Listening to Dave Matthews, Buena Vista Social Club, Ozomatli, Jack Johnson and Michael Buble, visions of vibrant colors, intricate floral arrangements and even an authentic tortilla maker dancing in my head, I never gave the wedding budget a thought.
I knew if anything could take all the fun out of planning my fake wedding, it would be figuring out what everything actually cost - so I didn't think about it and very blissfully went about devising decor and dress ideas on the 405.
Well, here we are. A real ring is on my finger, a real wedding is in the makes, and a real budget must be made.
Like most of the elements of our wedding, Brian and I will be breaking tradition, because just like rules, some traditions are meant to be challenged, and I LOVE a challenge.
Brian and I are lucky enough to have parents who have been there for us - with both moral and financial support - all of our lives. College, dorms, food, car, medical insurance, sorority, spending money - you name it, they paid for it.
We are happy to say that we have almost completely weaned ourselves off of our parents financially. Now, that doesn't mean we don't need you guys...we will never stop needing you guys. But for Brian and I, this has brought us a wonderful sense of pride and security in ourselves and in our future together, and we see our wedding as an opportunity to thank our parents, our friends and our family by planning this great party to spread the love and appreciation.
That being said, we are young professionals, who, although lucky enough to even have jobs, don't have the cash flow to spend the average $27K+ on our wedding.
As fun as it would be to throw a shit ton of money towards this event we've been planning for years, we don't have that shit ton of money to work with, and even if we did, I'm not sure how comfortable we'd feel spending most of our savings on one day.
But damn is that day special to us.
See, this is where I'm at. As you can tell, I love and live for weddings - eat, sleep and breathe the mesmerizing combination of design, decor, fashion, food, family, and most importantly the love that brings it all together, and I don't want to deprive myself of a day that I've been dreaming about for as long as I can remember.
So, I am going to approach the planning of our wedding like I have our relationship - with compromise (and congeniality, like Sandra Bullock).
My first big internal compromise...deciding on the chair rentals. Now, for the faint of wedding-heart (cough, Dad, cough), it may seem ridiculous to even place any amount of importance on chairs. But, when I saw these aqua blue chairs making the wedding blog rounds, I could not stop obsessing. I mean, just look at them... (first one from Style Me Pretty, second one from Bunch Studio Blog)
Aren't they perfect for a turquoise/coral color scheme? Swoooooon!
Anywhoo, I researched and saw that Classic Party Rentals carried these beautiful blue babes, and I emailed them to ask for a price quote.
My wedding bubble was truly burst when I found out that these chairs are $11.40 each. To rent.
I tried to justify in my head that if I splurged on these chairs, we could skimp on the rest of our rental budget, but I still don't have the heart (or the husband-to-be) that will allow me to spend almost $3K on a place to rest your tush.
So I searched for something equally unique and more affordably priced and found these bamboo beauties, which will work perfectly with our beachy, rusti-funk (rustic & funky, get it?) decor. And for half the price - at $5.50 each - me and the hubby-to-be agree! (Image from Baker Party Rentals)
Our first budget befuddlement out of the way, I know there will be many more to come as we try to stick to our $15K budget, but I can't think of better practice for setting our life's budget as we plan to spend the rest of our days and our moneys together!
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