It's all coming together

deeSo, in the past couple weeks I have learned many things:

I'm better at this than I thought
I was so stressed out trying to get everything lined up and worrying about booking my vendors, that I ended up getting a bunch done and now I see the big picture and it is glorious! There is really nothing left to worry about. I have 7 months to go and I already know what vendors I want to use for everything basically. I still need to meet with them to finalize things obviously, but that can be done at a relaxed pace.
I went to the bridal show on the coliseum and that's when I realized "I already have a caterer, photographer, dress" All I need is cake and possibly a sound a lighting person, not really sure if my band does that or not.
So I have a lot of details to work out, but they are just details and everything is going to be amazing!

Videographers are expensive, Ridiculously
The one thing at the bridal show that I was looking to really get the nitty gritty on was videography. I definitely see the advantages or having video footage of the ceremony and reception. I want to show my kids and look back and see how it "really was". So, I have  a DJ friend that works for a company that also does videography. I asked him if there are bridal show discounts ahead of time and he said there are. So I went to his booth and wow. Keep in mind now I have been eating free cake and shrimp and grits all day and in a supper crowded room of brides-to-be. So I wasn't thinking too clearly. I saw the different packages and long story short it would be at least 800 for footage of the whole thing. I actually considered this until I sat down with my maid of honor and some peanut butter m'n'ms and talked it out. If I had a much bigger budget I would have paid this, but 800 is a lot of money and I'm opting for a camcorder and a kind friend or friends. It will be more personal that way anyways!

Beware of discount bridal websites
I have fallen in love with Alfred Angelo dupioni silk bridesmaids dresses. They are a little pricey but online I found them for more than 50% cheaper than in the bridal stores! Don't get excited yet, these are not really the dresses they are advertised to be. They are knock-offs basically, made of completely different fabric and not made by alfred angelo. This would be fine if you planed on going this route all along, but don't think you are getting the real thing. So now my choices are: 1) go the conventional route and get the 10% off at Jody's Bridal. 2) there is one website were they are 25% cheaper and I am calling them today to see if they are the real dresses or not. To those of you that don't realize the importance of getting exactly what you think you are getting: The colors of the bridesmaids dresses determine the colors for the whole wedding reception, so those little swatches that I carry around in my wallet better be what the dresses are made of, capeesh?

So if anyone was wondering whether is was possible to work 40-50 hours a week and plan the wedding of your dreams on an extremely small budget, IT IS! Feel free to ask me for any advice on this. I may not be an expert but I think I'm doing a darn good job so far.

Next weeks agenda:
set up time to meet with band
hopefully hear back from caterer with their quote
decide where to order bridesmaids dresses from
finish website
order save the dates from Dee Ruel

much better :)'

ok, now that I took my cranky pants off, lets thing about this logically. I will just do one thing at a time, duh.

So here's what I have so far :

 I managed to nail down magnolia plantation for march 26 (a Saturday in spring! barely). it was a big chunk of my budget, but hey location, location, location (right?)

I have gotten Chris Oxford of Dish Catering to cater my wedding and we have come up with an awesome menu, so excited about that. Food is basically what I live for!

I picked my photographer!!! Nadean with Gene Ho Photography, love her!  We just did our engagement photos on Thursday and I can't wait to see them.

I have started to my wedding website (to be revealed later)

I bought my dress, Bridals by Jodi definitely has the best dresses is town! The 4th place I looked and I was blown away. Bought the 2nd dress I tried on!

So I have many many more things to do, but I will will take a deep breath or 231 and tackle this wedding like a tiger!

231 days left!

Well according to The Knot.com, I have 231 days left to plan my wedding. Seems like forever right. These days are flying by like an A Train. I am learning so much from this planning experience I thought I should record it all and share with brides to be so that they may learn with me as I go. So let see what does the typical bride have to accomplish during her engagement period (you would think you would be sitting back sipping champagne with you FH for a year, but it's more like boot camp) There is finding a venue IN CHARLESTON (FYI, we are the 2nd most popular place to get married in the country) so basically that means I am competing with the united states of America for a Saturday in spring at a picturesque location that doesn't blow my budget out of the water. Not an easy task with less than a year to go. And then there is catering, bar, invitations, the cake, photography, videography, THE DRESS, bridesmaids dresses which will determine the whole color scheme of the wedding and have to accentuate the skin tones of 5 ladies that will kill me if they look "sick". Lets see what am I forgetting: renting all the tables, chairs, plates, etc,

OMG I'm starving! I need a bagel break.