"A beautiful start to a new chapter"
How I did it: We had only 6 months to organise the wedding because of family coming from overseas. Luckily the chapel we wanted to get married in was free on the date we wanted, so the rest went from there!
It did feel like a bit of a scramble to get everything done in 6 months, and on budget. Initially I didn't realise how much planning would have to be done! Some friends helped by sending me Excel spreadsheets and run lists that they had used for planning their weddings, which were brilliant.
In the end, the whole day was perfect, and I know this is because we put so much into planning it, and had so many wonderful friends around to run things for us on the day.
Lessons & tips:
Document, document, document. On the actual day of the wedding you don't want to have to worry about details, so make sure the people involved have all the times, contact numbers and details that they need.
I used a few checklists that I found in magazines and websites to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything, but mostly we stuck to things that <i>we</i> wanted to have. If we couldn't see any use in having something in, we threw it out!
A lot of so called 'must haves' are just part of the whole wedding industry. We didn't pay for expensive cars, just borrowed some beautiful ones from family. We didn't have a professional dj, we used a jazz playlist on my iPod set up with a friends speakers. We didn't have a full sit down meal, we had an afternoon tea and chocolate fountains with fruit. We didn't give guests bonboniere or gifts, we had bowls of chocolate coins. We didn't hire waitstaff, we asked friends to volunteer. They loved being involved and we knew we could rely on them.
Don't feel like obliged to do anything, choose what you want to have as it's YOU who has to pay for it, and who will remember it more than any of your guests.
And importantly, make sure you take a few moments throughout the day to look into each others eyes and realise what the day is about - your joy in your commitment to each other! Ahh, bless :-)
Resources: Excel
The internet
My friends
My family
My church
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Feb 25, 2009, 06:38PM PST
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