quotes

The following are some quotes that I'm come across while searching wedding quotes from movies in Google.  These are some of my favorite and would find some way of incorporating them into my wedding. 

"... when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible"  - Harry from When Harry met Sally

"The hardest thing is loving someone and then courage to let them love you back."                        - Nick Mercer The Wedding Date

"If I tell you I love you, can I keep you forever?"  - Casper

"I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them." - The Accidental Tourist 

"I love him and I don't care what you think. I love him for the man he wants to be and I love him for the man he almost is."  - Jerry Maguire

"A dream is a wish your heart makes."  - Cinderella

A little something for the bachleorette party:  

"Here's to the husbands who've won you, the losers who've lost you, and the lucky bastards who've yet to meet you. " - Nick mercer "the wedding date" 

inspiration

So lately it seems like parts of my wedding have begun to fall into place.  From ceremony to reception to other services.  With these new found decisions I can further decide style of the wedding and get inspiration for the invitation as well as the save the date.

I look at various invites and found details that like but I want something that isn't cookie cutter.  There are a few different styles that I like with "love birds" and there are others with swirls and filigree type designs.  However they all remind me of something mass produced and not unique to my wedding.  I would love to have the invitation include details from my dress or represent the feel of the day but that would mean that I have to design it myself.  So I guess where I'm stuck is trying to take what I like and the details I want putting them on paper and then incorporate them into a layout that I can produce on the computer.

Using samples from sites like Exclusively Weddings, Storkie and B.T. Elements I found the wording that fits the day and layout designs that will inspire my final design.  Thankfully I have a few friends who can draw better than I can who might help me with the design.   I like the vintage look with a casual feel.  I don't want the invitation to suggest a formal event when we are shooting for a relaxed cocktail style event.

So as follows are design touches that I like.

How realistic is a $10,000 wedding?

Lately I've been wondering how realistic my budget is.  Can I really plan a wedding for $10,000 and still get what I want?  Can we afford to have friends and family come to the wedding?  I've talked to other people who are married or are in the final planing stages of their wedding who had the same idea I have, "I'm not going to spend more than $10000 on my wedding"  and they went over by 5 or 10 thousand.

I know there are books out there that can help you plan a wedding for $10,000 just like there are magazines that  have articles on the same.  They tell you to cut the guest list, be realistic about expectations and prioritize what you want to spend money on and then adjust accordingly.  So my list of priorities are reception, photography, dress and the groom's wedding ring.  I've decided to try to have a stress free wedding.  I'm not going to sweat the details. Seating charts forget about um, you'll all adults you can seat yourselves.  The wedding cake or cup cakes may be a DIY creation the doubles as a Favor.  Another favor idea is welcome bags, this way I can create one per group/couple versus one per individual.

 The ceremony is planned for a church that his family goes to and with his dad performing the ceremony we will most likely get it for free or next to nothing.  We are looking for a unique location for the reception a bowling ally, a favorite place, or a ballroom with little decoration needed. The less we have to spend on decor the more we have for other things.  This goes along with not worrying about the little details.  When I look into a venue I looked at what is included for the cost and how much we could enjoy the location.  I want a place that will be cool for photos but isn't like everyone else's wedding.

When we first got engaged I looked at various wedding supply sites and wedding shops though bridal sites thinking, "oh wouldn't it be cool if we gave everyone a bottle of wine with a stopper and glasses in the welcome bags" and 'everyone is coming to Vegas so what if we had personalized poker chips, decks of cards and the rules to Blackjack and poker."  I was falling for all these different details that I started trying to figure out how to make it affordable.  The more I think about the style of my wedding the more I can fine tune the details.   I want a simple yet elegant ceremony with a fun, relaxed reception.

The one thing that will help me with my budget is that I've talked with my parents about what they are willing to help pay for or if they will help pay for anything.  I know tradition states that the bride's parents pay for the wedding but I know that isn't a realistic expectation.  However, it is realistic to think that they could pay for my dress and the photographer (two things that are very important to me).  This leaves the biggest cost, the reception, to my fiancée and I.  On thing I would love to do, cost permitting, is to have a Candy Bar with jars of various candies that we like.  A mix of sweet, sour and chocolate.

So fingers crossed we will have the wedding of our dreams on a cost that isn't too crazy.