The Budget

I was a little wary of sitting down and really assessing where we stand with our wedding budget. However, I needed to figure out if we could expand one section of our budget, so I couldn't put it off any longer.

I know a number of little purchases here and there for crafting projects and such aren't completely accounted for in my assessment, but I'm still really pleasantly surprised to see we're still well within our budget!

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I know money is often a bit of a taboo subject, but I figure I'll go ahead and come out and say what the budget is that we're working with. It puts the need for do-it-yourself projects and family involvement into perspective.

We're planning a wedding in the Dallas, Texas area with roughly 130 invited guests for $5000.

I don't so much feel constricted by our budget as I feel liberated. I'm free to edit out details I don't really care about, with the very valid excuse that our budget won't accommodate these items. Also, I'm totally addicted to bargain hunting, so planning a pretty large wedding on a budget which our society defines as very small (though it strikes me as a very significant chunk of change, thank you very much!) is providing ample opportunity to flex my deal-finding muscles.

Technically speaking, we have money in savings that we could also allot for the wedding, but we could not really do so in good conscience. I want to have a lovely, enjoyable, memorable wedding, but not at the expense of our financial well-being. I think $5000 is ample funds with which to throw a nice party, despite what the wedding industry may have to say to the contrary.

I know that some guests may find elements of our "budget" wedding tacky or distasteful but I suspect none of the people whose opinions I really value will fall in that category. I'm not willing to shell out the extra dough to impress everyone, which wouldn't be possible anyway.

There are some song lyrics I took to heart long ago. They go a-like this:

"But it's all right now, I've learned my lesson well. You see, you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself"
-Garden Party, Ricky Nelson

And that's exactly what I aim to do! This wedding-in-the-works pleases me so much. It makes me giddy every time I think about it, not stressed about the reception it may or may not receive from my guests. I wish every bride could feel this way.