The Beginning of Our Life Together!

May 21, 2011

Jason and I have now been married 4 months and we are stronger than ever.  As we have learned each others little quirks, such as who tends to pick up after themselves and which one of us will get the mail everyday, we have found that it is harder to be married than we had first anticipated.  I never realized how much money is required to keep up with life in America.  As a result, we have learned to cut back on eating out as much and what kinds of food we will be able to cook on a budget. I feel like we have started our life on the right foot; with the help of my mother and some really great friends, we just pulled of an awesome wedding under $4,000.  I am here to tell you that it is possible!

I found that in order to have a cheap wedding, you should acquire the right connections.  I have a friend that used to be a florist, she kindly arranged my flowers and offered them to me at wholesale price.  I had originally wanted purple calla lilies but two weeks before the wedding my friend calls me to say that she can't find them anywhere at a reasonable price, therefore, I quickly had a desire for purple roses.  I had to be flexible with my florist as she only did arranging as her hobby and she is a dear friend of mine and I didn't want her to feel undue pressure.  By the time two weeks before the wedding had arrived, I was just ready to be married to Jason and I didn't care what got in my way. 
My wedding was possible because of my home church group.  I would not have been able to have as smooth a wedding reception if it wasn't for my loving friends and family who offered to either make a dish for the reception or to carry chairs to the ceremony venue from the car.  My photographer was a former work peer who had recently quit her job to be a full time photographer.  I would like to think that she has done quite well for herself.  She has a blog and a company that is booming with portraits for families, engagements, and weddings.  http://www.redwhiteandgreenphotography.com/index2.php#/info3/

My beautiful wedding cake was the accomplishment of my mom's best friend and her sister.  I have known Ms. Connie since I was 8 years old.  She made my graduation cake, my engagement cake, and she will most likely make my baby shower cakes when I get to that point in my life.  The talent of this lady has amazed me.  I was blown away by the work that Ms. Connie and her sister did with our wedding cake.  She isn't a baker and she doesn't run her own business.  This cake is a product of her hobby and she does this beautifully out of her home!  My cake had three layers and she made another cake on the side for my family members who are gluten-free.  The first layer is white cake, the second is my favorite, red velvet cake, and the bottom is chocolate! mmmmm I can not express how delicious this cake tasted.  Now, looking back, I believe that is the only thing that I was able to eat that day.
I bought my dress at Neiman Marcus on sale; I believe that it was the last white prom dress that they had.  As I looked through the internet I realized that all the dresses that I loved were over $1000.  I had given myself a limit of $700 for a dress and as I was walking through the mall with my sister, I stumbled upon this beautiful dress. I didn't mind that it wasn't by Maggie Sotarro or that it wasn't a full ballgown that I had originally wanted.  I was having an outdoor wedding anyway. The one thing that I learned about keeping my wedding under budget was that I had to be flexible and remember that it was only one day.  On my wedding day, I didn't pay attention to the fact that I had left the favors or that my isle runner was left behind.  All that I could see was Jason, waiting for me at the alter.