a small wedding budget and 18 days left!

I read a lot of wedding blogs. A LOT. It's my new thing. Along with looking at wedding photographers. I really enjoy it and have learned a lot but one thing that strikes me as strange is that even the budget weddings which I've read about can run to like 10 thousand bucks. That to me is insanity! How is that an inexpensive wedding? It makes me wonder what I would have added if I had 10 grand to spend on a wedding. The only thing I can really think of is one of those cool little photo booths for guests to go in a get their photo for their wedding favor. Instead we're giving soap as a favor....hand made soap. The rest is exactly what I want.
We've done a lot of stuff by hand...well my mom has done a lot of stuff by hand. She made all the bridesmaids dresses (saving them a bundle!) she helped me with the soap, and she's making my wedding dress. My so-far beautiful fancy wedding dress that will end up being a total of probably 150 bucks, but completely unique and original. I've put work into it too- a million beaded flowers, beaded by hand and then hand sewn onto the gown, but my mom did the main work on the dress.
Rebecca is doing to reception decorating. I can't imagine what I would do without her. I wouldn't have decorations or linens or any of that stuff! I'm so grateful to them for doing all of this for me. I don't know the first thing about wedding decorating- and I don't have the motivation to learn.
The one thing we did go all out on money wise was the photographer. If I it wasn't so important to me to have a good photographer we would have spent have the money we are spending....but it was, it's the one thing I really can't do without...that and the groom! :P
Even so- with our small budget that we both put half into- we'll have a beautiful wedding and get our amazing photos. It will be a small wedding, and that's exactly what I've always wanted- but it will also have class and style, thanks to the help of Rebecca and my mom....and I'm starting to get excited!

Count down to the wedding...some thoughts.

Our wedding is in 25 days. There’s so much left to do- left to plan- left to finish. I have a million more flowers to bead, I need to order flowers, e-mail people, get to the church to actually step inside (yeah- we haven’t actually been INSIDE the church yet, although we’ve seen it through the very old windows on tippy toes). There’s stuff to do. People keep asking if I am nervous, I wonder if I should be nervous...should I be nervous? If I’m honest (said like bear grills) I’m not even to the excited point yet. Maybe because I don’t have a dress yet and nothing feels very wedding-eeee yet. There are twinges of excitement at times but nothing permanent yet.

The other day we went and looked at some property. Five acres with a cute little house that needs some work. We probably can’t afford it. But as the skies grew dark and we wandered around I could see it as ours. Not necessarily that house (although we both would love it) but the idea. I could see the chickens foraging around for bugs, the part of the pasture we’d fence for the horse, where we’d extend the garden out to, where we’d put the green house. How we’d clean up and landscape, and where our orchard would be, our goats, cows and sheep grazing. Where Tobes would have free range to run and play. But mostly what I saw was me and Jeremy, sitting on the porch watching the sunset, looking over all our hard work. Mostly I saw our future life together, and that’s what I’m excited about, that’s what makes me feel a good nervous, that’s what makes me so unbelievably happy it can bring me to tears at just the thought of it.
The wedding will be great. Even if things go wrong or get messed up or some things don’t get done, our friends and family, those people who mean the most to us will be there with us (and those who can’t make it will be in our hearts), in a very important moment when we dedicate our lives to each other, when we promise to be selfless instead of selfish, when we choose to go from two to one. I guess I am excited....but I’m especially excited for the after.