs.  It's a public strip of land.  There were people picnicking about 100 feet away.  Anyone can use that space!

Guest List: 30 people.  Simple as that :)

Reception: House party with catering of various delicious hors d'oeuvres- no sit down dinner.  We hung out on the upstairs deck and lower patio/ yard and mingled.  It was great!

Built in Honeymoon:  Who doesn't love San Diego?!

I offered to do a video of the ceremony and tidbits of the reception with my flip cam, since she wasn't planning on hiring a videographer.  I wasn't expecting it to be great or anything, seeing as I'm not a professional.  But I really thought I could capture all of the important moments and put something nice together for her.

I was seriously dissapointed- I have used the flip for over a year now, and it has never steered me wrong. Crystal clear quality, so easy to work.  But I guess I never used the zoom feature before.  Well, at the most important time I needed it (for a wedding), it made everything blurry whenever I zoomed in.  I don't know if it's something I did, or if that's just what I should expect from a $200 mini video cam.

Anyway, if the blurriness had not been an issue, I would have been pretty happy with this video.  And I only used Windows Movie Maker, which is automatically installed in most computers these days.  The point is, if I can do it, anyone can do it.  Give it a stab some time :)

Signature Drink of the Month

The Cranberry Kiss

This is a great alternative to the common cranberry vodka.  It's has a little bit of an "island" feel with that spiced rum, and has that little extra zip with the collins mix/ sprite (as opposed to just cranberry and alcohol).  It would be a good for a summer/ beach wedding.  I try to pick signature drinks that don't have too many ingredients to keep it less expensive.  Enjoy!

• 3/4 ounce(s) Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
• 2 ounce(s) collins mix, or sprite (for less sweet version)
• 2 ounce(s) cranberry juice
• 1 wedge(s) lemon

Recipe & Photo Credit: http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/cranberry-kiss-drink-recipes 

Fly me to the Moon

Here's a great last minute deal for an affordable honeymoon...

Sept 4-7, 2010
San Juan, Puerto Rico
$106 per night- 4th night is free!
4 star resort
free parking, fitness center, and gorgeous pool

See full description and details

I know this would be an extremely last minute trip, but it's good to know that you can generally find really great deals if you wait until the very last minute.  If you and your soon-to-be spouse are the adventurous type, wait it out and see what pops up the week you planned to go :)

Affordable Dress of the Month

This month, I decided to scope out a cute bridesmaid dress since they can be really tough to come by.  This one has a really nice ruching that comes together with a pretty flower on the side waist.  It's $125 from David's Bridal, and there are about 12 different colors.  I think the ruching also helps to create a slimming shape and compliments a variety of body types.  I hope you like it!

Find this dress

A San Diego Wedding

Thanks for stopping by.  I'm going to San Diego to help my step sister pull off an intimate ceremony at the cliffs of La Jolla followed by an informal reception party for friends and family at her house.  I helped her plan her wedding in just 2 months, so if we can do it, so can you!  I'll be back with tons of pictures, stories, and video to share.

In the meantime, here's a great article from The Knot:
Wedding Budget: 30 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding

I'll be back on the blog next Wednesday.  See you then :)

Budget Friendly Favors

I'm always looking for affordable favors that are cute and practical, without looking cheap and/or cheesy.  I will try to post my best find on favors once each month.

This month, I found something that I thought was really original and that people would actually use- bamboo coasters.  They are only $1.50 per pack of 4, and $1.85 if you want to personalize the packaging.

http://www.americanbridal.com/bamboo-coaster-favors-dska22014na.html

Tip of the Week

Reduce Stress whenever you can...  Weigh the pros and cons of saving money in certain scenarios.  Sometimes, you can save a lot of money and have a lot of fun doing something yourself.  Other times, it isn't worth the stress, so you'll want to consider all options.

For example, you can find very reasonable invitations online that will be printed with everything you want (and you can order a sample first to make sure it's what you're looking for).  If you need 100 invitations, you can easily find options online for $2 or less per invitation-- printed and ready to go.

You might think, why don't I just get some blank invites from a craft store and print them myself for $1 per invitation?  Yes, you are saving $100, but if you aren't the most computer savvy person, you could end up pulling your hair out, or worse- ruin the invitations because they print out with the writing half off the page.

Say your wedding budget is $12,000.  In the scheme of things, $100 is not that much.

