Wedding hooplah

My first post involving weddings, and it's a rant more so than anything.

Nothing is more exciting, stressful, aggravating, and expensive than planning a wedding. We spend years searching for our soul mate, then when it comes time to take the plunge we are stuck with a plethora of decisions from food to color pallet, to of course, the dress.

But the most commonly uttered phrase and to me the most annoying is "as long as you end up married to the person you love, the rest doesn't matter"

Can you imagine as a young girl if your mom told you that wanting a Cinderella wedding was a silly dream because in the long run, it didn't matter?

I am in a position now where finances did not allow for us to throw a grand and glamorous wedding, but that never deterred me from doing everything I could to throw the best party I could think of.
We had lawn games:I made my own decor (from ceremony to reception...even my bouquet (duct tape))

We went all out for our rings

We had a catering service who helped us plan an extensive and FUN menu (including cotton candy and tacos) and we still managed to keep the wedding fairly inexpensive.

I have been planning my wedding for years. When Nate proposed so many ideas ran through my head of what theme we would chose. And to be honest, the wedding did seem to be the more important part of the whole ordeal. I wanted a party, AND I wanted to marry my husband.

But when people tell me "it's not about the wedding, it's about the one you're marrying" I just sighed and nodded. I love parties, I love show stopping, and I love showing people you can have the best of both worlds.

DON'T COMPROMISE YOUR BIG DAY
if the money is not there, cut corners to get the same effect:
-DIY
-a more casual menu (tacos and cheese steak)
-less invitees (we had 61)
-buy a dress off e-bay ($75)
-hire an amateur or starter photographer (saved thousands)
-have a relative videotape
-skip the costly engagement photos and go homemade
-have hair and makeup done by a friend or by a local cosmetology school
-opt to not have a limosousine or fancy ride
-skip out on the wedding night hotel suite
-DO NOT buy custom dyed shoes (they are hideous, expensive and hideous)
-hire a friend who can sing or play guitar to do the ceremony music
-Ipod the reception (we used speakers for a computer)
-use silk flowers (tacky? maybe... cheap and realistic? YES)
-if you want an actual venue stick with Friday night (cuts the cost immensely)
and lastly
-ETSY ETSY ETSY ETSY (great goods for reasonable prices in every category you can imagine)

it is important to be happy with your spouse and in the long run the party memories will fade and the two of you will still be together, but what's marriage without a smashing party to get it started??