And I am so excited for her. She gets her very own Ryan :o) Its a very good name for a husband if I do say so myself. Today we went and looked at Lord Hill Farms and it was absolutely enchanting. But I have a hunch she will go with something else - smaller and more intimate.
I am stunned at the media/society/peer pressure to extravagate (to proceed with extravagance - yes, its a word - okay, maybe not, but it works) ahem . . . pressure to extravagate everything! A wedding should be stressless and simple, and yet we have these brides toting enormous binders, stressed to the max about how they'll ever get everything done. This seems wrong. No, this IS wrong.
Autumn was mentioning about how so many women regret how much money was spent on their wedding in hindsight. We had about a $10,000.00 wedding. THAT SEEMS INSANE! And yet it was very stressful to get everything we "needed" for that amount of money. My dress was only $400!! And yet there are so many other things that could be done with that money. Did I have a wonderful day? Yes! Absolutely. Am I thankful for the amazing gift my parents provided for me? YESSS!!!! But my question is - could it be done for less?
Here was our breakdown:
Dress - $400
Alterations - $200 - I know - don't even get me started . . .
Flowers - paid for by Ryan's Mom but we spent around $800 - and they were very simple because the location was a lovely garden.
Photography - $1000
Wedding Site - $1000
Reception Site - $3200!!!!! (included linens, dishes, cups, chairs, tables, some decorations etc.)
Food - $2700 - roughly $18/person
Invitations - $200 maybe? - and these were cheap! I wish they had been more special, but it is just a piece of paper afterall . . .
Cake - $400 maybe?
Music - free
Officiant - free
Videography - free (but you get what you pay for - his battery went out DURING OUR VOWS!!! :o) We still love him though.)
That leaves about $900 give or take for miscellaneous items, decorations, favors, guest book etc. (BTW, unless you're planning on spending a bazillion dollars on favors to get something really awesome, I think they are a waste of money.)
AND all of that was a good deal. We could have saved by going with a different venue and getting our own catering, but it was a SPECTACULAR venue if I do say so myself :o)
Anyways, enough of a rant. But how in the world can a society-approved wedding be any less? The only solution is to BE UNIQUE!! Why do I forget that so often?
BE UNIQUE! Go against the grain! Don't do what is expected of you, do what you WANT to do!
1 comment:
Yay Autumn and Ryan!!!! She is so fortunate to have you by her side.
As you know, we had a nontraditional and cheap ($1,100) Wedding and Reception, and it's amazing to think of the guilt and shame that goes with it. I constantly had to remind myself that it didn't matter what other people thought. Now...no regrets, but it was incredibly hard to go through with what we wanted.
All that to say, that the pressure is so real. And you are absolutely right: couples should do what they want to do!
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