Time flies

Wow I haven't blogged in 2 months! Since then it's been a whirl-wind.

I have less than 5 months 'till the wedding but I feel like I'm ahead of schedule. I have all my vendors lined up with deposits paid. I just hope I'm not forgetting anything! Let's see...venue, catering (I have decided on Dreamland even though there is no contract), DJ, photography, florist (post on florist to come). I still need to contact a rental company for chairs.

Now I have college football and coming upThanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday, Valentine's Day, and Mardi Gras...I have a feeling time is going to keep flying!

flower board

I met with a florist last week without all my ducks in a row. It wasn't fun! I find myself getting swayed in to things I don't care for and I don't know why! The estimate she gave was for 10 centerpieces, 4 bridesmaid bouquets, 1 bride bouquet, 2 corsages, 9 bouts, and some filler flowers for cake/buffett cables. The quote was probably reasonable but still over my budget.

I made another meeting with a highly recommended florist across the bay for next week. I'm ready with a flower board for this one! I have scoured the internet for inspiration (and I've seriously lost sleep to do it)! But, alas, I now know exactly what I want at our wedding...and here it is:
Now I just need to find a florist that will do all that for my budget! :)

re-vamped wedding board

Making a wedding board is my therapy! I love to see all my ideas come together.

I'm still drifting further from the "autumn" colors. I wonder if I'll sway back when fall arrives. I hope not because by then it will be too late to change all my plans! :) But, since the tones are changing - that means I now have lots of fall foliage, pinecones, wreaths, etc that aren't going to be used. I'd love to post them for sale somewhere and perhaps help a fall bride because I'm sure those items are hard to find right now. I think I'll put them on WeddingBee Classifieds in the next week or so.

HAPPY FOURTH!

fickle for sure

Yea...I suppose I chose the right blog name. I'm in the midst of changing my mind again! Originally I planned on having potted mums at my fall wedding as centerpieces. Now I'm considering a few stems in mason jars. I already have lots of mason jars at home and some more I recently lent to a friend for her reception. If I do mason jars, I'll do white linens with burlap runners - quite the opposite of the chocolate pintuck linens that were a must only a week ago. Perhaps a long engagement is not best for me...there's way to much time to think! Anywho - here are some pics I found on weddingbeecom from Mrs. Cherry Pie that I ADORE!

Wedding Board

Here's my latest and greatest wedding board!

With summer here...I feel myself drifting away from the autumn colors and more toward brighter oranges...and adding some pink. I really like the bouquet in the picture with the bride - perhaps with some more orange roses and less green (although some green helps the other colors pop). I also originally planned on wearing blue shoes as my something blue. But, white wedding shoes are so pretty and make pretty pictures! :) I do want fun shoes for the reception though (I like the idea of boat shoes...I haven't been able to convince anyone else that they are a good idea). I foresee issues of casual vs. elegant/classic in the future - I hope to find a middle ground somewhere along the way...

Budget..the topic of the week

A lot of the blogs around the circuit have recently wrapped up their weddings and have begun to discuss their budget (expectations versus reality). I try to just pretend I don't have a budget! But, I do - and it's about $8,000. When I was first engaged (YEARS ago) my budget was $10,000. But that sounded like too much money to me...so I cut it in half. $5,000 ended up being a little unrealistic - now we're at $8,000 ($7,352 to be exact, but I'm sure there will be some last minute details and things I've left off).

While trying to keep a small budget, I tried to follow the suggestions of other sites and make a list of my top priorities for our wedding. That didn't go so well! When looking at each item individually - they all seemed important! Food? Yea, we want great food and plenty of it. Music? At first, I was considering the iPod route - but I found a GREAT DJ and they're worth every penny (or more). Dress/Shoes/Attire? Well, who doesn't want to look great? Photography? I tried to go budget on photography but going with an experienced pro is a MUST for us. Paper? Yes, please!

I worked backwards and found the vendors I wanted (through bridal shows, internet, other brides) and made my budget set on having them help with my wedding. I have basic figures that I'm willing to pay for services (based on local sites and other brides in the area) and I go in to my search with that figure in mind. Vendors are a lot more willing to talk when you have a budget in mind. They can tell you right off what they can offer in your price range. One serious budget saver is having our wedding on a Thursday! On venue alone we're saving $1500. We've also used it as a bargaining chip with other vendors as well.

I realize while $8,000 is a lot to me - it's not nearly enough for the weddings in larger cities. I guess living in Mobile, Alabama has its perks! I do hope to stay under budget over all. As long as I can stay away from temptation, it seems very possible. Only time (8 months, 3 weeks, 5 days) will tell!

Another Month Closer

Well, we're one month closer to the wedding....now at 8 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days! (I have a ticker on my google homepage - I'm not actually doing the counting.) I'm, of course, thrilled the day is getting closer. I just wish it would hurry! I have such a tendency to change my mind often that it makes it hard to plan so far in advance.

Since my last post I've done a couple of wedding related tasks:

I wrote a bridesmaid newsletter. That was actually more fun than I thought it would be. Hopefully the newsletter will serve as a way to inform everyone of the same details and let everyone know anything that might be expected of them (they're all first time bridesmaids). I've also ordered our invites!

I've also ordered our invites. As I've said before, they were designed by the very creative Kimi at Printable Press. I had them printed by Cat Print and they're already on the way (I ordered Tuesday at around 10 pm)...now that's service! I'll be sure to post photos and details when they arrive next week!

What were you doing at the 8/9 month mark? What should I be doing? I'm open to suggestions and itching for a wedding project...it is wedding season after all!