go team Baxter

Darren and I had a good talk last night about how we're going to face - nay, attack - the next two months. Two months!

He's starting his new job today, which mean he'll theoretically be making more money than he was on unemployment (they're only paying him $10 an hour, but it's better than nothing). We're going to stick firmly to our monthly budget plan and try to reduce our grocery allotment. We won't be going out or doing anything that involves spending money - no bars, movie theatres, restaurants, and the like. All the money we have left over will go toward the wedding.

We'll also slowly but surely stock up on frozen ground beef for the taco bar. If we can find ground chicken at a good price we'll pick up a bunch of that too. We'll pick up the perishable stuff (lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, etc) probably the day before.

We haven't made any decisions about side dishes. If his mom still wants to help, she can do those. Rah rah.

We're going to need crock pots.

programs

Okay, so it might take a little convincing to get Darren to go along with this taco bar idea. Fingers crossed!

In other news, the most time-consuming project is proving to be the ceremony programs. I mentioned in an earlier post that I downloaded a template to make fans. I have to cut out each individual piece- five sections per fan. Three of them will be printed on both sides (one side with actual ceremony and wedding party info, the other side with a design), and the other two are blank but there to make the fan larger and more fan-like.

I decided that instead of leaving the blank pages boring and white, I'm going to stain them with tea. I've got some test pages drying right now, but as long as they dry to the same stiffness as before, then it's a go. I've got almost all of the blank pieces cut out. I'm not going to print the other pieces until after I get more ink, so I can do them all at once (my current color cartridge is about half empty and I'd inevitably run out half way through printing).

So it's going to take a long time. But they're going to be pretty nifty I think.

Ugh

So, you know how cows and turkeys were going to be raised for our wedding feast? Yeah, that fell through. So now it's all going to have to be purchased. Oh, and Darren's aunt told his mom that it's been too cold for the sweet corn (70-80 degrees is too cold??) so that's going to have to be store bought too.

It was my understanding that Darren's mom's family was going to take care of all the food. But she just got off the phone with him and she asked him to ask me what kind of food budget we have. Um, we have zero dollars. I had just gotten off the phone with her myself after explaining that we were over budget as it was. And I don't see why she couldn't have just asked me herself.

We have two months. Food won't be purchased until a couple days beforehand so we have time to save extra money, but it's not going to be much. Especially since we have to save extra money for our over-budgeted-ness.

We should have eloped.

*EDIT: We had accounted for the side dishes, but not the farm-provided food. But Brenna, bless her, had a brilliant idea: taco bar. BAM. Ground beef, ground chicken, black beans, and the usual taco fillings. Delicious, and way more affordable.

Confession

Now that invitations have been sent, I'm totally girl-ing out. We've gotten two RSVPs so far and both times I've been all "tee hee hee yay *giggle*" despite the fact that one of them was a no.

It is ridiculous, and I hope I calm down.

But the first RSVP was from Beth & Dan and they're totally coming and I get super excited every time I think about it. Yay! Yayayay!

I'm also inbox stalking, since every time someone RSVPs via the website I get an email. I don't know what I'm going to do when someone responds by phone. Probably not answer and then listen to the message and have the same response.

Bah. Total girl.

In other news, we finished pre-marital counseling on Tuesday. Now we just have to wait for Anna to send us the official, notarized thingy saying that we received counseling so we can get our discount on the marriage license. Pip!

Progress!

Invites are going out with the mail this afternoon! Holla!

Also, my pretty sage green crinoline is finished and was shipped today:Hopefully it arrives soon. Although I noticed she shipped it to my home address, so... I might end up having to fetch it from a post office somewhere, because we can't really accept packages at our place if they don't fit in the mailbox. Oh well. I'll get it somehow.

I also started cutting out pieces for our programs last night. Just the blank sections. I want to buy more ink before I endeavor to eff with the actual colored portions. This project is going to be the biggest pain in the ass yet. If I end up baking cookies as the favor, it's going to seem like a breeze compared to these programs.

Anyway. I finally got around to creating a To Do list and it's getting pretty short. Mostly just making purchases, with some shopping and writing and creating thrown in. It looks long but it's kind of not. Although I do feel like I'm forgetting something:

To Do

• find vases for centerpieces

• make centerpieces

• find square placemats or something for centerpieces to sit on

• acquire marriage license

• book flights to Vegas

• ask Darren's grandma to be a reader

• choose readings

• buy Darren's suit, shirt, shoes

• buy all ties

• buy groomsmen gifts

• finish buying bridesmaid gifts

• acquire games and stuff for reception

badminton
bocce ball
board games
bean bag toss

• decide where to stay before the wedding (book rooms if necessary)

• decide where to stay on wedding night (book room if necessary)

• finish vows

• finish ceremony

• finish programs

• make guestbook

• make description cards for food

• make signs (may scrap this idea depending on what resources end up being necessary. I want to use chalkboards but damn if they aren't surprisingly expensive):

"guestbook"
"games"
"food"
"drink"

• buy place settings, cups, serving utensils and bowls

• buy lanterns for decorating

• make playlists

pre-ceremony
dinner
dance

• try to go to Bertha to decide layout

meet with officiant if possible

• make signs to put along the road to direct people

• buy all beverages necessary

wine
water
soda

• favors??

• finalize day-of timing and details

• 2 weeks out: make sure officiant has final ceremony

• 2-3 weeks out: make sure rental company has final numbers

• determine any tasks for wedding party

• decide who will coordinate day-of setup

• write toasts

• do name-change paperwork

We have invitations! Here it is, edited for privacy. Eric is working on the RSVP, hotel, and direction info as I type.


Also, Darren's ring arrived on Monday and my necklace should be here in the next couple days. And I think we're going suit shopping this weekend. Woo!

oh, and Darren finally decided on his wedding ring and it's being made for him this week.