Venue?! I hardly know you!

So this may seem like a no-brainer to many of you. "Just have it at the church building!" Well that's exactly what we are going to do. Luckily we have the coolest church building on the planet, and it has a very cute courtyard in the middle where we plan on having our reception.

But it wasn't always this easy for me to default to the church. I dreamed of intimate gatherings by the sea, or in quiet restaurants. But with fees starting at $4000 there was no way it could be justified, but I could dream, right?

Here are a couple of my dream locations:

powerhouse park, del mar

la estancia, la jolla

So yes, they are beautiful, but I don't feel like I am settling by having our wedding reception at the chapel. After all, it has an ocean view, beautiful courtyard and best of all the price tag of free! Plus, I am taking it as a challenge. If anyone can make a reception at the church beautiful, memorable, and fun, it's me (or really its the combination of my super talented family and friends).

lunch boxin' it

Starting today, I am going to stop buying my lunch. So for today I didn't buy this:

or this:

or this:

Today I brought a sandwich and baby carrots. Let's see how long this lasts...

Its tricky being tall

A list of Reasons:

1. You spend your whole adolescence thinking that you have to find a handsome man taller than you. This proves a waste of time.
2. You have to spend extra money and effort making sure pants are long enough for your stems. This proves a waste of money.
3. You spend lots of time feeling huge and uncomfortable because you tower over the masses. This proves a waste of energy.
   

See? Tricky. Really though, everything is more expensive when you are tall. Taller clothes, bigger sizes and more legroom all cost more. A wedding dress specifically for a tall bride? There is a lot of money and time required for that. A lot of the standard less expensive options (buying a used dress or finding a dress at a sample sale) are out because, lets face it, the chances of finding something like that in our size* that's long enough are slim. (Don't even get me started on the chances of finding an inexpensive modest wedding dress for a tall girl).

But it's not all bad news, because I have found a loophole for my sister bridal Amazons out there. Bridesmaids dresses! You may think I'm strange, but if you want a simpler dress anyways, most bridesmaids dresses are available in white, ivory or other versions therein and are a fraction of the price of a regular wedding dress. Most bridesmaids dresses are made to order as well, so you can still get the length you need. If you are open to a shorter dress, even better!

Here is a quick example from on of my favorite modest wedding dress shops, Latter Day Bride. An average price of their modest wedding dresses? Around $850. This wouldn't include extra for additional inches at the bottom of a full length gown. An average price for their bridesmaids dresses (most of which come in white)? Around $250. With many of them for less than $200! And if you are willing to go short, no extra fabric would be needed for length, so you are good to go.

*this is open to interpretation anyways. a size 0-2 on the street would be a size 8 in the bridal salon. you do the math. ugh.

411 Charges

My favorite way to get around those pesky 411 charges on my cell phone bill? Text Google!

Just send a text message to G O O G L E (466453) with whatever you are looking for. Regular texting charges apply. I have unlimited texts on my plan, so it is free!

Examples as of late:

• I needed show times for a movie we wanted to see, but was nowhere near a computer. I texted the following "movie show times, [my zip code]" and was promptly replied to with a listing of movie options close by. When it wasn't the movie I was looking for, I texted again, but with "500 days of summer show times [my city, my state]." Within seconds I was reading the show times and phone numbers of the theater closest to me.
• I got stuck in some righteous traffic last night on the way to the temple, where I volunteer every week. I knew I was going to be later than I planned, but I didn't have the phone number to the temple. I texted "LDS temple [my city] phone number", and Google pulled through! I was able to call and let them know I would be a little bit late.
  

The other thing Google has done for me lately? Allow Scott to sync his Blackberry calendar to our Google calendar. With a quick glance, I can see what his week/month/year looks like and add any appointments I have so that he will know about them on his phone. That's efficiency, folks.

...goes bridal

Pretty much all my thoughts and shopping trips lately have been centered around my upcoming wedding. This is not likely to change in the near future. So for a little while, this may turn more into: things we actually bought, but that were a lot cheaper than other things we could have bought(en?)

We have a pretty tight budget we are working with and I am determined to stay within it. The one thing that doesn't help me in my quest? All the wedding blogs/magazines/books that tell me how our wedding should or shouldn't be, along with gorgeous pictures of everything from flowers to dresses to decorations. It seems that all I need to do is hire an event planner, a day of coordinator, and have a wedding budget the size of my yearly income.

Not gonna happen.

But, oh! It is so easy to get swept away. "I think I am going to NEED the beachside reception location." "There is no way that we can do this without an old fashioned limo/5' centerpieces/award-winning photographer!" Thankfully, I snap back to reality before most of my ridiculous ideas make it to Scott's ears.

With that being said, here are a few things I have learned so far:

1. It is definitely possible to stay within your budget: whatever it may be, $500 or $50,000. Its all about adjusting your expectations. But whatever you do, it can and will be a beautiful memory for you and your family.
2. Adjust your expectations: Really quickly, I had to realize that we couldn't have the venue I thought I wanted or the letterpress invitations. That won't change how much we want to be together or how much we love each other.
3. Remember what your wedding is about: bride, groom, in love, committed, family, forever. bride, groom, in love, committed, family, forever. write it down. memorize it. keep perspective.
   
4. You can do so much yourself: Never underestimate what you can do. You can make invitations. You can craft flowers for your hair. Boutonnieres are surprisingly easy to make.
5. When someone offers to help, Let them! Planning a wedding is a lot like finding a job. The key is networking. Think a little bit about who you know and how they can help. Your co-worker's sister wants to be a photographer? Done! You just got your pictures covered at 1/8 of the price. In our case, we are tapping into the amazing talents of our friends and family members for the food, cake, decorations, flowers, photography etc etc etc. This is not to say we aren't paying any of these people, but many have offered their services at a fraction of the price or as their wedding gift to us.
   

Basically, I am aiming for something between this:
and this:
Totally doable, right?