Ten Things I Learned This Year While Planning Our Wedding

Hey there everybody, faithful readers, passersby and critics, the year is almost up and I have been doing some reflecting this morning and thought about some things that I learned about myself and weddings this year and decided that I would write a post about it. It may be informative to people planning weddings or just a little sentimental to people who know some of the situations that I will describe in my top tens. Either way I hope you enjoy it as much a I did when I reflected upon it. Here we go...

10. Everyone has an opinion about your wedding, even if you don't ask for it. The trick is, do you know what you want and are you mature enough to stick to your guns while listening to everyone's suggestions. Some suggestions are valid and can help you, but sometimes, if its not what you want, let it slide.

9. Weddings can cost a lot of money. LOL you say duh, but you never think about all of the small little details that add up and send you over budget. For those who are planning weddings and want to know what they are...here are a few. Stamps, wedding dress alterations, flower girl dresses (they are way too pricey for a little girl who will only wear it once), receptions (it is really easy to spend half your budget on feeding people) and limos. If you want ways to save money, plan ahead. I got a lot of deals because I knew ahead of time that I needed these services. Also, see who may want to help you, its worth just seeing what they know how to do.

8. Speaking of people who want to help you, I have learned that I have a lot more people in my corner who want to help out than I thought. I really appreciate those people (you know who you are, but I'll shout you out Brandy, PJ, Crystal, Kim, Yolanda, Uncle Bryant and Aunt Peg just to name a few.)

7. God really is blessing me. This is number seven because I like the number seven LOL. But for real. God has really given us a lot of blessings with this wedding. He really uses people you may know or not know to bless you if you just trust Him. One story...my reception venue. I called them this past week to start getting the menu nailed down and it turns out they changed the menus and raised the price significantly. But, because the man honors his word, he still agreed to give us the menu and price he quoted when we booked it earlier this year. You know people don't have to be honest and honor their word. I am thankful.

6. My brother is the best brother ever. I could not have asked for a better little brother. He moved down south to pursue his dreams, but we are probably closer now than we have ever been. I love him so much. He has helped me get through some of the stress of planning a wedding. Only he understands why things are in our lives and I thank God that we can help each other. *tearing up*

5. When you have a good man, you know you have a good man. It doesn't matter if you get married in a mansion or a park, you just want to be with him forever. No matter the situation, a good man will be there for you in the good and the bad. I have a good man. *tearing up again* I am a big cry baby.

4. I am cheap. LOL my fiance continues to remind me of this. He always says that I remind him of his dad. How does that work? Aren't men supposed to marry someone like their mothers? He always tells me stories about how his dad did something similar to what I am doing now. But on the real, I just don't need to spend a lot of money to be happy. If I feel like I can get it for less money, I will try my hardest to do so.

3. My fiance is not cheap. He wants the biggest and the best and money doesn't matter. Sometimes that's a good thing, and other times it is not so good. We just had a big argument over how much to spend on this wedding recently. He told me he is just trying to make me happy and give me my dream wedding. LOL "I would be happy with a backyard wedding for just family," I responded. But, I am secretly happy I can have this big wedding because I am sure it will bring a lot of memories. It is just really hard to have a wedding on pennies when your fiance has thousand dollar taste lol. Think about that when you go to plan your wedding ladies. Its also about what your fiance wants.

2. I only want to do this once. Enough said.

1. My family really does care about me. I think I have been in an argument with my mother more this year than any other year in my life, but I know its because she loves me and wants the best for me. Marriage is a big deal and nobody want to see you choose the wrong marriage partner. Since I have such a close knit family, that is especially true for me. I know they love me and care about my well being. I hear you all and understand it's coming from a place of love. I thank you all for the advice and the concern and really know that its because you care. If you are planning a wedding, and have a family who cares enough to make sure you are making the right decision, don't ignore them. You are truly blessed.

That's it. I have really enjoyed blogging this year and will definitely love it even more next year because I am sure there will be even more things to blog about. Save those pennies and have a Happy New Year.

Save The Dates...Sent

Hey everyone...so I have been extremely busy for the past couple of weeks and clearly haven't had the time to post any new blogs. Things have gotten really crazy for me. I am nearing the end of my second to last semester for my second bachelor's degree. I have two more finals tomorrow and then I am officially done. This semester really wasn't that bad, and my finals have gone fairly well so far so I can't really complain.

But, there is still a wedding to plan. I just looked at my knot.com profile and we are under 200 for the countdown. 199 days until I am married to the love of my life. Six months out and I am now sending out save the dates. Yep, I decided to send them. Me and a friend designed them and I printed them at Kinkos (well Fedex Office but I will always know it at Kinkos) and I really like them. They didn't turn out exactly the color that I wanted them, they are a little darker than I would like, but I did a woosah and refused to go bridezilla at the printer and left them like they were. They are still very pretty and they do the job. Plus they were well under budget because they were having a sale on Christmas card printing at Kinkos so that was even better. I sent most of them out today and am waiting for few more addresses, but here is a picture of what the card looked like:

It took me a while to figure out the wording for the inside, but I think I came up with something that fit both Christmas and Save the Date. 

Wording:

Christmas is a season of love and we are excited to announce this season, that we will be making a commitment to forever love, honor and cherish. We would be honored to have your presence at this life changing event. Merry Christmas from the future Mr. & Mrs. Gobble. 

Only my out of town family and friends are getting them, so I was able to save a lot of money on Save the Dates. John really wasn't a fan of the idea, but they really are important. Especially since our wedding is a few days before the 4th of July. That is a popular vacation weekend, and you need to get on people's calendar if you want them to be at your wedding.

Well, I am still plugging along at saving my pennies. I had to start all over because I cashed in what I had already collected. If I can keep getting deals and sales, I think this wedding can end up under my budget. Oh yea, I just found out that one of the ladies at my church who I am pretty close with wants to make the flower girl dress. Really happy about that. It will definitely save money. She said at the most it would cost $40.00 to make it depending on the fabric that we choose. The average price for a David's Bridal flower girl dress was like $100.00. Since she will definitely grow out of it as soon as she wears it, there is no need to spend that much on a little girl's dress. I am all for the idea. Just gotta get together with the flower girl and her mother to pick out some stuff that she would like. Yay...everything is coming together quite nicely as far as the plans are concerned. 

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday, if I don't get the chance to write another post before Christmas. Save those pennies.