Wedding in Paradise Fall 2017 - complete 5/30 - Wedding TR linked!

Seriously, flowers are ridiculous. I don't understand it. I'm half tempted to find a field and pick them all. Another pro for you doing paper/crafty flowers is that then you have a keepsake. I had a friend use silk flowers for her bouquet, and then when they bought a house she re-purposed it into a wreath for the door. We're planning on using fancy keys as boutonnieres (can I take a moment and state my loathing for this word? They couldn't think of anything simpler?), and Pinterest has a TON of non-floral options if that's the direction you want to go.

I HATE that word. Everytime I type it on Pinterest, I spell it wrong. Earlier I started to look up the spelling and then thought, screw it and typed bouts :rolleyes: I'll have to look up some non-floral ones... or a field...

And I like the wreath idea! My mom had silk and her bouquet is in a box, in the storage room. Along with her veil, guestbook, unity candle... I'd really like to avoid that. I found a girl online who did paper flowers for her wedding, and now she's turning them into nursery decor.

I think part of the reason I'm still considering real flowers is because of this awesome bead @Amanda132 got. I sent in some dried flowers from my mom and grandma's funerals and now I'm impatiently waiting for mine lol. I also ordered a little charm bead to put on my bouquet handle that will have petals from each (plus my great-grandma's funeral). Soooo that was something not in the original budget but I don't think I'll count it because I'll probably put it on a necklace afterwards.
Can't offer much advice on the MOH end...I'm on the receiving end of that one. My BF, the one getting married in July, chose her sorority little to be her MOH, and it hurt a lot more than I realized. I understand her reasoning (she didn't want to have to choose between me and our other BF) but I had to have a couple of long talks with my mom and my other non-MOH BF to fully vent and come to term with my feelings. But. Enough about me. I'm okay with it now. Mostly :rolleyes:

I have my BF since 7th grade, and a sister who is 5 years younger than me.

My sister and I had the typical playing one minute, fighting like cats and dogs the next relationship while growing up. And we had a period of super closeness after my mom died. Although we have fun when we do hang out, I tend to be an afterthought to her, and taken for granted (not totally over the fact that I completely threw and organized her grad party after my mom died and not a single single thank you ever... and a few other times I bailed her out of stuff with zero acknowledgement :confused3). And then there's lately with the family drama, where the few times I have heard from her since it's started have all been mean and attacking. Once she even sent me a guilt-trip/trap text, saying she misses talking to me about what's going on in her life, and when I took the bait it turned into an attack related to the family drama. I just don't answer now.

My BF and I have never had a major fight, we actually took a 2 week overseas trip together last fall. We've been through a lot and have always been there for each other - end of major relationship (her), (me), family deaths and drama (both). Her dad is going to officiate for us (I think he knows, but just hasn't been officially asked).

So really, it's just that I'm concerned that I'm expected to have my sister no matter what. And I think that if I would pick my BF my sister would FREAK and be all crazy offended, even with her behavior the last 6 months. She's always been the major drama queen. And then with the family drama it's hard to even go try to talk to her about it before officially choosing - like, I'd like BF, nothing against you, maybe play up the 'less she has to be responsible for' card. Not that I expect MOH to be my slave, but when we got engaged my sister was most concerned that we picked a date where she would be 21 for my wedding and bachelorette... she does not seem to understand what kind of bachelorette I'd rather have.

Ugh. It just sucks because the family drama affects the wedding in so many ways, and it seems that new ways just keep popping up... like with THE DRESS. :scared1:
 
I LOVE the bead idea! Hmmm.....definitely filing that one away for later.

I have my BF since 7th grade, and a sister who is 5 years younger than me.

My sister and I had the typical playing one minute, fighting like cats and dogs the next relationship while growing up. And we had a period of super closeness after my mom died. Although we have fun when we do hang out, I tend to be an afterthought to her, and taken for granted (not totally over the fact that I completely threw and organized her grad party after my mom died and not a single single thank you ever... and a few other times I bailed her out of stuff with zero acknowledgement :confused3). And then there's lately with the family drama, where the few times I have heard from her since it's started have all been mean and attacking. Once she even sent me a guilt-trip/trap text, saying she misses talking to me about what's going on in her life, and when I took the bait it turned into an attack related to the family drama. I just don't answer now.

