How was everyone’s week? I’ve been following developments in Egypt very closely … almost obsessively. As a random bit of trivia, yours truly lived in Cairo, Egypt for nearly a year back in 2003-2004. I studied Arabic full-time as a Rotary Scholar. A part of me is excited for Egypt and the progress that the protests represents. On the other hand, there is a lot that can go wrong on the political front there, so I am also nervous for them. Anyway, that’s my two cents. Now, on to the roundup:
Links I’m Loving
I definitely want to have some sort of sweets or candy table at our wedding, but I’m not sure what to put on it. I really like this dessert bar setup (in the last photo pictured). It looks simple and elegant and DIY!
Although we’re not having flowers at our wedding, I found this post about why flowers are so expensive very enlightening.
I am very, very torn about calligraphy options for our invitations when the time comes. It’s gorgeous, but is it worth it?
Okay, so Kate Middleton quit her job to plan her wedding. This is not a NORMAL wedding, folks!
As an avid number cruncher myself, I like all the breakdowns of costs in this post. I need to find some cost breakdowns of self-catering a wedding for 125 people!
I often wonder if costs break even when you rent a more expensive venue with equipment included, vs. cheaper venues where you have to rent equipment on your own.
Researching and interviewing officiants is on our March action plan. Time to start I suppose. Hopefully it won’t be this dramatic.
Holy crap. These cakes are awesome! Just like what I want! Cupcakes plus a bunch of little cakes. Does anyone know inexpensive bakeries in the DC area where I could get a bunch of these?
I really like these return address stamps. It’s been on my list!
I really enjoy Broke Ass Bride’s “Get Over it” wedding dress feature. I had submitted a request asking her about stylish wedding dresses with sleeves. I was tired of coming across the same old boring dresses in all my searches. She posted a response! She did not disappoint, finding some awesome options for wedding dresses with sleeves!
Loved this bag. Then I saw the price. Umm, no.
These City Hall wedding dresses are adorable!
Shit I’m not going to worry about for my wedding
Who exactly starts planning their wedding before they’re engaged? I mean, some dreaming and researching is fine, but to actually book things?
A wedding confirmation pamphlet. Good grief, can’t people just call if they’re incapable of looking at your website?
Wedding Fitness Goal Progress
I had an awesome weigh-in this week. I lost 2.4 pounds for a total of 6.2 pounds since January 5. I also started a new workout DVD for February, Jillian Michaels’ No More Trouble Zones. It’s totally butt-kicking (in an awesome, sore, kind of way)
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
- Interview videographers
- Research marriage license requirements
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 (didn’t do much planning this week)
3 comments
I self-catered our wedding, and we ended up with around 120 people in attendance. I purchased all the groceries myself, and we had friendors cook it on-site. Below the link to my food breakdown, if it helps give you an idea. I know not everybody has barbecue for their meal, but you could probably do the same with something like lasagna, or baked/grilled chicken. A good plan may be to check out a few catering menus that you like, then find the cheapest, tastiest recipe of it, and find a wholesaler who will work with you to get you the goods in bulk.
http://killerbdesign.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/my-big-fat-cheap-wedding/
That budget rocks! (And I love your blog by the way!). Where did you buy most of your supplies? I can never figure out if Costco/Sam’s Club is a better deal than plain old Wal-Mart.
I bought the disposables at Sams, and the cutlery online. It was the eco-friendly bamboo kind, and I bought 400 forks, and 200 knives for about $60 including shipping.
As far as food goods, all my meat came from a local meat market. I’d honestly explore the “shady” parts of town, because not only is the food still great, their rates are more reasonable. We scored 20 lbs. of sausage, 100 lbs. of beef brisket, 2 gallons of barbecue sauce, 2 lbs of seasoning, and a 20 lb. bucket of potato salad for $350. The other $50 was spent on a 10 lb. bag of beans, some frozen corn cobs (screw shucking!), and a half dozen loaves of white bread. 2 Kegs, 6 cases of water, 10 gallons of sweet tea and about 60 sodas were about $300, and our disposables were about $150 total (including the “pricier” cutlery, it’s more expensive than plastic, but they’re so cute and biodegradable that its’ worth it). I wanted to find the brown thick paper plates, but could only land the white, that was the super-thick, not styrofoam variety. I also insisted on clear 12 oz. cups over the College Kegger red. I found that guests honestly didn’t care that our dish-ware was disposable. We spent about $800 altogether to completely self-cater our wedding: food, drink, and dish-ware. It was definitely the best part of the wedding!
Sorry it’s so long, I just didn’t itemize it out on my blog. This would have fed at least 150-175 people, and we had disposables for 200. And P.S. I read an article in a home magazine a few years ago that said the Sams/Wal-Mart debate is null and void. The price per ounce/item is the same for both stores, or only slightly cheaper at Sams. You just get more at once when you buy in bulk, so it’s a bit easier to transport 1 giant case of napkins over 30 small packages. Good luck planning!