Wedding budget break down

When we first got engaged, Mike and I determined our budget to be $2,000. My dad and stepmom provided all of the beverages and most of the food, and a few others contributed food as well. We borrowed as much as we could, and bought cheap on everything else. We also decided to include our [...]

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Wedding recap: getting beautiful

Getting myself ready for this wedding was so much fun. As I’ve mentioned, my sister Andrea did my hair. She and I set up in the big bathroom – me on a stool, her poised behind me. And Photographer Erica in and on top of the tub getting the perfect shot. While Ann worked on [...]

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Le coif

Remember when I freaked out about my hair? Well, in the end, it worked out beautifully. In fact, I was absolutely IN LOVE with my hair. Like I mentioned before, my sister Andrea decided to mess with it Friday night and came up with something I really liked. Loved, actually. So she recreated it on [...]

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Rehearsal… or whatever

I took the Friday before the wedding off, but Mike had to work in the morning. While he did that, I went grocery shopping with Des, my stepmom. We bought WAY too much food, as Mike has already detailed. By the time we got back to the house, Mike arrived with a bunch of borrowed [...]

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Helping hands

One of the best ways to save money on a wedding is to beg, borrow and steal. Well, maybe not steal. But we have begged for asked plenty of favors, and we’re borrowing several things from friends and family. Off the top of my head, here are all the ways our dearest are helping us: [...]

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A hairdo on a budget

After the fight-causing hair dilemma of last week, I vented to my friend Robin who generously offered to come over on Saturday and help me figure something out. She’s no hair expert either, but we were confident she could do a better job than I managed on my own. It took awhile, a couple different [...]

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Our first fight!

We got in our first wedding-related fight! I’m just going to go ahead and admit that it was all my fault. Poor Mike didn’t do a darn thing, and I made it seem like all the problems in the world were his fault. It all started when I tried to put hot rollers in my [...]

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Our take on wedding traditions

My friend Lindsay suggested that we break down the wedding traditions we’ve been detailing in our Wedding Traditions Explained series from our own point of view. We thought it was a good idea, too. So here it is: Tossing the bouquet and garter We will not be doing either. In fact, we won’t even be [...]

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Hair decor: check!

I got a big surprise in the mail last night. A package from my dear friend Katie. The little stinker. It was a card and something wrapped in tissue paper. The envelope said: Doesn’t she have the cutest hand writing? And the gift? A lace hair piece! If you recall, I had been coveting something [...]

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Wardrobe: bride and groom

Total, Mike and I have budgeted $160 for our wedding wardrobe. That includes my dress, shoes and accessories and his entire ensemble. Some people spend that much on the bride’s shoes alone. And the dress? Hoo boy, don’t get me started. Here’s how it’s going to work: My dress: $50 My shoes: $40 My jewelry: [...]

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