My BF and I have never had a major fight, we actually took a 2 week overseas trip together last fall. We've been through a lot and have always been there for each other - end of major relationship (her), (me), family deaths and drama (both). Her dad is going to officiate for us (I think he knows, but just hasn't been officially asked).

So really, it's just that I'm concerned that I'm expected to have my sister no matter what. And I think that if I would pick my BF my sister would FREAK and be all crazy offended, even with her behavior the last 6 months. She's always been the major drama queen. And then with the family drama it's hard to even go try to talk to her about it before officially choosing - like, I'd like BF, nothing against you, maybe play up the 'less she has to be responsible for' card. Not that I expect MOH to be my slave, but when we got engaged my sister was most concerned that we picked a date where she would be 21 for my wedding and bachelorette... she does not seem to understand what kind of bachelorette I'd rather have.

Ugh. It just sucks because the family drama affects the wedding in so many ways, and it seems that new ways just keep popping up... like with THE DRESS. :scared1:

I feel ya. Lindsey is going through that right now too with her sister (who I think is only 3 years younger). They went to Disney together over Spring Break, and when I asked how it went her response was "M is dead to me. DEAD."

Both of my parents were essentially forced to have their siblings. My dad is a twin, and Nana told him he needed to make my Uncle Steve his best man, and no one ever disobeys Nana. But Dad would have rather had Doug, his best friend. My mom's sister is 15 years older than my mom, so they are not super close like most siblings. So Mom assumed her best friend Karen would be her MOH and that would be that. But her dad, who was the minister, ordered the wedding programs...and listed my aunt as the MOH. Needless to say, I'm fortunate that both of my parents are supportive of whoever I want to choose, because they don't want a repeat of their wedding.

I think playing up the responsibility is a good idea. And know that through all the drama, at least you have us on the Dis supporting you!

And was that a cliffhanger at the end?
 
It's moments like these I'm glad I have one brother....a set of parents... and no...other...living....relatives....

I have absolutely stunning friends of which some I know would have been amazing bridesmaids. But I actually decided very early I wouldn't have any quite simply because I didn't want any. It would have been really hard to have chosen bridesmaids and as one of my best work mates said early on when I said I'm not having any...."Oh.....GREAT IDEA!!!!" :D
On her wedding day one bridesmaid spent half the day moaning her makeup wasn't very good....like that was the prime concern of the bride?

I WISH YOU SO MUCH LUCK THOUGH!!! You have to go with your gut of WHO will be best for you on the day. It is YOUR day. Your sister will get over it. Family is who is by your side when you need them...it isn't to do with blood...
 
I love love love your invites! And boy do I feel you on flowers! I am planning on making my own bouquet and Mickey shaped pomanders (most likely) for my MOHs, for a variety of reasons (I'll go into detail on my PJ in my next update) and looking to have non-floral centerpieces at the reception. That being said, I really like the look of the baby's breath with lavender bouquet you posted the picture of. Simple and elegant, and not too costly. ;)

I thought I was going to be immune from any family drama in regard to our wedding (at least from my side), but found out yesterday that I was mistaken. Boo to family drama and it's funk inducing nature!

Enjoying following along and can't wait to hear about THE DRESS! :banana:
 


"Here is a symbol of my love, it will die in a week"

This is the best explanation of how I feel haha! And thanks! This past weekend I pretty much decided on the paper flowers, so expect to see lots of them! I hope to have a dedicated craft room some day... currently I have an armoire and a giant desk, but you can never have enough room for crafting!

I feel ya. Lindsey is going through that right now too with her sister (who I think is only 3 years younger). They went to Disney together over Spring Break, and when I asked how it went her response was "M is dead to me. DEAD."

I think playing up the responsibility is a good idea. And know that through all the drama, at least you have us on the Dis supporting you!

I appreciate that so much. I looked through some posts on a regular wedding site, for similar situations, and people kept telling the poster 'family is blood, friends leave, yada yada yada.' And I was just like, that's it? Everything else you all tell people they don't have to do this or that, but this you say they MUST have their sister as MOH, no matter what?

And was that a cliffhanger at the end?

It was a bit of one... dun dun duhhhhh! I'll give a little information in my next post!

It's moments like these I'm glad I have one brother....a set of parents... and no...other...living....relatives....

