Wedding Countdown Ticker

Thursday, March 31, 2011

My Pennies Are Adding Up :D

Hello Peoples. I wanted to update everyone who is following my blog with how many pennies (or change period because I have been collecting anything) I have saved. I want to add a progress bar so that I can update it without writing a blog about it every month, but I searched and search google which is usually my answer to everything, but could not find an easy non-techy answer to my question. So, until one of my wonderfully intelligent readers helps me, I will be writing a blog about once a month letting you all know my progress in saving.

Well, I am really excited. I counted all the change that I have gotten so far and I have a little over 5000 pennies that mean a little over $50. Not bad for a month. I will confess I have been throwing change into a little froggy my fiance bought me long before I was engaged, but hey that counts too now that I am saving money for my wedding. That means, all I need is 495,000 pennies to reach my goal. Hey even if I don't get all 500,000 anyone who is planning or has planned a wedding knows that every little bit helps.

By the way I am still looking for any help with any of those little details that you may have forgotten about if you have ever planned a wedding. I want to know everything. Thanks everyone and keep saving those pennies. Later Gator.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Oh You Details SMH

There is no new invitation updates except for the fact the I think I figured out how to get rid of the little lines that that you can see from cropping a picture. That made me really excited the other day.

But this email is to all those who have planned weddings before and could give me some advice on what to be prepared for down the stretch on some things that may cost me my pennies, but I may not have thought about in time to find them cheaper. I was at the dollar store the other day and saw some little things on sale like gift bags shaped like wedding dresses that I may be able to put my bridesmaid's gifts in. Stuff like that. Would it be better for me to just pick stuff up as I find them cheap and on sale? In feel like if I buy this at the last minute I could be waisting money and should just buy stuff as I see it on sale. At the same time what if I find something cheaper somewhere else and can't take the other stuff back because it was on clearance.

Ugh...the life of a frugal bride. I want to think of everything, but I feel like something is going to creep up on me and make me and surprise me. That's why I need every one's help. Either write a comment on my blog or comment on my Facebook. Thanks all you expert frugal wedding planners.

SN: I was at Wendy's drive-thru and looked on the ground in front of the window and saw like 10 pennies on the ground. Would it look weird if I opened my door and started picking them up where there are a lot of people in line? Hmmm. Have a wonderful evening and save those pennies.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

With The Groom's Help, Part Two

So, the invitation saga continues. A couple people suggested that I try to make my own. I am always up for a challenge so I gave it a shot. Actually they came out pretty well, except when I showed them to my dear groom, he kept saying that the design covered up his suffix or he didn't like the fact that his name was on two different lines.

So, we decided to search the Internet for ready made invitations. HA bad idea. The ones he like, I kept saying that they were ok. The ones I sort of like didn't have enough "quirk" along with its "class".  He called me bridezilla a couple of times and we went back to editing our wonderful design.

To be honest, I think we work well together. He came up with some great ideas and I listened to him which helped me make our potential invitations really great. I am really excited about what we are coming up with. But, if all else fails I can always order $1.10/invitations from a website. To be continued...

Monday, March 21, 2011

With The Groom's Help

So, I am on a quest to find the perfect invitation design for the perfect price. Both tasks have turned out to be harder than I thought. I want something classic with a quirky spin on it.  This is how I kinda define my personal style, but its hard to find that in something I can afford to spend my liittle pennies on. I have looked at website after website, and have found a couple designs that stand out to me, but I just don't want to spend the money. This is where my groom's personality will have to come in. I love him for it. I am super cheap and he is not. He always tells me that if I like it to just buy it, but I just can never force myself to spend money on something i think I can get cheaper if I keep looking. But that is the thing. There are deadlines that you have to keep up with and if you keep putting off on choosing because of price, you may end up with nothing. Well, I still have a few more months to pick invitations but eventually I am going to have to just spend money. Since everyone is invited to the wedding, that means everyone will need an invitation, which is why this is going to be so expensive. Well, I'm still looking for the perfect price, but my groom's philosophy is still looming in the back of my mind. "If you like it, just buy it"

Have a happy Monday people and keep saving your pennies.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Something Old

When I went to buy my wedding dress, the sales associate kept bringing out wedding accessories that would go with my dress. Things like shoes, veil, jewelry etc, you know trying to up sale me and get her commission. I tried on most of her suggestions except when it came to the jewelry.

