I’m actually sitting here avoiding wedding planning. Paladin has given me a budget of $5k. Stop laughing. It’s exactly 12.5 times the budget of my first wedding. If given the option, I will come in WAY UNDER budget. That’s just me. I like things creative, beautiful, and most of all…cheap! But budget talk takes away all the romance of the day.
I was really happy when Paladin liked my ideas. The Extravaganza is almost my perfect wedding. In truth, I’d like it to be near a waterfall under full moonlight and for everyone to ride half a mile on horseback to get to it. I’d like it to be beautiful and desolate and magical. And, if I happened to have Eliza Dushku’s body, that would be even better. Instead, I’ll get something pretty and hopefully people will enjoy themselves eating and playing music or games. It never really lives up to your vision and that’s a bit depressing. I hope by my next wedding they have those virtual reality helmets perfected. Then I can just rent a ton of those and have my dream become a CGI reality.
The whimsy and joy of the idea phase has already given way to the reality of spending the next few months spray painting tree branches in the garage. It’s time to start actually walking through the mundane, “Where do we set up the tables? Can we park 40 cars there? Is a 4 tier cake big enough?” crap. So, today, I’m just not feelin’ it. It makes me want to go to Nottoway (weddings there used to cost $4-6k but you still had to dress everybody and get the cake, booze and favors) and say, “Here, planner person, you do it.”
Sadly, I am not a cookie cutter person and would never be happy with it. The first wedding was cookie cutter enough, and it made me very unhappy to even think about it. I would show you the pictures but the only 3 I have that show any décor or the cake I made for it are so crappy that you can’t tell anything from them (the cake and floral arrangements all look like blobs). It was “nice”…as in it was perfectly ok and most people would have loved to have a wedding like that (especially considering most people in that position just go to the Justice of the Peace and have a thrown together dinner with a sheet cake). I had the big fancy dress which I’d picked up the year before for a Mardi Gras ball that I never went to. He was in his “class A’s” which is the green fancy uniform. We had the best $400 could afford complete with a big buffet (that I got up at 4am to cook) and flower arrangements cobbled together from the Dollar General’s silk flower selection (they were lovely and very Victorian, btw). I went completely Scarlett O’Hara and pulled every lace curtain in my house down to use for pretty table cloths and to drape off the very visible kitchen at my Aunt Jo’s house. The wedding was reminiscent of a WWII era “he’s-off-to-war-leaving-behind-his-bride” to-do probably because that’s what was happening. It was nice. It sucked.
I want more this time. I want special. I want memorable. And, yeah, I want this body… Where’s my freakin’ wand!
Eliza Dushku of Buffy, Dollhouse
Your first wedding was great…hey, I had fun, anyhow. The food was delicious, and don’t sell yourself short on the cake. As I remember, you made it yourself.
A Wedding?? Yay! Congrats!
it was so fun, and of course unique.
We went the cheap route too, and it turned out fabulous! We did a bunch of crafty things
That body? Airbrushed! That’s all I’ll say about that!
Weddings are a lot of work, I know mine was a HUGE thing and look how well that turned out!
If 2 people love each other; throw in a group of friends, a lot of booze and music, you’ll have the time of your lives
I am excitied to see the wedding plans unfold!! It is super busy, but also so exciting.
Um…5000 bucks, huh? My step-brother is getting married on Sat. and the bride’s dress costs almost double that. The reception is just under 250 people at $115 per plate. Here in NYC weddings are all about status and it costs MONEY to put that stuff together. Their wedding came in around $70,000. And that is a little more than average for the weddings around here.
Sometimes I do think that something low key is more personal and meaningful.
You can do a lot with $5K. My parents paid for my wedding. They told me I could have whatever I wanted. I looked at dozens of dresses, but the one I loved cost $275 (and an extra $20 to custom order one with more fabric on the bottom for tall gals). I mean, think about it – you only wear it a few hours!
I think you can do a lot with that amount of money. Certainly enough to make a memorable and sentimental wedding that you will cherish. I know you will be creative and get the most you can out of it. Enjoy!
Oh, Honey, I could throw together a hell of a wedding for 5,000, and so will you. Creativity, baby!
We had a backwards kind of wedding where we ran off to Bermuda with a couple of our closest, got married and had our honeymoon.
Then we threw a big party at our house complete with some catered fancy stuff, open bar, a band and a pig roast. Only cost us 4,000 for 150 people, and everyone says it’s the best “wedding” they ever attended.
Oh, yeah, and I spent $150 on my wedding dress. I got it at the mall in a fancy prom dress place. It was fantastic!
Hey, what are your colors going to be? My boss’s daughter just got married and they have TONS of stuff to get rid of. I know this seems crazy to you, but I don’t think you are but 4-5 hours away. And if the cost was right, the trip might just be warranted.
I’m sure it’ll be beautiful regardless of the budget. I don’t know why people get all crazy and spend so much on them anyway.
My wedding cake (second marriage) was a cheesecake, made by a bakery that specializes in them, and it was soooo good.
My first wedding was also “nice”. Meh. Next time, I’ll be happy with a private ceremony and then a big ole honkin’ party afterward. Er, not that I’m planning a “next time” or anything.
Hey a wedding doesn’t need to cost a ton to be fun and unique. It’s really about what makes you both happy and if a big wedding causes stress then change it. Remember it’s really just about you and him getting married afterall. Oh and you want Eliza Dushku’s body? Hell I want it too, but I would only need it for a few minutes
Wedding not all that important. Marriage more so!