Wedding Bells Are Ringing

Beyond this post where I announced our engagement, and this post where I talked about going to Fort York for a tour as a potential wedding venue, I haven't spoken much about our wedding. And don't let that fool you into thinking we haven't been making progress. We are well enveloped in the planning process. And thankfully neither Brandon nor I have any interest in the big, fancy, stress-filled wedding, so it hasn't been as terrible as it could be. In fact, we're just about complete with all the planning.

Our wedding is going to have a vintage flair on the cheap. We didn't want to spend the average $25,000 on a one day event. Instead, we set our budget at $5,000-$6,000 and so far we're keeping right within it. Everyone says it can't be done, but I know it can be. So here we go!

Venue: picked & booked- our venue is an old farm house turned into an event venue, so it has the charm we want, with some indoor and outdoor space. We plan to get married outdoors, weather permitting of course, and host the reception indoors.  This venue already includes tables and chairs, a full service kitchen.  $500

Food: this was one of the biggest debates between us and family- we planned on renting our own BBQ's and having people we know BBQ a meal. It's now going to be a buffet style meal, still well within our budget. So all turned out well. $1650

Alcohol/Beverages: Juice, coffee and tea come included with our meal, but not everyone wants juice, coffee or tea. OK, not many people over 19 want those beverages, so of course we will have a bar. We've decided to give everyone 4 drink tickets (good for $4 drinks) and any further drinks are at their costs. $1600

DJ: thankfully a family friend knew a great DJ, whom we've seen "in action", so not only did we get a great rate, but also a great DJ $400

Dress & Accessories: the dress is picked and ordered. I can't say too much about it here because Brandon could check in and I'm apparently supposed to keep it a secret from him. But I can tell you it's short, has pockets, and a sweetheart neckline. I also got some great vintage shoes (damn you sales woman!), a bird cage veil and I had previously picked up some pearls for a great deal. $500

Cake: Brandon's sister has been known to make some great cakes for various anniversary & birthday parties along with a wedding. So, it just makes sense to have her construct one for us. While the design is still to be determined, we have decided it will be delicious. $0

Invitations: These have been designed by us, and executed by a friend of mine. We're just about done with the design, and we will be buying the materials from a local craft store to print ourselves. $50

Brandon's Attire: Simple and easy, he'll be wearing dress pants, a dress shirt and a paperboy hat he already owns, as seen in this picture. $100-150 still to be purchased

Rentals: We will need plates and serving dishes, some warmers for food and some chairs for the ceremony. This has still yet to be sourced concretely, however we're seeing a range of about $150-250

Rings: Still to be picked, we already know the jeweler we will use as it's a family contact who also did my engagement ring for a great price. We don't want to spend a lot of money here, so we're throwing around the $200-$300 range.

So there ya have it folks, the majority of the planning is complete. The above brings the current total to $5,400 so we are right where we want to be. With some room for incidentals or splurging we may not have accounted for.

Olympic Sports I Could Do

We have been inundated with Olympics.  And I have to admit, today I was glad to see them go.  This happens every 2 years- winter or summer Olympics, our TVs, newspapers, magazines, social media and everywhere else are completely taken over by the events.  Even the ones that, clearly, no one cares about.  Like race-walking.  Seriously?  Race-walking?!

These gals hardly look like they're working at all.  Yet look at the one on the left- she's clearly straining herself.  When I watch the summer Olympics I tend to watch the events and think to myself, "ya, I could do that!"  (Whether or not that's reality doesn't matter to me.)  So, I thought up some events I could most definitely participate in, and possibly be a contender for a gold medal.

• creating Excel spreadsheets.  Yup- you read that correctly.  I am THE master of Excel spreadsheets.  Sure the people who developed it may know it a tad better than me.  But the restrictions on the event would clearly dictate no computer nerds allowed.  Therefore, I'd win.
• colour coordinating closets & finding items in record time.  OK, so you could chalk that up to learning my colours early in life- mom says I was advanced.  Or was it special?  Anyway, my closet is colour coordinated and also organized by type of clothing.  I am super quick at it and can always tell you exactly where any piece of clothing I own would be located.
• worrying about unnecessary things prematurely.  I am a pro at thoughts such as, "I really hope Brandon has organized his DVDs in alphabetical order so I can find the movie I want to watch as soon as I get home" or, "I wonder if he thinks my shirt is the wrong shade of pink?  what if he hates it?" and, "if I don't get home within the next 10 minutes, my whole day will be thrown off and I may not have adequate time to sit around and read Twitter".  See?  There's no way I wouldn't win gold on this one.
• reciting dog and horse breeds upon seeing them.  Man walking down the street with his rare Norwegian Lundehund- I knew it, and I could tell you about the history of the breed too.  Go ahead and test me.
• coming up with ridiculous insults and curses to drivers around me during rush hour.  This is fairly self-explanatory.  Cut me off, and I will be sure to flash you one of my useful fingers and probably yell a creative obscenity at you that you've never heard of. 

 I'm sure there are many more ridiculous Olympic events I could medal in, but I don't have time to list them all- I've got to go worry about whether or not the towels are on the correct shelf in the linen closet.