Ready To Get My Thrift On

After years of being the "girlfriend" (and perfectly happy in that role) I've made the mental transition from 'one day' to 'August 21, 2011' when thinking and discussing the details of our wedding.  This transition has not only required me to make some big, no longer hypothetical decisions, but to slap myself back into reality when the eco-friendly, localvore bride started to hurdle herself miles and miles off the budget course.  

       I think every bride should be alotted a grace period between the day the big question is popped and the day of gloom when she realizes she has a tiny fraction of what she'd actually like to spend.  This period allows for those, as I've said before, hypothetical day dreams of 'someday' to actually take on a 'this is the real deal' feel.  It's exciting and the possibilities are endless. Everything has the very exciting potential to become reality.  Then BAM! The day comes when it's no longer practical to put the budget planning off.  If it's not already evident, that day has come for me.  It was an instant downer.  I had all these high hopes and was so optomistic in my delierium, that $7,000 was a reasonable budget for what we wanted and for what we could afford.  Let's do a little math.  

 7000 = Proposed budget
 0 = What we have to work with 501 days out
 105 = Save weekly to have 7000 by July 2011

 

 Doesn't seem all that bad right?  Have I mentioned I'm working for a start-up company (a great one at that) where pay and hours are all but consistent?  Yah, so that throws a wrench in my savings plan.  That wrench though, has given me lots of food for thought.  How much of my wedding day dreams are the result of the consumer driven, corporate America that has been ingrained in my psyche from birth?  Do I really want matching table linens or is that what Martha Stewart tells me I want.  Being on a seasonal, part-time, on-call, off-season budget has lead me to do a little soul searching.  (It's been good for me I swear, everyone should experience planning a wedding with a negative budget).  I don't need matching linens by the way.  

       Antique stores are my friends.  Spending an extra hour researching where or who to get wholesale lumber from for our many DIY projects is worth the hundreds we could save or maybe even use for something we'd really like to splurge on.  (Like this totally awesome tent company who hand makes all their unique tents....just a thought).  And most of all this moola dilemma is really forcing me to think outside the box.  I've always known that I wanted our wedding to be unique and a sense of our styles and personalities.  To give our guests a time they won't forget in a fun and exciting way that is truly ours.  That said, I've gotten stuck on certain aspects that I know could be made more creatively ours.  Because I can't simply order up $80 shoes, maybe we could go barefoot.  Renting an Inn for two nights for our entire wedding party not in the cards? Then it's time to think of any alternative.  I'm over my woes and ready to put my thrifty thinking hat on.  Move over Martha I've got a wedding to plan (and make) and I'm going to haggle like nobodies business. 

1.That Tent company I was raving about? Sperry Tent Company

2.1912 Calculator photo found at http://members.shaw.ca/the.trainman/remember-when/calculator-1912.jpg
3.Lantern Photo: While stunning, out of reach for a couple like us living in a high living cost state like Vermont and with our income, forget it.  I doubt that guy is the brides cousin who graciously offered to miss the ceremony to dress like a French waiter.  This is just a prime example of what one sees when turning the pages of bridal magazines in this country.  Bad news for morale, those fairy tale photos are.
This photo was found at http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/good-things/dinner-at-dusk