Thanks Mom and Dad, in case I haven’t said it lately!

Of course, there are still things that J and I will need to fund on our own. Our wedding bands, our marriage license, photography, videography, rehearsal dinner, honeymoon, premarital retreat required by the Church, his tux, his daughter’s dress and travel. It’s getting to be quite the list. I work full time at the television network and part time at a portrait studio. I’m doing all I can to earn enough money to pay cash for as many things on this list as possible. I’m trying to live even more frugally than normal; I haven’t had Starbucks in MONTHS! And I FULLY avoid all shoe departments of every store I go in to. Please don’t think I’m complaining… I’m fully aware that many many girls have to pay for all of the things on my list and EVERYTHING else that goes along with a wedding too.

BUT on Saturday J and I went for a drive. We ended up in a town I’d never been to before. It was great. Small, quiet, quaint. And it had a downtown straight out of a novel, complete with soda shops and cute boutiques. It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. But then we went in to one of those fore mentioned cute boutiques and my day took a significant turn for the worst (okay, that’s a grave overdramatization) as I laid my eyes on an authentic Burberry quilted jacked. I was shocked #1. to see such a high end designer haphazardly scattered amongst Koret and Rafeal’s shoulder padded sweaters and #2. to see the VERY jacket I’d been lusting over for years in Small Town Alabama.

Clearly, I’m under no financial disillusionment or I wouldn’t be writing a post for a budget bridal blog and I would have spent the $400 for the jacket years ago when I first discovered it. But today. Today was such a ridiculous temptation I could BARELY contain myself. The jacket. Authentic Burberry. In my size. Was marked down from $400 to $100! $100! For a timeless jacket I’ve wanted for forever!

But alas, I have a wedding to save for. I put the jacket back on the rack. Turned to J and said “we must leave immediately before I do something I might regret”.

What kind of sacrifices have you had to make to save $$ for the wedding of your dreams?

Photo courtesy Bloomingdales

My first dilemma: I don’t want to spend a fortune on my bouquet. And my favorite flowers are roses, garden roses, and peonies (all white/off white). But of course, these are some of the most expensive flowers out there. Good way to smash the budget to smithereens! I’m torn between “Ahhh, let’s just go with carnations” and “but my flowers will be in every picture”. *Sigh* I want them to make a statement… but I don’t want to have to include BYOB in the invitations. Haha! 

Thankfully bewildered budget brides have great internet resources to help us out! Not only did I find great inspiration from our own Dream Weddings on a Budget (search “Flowers” under the categories tab), but according to The Knot I discovered that “ranunculus is a cost effective alternative to roses and peonies and to carry ranunculus is to tell your partner, in the Victorian language of flowers, ‘I am dazzled by your charms.’” Perfecto! And SO true, J is QUITE the charmer!!  Does anyone have any other suggestions for cost effective flowers that pack a punch?

Ranunculus

Peonies

Dilemma numero dos: I have chosen ice blue as my bridesmaid color to pair with the black and white damask. What color flowers go with blue dresses??? Other than dyed blue carnations (what my mom had) or blue hydrangeas (okay, but not for the whole bouquet). I took a peak at a color wheel for some inspiration. The complementary (opposite) color of blue on the color wheel is yellow. That would be pretty, very springy. But I hesitate to introduce a WHOLE NEW color into our wedding palate.

I could go with different shades of blues and purples, but I worry that that will be too dark for a spring time wedding.

WHEN DID THIS GET SO COMPLICATED?!?!?!?!?!?

All photos courtesy the Knot

Yes. It says “come to our wedding or we’ll kick your butt”. I thought it was hysterical. In fact it made me laugh out loud. Literally. I showed J. He laughed out loud. I showed my mom. She laughed out loud. See, it’s funny because neither J nor I would ever hurt a fly.

This pic was taken right after we got in a horrible car accident and J’s face made friends with the windshield. On a side note, PLEASE don’t text and drive. J and I were driving in the slow lane of the interstate and a car slammed into the back of us, catapulted us across three lanes of interstate traffic, we crashed into the cement median and spun around so we were facing traffic. We ended up with some bumps, bruises, cuts,  and a broken nose… but we could have easily been killed.

