Monday, November 28, 2005

The planning...

The next few months are going to be very complicated, the opposite of the "Simple" life we're looking for. We've both talked about how we want to just start our life, fast forward to that point where we've got the house, and are settled in, building for the future. But for now, there is a lot more to plan and get done. For instance:

Wedding in California, where Darcy's family is. We're going back and forth over size. Our initial guest list had a max of 165, including children, if everyone came. We don't expect them to, especially a lot of the East Coast people. We've considered trimming the list down to 75 or so, but still need to work that out.

Finding a location is difficult. Darcy was out there all last week and looked at several places. We're planning on paying for everything ourselves, so we're looking for bargains. We're finding that most places want you to use their catering and so forth if you book their facility. That jumps the price. Places that allow you just to rent the place, mean a whole lot more work.

Food...make our own, (family style) cater, or just serve Hors Doeuvres and drinks.

Transportation for our friends and family. Darcy is in the travel business, so she's looking to get some bargains for those who will be coming out with us.

Honeymoon.

Not mentioned yet, was of course, the dress, the flowers, the tuxes, all that stuff.

How to do all of this and not amass a huge debt is the challenge. We don't want to enter married life with huge debt because of one day....Should be interesting!

My finances at the moment are looking pretty good. I hope to have a snapshot up near the end of the week showing where I'm at.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Weddings --- ugh! I find it interesting how people -- especially those just starting out would spend money on the "wedding". I see the "wedding" as something for othters not those actually getting married. It tends to satisfy those around us and leaves us with either debt or ill invested money.

People often ask me why I will not have a wedding -- I simply tell them, I work hard on my marriage --- if your willing to pay for the wedding so be it --- but I rather put a downpayment on my first home.

Anonymous said...

Well, depending on how much you spend, you might actually break even when you count all the wedding gifts.

Tip: Register at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for anything you might remotely want in various price ranges. They don't adverstise this, but you can return everything for CASH, not just store credit! I say register for a lot because if your guests get you something not on your registry, you don't get cash back fo r it.

Other tips for low cost weddings: Lunch Daytime weddings vs. Dinner weddings. Food is cheaper and people drink less. Also, if you are willing to do it on a weekday, it will probably cost less.

And if they probably aren't coming to the wedding - invite them ;) J/K... mostly.

Dwight said...

Where out here in California are you looking at getting married? If it's an area I'm familiar with I'll be glad to pass along some places we looked at that don't cost an arm and a leg. (Answer in email if you don't want it public)

As far as spending money, it depends on what you want the day to be. With my family traveling across the country, we picked a place that would be a great vacation spot for them and made the whole weekend a fun time for family and friends. Oh, and there was a wedding, too.

B said...

We're looking at Northern CA, just outside the Bay Area...Vallejo, American Canyon, in and around the Napa area...as you would imagine, it's all terribly expensive.