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 :)

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

Tip of the Week

Try not to let the wedding planning process and to-do list take over your entire head.  Give yourself realistic deadlines and don't think about the wedding when you've finished for the day.  It can be difficult to enjoy your time with your fiancee and friends if your mind is always somewhere else.

Don't hesitate to give yourself a break and start again on Monday.  You don't want to have bad memories of planning your wedding; it should be a happy time.  Although the timing/planning can be tricky and certainly a bit stressful at times, be sure to make it manageable for you.  If you need extra help, call in the friends and family.

Don't forget to enter our SUMMER GIVEAWAY!

Budget Wedding Demo

I'm going to start a series of example wedding budgets, ranging anywhere from $5-20K.  I'll give a breakdown of what the potential bride could spend on certain aspects of her wedding. Some weddings might have a small guest list, so they can spend more elsewhere... and others might have a lot of people, but focus on several DIY components to stay on budget.  Enjoy!

Budget: $12K

Guest List: 125 people

Wedding Party: 4 bridesmaids, 4 groomsmen

Ceremony: 1pm

Colors/Theme:  "Fiesta on the green"- orange, green, yellow

Wedding Week Checklist

After you've worked so hard to square away all of the details of your wedding for some 8-12 months, it might seem that it's smooth sailing in that final 2 weeks or so. Everything should be locked in at this point, schedules have been created, deposits have been taken care of, etc. However, that last week before the wedding is when all the little tedious and easy-to-forget things pop up. Here is my list from my wedding week (September 2008)...

Tuesday, September 16

Pack for next 4 days & Honeymoon, go down to bay (I had an at-home wedding at my in-laws), PASSPORT!
Make list of who needs to be where at what time
Confirm times with all vendors, what I owe
Confirm #s with rehearsal dinner and caterer
Arrange for transporting of gifts while on honeymoon

Wednesday, September 17

Hair cut 1pm
Shop for Bridesmaids lunch
Go tanning
Finish making wedding favors & place cards
Box up things that need to go to the church vs things that need to go to the reception

Thursday, September 18

Prep/ cook for Bridesmaids lunch
Set up bars
Set out flowers for hair & cake, pick up corsages & boutonnieres (as late as possible to stay fresh- put in fridge immediately)
*I made my own bouquets and centerpieces so I picked up corsages & boutonnieres from a florist and set aside my flowers for cake and hair so I wouldn't forget
Set out all jewelry/ accessories for wedding day

Friday, September 19

Set up for BM lunch 7:30-8:30
Nails 9am
BM lunch 11-2:30
3-4:30 get ready for rehearsal
5-10 rehearsal/dinner
Set out all checks for vendors

Saturday, September 20

Shower, wear button down shirt 8-8:45
Hair appt 9-10
Breakfast 10-11
Dress & makeup 11-12:30
Pictures begin 12:30
Relax and enjoy the day!

January Wedding Centerpiece

Thanks for your patience while I was recovering from an unexpected c-section.  I had a baby boy on November 22, 2009: Niall Patrick McCullough.  He was 7 pounds, 3 ounces and 21 inches long.  After a very long, grueling 6 weeks of recovery, I was finally able to start getting back to my normal life.  It has now been 9 weeks and everything is going great.  Niall is finally down to 1 feeding in the middle of the night, so I'm feeling a little more rested.  I'll be trying to post  something once per week, but please be patient with me these next few months!

This wedding centerpiece tutorial video will give you ideas for budget friendly centerpieces that don't involve flowers.  Very unique and great for winter weddings!




For more budget wedding ideas, visit my website- http://www.budgetwiseweddingmd.com

Battle of the Seasons

Whenever budget comes up in weddings, you're most likely going to consider altering the time of year and time of day.  You'll often get quotes of more than $40 savings per head if you go off-season or early in the day.

But what does this mean for the most important day of your life??  Are you willing to give up the beachside wedding for a wintery wonderland?  This, of course, is something you'll have to think about.  If you are able to embrace a change of theme, you could really make this budget friendly option work in your favor.

The other option, as previously mentioned, is to have a brunch wedding instead of dinner.  Imagine the savings if you combined off-season with early in the day!  If you're not willing to stretch that far, just consider one or the other.

Winter Wonderland:

Ok, this may not sound ideal, but I really think you could take this theme and run with it.  How nice would it be to have a completely unique wedding?  Everyone has been to a summer or fall wedding- dare to be different!

You could make the setting really elegant with shimmering white snowflakes and silver accents.  You could have a signature drink such as spiced wine, hot cocoa with bailey's/ amaretto, or spiked eggnog.

You will also be able to save a lot of money on decorations by going with poinsettas, seasonal berries and pine tree greenery.  Accent tables with wintery candles for that extra touch.


Photo Credit: Weddzilla http://blog.weddzilla.com/2009/09/diy-winter-wedding-centerpieces.html

Brunch:

I'm usually not impressed with the typical wedding reception dinner- a bland chicken, some green beans and a couple of roasted potatoes.  The idea of getting really creative with brunch options is very exciting to me.