On her wedding day one bridesmaid spent half the day moaning her makeup wasn't very good....like that was the prime concern of the bride?

I don't get people. Granted, I've been a bridesmaid once and a personal attendant once, so my experience is limited, but there were things for both weddings I didn't totally understand/agree with, but I didn't say anything to them (not outrageous crazy things, but things on the same level as not liking the makeup.

I WISH YOU SO MUCH LUCK THOUGH!!! You have to go with your gut of WHO will be best for you on the day. It is YOUR day. Your sister will get over it. Family is who is by your side when you need them...it isn't to do with blood...

Thanks! I think she will, it's just the family drama complicating things. Like it's just one more reason to hate me right now... I am jealous of your family haha!

I love love love your invites! And boy do I feel you on flowers! I am planning on making my own bouquet and Mickey shaped pomanders (most likely) for my MOHs, for a variety of reasons (I'll go into detail on my PJ in my next update) and looking to have non-floral centerpieces at the reception. That being said, I really like the look of the baby's breath with lavender bouquet you posted the picture of. Simple and elegant, and not too costly. ;)

I thought I was going to be immune from any family drama in regard to our wedding (at least from my side), but found out yesterday that I was mistaken. Boo to family drama and it's funk inducing nature!

Enjoying following along and can't wait to hear about THE DRESS! :banana:

Thanks! Aren't flowers crazy? I like the pomander idea - I've been thinking about doing something like that for a flower girl, probably with felt since it's a little more durable than paper... plus I can make matching hair accessories!

And the family drama... I thought, a few of the extended family will be a pain, like always. They have been. Then my family started in, basically my stepmom said she would pay $3000 extra to not set up tables (I wasn't expecting to ask her to help, because I had figured she'd feel this way). Then my dad switched from my side to her side on the situation. Then, my sister jumped on their boat about many wedding things...



You guys are making me feel so much better about the situation!​
 
More Pretties

I had to work this past weekend, so of course the weather was nice because I wasn't home to get out my centerpieces! Boo. Since there wasn't much to do at work, I decided to be productive and I wanted to share with you guys!

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I'm pretty set on paper flowers now. These are all random colors because I was looking for cheap ways to test out the papers. Now that I know, I can spend a little more ordering the colors I want. Plus I have some other patterns to try out eventually too.
 
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An Intro on the Dress

So this is just a little backstory on the dress.

I poked around a little on bridal sites after getting engaged, and saw few dresses that interested me. Then I saw some posts of people redesigning vintage wedding gowns... And I thought of y mom's gown. I knew it would need some work (puffy 80s sleeves that had to go), and it was much too big for me and has a stain on the skirt. I found a place that specializes in wedding dress redesign, and I wanted to take it in for their free consultation to see what they said. I thought I'd take my sister with me, mostly because I didn't want to do something crazy with it that would upset her, because at this point she doesn't know if she would be interested in wearing it someday.

But alas, this did not happen before the family drama. My sister and I had talked about some ideas for it, and were in agreement at the time, so I would just try to go in myself for the consultation and go off of those discussions... but it's not in my possession.

I just wanted the option of speaking to a professional to see what the options are for it, if there are any... I'm not sure how the stain/size would affect it. But that's on hold for now...

I just keep having this recurring daydream (day-mare?) of not getting the option due to the family drama, getting myself another dress, and then one day, finding myself somewhere in a situation like in the movie 27 Dresses:


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"Today you're just some ***** who broke my heart and cut up my mother's wedding dress"
:scared1:


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Anyways, here are a few pictures of the dress.

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It's hard to tell, but the lace ruffles come up into a v-point at the front of the dress. I may be able to find a better picture at home tonight. I do really like the bottom. It also has pearl buttons all down the back.

Here is a good detail shot of the detail at the top:
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There are two ruffles: a lace on on top, and a solid one underneath. I like the waist detail. I'm not sure how they could redo the sizing at the top, with the mesh and embroidery, but that's why I wanted a professional's opinion.

My sister and I agreed on this idea: making the top sort of tank style, to keep the lace neck and embroidery, but dump the 80s sleeves. The ruffle would probably have to go. :rolleyes:
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Perhaps more like this, though, almost a cap sleeve, with the detail...
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As a silly side note, did you see this?
Then my family started in, basically my stepmom said she would pay $3000 extra to not set up tables...