The driver of the other car was texting. (If you still need convincing watch this video *warning, it’s graphic*).

Anyway, back to Zazzle. I’m pretty much obsessed with it. As I mentioned in a previous post, we already have our invites, but since so many of our guests are coming from out of town, there’s no way to get around sending Save the Dates. I think the most cost effective way to send STD’s is to send the post card version. And since I double as a photographer and J and I have enough pictures of ourselves to fill a municipal library… I thought it would only be fitting to have a photo on our STD’s. Here are some options… What do you think?

They caught my eye and stole my heart!  I didn’t have a plan for them but I knew I had to own them! Ha ha!  They are long enough that if I place them side by side on the head table they will make quite an impact!  I love how big the rhinestones are and that the back portion is mirrored.  I also like that I got them on sale  for (drum roll please) $5.49 each!  As I placed them on a shelf to get a good picture of them for the world to see, a lady came by and picked one up, I screamed “NO, THOSE ARE MINE” like some ridiculous bridezilla.  She slowly backed away.  And wished me well on my wedding… How did she know?

(Notice the lady’s hand in the left corner… just before I smacked it away! haha! Jk. )

Really, the fact that they caught her eye and that she liked them so well (them, not me) served as quite the confirmation that I really truly DID need to own them!  As if there was any doubt.  Now, my friends,  help me figure out exactly what to do with them! Side by side they total 2.5 feet.  Is that long enough to make an impact?  Dare I venture off into unknown suburbs to try to find even MORE of them? Should I put votives / flowers / picture frames in between them?  What would make them the most impactful?

Or should I scrap the head table idea all together and put them somewhere else???

I found 150 slightly used wedding bubbles for $1! Yay! I haven’t really decided if we’ll be one of those “bubbly” couples… but for a dollar it was worth having the option!

Source

I also found a pair of wedding shoes at the same yard sale.  They were worn once by a MoB.  They’re Kenneth Cole, with rhinestone straps.  $60 originally.  And, delightfully, they only have a slight kitten heel.  I LOVE high high high heels. But I hate being taller than my man.  And can’t imagine towering over him on our wedding day.  They are a just a tad tight across my toes.  But I figured they’d either stretch out, or I’d give them to MY MoB, who has more dainty feet than I!  Due to J’s expert haggling I got them for $7!  Much more logical than the $900 Christian Louboutin bridal shoes that I’ve been lusting over!  I mean, who even sees your feet!?!?

I’ve searched high and low to find black and white damask linens. (Yes, I recognize that my priorities might be slightly scewed, as we have no date nor venue… but I digress.) Other damask brides have gone to great measures and great expense to get their ideal table linens. They fret over the exact right pattern of damask. Whether it is white on black or black on white. They have their pattern SILK SCREENED onto fabric. They enlist MIL’s to sew countless runners. And have them re-sew them if they are slightly off center. They spend $20 per runner. Or buy $15 yard fabric from some fabric wholesaler in China.

I have to say, after reading their stories, I was ready to throw in the towel and go with some other color scheme.

That’s where my beloved Craigslist comes in. I have no idea why I was searching under the “Household” tab, probably searching for SOMETHING wedding related! And I came across a post for a black and white damask bedding set. This woman was selling her King sized comforter, pillows and curtains. Thankfully she sold me her curtains seperatly… as much as I love damask I’m not so sure I want to sleep on it… For $30 I got four LOVELY panels of curtains. They are BEAUTIFUL! I am going to cut each panel into three runners (or have my wonderful, beautiful, talented mother do it!). 12 runners for $30! Not too shabby! Maybe I should rent them out to those ladies that are on their way to the silk screeners…

J and I are both television producers at the same television network. In fact our offices are right across the hall from each other… which I think is cool… But our co-workers probably get sick of me yelling out “J come here I have to show you these custom monograms/bridesmaid’s bouquets/centerpiece mock-ups”… who am I kidding, I’m sure he gets sick of it too, but the wonderful fiancé he is, he rarely acts disinterested!

