Save The Date Cards...

...necessary, or a waste of paper?

I love the idea of announcing the wedding formally like that, but I have gone to three weddings in the last year that had nothing of the sort.

Humph. Maybe it's one of those things that sounds really good when you first get started with wedding planning, but then falls by the wayside as things start cooking. Which, I've come to the conclusion, is fine with me.

Wedding planning has finally kicked off. I've moved from daydreaming while perusing blogs to tackling the nuts and bolts. The most useful tool I employ? A good old Excel spreadsheet. Not only can I itemize each expense, I am in the habit of plugging in the links to online resources which speak to that particular necessity. I like being able to look at the spreadsheet and see the big picture.

Once we decided upon the amount we wanted to spend on the wedding (we're paying for it ourselves), it was a lot easier to start budgeting. It was also a lot easier to start cutting back. As the dollars and cents start adding up, you start to become inventive.

"Let's just have a small wedding," Fiance said out of the blue two weeks ago.
"Wha-at?" I stuttered. I mean, he has a huge family. HUGE. This would mean bye bye cousins...
"No, I mean, let's just have a small one up here with a small reception and then have the big potluck thing my mom wants to do a couple days later," he explained.

That's the beauty of thrift. Everybody wins and I can sleep at night refreshingly giddy about my wedding plans. Budgeting helped us make the wedding into our wedding. I know it sounds corny, but the spreadsheet saved the big day. Save the dates... TBD.

~Anna