My stepmom, who wanted to pay that much for chair setup, kept asking if one of my aunts would be able to alter my mom's dress... I have a few aunts on my dad's side who are good at knitting and crocheting, and one is good a simple sewing for her grandkids, but I'm not sure anyone is up to the task of a wedding dress. Maybe something simple, like taking it in a tiny bit, but this would be a lot of work. But she wouldn't give it up, even when my dad said they wouldn't be able to. I just didn't understand she wanted to pay $3k for chairs, but save me a couple hundred bucks on alterations? :confused3

 
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I love the idea of modifying your mom's dress. And the styles you picked are really pretty. I'm sorry you can't seem to make this work because of drama :sad2:

My mom also had the puffy 80s sleeves. I wanted to shorten it and make it knee-length and wear it to my rehearsal. Our problem? We're 99% sure it's in my Nana's attic. Nana swears it isn't, but she seems to violently oppose the idea of us coming there and looking for it.

She says all she has is my aunt's dress, but we have a sneaking suspicion that it's really mom's. Won't know though unless we can sneak in her attic.
 
I love the idea of modifying your mom's dress. And the styles you picked are really pretty. I'm sorry you can't seem to make this work because of drama :sad2:

My mom also had the puffy 80s sleeves. I wanted to shorten it and make it knee-length and wear it to my rehearsal. Our problem? We're 99% sure it's in my Nana's attic. Nana swears it isn't, but she seems to violently oppose the idea of us coming there and looking for it.

She says all she has is my aunt's dress, but we have a sneaking suspicion that it's really mom's. Won't know though unless we can sneak in her attic.

Haha! I know how that goes... My sister and I had a covert operation searching for some family china pieces when we were babysitting a few summers back. But I love the idea of wearing it for your rehearsal dinner! I hope it works out.

I had a similar thought for my rehearsal dinner the other day. We have a dress from my grandma's wedding, it's her sister's bridesmaid dress. Two years ago, it actually fit me quite well, except in the chest (great-aunt Marilyn was more endowed than I am :laughing:). I might try to get it altered to wear. Can't remember if that's with the wedding dress, or stored at our old family home... hopefully I can figure that out soon.

It's similar to this, though the skirt might be a little less full, and less pleating on the bodice, from what I remember; it also comes with an awesome plastic red belt that's falling apart:
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I had a similar thought for my rehearsal dinner the other day. We have a dress from my grandma's wedding, it's her sister's bridesmaid dress. Two years ago, it actually fit me quite well, except in the chest (great-aunt Marilyn was more endowed than I am :laughing:). I might try to get it altered to wear. Can't remember if that's with the wedding dress, or stored at our old family home... hopefully I can figure that out soon.

I have the opposite problem with my mom. When she got married, she was pretty much a solid B. I'm, well, on the border between DD and DDD. So I have no idea if I'll even be able to get the stupid thing zipped haha. We'll see.

Such a pretty dress!
 
I have the opposite problem with my mom. When she got married, she was pretty much a solid B. I'm, well, on the border between DD and DDD. So I have no idea if I'll even be able to get the stupid thing zipped haha. We'll see.

Such a pretty dress!

Haha, my mom and I were opposite of you guys, my mom was always bigger, but my sister and I smaller... I have a half inch to an inch on my sister in height, and a cup size, so I always teller her I'm bigger in the ways that count - she has really long legs that are a couple inches longer than mine.

Your flower ideas are gorgeous! I can't wait to see the final product!

Thanks! I need to stop looking around because I keep finding more ideas... Like now I want to try some park map flowers, except I have to wait for our Disneyland trip in July! :laughing: I still have a good list of tutorials to keep me busy though.
 
Just a short update.

So far, weather and weekends have not been cooperating with me... I worked a weekend, the next weekend I worked 3am to 8am on Saturday so I was pretty useless, the next weekend it snowed from Friday night through Sunday... So I haven't been able to do more for the centerpieces, or try dying paper and coffee filters for the flowers. Maybe I will this weekend, but I really need to make some lunch stuff up that can hang out in the freezer too (it's really hard to go anywhere for lunch, and I'm also not really supposed to, so I end up with a vending machine burrito :rolleyes2 )...