For a brunch themed wedding, you can really save a lot of money on food but still keep it interesting.  Think fruit, muffins, sandwich station (lunchmeats, rolls, cheeses), an omelette station, pasta salad, etc.  And a cake would likely be too heavy for an early reception, so you could go with warm cookies and brownies for dessert.  For alcoholic beverages, you don't need to get a lot- just focus on mimosas and/or screwdrivers as your signature drink.

I know that a lot of brides dream of their wedding day from the time they are a little girl, but try to think outside of the box if you're on a tight budget.  Good luck!

What could I do with all that money??

When you're stuck on a tight budget for your wedding, it can be somewhat of a downer. Going with the "glass is half full" state of mind, I thought I might list some motivators for all the good things about keeping your wedding costs from spiraling out of control. Think about what that money you saved could be put toward...

1) Credit Card Debt- whenever I can't pay off my full credit card bill at the end of the month, it looms over me until I finally can... except it usually just gets worse and worse. Once I let myself go $100 over, the next month I seem to be in $200 debt and it spirals out of control. Think about the headache if you had a bunch of wedding charges lingering on that credit card :(

2) Student Loans- you can never start paying those off early enough. The sooner you start pitching in toward that, the sooner you will be able to relax.

3) A Down Payment- what better way to start off your marital bliss than by having a house of your own? My husband and I were able to save up enough money to put a good down payment on a house and our monthly mortgage is actually cheaper than most of our friends' rent.

4) Completing your registry- this is something that is often forgotten by newlyweds. Once the party is over, you may have 20-30 items that you really need for your house/apt that were never purchased as gifts for you. You'd be surprised how expensive it can be to complete that registry- even after you narrow down the needs from the wants.

5) Your sanity! Like I said before, debt can really get inside of your head and make you feel trapped until you're finally able to pay it off. Your wedding is a truly amazing, once in a lifetime event, but you can certainly pull it off without putting that kind of strain on your first few years together as newlyweds. Be creative and enjoy figuring out ways to make it work as an affordable event- you'll be happy you did once the honeymoon is over :)

Wedding Budget Drama

While planning your wedding, you'll most likely find that the most wonderful day of your life is actually the place to find family and friend drama-- center stage! Why? Because it's your special day, of course ;)

From bridesmaids flaking out on their duties to family feuds, you could run into a lot of headaches. I was just reading a blog from a bride who seemed to have every person in her life butting heads. I just kept thinking, this is no way to spend what is supposed to be a fun and exciting process. And then I realized, I bet that some aspects of being on a budget could eliminate most of this drama.

See, with limitless options, your wedding could soon become more of a spectacle than the intensely intimate and special event that it is supposed to be. While some brides might be losing sleep over the type of rose that will be in her centerpiece, someone on a budget needs to be flexible. If you can say to yourself right from the beginning, "I'm going to go to a farmer's market 2 days before my wedding and pick out whatever is in season that I like", you don't have to worry about these futile details.

Flexibility is what will keep you sane in this whole process! When your friends and family offer to help you, graciously accept their offer. If you think that you're the only person you can trust to do it right, then you're going to have some high blood pressure come the week of your wedding. Make the projects fun and social- don't worry so much about everything being perfect. Let the memories of your wedding planning to be the fun you had with friends and family along the way- not the stress of everything that didn't go perfectly.

If you can learn to let go, you'll have a lot more fun both on your wedding day and during the process of getting ready for it :)

For more budget planning tricks and tips, visit http://www.budgetwiseweddingmd.com

Remember, the wedding is just the beginning

When couples are planning a wedding on a budget, the stress can set in pretty quickly. The way you handle the challenges that come up in planning your special day reflect the way you two will handle other problems in the future of your marriage.

You need to remember the importance of communication and compromise in a marriage. The wedding is the easy part- imagine a lifetime of managing financial burdens that will come up. Money is often a huge source of marital conflict and it doesn't have to be that way, if you can talk about it without blowing up. That is the trick- being able to keep it a conversation and not an argument.

I'm especially talking to the ladies here- if you all are struggling to make ends meet right now (which a lot of soon-to-be newlyweds are...), you need to be willing to cut back on some of the traditional wedding extravagances that brides indulge in, and keep your fiance in the loop of what things are going to cost. Don't try to hide things from each other- you will both find out eventually! The point is that you need to put everything out on the table. You don't want to be surprised by either of the other's debt that has been raked up.

Don't let planning the happiest day of your life become so much of a burden that it isn't fun anymore- planning a wedding on a budget can be a really good experience. If you can learn to prioritize and research the options that are available to you, you can definitely make it work. People have planned weddings on less than $5K, so just realize that it is possible.

If you and your future spouse can sit down and discuss not only your budget, but also how you're going to make that work before you start the wedding planning, you'll be setting yourselves up for a great foundation of your marriage. Good luck!

For more information on planning your wedding on a budget, visit http://www.budgetwiseweddingmd.com