On the other hand, if you can save $10 per plate by picking a different style meal or different time of day, that might be something worth considering- it doesn't involve stressing you out; it's just a change of theme.  That's a savings of $1,000.

Just consider your priorities and time commitment and make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew :)

Have a great weekend!

Photo Credit: messed up wedding invitation

Wedding Inspiration

Use this inspiration board to make a budget wise version for your wedding...

This dress is from Target!

SUMMER GIVEAWAY WINNER

Thanks to everyone for participating in the CSN stores summer giveaway.  The winner of the $40 gift certificate for any of their 200 online stores is Stephanie, who posted a comment on July 15. 

Stephanie, I will send you an email with the information to redeem your gift certificate. 

We hope to be able to provide another givewawy soon!  In the meantime, check out our "Giveaway Scout" sidebar, that lists all the latest giveaways from other websites that you can participate in.

Weekend Wind Down

This weekend, treat yourself to a spa day with your girlfriends.  You don't have the money to spend a couple hundred dollars on massages and mani/pedis?  You don't need to.  Just invite some friends over and relax.  Sit outside and drink some fresh squeezed lemonade or iced tea, put cucumber slices over your eyes, paint each other's nails, and maybe even swap back massages.

When you're planning a wedding, you need to remember to treat yourself and relax every once in a while!  You might even squeeze a good chick flick in there- or some trash TV ;)

Have a great weekend, and don't forget- this is your last chance to enter the SUMMER GIVEAWAY! 

I recently added my blog to a website called Giveaway Scout, where they keep us updated with cool giveaways that are going on right now.  I've added their widget to my sidebar, so I hope you are able to win more great gifts after this one!

Photo Credit: http://tinyurl.com/27lsdx3

Q & A: Unnecessary Details

Q: What are some easy things to cut back on or remove all together, that my guests won't notice? 

A: There are definitely a lot of extras these days that aren't going to make or break your wedding.  I think the following list would be a good place to start cutting out the details that aren't really necessary...

• Definitely don't need:
• bubbles/rice
• programs 
• menu cards
• aisle runner
• pew/chair decorations and/or sashes

• Might consider doing away with:
• favors (most guests forget to take them)
• table numbers and name cards (let everyone seat themselves freely)
• boutonnieres and corsages outside of the immediate wedding party (we didn't do boutonnieres or corsages at all for our wedding and it looked fine)
• limo (borrow a friend/parent's nice car and decorate with "just married" decorations)

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER OUR SUMMER GIVEAWAY!!

Signature Drink of the Month

ABSOLUT PEARTINI is a wonderful fruity yet subtle signature drink.  It's great for a wedding because it's fun, unique and classy all at the same time.  There aren't too many ingredients, which will keep it more affordable.  You can nix one of the garnishes or opt for both, if you have it in the budget.

ABSOLUT PEARTINI

3 parts ABSOLUT PEARS
2 parts white cranberry juice
1 1/2 parts fresh squeezed lime juice

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a well chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a pear slice and a few blueberries as shown.

Recipe found on www.weddingshoneymoons.com/signature_wedding_drinks

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER OUR SUMMER GIVEAWAY!!

Q & A: The "B" List

Q:  We can only afford to have 100 people at our wedding. We have a really big "B" list and we're hoping we can invite some of them, but we really can't do anything until we get some "no" responses. How do we tactfully rush the people on the "A" list to respond and then invite the "B" listers without being obvious that they weren't first choice?

A:  A lot of people are in this same situation, so you don't need to feel tacky. Just make sure you don't let anyone know that they're on the "B" list. Here are a few ideas:

• Send out your "A" list invitations early (8-10 weeks in advance), hoping that you'll get some early responses. 
• Put out the feelers.  Moms and girlfriends are really good at this.  Get them on the phone with the family/ friends and start talking about the wedding.  People will most likely share their plans, if they'll be able to make it or not, if they have heard anything from anyone else, etc.
• Give people an option to rsvp on your wedding website.  This is generally easier, faster, and more motivating than snail mail.

Don't forget to enter our SUMMER GIVEAWAY!

Budget Wedding Flower Fix

This month's budget wedding flower fix is a really fun, summery one- and very unique, too.  Pineapple with alstroemelia lilies wedged in the top in a low bowl filled with water, floating flowers, and sea glass.  $20



Don't forget to enter our SUMMER GIVEAWAY!