Anyways, I'll try to have some sort of real update soon.
 
Your flower ideas are gorgeous! I can't wait to see the final product!

Thanks! I'm having fun with them!

It SNOWED?!? Yikes. It's 80 degrees here.

Sorry your weekends aren't working out the way you want them to!

Right??? Thank god it had been too warm so it didn't really stick to the ground until Sunday, and it all melted Monday. I'm done with snow, thanks. Though this morning, I started my drive to work in hail, so that was fun too. :duck:
 
Some General Updates (part 1)
Where I've Been

First off, besides the weather not cooperating, wedding planning has fallen a bit by the wayside due to planning... Our Disneyland trip this July!
:jumping1:
It didn't go quite as smoothly, because a few more people are coming along this time.

When we decided to move the wedding date and decided to take this trip, Zack asked what I thought about having his family along for part of it, because they haven't taken a trip together in years. I was good with that. He has two brothers: Brother 1 (B1) lives in LA with his gf of several years, and is the oldest; Brother 2 (B2) lives in Denver with his bf and is the middle child. So originally, it was going to be us, B1&B2 with their SOs, and his parents for half the week or so. We asked Zack's aunt to dog-sit for us (his parents have 3 monsters :laughing: ). Her response: ...but I like Disney... but I'll do it. :rotfl2:

Well, B2 and his bf are too popular and had lots of vacation time scheduled for friends' weddings, so they were thinking of going for just the weekend, but we told them not to feel pressured to go because of the time/$ for 1.5 days. Now, they will be watching the dogs and we invited Zack's aunt along.

Zack's aunt has two children, one of whom is married with a son. Well, this son overheard his grandma talking about the trip... And suddenly we had 3 more people thinking of coming! We'll call them J (dad) S (mom) and LJ (grandson). Are you following? :bitelip:

It turned into a bit of a headache. First, Zack and I had a tentative itinerary laid out based on flying Friday night and his parents leaving Tuesday or Wednesday which included 2 days at Disney, 1 day at Universal, and seeing the Queen Mary and the USS Iowa, and then Zack and I had 5 days to plan out. Then his parents decided to stay until Friday (!) so we rearranged. It was in the middle of rearranging that we added 3 people to the trip. The problem was not adding people, it was that Zack and I were working on the most efficient way to see everything (because last year we drove back and forth across LA several times), and S is their resident trip planner and she had lots of questions. Questions are fair, but what I found out later is that their only trips were to South Dakota to see family (driving) and two trips to WDW booked via travel agent.

Our (Zack and I) main concern is that J, S, and LJ don't vacation in the same style that we do (Zack's parents and aunt may need a few more rest breaks, but are very go with the flow and we'll meet up later if needed). We tried to stress that they did not have to do all the same things as us, but they pretty much are. I think S is afraid to book things on her own. I'm sure it will be a good trip overall no matter what.

The fun part - our new itinerary! We fly into Burbank Friday morning, bum around/maybe Hollywood Sign/Griffith Park. Saturday is Universal, Sunday the Queen Mary/USS Iowa (and we're staying on the Queen Mary!), Monday we are taking a ferry over to Catalina Island, and driving to Anaheim that night. Everyone is Disney-ing for two days, then splitting up - day trip to San Diego for some. Zack and I are doing 3 more days at Disney :cool1: partly because of the time and crowd level.

But anyways, after that long story... I've been doing a lot of budgeting/looking for not gross yet affordable hotels/looking for deals for that trip. We wanted to make sure that what we spent was within what we had set aside (and hopefully come in under?). We've also been arguing with Zack's parents because we had set aside a chunk of our savings to do something nice for them for letting us stay at the house, and we thought we'd buy a lot of the park tickets and such. Plus we still have time to save another little chunk until the wedding for something else. Covering park tickets plus boat tickets plus a couple Disney meals (like WOC package) for them still doesn't compare to two years of $0 rent (even with the VIP passes for Universal - coming in at the low, low price of $239 each :eek: ).

