Dandie Wedding: 337 Days to Go
Hello my loyal readers! I hope you have had a great week and that this post finds you well. I am counting down my final more week of work until I get to go to the Outer Banks with my girlfriends. We are taking my car so I am making sure it is ready for the long 8+ hour drive down the state of North Carolina.
Something I thought about after the “Dandie Wedding: 365 days to Go” post was more about why I wanted to write a monthly reflection on here, and what I hope to document and share with all of you. Part of it is because I would invite every person I have ever met to my wedding if I could, but that isn’t realistic or feasible in life. Another reason is because I see a lot of wedding planning advice blog postings out on the web, and it has sound advice about how to plan the big day. Sometimes I feel like nobody ever really talks about the hard reality of wedding planning or the the many emotions you feel that comes along with it.
I mentioned in my “What I am Working Towards in 2021” post just how important it was for me to have an affordable wedding. When I was a little girl I always dreamed about this luxurious and very easily $30,000 dollar wedding. Thankfully as I have grown up, became an adult, and learned the value and work behind a dollar my taste has changed to some degree. However, the wedding market is more expensive than I ever could have imagined and I never thought my finances would be where they are at with already having debt to my name.
“Every time my partner and I sign on with a vendor I feel a sea of financial insecurity overwhelm me.”
I consider myself a researcher when it comes to shopping around for the best deal for something. Even before we set an ultimate budget of what we want to spend on a wedding, I found resources to help us know how much we should allocate to the different categories for our wedding.
So far we have been over budget in every category than I planned on and I feel defeated everytime, and I beat myself up over it.
I feel like I didn’t do enough with finding something more affordable.
Like my choices to invest in my education shouldn’t be a financial death sentence to derail every journey afterwards until student loans are paid off.
That I should have made smarter and better financial choices in my twenties, and not get wrapped up in credit card debt.
“How do you plan your dream wedding while also not compromising your financial health and well being in the process?”
Why we decided to have a wedding
So, I know you must be thinking “Jodie if you have all this financial anxiety and insecurity then why even have a wedding?” I asked myself this question in the very beginning, and my fiancé and I talked about it as well. We had a solid discussion on the pros/cons of having a wedding.
The simple answer is that both of us knew we wanted to celebrate our love and journey on a special day. Both of us have been to our fair share of weddings, and we are finally at a point where it is our turn to be celebrated.
I will admit that at times it is hard for me not to think about what else we could be spending this money on instead of just a single day event. It could be going towards paying off my student loan and credit card debt, it could be the bulk of a down payment on a house we will grow old in, it could be a solid emergency fund should one of us lose our jobs or decide to take time off.
“We have decided that we are going to celebrate us and this time of life we are in right now.”
Thankfully my fiancé has been great with his personal finances, and was able to get through college debt free, so we are able to save a big chunk from his paychecks. We have also gotten some help from my family, and we are halfway towards our savings goal of what we are willing to spend on a wedding. Being a little bit less than a year out that isn’t too bad in my book.
Where we are at with planning?
This past month we officially got to ask my fiancé niece and nephew to be in the wedding as a junior bridesmaid and ring bearer. It was so exciting and fun to ask them! We asked my niece a few months ago to be our flower girl as well. I always knew that I was going to want the kids to be part of our special day. When I was little I dreamed of being a flower girl or junior bridesmaid but never got to be one, so I am excited to give them the opportunity.
Etsy Link to proposal poppers for the little ones!
I also finally got to ask my closest girlfriends that I am going to the beach with. I have been friends with them for more than ten years, so it was a no brainer on them being part of my day. I mailed them their hair ties I purchased from Etsy and cute cards to officially ask them. I got enough hair ties for all my bridesmaids, our moms and sisters, nieces, and even for myself.
Etsy Links for Through Thick and Thin Pizza Card, Love you a Latte Card, and I’m Getting Meowied Card!
Besides the proposals we also solidified our baker for our wedding cake and other dessert items! It is someone I used to work with, and she does a great job at making gluten free desserts and preparing them safely, so I knew I wanted to have her for the day. We also as of this week decided on a main caterer!
We have also ordered our “Save the Dates” and putting on the final touches to our wedding website. I have also started researching more regarding flowers and trying to envision what all we will need for that day to bring the space to life.
We are slowly but surely solidifying our vendors, which is a big part of the planning process. Sometimes I want to fast forward to the small details of our day, but I just keep reminding myself that we have to build the foundation of the event first.
Until next time,
