Alright, I am just about five months out from the wedding, and I feel like I have nothing done. When in reality, I actually have a lot done, but whatever.
So far we have:
1. Chosen our venue and set a date.
We weren't finding anything in our city that we really liked. They were all a little too urban, or super traditional, so we started looking a little further out. We found a lovely venue south of Salem, and the best part was the price and the fact that we are not restricted on what we can do and what vendors we can use. The only downside was choosing the date. Every weekend and Friday was booked for the foreseeable future, so we talked it over and chose a Thursday evening wedding. Yeah, it might scare some guests off, but it saves us over $1,000 on rental fees, and gives us piece of mind that we won't have to fight for vendors.
2. Bought my dress!
I was pretty scared after watching several episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress," that I would be the nightmare bride that wouldn't be able to find anything. I went in with a list of things I don't like; "No mermaids, no lace, no excessive beading, no sleeves" that I felt like I was just being annoying. Not even five minutes after our talk, my consultant came back with THE dress. I tried on several other to be sure, and I am 100000000000% sure about that dress. So happy that it happened so quickly , because I was dreading that search.
3. Booked a few vendors.
Photographer and caterer. Done and done. Plus discounts for a weekday wedding. Score!
A huge thing we are trying to do, is we are trying to show that we can have an "extravagant" looking "pinterest" wedding, without the cost that is usually associate with that. So far we are doing pretty well. Our initial budget goal was $7,000, and we haven't gone over that yet. We are already entering this marriage with some pretty hefty debt (thank you, student loans) so adding on to that is something that we only want to do minimally.
I think I'm going to try to do a month by month budget recap, because I wish there were more resources for others rather than those pins that promise you can have your wedding for $5,000 but only if your parents own beautiful land and your friend is a florist. Not realistic.
xo Kilee
