Links I’m Loving
I’m not a flower person either, and we won’t have any flower decorations or centerpieces. However, I may decide to get an actual flower bouquet. Or not. I do LOVE this centerpiece idea though!
Love the potential royal wedding shoes. Ummm, do those first ones come in blue? I guess I should check the prices first …
My fiancé is a huge fan of legos, and he even built the Lego Millennium Falcon not that long ago. So any way of integrating legos into the wedding would be awesome!
Wow, this jewelry rocks! (Literally?) For the wedding day, I wouldn’t want anything to detract attention from the engagement ring and wedding band, but I’d love to find something similar in necklace-form
I think people traditionally say that you start out wanting a small wedding and not a big production, but I think I’m the opposite. I started out wanting all sorts of stuff. Calligraphy for our invitation envelopes, a custom monogram, awesome Etsy decor, and the list goes on and on. Now that I’m a few months in, I don’t want any of that stuff. The simpler the better. I’m also going to try and limit the amount of DIY projects I do. Because, like the author of this post, I’d fail (but at many, many more things).
I think I may totally steal the “travel destinations” seating chart from this bride! My fiancé and I have traveled all over, and I think it is a great way to incorporate past experiences into our wedding!
I really like all these tent-decorating ideas. We won’t have a tent, but we will have a picnic pavilion, and I think that similar decorations can be used.
In addition to tent decorating ideas, we can incorporate some of these backyard-wedding ideas too, since our wedding, while not taking place in our backyard, will take place in a park with an awesome backyard feel.
I don’t want a bouquet toss or garter toss at our wedding either. They are two traditions I am not fond of. At all. I think Miss Prairie Dog described it perfectly. Cringe Worthy.
Okay, these are officially the last links in my weekly roundups that I will ever include about inviting kids to weddings. It is all over the wedding blogosphere! I, for one, will not understand people that do not invite kids to weddings, but it is a very controversial issue!
These sustainable wedding trends for 2011 are not only “greener,” they sure make things a lot simpler too! No printing menus for each of your guests. Just write the menu on a chalkboard! And while avoiding “conflict diamonds” was not my primary reason for wanting a sapphire engagement ring, I do not approve of diamond companies’ business practices that include artificially inflating the prices to make diamonds appear more valuable than they actually are.
I’m thinking we don’t need a program for our wedding (again, I’m all about eliminating things for the wedding!) But, if we did, I love this creative option like the one seen here
This bride wore NINE wedding dresses? I can probably think of a lot of words to describe why someone would do that. None of them are particularly nice, so, judge for yourself
I realize that bloggers have to make a living, and that sponsored posts are typically part of that, but I really don’t understand the purpose of honeymoon registry services and universal registry services. They take nearly 10% of your guests’ generous gift money as a service fee. As a wedding guest, I would be highly offended if a couple asked for this as a gift. I for one would rather see them get ALL the money, not have it go to some company. In fact, I’d be less offended if they just outright asked for cash! These sites are the worst idea since credit card interest.
I’m confident that our budget will actually be MUCH LESS than original $15,000 budget. So, no need for a budget buffer. Least of all a $20,000 buffer!
Shit I’m not going to worry about for my wedding
There are some things that I come across in the wedding blogosphere that just make me go “hmmm, no wonder why brides stress themselves out so much over their wedding.” In other words, things that seem to take too much time compared to the benefit. (disclaimer: because commenters have expressed … displeasure … with my use of the term “shit,” I just want to clarify that I do not think that the projects or ideas themselves are “Shit.” In fact, they look awesome and you can tell that a LOT of time and hard work were put into them. This is just my effort to poke a little fun at some things that I find over-the-top and what I think could be the source of a lot of wedding stress.)
- This week was an amazingly “shit less” week. Nothing I found too over the top. Although the post about the $20,000 budget buffer link ALMOST made it here. Almost.
Wedding Fitness Goal Progress
I lost 2.0 pounds this week, for a total of 9.4 pounds since January 5. I really stalled on the workouts this week. I haven’t done a workout DVD since Saturday *look of horror*
February Wedding Planning Goal Progress
There’s not too much on the wedding action plan for February. It is a short month after all. But, no progress made yet on any of the following goals:
- Research hair and makeup artists – In progress. I contacted two. This is a really tough one. It’s hard to tell their quality from their website, and I really don’t want to pay more than $250 for hair and makeup. Some places charge like $500 for hair and makeup! This one will take more research.
- Interview videographers – Deferred. I contacted six videographers last week. I don’t think we’re going to have one. But, in case we change our minds, I have pricing information from a bunch.
- Research marriage license requirements – In progress. Applying for a Virginia marriage license has to be done within 60 days of the wedding, so October 1 might look like a good timeframe. Now I just have to figure out where the nearest circuit court is.
In addition, we also met a neighbor who owns a concierge business here in Northern Virginia. She plans weddings too! Since we were planning on hiring a “month of” coordinator to help us out with last minute stuff and to take care of things on the wedding day. She’s in need of a new website, so we worked out a partial barter deal. Score! She’ll provide me the names of some more hair/makeup folks.
Finances and Administrative
- Wedding Related Expenses This Week: $0.00
- Total Wedding Related Expenses (all time): $106.50 on magazine subscriptions and planning books
- Total Budgeted Difference (we have a $15,000 budget): $14893.50
- Estimated Hours Spent on Wedding Planning (not including blogging) This Week: 2 hours (mostly our meeting with the planner)
