Okay so first off: I never ever wanted to plan my own wedding. The whole task seemed ginormous and daunting. So when it came time to discuss with my Partner the type of wedding we wanted we decided on a destination wedding. I was excited! I wanted to go to Mexico more than anything. (The real appeal to this type of wedding for me was that you get your own wedding planner at the resort, and you basically just need to tell them what you want and show up! Little to no effort.)
Well my excitement was short lived because once we told our family the plan for our wedding, almost everyone said they wouldn’t attend it and they all seemed offended that we wanted to get married away from home. So instead of feeling excited about my wedding, I all of a sudden felt pressured to put on a huge Wedding that I truly did not want.
As I’m writing this blog entry, it is just a little bit over six months away from my wedding date: July 25th 2020. We picked this date for a few reasons,
- Both my partner and I have birthdays at the beginning of July, so we didn’t want to have it too close to our birthdays.
- Where we live Summer is pretty short, so we chose a date that was in the middle of Summer.
- I proposed to my Partner on July 16th 2017, and wanted to keep it around that Date. (Yes Ladies! I proposed to my man, but that’s another Blog Post.)
Let me tell you though, SIX MONTHS away from my wedding and all I’ve managed to accomplish for my planning efforts is,
- I bought these bomb ass rose gold “fake crystal” fancy flip flop shoes to wear, (as my engagement ring is rose gold which I love). I saw these shoes 2+years before the wedding and just bought them as I knew that is the type of footwear I wanted to wear. Comfortable, no heel, sandal type.
- I spent about a year working on our Gift Registry… Just Finished it.
- Went Dress Shopping with my Grandma, Aunt, and Mother. My Grandmother bought my Wedding Dress for me, about Fourteen Months prior to the wedding, it does still need alterations.
- Picked a Venue (It’s our backyard. It was cheap and took no effort to find the venue, however there is a lot of landscaping work that needs to be done in the backyard this coming spring/early summer before the wedding.)
- I sent out E-invitations to my family and friends on Facebook. As my wedding is super informal, and I don’t know all of my family’s mailing addresses I opted for this to be the main form of invitation for our wedding. It is also easy/convenient for people to share to the more extended family if they express interest in attending our wedding. I encouraged people to send out the invite, all is welcome if I have to have a wedding here anyway, WHY NOT invited EVERYONE??
- We picked out our Wedding bands, simple rose gold band for him (I told him it didn’t need to be rose gold, but he wanted to match my rings which are rose gold), and a simple thin rose gold band with diamonds for me. All together about $500 as we both do physically demanding jobs we wanted to go simple/cost wise, and order some Silicone Rings with Engraving from Enso (Have you tried their rings? They are so comfortable and safe for Mechanics-No more missing fingers, and they don’t react to cleaning chemicals which makes it safe for me to wear while cleaning.)
- My Fiance and I went and picked up some wine kits (3 types) and a beer kit; this is something I was able to get him excited about, so I put him in charge of the alcohol. We also plan on buying some canned beers for the wedding, and maybe some hard liquor if we have some money left in the budget.
- Budget…. Well it’s just an estimate really, don’t wedding almost always go over budget anyway? I’m hoping $5000-$6000 for the wedding expenses, but landscaping the yard is not included in this estimate.
- I’ve gotten in touch with a Wedding Commissioner. I was really impressed by his website, because he had videos, pictures, testimonials and radio interviews. In the process of booking with him now.
- We are meeting with a cake baker today!
- We have narrowed down the catering companies in our area – BBQ was the first criteria, – Price and What they offer was the second criteria, – I have sent emails to the three on the top of our list to see if they do tasting, (I’m assuming they would, it’s catering you need to know what you’re ordering, but I’m such a Noob at planning this wedding I’m just wondering around sending emails waiting for replies.)
- I have sent out replies to photographers on our local buy&sell Kijiji, just trying to narrow it down the the best price/content and compatibility with photographer. (They will all try to please you, as long as their content is good I’m sure it will work out, but I am nervous and would love to do an Engagement Session with them before I leave the deposit for the Wedding.)
- We have just began discussing the idea of a DJ, but before that I was going to get a volunteer from the family to play the ceremony music, and just a usb playlist for the reception, which we might still opt for if we run out of money in out ‘budget’. lol
Now that I have written it all out it seems like I’ve done so much more than I thought. Every wedding checklist I have printed or tried to use keep telling me I am waaaaay behind schedule, which is stressful.
Thank you for reading my rant. Stay tuned for more!
K.Cherrywood
Socially Awkward & Confused 