Colors

Wedding Plan Draft #1

• Colors: navy and green. (For the green I am thinking the color of a granny smith apple, not something too bright.)
• Bridesmaids: navy dresses and green bouquets
• Men--hmmm... I don't know, the below wedding would be too early for tuxes, so I guess we'd have to go with suits (I'll have to check with the honey on that one)
  
• Schedule:
• Wedding at 2pm (at the Church)
• Reception 3:00 - 7:00 (location TBD)
• Music (ipod or a small group)
• Dancing
  
• Dessert (I have a fun idea for a dessert buffet-I will share more later)
• Passed hor d'oeurves
• Bar with beer, wine, champagne and maybe a signature cocktail
• Meet up with those that still want to party at a bar around 9/10

Does anyone who might be reading this have any thoughts? I was having a tough time sticking to my budget while doing something around dinner time. This idea seems to solve that problem. I am hoping there will be a little dancing (well hubby and I will for sure and me and my dad and he and his mom, plus, I can probably encourage my bridesmaids to get a little dancing underway).

Preliminary thoughts on venues

I love the beautiful simplicity of an outdoor reception. (An outdoor ceremony would also be lovely, but, being a good Catholic girl--at least some of the time--a Church ceremony is in order.) I love the idea of picnic receptions. Cute, pretty, fun, intimate, and simple. I love this idea! Unfortunately, I don't know how to make it work for us. What about the weather? And about half our guest list (if not more) will be coming from out-of-town. Thus, it feels like we need something more than a picnic.

We did find a beautiful space that we both love, but it is definitely very outside of our budget. I have been thinking about doing a dessert reception with light hor d'oeuvres, but it seems ridiculous (and not very mindful) to pay so much for a space and then not take advantage of it. I don't even know why I am still thinking about this space. I just need to let it go. But, I keep picturing it. Every time I try to get creative and think about how to have a special day to celebrate our love with our loved ones, it is in that space.

But I need to move on. I am hopeful that sharing this thought will help me move on to a more mindful venue idea.

And So It Begins....

I have been engaged for one week and two days and I am already frustrated with planning a wedding. The one thing that has kept me sane is blogs on practical budget-conscious weddings. So, I thought sharing my thoughts anonymously might help me keep it all in focus as well. My perfect wedding is intimate, simple, and classy. Not modern and flashy. Not trying to impress anyone. Just letting our closest friends and family (turns out this may be upwards of 125) celebrate this very special day with us. Oh, and I want to do all this without spending money that would otherwise go toward... a honeymoon, a house down payment, our savings account.

I also want our wedding to reflect our values. We seek to live mindful lives that celebrate deep inner peace and joy over binging on consumer goods. This makes it hard to plan a wedding (as so many others have observed) in an industry geared towards making it as expensive as possible. So here we are, trying to plan a mindful wedding. Which makes me a mindful bride