Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The Flower Girl and The Budget

I know, such a great combination, right? Well, I figured I'd soften the blow of budget discussions with these way cute pics of The Roo - nickname of the most fabulous Flower Girl ever. Seriously.





Cute as all hell, right? I hear her walk down the aisle was quite focused on her task at hand. I will hold off on the story until I see if JCP was able to capture it.

I took these photos while I was waiting to walk down the aisle. I swear, that was the longest thirty minutes of my life. The Roo was really good though. You knew she was bored as hell with all the waiting and waiting. There was no fussing or whining or anything.

So, I am ready to share all things budget related. I'm not quite sure how to go about it though. I feel a little oogy about sharing the final totals on everything. Is it in poor taste to bring up the exact total of our wedding? I have two major numbers - the cost of everything and the cost of everything without the rings and honeymoon. I did that because the rings and the honeymoon were two areas where we had already started saving for prior to getting engaged. The honeymoon savings was originally my Bikram yoga fund. I sacrificed my yoga practice for a honeymoon! I'm going to get back into practicing as soon as possible because I have totally missed it!

The Candyman and I had started saving for our rings around September or October - right around the time when he and I started shacking up permanently. We had about half of what we paid saved up. We were super-duper-uber blessed that we were given a family heirloom diamond and only had to pay for the setting, my band and his band. His band was actually more expensive than most men's bands. However, we felt it wasn't a place to skimp since he'd be wearing it forever-ever. If we'd had to buy our own diamond, we'd still be engaged instead of married. For reals.

One thing The Candyman and I had decided on from the very start is that we would not, could not, staunchly REFUSED to go into any sort of debt for this wedding. It simply was not an option. The other rule we had was that we would absolutely NOT touch my savings. I've got the required 6 months salary saved if I should ever lose my job and it's something I worked really hard to get to. I wasn't going to blow it all on stuffed mushrooms (regardless of how super-yum they were) and tulle. No sir.

So that being said, I'm still trying to figure out how to share the budget breakdown. I can do it by percentage to total. I can talk about where I was over and where I was under. I can give SOME cash totals, or all cash totals (must check with The Candyman though to see if he's down with that, yo). I'm going to add a poll to the top of the blog. Vote for what you want to see.

God, I love polls. Totally fun because the are anonymous and all those people who don't like to leave comments can still participate with a clicky-clicky. Yes, you know who you are.

You can vote for more than one option. Go vote.

11 comments:

  1. L, obviously I'm totally curious but totally up to you. I didn't disclose also because mom ended up paying for things like bm dresses (which were lovely, but a lot more $$$ than I budgeted) and the rehearsal dinner and we ended up over my hoped for (but under budgeted) number because of alcohol.

    Umm Roo is indeed an adorable munchkin.

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  2. Yes, she is seriously the cutest FG -- ever. Hands down. :)

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  3. BTW, I am so impressed by your non-debt life and your six months savings. Way to go, TSB!

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  4. Six months savings. Very inspiring!

    Thanks for thiinking of sharing. I wasn't even going to have a wedding because I was so overwhelmed by the potential costs. I just wanted to elope. But these type of budget posts by blogging brides have all really encouraged me and shown me that it can be done according to your priorities. So I think it is important that we all try to be as honest as we are comfortable being.

    I see it as us forming a union against the WIC. If you know how much everyone is spending, it makes this whole journey much less confusing and overwhelming. As opposed to not being in an union, which is akin to having no clue whether your lazy coworker who travels to Japan eight times a year for vacation earns more than you. Confusing methaphor? Sorry about that. ;) But my point is information is empowering, so thanks for empowering us.

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  5. Cupcake,

    Don't EVER compare your financial life to anyone else. Just like relationships - you can't ever compare because you don't know what goes on behind closed doors.

    I remember being insanely jealous of a woman I used to work with who had all the latest and greatest designer clothes, a hot car and an equally hot and stylish husband. A few years ago they filed for bankruptcy. Last year they divorced.

    A book cover is just that - a cover. You've got to read the pages to find out what's really inside. Focus on what's inside and your outside will SHINE, regardless of the price tag!

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  6. I've totally debated doing the whole budget post as well. Like you, I'm undecided. Not because I honestly care what people think about how I spent the money, but more because of our vendors. I know brides talk and during the process I had more people tell me how much they or a certain friend spent that makes me think it's totally okay... but I'm still unsure.

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  7. I think its totally up to you how much you want to share, Im undecided what to do after the wedding too. On one hand it would be good to let others know how much but on the other, sometimes people are too quick to judge others. Although we shouldnt care about that, its a hard one! Sorry im not being much help!

    I think I wont want to share exactly what we are going to end up spending but thought it would be good to get an idea of how much of our final budget ends up going to each different element as a %, probably excluding the rings & honeymoon too.

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  8. i'll never post our total. partly, i don't know it. mostly, its ours. %-ttl is interesting though because mine were often vastly different from the knot recommendations.

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  9. So cute!! I'm totally curious as well but up to you. :)

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  10. She is so cute!!! I love the flower ring on her head. LOL at your poll shut up and show the money! I picked include the rings and honeymoon.

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