I logged in to my marthastewart.com wedding planning page today and realized that in 230 days, I'm going to be married. That seems like a long time, but it's less than eight months! Let the freaking out commence.

Here's the budget I created, with much help from e-Martha:



1. Food and beverages piss me off the most about that budget. I'm frustrated that I'm looking at spending four thousand dollars wining and dining a bunch of relatives who probably wouldn't spring for a coffee at Tim Horton's for me. We are looking at ways to trim those costs without being cheapskates--lunch vs. dinner, one buffet option vs. three, and so on. Obviously, we aren't having an open bar--we're thinking of placing a couple bottles of wine or champagne on the tables or designating a signature cocktail, hooking everybody up with one drink, and then making it a cash bar for the rest of the night. I have some serious alcoholics in my family that would literally rack up hundreds of dollars EACH in booze, easy.

2. We plan on paying for our bridesmaids' dresses and groomsmen's tuxedo rentals. As we see it, we invited people to be in our wedding; why should we make them pay for outfits they'll never wear again? I've been checking out J Crew a lot for bridesmaids' dresses, as well as Alfred Angelo. I'd like to choose something people would be able to wear again to another formal event, not something super prommish.









I think if I pick one of the brown shades I'll opt for nice bright, bold flowers, like an all-red bouquet. If I go for red, the flowers can be a little more muted. The more I look at these pictures the more I like the brown dresses, actually.

3. Our flower estimates are pretty conservative because I'm not paying a florist :) The plan is to get flowers from Superstore--big bouquets--and put them together with my mom that morning.

4. For centrepieces, we'll likely do candles in glass canisters, fall leaves, and baby pumpkins/gourds. I know how it's easy to go overboard with table decorations and we want to make sure things are pretty and festive, yet simple. Glass vases can be picked up pretty cheaply at stores like JYSK or even the dollar store. My mom grows Chinese lanterns. Farmer Clem's is great for baby pumpkins, both orange and white. I think the table decorations should come together pretty easily and cost-effectively and will most likely be under budget.

5. H2B and I already have matching platinum bands that we wore even before we got engaged, just because. We might have them engraved on the inside rather than buying new rings.

6. For favours, we'll likely have big jars full of candy from the Bulk Barn so guests can help themselves. It'll be pretty easy to match the candy colours to our colour scheme (hello, JellyBelly!) Plus, we both love Reese's Pieces best of all so those will be featured for sure!

I haven't chosen a colour scheme yet but I'm leaning pretty heavily toward a red/cranberry shade. The runner-up is a chocolate-brown or mocha shade.

We still have a ton to do but things are starting to come together, slowly but surely. Everything that gets ticked off our to-do list is a huge sigh of relief. Our to-dos for March include:

-picking a colour scheme
-booking our photographer
-meeting with our officiant
-confirming our ceremony and reception times
-figuring out what our venue has for ceremony music options (piano? organ?)
-finalizing our guest list