At the very beginning of our relationship J and I were in St. Louis, my home town, for an even our television network was putting on.  Since the event was in my hometown I went as an attendee, he went to work.  I drove 10 hours to get there.  He flew non-stop 1 hour to get there.  The girl I drove with ended up getting ill and flying back, so I was stuck by myself to drive 10 hours without any company.  J offered to give up his quick and easy flight to join me on the loooong drive…  in a compact car!  His sacrifice spoke volumes to me.  That’s the official moment when I knew he was the “one”!

I had the same aha moment when J and I were shopping for rings.  I put one on that I thought was way out of the budget but “knew” it was the “one”.  I felt like Cinderella when I tried it on.  And felt like the luckiest girl alive when he popped the question with it!  I still catch myself staring at it!  And I still feel like the luckiest girl alive!

Not long after J proposed I found myself in a Michael’s (let’s be honest girls, isn’t that where most newly engaged diy budget brides find themselves!? Haha).  And came across this LOVELY black and white damask invitation set, by Brides.  I “knew” they were our invitations.  Despite the fact that I hadn’t done ANY invitation research yet, I called my mom and she bought every box in the St. Louis area, with a 50% off coupon.  Cheapo!  Can’t wait to find some great ways to make them a little more custom.  Maybe a belly band?  Or a great monogram?  Who knows, I just loved them and knew they would set the tone for our dreamy delightful diy damask wedding! 

source

My first step was to brain storm… what do we want our wedding to look like? Feel like? What do we want our guests to remember? What are our top priorities?

We decided that we want our wedding to be elegant, classic, and FUN! We want the food to taste good, but we’d rather spend a chunk of change on a band that can get a party started! We (I) want a show stopping dress, but not one that I’ll be paying for until I’m old and gray! Our first goal was to prioritize….

My second goal was to figure out what I liked in other girl’s weddings!

I’ve always been drawn to black and white damask (and black and white toile, but my bathroom is decorated in that… and I didn’t want my wedding to remind me of my bathroom! Haha!) So I typed “damask” into good ole` www.weddingbee.com and came up with so many beautiful options that I decided that was a GO!

So I am officially, ANOTHER damask bride! I certainly hope it’s not too “2009” to fit in to my desire for a “classic” wedding. But I guess most bride’s have to answer to their children someday “Yes, honey, I had damask table cloths, I know they are SO out of style right now . . . but at least my bridesmaids didn’t wear HATS like at your grandma’s wedding!”

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had a TOTAL Cinderella moment when I found my ring.  I was THRILLED when J presented it to me when he proposed, and still laugh that he said “I hope you’re not disappointed” right before he opened the ring box, in one last miserable attempt to throw me off!

Last May I went to a brilliant bridal show thrown here in Birmingham, Al, called Style in the Sky. Anne Barge (more on my Anne Barge obsession soon!) was there complete with fashion show and seminar and Sylvia Weinstock, and David Tutera were there too.  I was in total and complete bridal bliss!

At this bridal show I entered oodles of drawings.  One of them was for a $1000 gift certificate to Diamond’s Direct, the jewelry store where J bought my e-ring.  Right before they announced the winner I thought to myself “I’m gonna win this”, and lo and behold they called my name!  I couldn’t believe it!  Ah, the power of positive thinking!

I texted J right away and told him the good news.  I was shaking!  Barely able to push the buttons on my phone. Minutes later I got a text back from J that said “Sure you did, Sweetie”.  J, ever the jokester, thought I was playing a joke on him. *Sigh* It wasn’t until he held the gift certificate in his hands that he believed me!!

This Christmas Diamond’s Direct is having a special 20% off Holiday Extravaganza, everything in the store is 20% off, even my wedding band! For a couple of budget snobs like J and I the thought of using my $1000 gift certificate at the 20% off sale to get my wedding band practically makes us salivate.  *I sure hope they accept the gift certificate during the sale! Say a prayer they do!