In addition to this keeping me from updating, I also figured that while I looked into all of these things for July, I might as well start putting together a budget for our Disneymoon! So far, that has given me two big questions:

  • I forgot one already! Maybe it was the best ways from the airport to Disney or Universal...
  • I originally wanted to rent DVC points and get a studio in the Epcot area, just because I thought it would be nice for the honeymoon. Since we are looking at times when Disney typically does free dining, and a moderate resort with it is $40-$70 more a night (based on this year's prices), is it worth doing a mod instead? Not to be tied to the dining plan, but because it would be free? Obviously this is IF Disney does it again. Thought/Opinions/Experiences are welcome here! Haha.

more to come!
 
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Some General Updates (part 2)
Wedding Related
On to the wedding things, since this is a wedding PJ... :rolleyes1

So, we'll start with some fun details. I found my parent's cake serving set:

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Not the real one, which has their names and date engraved on it. I searched the internet high and low for this picture. I didn't want to subject you to the gross, stained ribbon tied on the handles (it's crunchy, like maybe it got cake on it and didn't wash out cause, ya know, it's ribbon). I don't know why it was so hard to find, because I see this set in Goodwill all the time. Apparently there were only three cake serving sets available in the 80s. I want to use this set, and see if Zack's parents have their set packed away... Then tie matching blue ribbons on all four pieces. If they do have theirs, we can have both sets out on the table and could use a piece from each for the cutting. If not, we'll just use my parents. I don't see us using the set again (my parents' was in the cabinet over our fridge my entire life), and I'm all about personal. Plus I haven't seen anything I like or would want to pay that much for (except @lurkyloo's).

Oh, and if anyone is interested in their own awesome set: you're welcome. Not, haha, but that ebay listing also has the 'cool' bride and groom glass set my parents had. It may or may not make an appearance, based on if they survived the great family move out of our house... I can't imagine why anyone would pay that much for that set, though.

I picked up a few things for bridesmaid boxes, and I'm working on those. Not necessary, but fun. I'm going with the 'pop the question' theme with ring pops, bubble gum, popcorn. I got some ribbon with the "One pair of shoes can change a girl's life" quote and these little plastic heels from Hobby Lobby.

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I'm also working on my own version of this:

I'm making it cute and funny - I hope. I want to put all the basic info - when, where, all the bridal party, inside.
Who doesn't love the pretty hangers? I was saving this project for later, more to see how the budget shook out, but I found some nice wooden hangers that I got for pennies (literally) so I'm going to DIY my own. I'd like to ask each girl for a favorite Disney character and do a symbol or something instead of names (probably harder, haha).

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Last but not least, I picked up everything to make this adorable felt ring, which was maybe $5. I found this awhile back and there was no decision to make. I'm just going with a white diamond.




Aaaaaaaaand on to some less fun details:


BUDGET
Hahaha....my husband's so funny. He thinks we can have a wedding for $400. I told him maybe in 1950 we could. Men can be so clueless sometimes.
Had to pull this, because men.

I know I've mentioned this a few times, but we are on a budget. I know budget means different things to different people, and here's ours:

$15,000
Some days, I'm like, we can do this! Some days, I'm like, let's elope! I know we have some big crazy dreams for 200 people and that amount out here in CO (mostly in wanting a full meal and booze), but most places in NE would have been the same stretch. So DIY is the name of the game. Currently, the invites are looking to be somewhere between $60-$80, the DIY flowers, the centerpiece budget is $250 (now I'm stressing because I can't remember if that included candles or not)... I know we can do it, it just means some cuts and some work.

Now every time we look at our little budget spreadsheet, Zack likes to mention he'd like to see that number get lower. I point out that it's like 109% budgeted for on my wedding spreadsheet, he says, but you've budgeted for 100% attendance on food and stuff (I'd rather be over to start with, we're expecting about 75% attendance for our 207 person list). I mention there's probably miscellaneous expenses that will come up, like that I have a low number for dress and alterations (based on my mom's dress: cost=$0, alterations=$$$; buying a new dress will bring that up), or if we DIY a lot of food I'd like to pay people to serve/clean up. Then he asked if we'd be able to do the Disneymoon for $5000.

No.

Haha. Maybe if we stayed at a value resort and cut corners and got some credit card rewards for flights and ate birdseed for two weeks... We're not going to be crazy, but I'd like to eat at a few of the nice places and such because it will be our HONEYMOON. I grew up staying at the cheapest, cleanest, comes with a pool/free breakfast so I am good with budget travel, but I'd like to splurge a little for this. We have our whole lives together for budget travel! I know it's because we have some life plans, like kicking around house shopping, and evil things like student loans. But those things are also why we decided to veto the expensive place! (which was coming in closer to $25,000 and there were still budget ideas in there).