See my grandma was a beauty queen from way back. She had so much jewelry, beautiful and classic pieces. She passed away in December :'(  About 2 months ago, I decided that I was going to wear some of her jewelry on my wedding day. On my wedding day I know that I will have her voice in my head telling me to put on some more lipstick or envisioning her fixing my veil as I look in the mirror. She would definitely do that and I will miss it. We were all so close to our grandma and I just want a piece of her with me as I walk down the aisle. I only hope that I can experience the love that she had with her husband, my grandfather.

My brother came into town this weekend and wanted to go to my grandmas apartment before he left. So I went over there with him tonight and decided to look for a couple pairs of earrings to try with my dress when it comes in. My grandma will be greatly missed, but a piece of her will be with me as my "something old". I love you grandma. O:-)

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Searching Not Sad

I have been faithfully looking for everyone's cast off pennies. The coins nobody wants, I am searching the ground everyday to pick up. As I was looking on the ground one day, I thought about how it would look if someone I knew saw me. So, for anyone who may see me on some random day, I am ok. I am not sad or upset about anything. LOL I am just trying to help pay for my wedding hehe.


I have been taking a break from shopping around for wedding stuff, but I decided to look for something that costs no money at all. I am auditioning wedding songs. I have received a couple of suggestions from friends and families, but I would like to get more suggestions.  Someone asked me what our story was so here it goes.

Short: A dork met a weirdo and fell in love hehe loved that Brandy.
Long: Well we knew each other from high school and thanks to modern technology and social networking, he found me again on Myspace and proceeded to ask me to coffee. I kept saying no, but one day I came to my senses and said I would give him a chance. Good thing I did because he showed me that there are men out there who still have some sense hehe. With all seriousness, we hit it off as soon as we went out on our first date to the movies and had to sit all the way in the front because John made us late ;-)

So if you have any wedding song suggestions put in the comments section or Facebook me. Enjoy your day. I am still saving my pennies.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Wedding Dress = 40,000 pennies

I found my wedding dress a few weeks back and we are going back today to buy it. This is a belated birthday gift from my mom (my birthday was a week after John proposed). But once I started saving my pennies, I started looking at everything as "how many pennies would that cost"? For some things it makes it seem more attainable like my wedding dress or a small car would be 1,200,000 pennies. I found out that 1.2 million pennies are thrown away every year. I mean come on, people are throwing away a small car every year. That's just in pennies. Think about all change in general that you throw in a cup somewhere or falls in between the couch and you forget about.

My tip for finding a wedding dress for a good price to to just give yourself time to look. It took me about 4 months of looking at different styles to find one I absolutely loved that was within my price range. There are a lot of options out there to save your pennies and go into debt pay for a thousand dollar wedding dress. Check out sample sales, David's Bridal is very reasonable in price and is constantly having sales, look on the internet for brides selling their dresses on ebay, thrift stores sometimes have dresses and since it so cheap you can buy it and modify it for less than the cost of a regularly priced dress. There are so many ways to get what you want and save money.

I know people probably think I am crazy for even attempting something like this, even my mother. She said I was getting desperate. Of course she never had a large wedding lol. Anyone who has ever helped anyone plan a wedding or has planned a wedding themselves thinks its a pretty cool idea. I have found that whenever I tell people what I am trying to do, they usually dig into their pocket and pull out a couple of pennies and give them to me. Nobody cares about pennies. LOL. Well I do. I have found 72 pennies, a dime and a quarter so that's 107 pennies over the past week. I am well on my way to reaching my goal. I will not be throwing away my pennies.

How many cars or wedding dresses have you thrown away in your lifetime? Hmmm.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Pennies From Heaven

Hello everyone and welcome to my first blog ever. I have always been fascinated with the idea of blogs where anyone who has a computer and internet connection can become a published writer. This particular blog came about through a series of events. Of course, seven months ago I became engaged to the best man in the world, John Gobble. After the most romantic day in my life came the thought of how to actually pay for this day. Good thing we picked a date 2 years away from our engagement date. Then, while I was walking to the bus on my way to work, I saw pennies littering the ground. They looked like God had dropped a bunch of pennies from Heaven for me to pick up. I decided that I would begin to pick up the pennies and save all the pennies that I found and saved on my own. I started talking to my maid of honor, Brandy aka #1 Lame and we came up with this idea of making a blog and collecting pennies from all of our freinds. So today, I decided, was as good as any to start my blog. I hope everyone enjoys reading it. I will be chronicling my planning activities and purchases until the day me and John walk down the aisle. There is a paypal donate button on here, so if you like what you are reading and would like to donate some pennies that would be the best. My goal is to reach 500,000 pennies by this time next year. Have a great day and do something great with your Wednesday. :D