Sanity for the Nashville Bride
I have been struggling with the big day timeline� most specifically when to take pictures. I am way on a budget with large expectations from all the families to have a nice, relatively traditional ceremony and reception, which means no cake and punch� sorry my Southern brothers and sisters. So when my budget finale was totally, I was horrified. A quick browse through theknot.com and you will quickly understand my hysteria. Traditional wedding, like the kind I am expected to throw, budgets are easily tacked down to double what I had available. Double!! I could hardly believe it. And after tearing through every bridal magazine on the newsstands thanks to Borders Bookstore lax browsing policy, they confirmed my worst fears. A simple, under 100 guest list, affair could barely be eked out for still double my budget especially since I reside in a major metropolitan area, Nashville and will invite more than 100 of my closest friends and all of the family. Okay, maybe not major, but still, this is what I was left to believe.
So after a crying binge that didn’t want to end as I am stuck planning the whole affair to my lonesome while my honey plays elsewhere doing very important things, I started planning. However, I did not start at the beginning that most magazine, gurus, and bridal books (again, thanks Borders for my perusals), suggest which is at the budget. What was the point? Every budget I looked at that had the handy dandy breakdowns of percentages to spend at each step in the road was no where close to mine.
So I researched everywhere. Of course, by this point having not found the proposal completely unawares, I had already read all the advice which turned out mostly not helpful. I did find the etiquette stuff directional as I have never planned a wedding or helped plan a wedding before, and hopefully that has helped me to avoid pissing anyone off. So after all that etiquette dos and don’ts tips, today anything goes. So what did it really matter? It did start to give me the confidence to go about this endeavor of planning a wedding. So I emailed and googled everyone and everything.
And the figures started coming in. Yes, some were crazy expensive. But it was kind of like buying a car. I didn’t need a Jaguar. They are beautiful and fancy, but not really me, and I can definitely get from here to there in something less fancy. So I weeded out the over the top ones who do offer lots of fringe benefits, but guess what! Everyone you hire is going to want to help with advice and suggestions and actions in any way they can that’s reasonable. And of course, I am very excited about my wedding and being the controlling freak I am, want to do those little knicky knacky things that will set the mood of the wedding. Not to say anything against those of you who want to spend the six to eight hours preceding your wedding primping and beautifying. It’s just not for me. So I will spend the first part of my day at my reception site, reveling in the fact that this is the day I get to declare my endless love to my husband to be. More to come.