PHOTOGRAPHY

One good thing so far, I contacted the photographer (or the business they book through, at least), and they gave the okay to move our date. They even said we were good with waiting until June/July to give them our date, since the venue only books one year out. So that is a $750 deposit we won't lose. Hey, maybe I can get Zack to not count that deposit in the budget, since we had mostly written it off as a loss... :rotfl2:

The good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it, is we may have to pick our photographers again.

Here's the sitch (Kim Possible ringtone :rolleyes: ): We found a photography company which basically contracts with newer photographers to help them get started before going out on their own, you get to pick who you want based on their portfolios, and they have several packages to choose from which are the same price no matter which photographer(s) you use.

So we picked our original date based on which photographers we liked and when they were open, but we didn't have very many choices because we were about 9 months out. We did a two photographer package with each being there for 8 hours, and we get all rights to the digital photos. Now that we're rescheduling, they're not sure who they will have next Summer because they only do 1 year contracts. Hopefully we'll have more choices though!

I'm just trying not to stress about it because I got the name of the place through a coworker who used them and loved her photographer, and I've seen lots of good things on wedding boards. But sometimes I just think of the face that the girl at the expensive venue made - maybe this place was too budget for them. IF we would change photographers, we would lose the deposit and be paying at least twice as much for half the coverage...


DJ

Zack needs to email this guy. We had him booked before, and fingers crossed he'll move dates... That package comes with uplights! :rotfl: Zack is the one who actually talked to him/signed the contract/emailed/etc, so I think it would be easier if Zack contacted him... Idk, it makes sense in my mind. I've been reminding him, but I think it's been put off because a) Zack is more excited about the idea of house hunting, and b) I think he's partly written that $250 deposit off as a loss. I think if we talk to him soon so he has time to book something else on that date, he'll be flexible, because he's not part of a big company. Even if he isn't, we need to know so we can cancel before we have to pay him in full! Men! lol



That wraps up what's been going on lately. I should get back to more wedding planning soon!
 
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Are you following? :bitelip:

Ouch :headache: I think? Bless you for coordinating all of this. I guess I'm lucky that I don't think my in-laws will ever want to come along to Disney. Though Joe's dad has mentioned he wants to try it with us since I'm an expert.

Sunday the Queen Mary/USS Iowa (and we're staying on the Queen Mary!)

Ooooooooooooh jealous! My distant cousin had her rehearsal dinner on the Queen Mary, so I've eaten on it, but we didn't stay.

  • I forgot one already! Maybe it was the best ways from the airport to Disney or Universal...
  • I originally wanted to rent DVC points and get a studio in the Epcot area, just because I thought it would be nice for the honeymoon. Since we are looking at times when Disney typically does free dining, and a moderate resort with it is $40-$70 more a night (based on this year's prices), is it worth doing a mod instead? Not to be tied to the dining plan, but because it would be free? Obviously this is IF Disney does it again. Thought/Opinions/Experiences are welcome here! Haha.

1. It depends on what order you're doing things. If you want to fly in, do Universal and then Disney or vice versa, you can purchase transfers through Universal for I think about $40/person. If you're gonna mix up the days, you'll probably want to rent a car because taxis/Uber from Disney to Universal run in the $40-$50 range, and you can get pretty good deals on the smaller cars if you book in advance.

2. Ok. So. Last trip with my mom, we stayed at Yacht Club and I absolutely fell in love with being able to walk to Epcot and DHS and the pool area and everything about it. We also tracked our spending, and discovered that in 3 1/2 days, we actually saved about $200 paying OOP rather than the dining plan.
That being said, my first trip with Joe we stayed at POFQ and he loved it. And he also loved that we had the DDP, which was not free. He really liked that he could order anything on the menu without worrying about the fact that what he wanted was the most expensive item. I would say that it would depend on what mod I could get. If it were CBR or CSR, I'd probably stay with the studio, but if I could get either Port Orleans I'd pick those instead. But that's my personal taste.

I'm going with the 'pop the question' theme with ring pops, bubble gum, popcorn. I got some ribbon with the "One pair of shoes can change a girl's life" quote and these little plastic heels from Hobby Lobby.

I love this! I wasn't going to do anything special, but then I found cards on Etsy that read "B****h please, you're obviously going to be my maid of honor (and no that wasn't a question)" It's so me, I couldn't resist!

I know budget means different things to different people, and here's ours:
$15,000

Hey we have the same budget!

Zack likes to mention he'd like to see that number get lower

And apparently the same fiancé :rotfl2: Joe's learned not to say anything anymore, because we had a small screaming match in which I told him that if he wanted that number lower it was time for him to come up with some ideas or start cutting his cousins.

(Kim Possible ringtone :rolleyes:

That's my text message tone!

That package comes with uplights!

Hmm, I wonder if I can find one here who offers that? I haven't even started looking at DJs yet, but I probably should start now
 
Our budget (all in, everything included from little things like postage stamps to big things like the catering) is just over 10. But that's literally everything, as well as highballing the catering cost, since we don't know what exactly that'll end up being. It's ridiculous how expensive these things get. We're also including our honeymoon in that number, and things that have already been paid for. I have a very detailed spreadsheet on my laptop, lol.

Your plans for DL sound fun, but that finagling sounds like a pain in the butt. I hope it goes well!

We're skipping a DJ and will just use Pandora or Spotify with a case amp we're going to buy on Amazon. It's $100 with free shipping and includes a mic for the ceremony and toasts and stuff. We just couldn't justify the cost. Our biggest expenses are the venue, catering, photography, and honeymoon (which may end up getting canceled, we haven't worked that out yet).
 
Ouch :headache: I think? Bless you for coordinating all of this. I guess I'm lucky that I don't think my in-laws will ever want to come along to Disney. Though Joe's dad has mentioned he wants to try it with us since I'm an expert.

Haha just keep the group small! :-) Our trip story is so confusing written out like that, but even harder to tell in person (you can't just peek back to remind yourself of who someone is!).

Ooooooooooooh jealous! My distant cousin had her rehearsal dinner on the Queen Mary, so I've eaten on it, but we didn't stay.

I'm excited for it! Shhhh... don't tell Zack, I spent $30 extra for a harbor view room or something like that, instead of the basic view. He just thinks that was the cheapest room for us. I figured, what are the chances we do this again?

Ok. So. Last trip with my mom, we stayed at Yacht Club and I absolutely fell in love with being able to walk to Epcot and DHS and the pool area and everything about it. We also tracked our spending, and discovered that in 3 1/2 days, we actually saved about $200 paying OOP rather than the dining plan.
That being said, my first trip with Joe we stayed at POFQ and he loved it. And he also loved that we had the DDP, which was not free. He really liked that he could order anything on the menu without worrying about the fact that what he wanted was the most expensive item. I would say that it would depend on what mod I could get. If it were CBR or CSR, I'd probably stay with the studio, but if I could get either Port Orleans I'd pick those instead. But that's my personal taste.

Thanks for the ride info!

I love the idea of walking to Epcot, especially with F&W (seems like a good honeymoon activity), and was debating Yacht Club/Boardwalk/Beach Club. And I think if we paid for DDP it would be a waste of money. But the Port Orleans mods look nice, and maybe a better deal with free dining... I have a spreadsheet going, because I am a spreadsheet nerd! Decisions, decisions. Good thing it's not this fall!

Hey we have the same budget!
Budget Buddies, wooo!

And apparently the same fiancé :rotfl2: Joe's learned not to say anything anymore, because we had a small screaming match in which I told him that if he wanted that number lower it was time for him to come up with some ideas or start cutting his cousins.

I wish I could threaten Zack with that. Unfortunately, his people are only about 25% of the guest list... dang my large family! His main suggestion is DIYing the food. I asked for a quote on servers the other day, with us DIYing or ordering restaurant food. Event captain, 3 servers, 2 bartenders, bar set up, and chafing dish rentals - $2800. Boo. Zack is already against paying people to serve the food; how will I convince him with that number?? :sad:

Hmm, I wonder if I can find one here who offers that? I haven't even started looking at DJs yet, but I probably should start now
I seemed to run into ones that were either slightly less than I budgeted, or way more. I don't understand the reasoning.
 

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