Awesome things happening!

I am so excited about things happening with regards to this wedding and to other things in life.  First I will talk about what is great about the wedding planning!

We have paid nearly everything off!  We have paid off the caterer, the ceremony site, the save-the-dates, the invitations, the tuxedo rentals, my dress/accessories, the transportation, the ceremony musicians, and the justice of the peace. We still owe the photographer; which won't be given until after we receive the pictures.  We also owe the last half of our rental contract.  I also owe for my hair/make-up and my bridesmaids' hair. We also need to pay for the marriage license, Steve's ring, the jr. groomsmen and ring bearer gifts, and the remainder of the alcohol; but that is all that we have left to pay for!  I am so excited that we have so few things left! 

I was also looking over my budget chart, yes I made one! I looked at what we saved by doing things ourselves and what we have saved by asking people that I know to help us with the wedding.  I will list below what we have saved:

Catering: Quoted by other caterers, $15,000; price we are paying, $7,500; amount we saved $7,500
Cake: Quoted $1000; included with caterer; saved $1000
Photography: Quoted $5000+; price we are paying, $2000; amount we save, $3000
Transportation; Quoted $600; paying $500; saved $100
JOP: Quoted $250; paying $100; saved $150
Music: Quoted $3000 for DJ and ceremony; paying $500 for ceremony as my cousin is DJing/MCing as our gift; saved $2500
Favors: Priced out about $250; made self for $175; saved $75
Invitations: Priced for $600; made self for $125; saved $475
Dress/Accessories: Priced out for $1000; paid $700; save $300
Ceremony Site: Priced out $900; paid $600; saved $300


Between all of the savings by doing things myself or from asking favors of friends, we have saved roughly $15,400. Now, by no means is our wedding a cheap one, but we are getting a wedding that could have easily cost closer to $45,000!!  I think we are doing AMAZING by saving what we have been able to save by asking friends to help out.  I am incredibly proud of what we have put together so far, and cannot wait for our wedding day!  I know we will save even more before the wedding actually happens as well!

So, today we paid all of the tuxedo rentals, which took an incredibly long time to do.  The guy had to enter 13 different people into the computer system, and that took a while.  We were able to get everything picked out and paid for, so now that is one less thing on the wedding list to do!

We sent off the final check to the caterer.  We understand that we will have less people than the price quote included, but Steve would rather get the money to the people we owe now, and then be credited back after all is said and done.

We have also been pre-approved for a mortgage, and we will be looking at our first house on Monday.  It is incredibly exciting to start this process together.  I love living here with his parents, as it saves us a TON of money, but we have been her for 3 1/2 years, and it is truly time for us to be out on our own.  I would ideally love to be in a house before my bridal shower, which is on April 30th, but I know that is pushing it a bit!  If we can be in a house a few months before the wedding I would be incredibly happy. 

I know I will probably fall in love with the first house, but when it is the first one you look at, it will be special,  But once you look at more and more houses, the image of the first one will be lost, unless it is truly the right house.  We will be looking at one that is 5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, with just over 2500 square feet, and has an in-ground pool on Monday.  It is one we have looked at several times over the last few months and now that we are meeting with a realtor and have been pre-approved, we are finally going to get a look at it.  It would be nice to absolutely love it and buy it, but that is a bit of a fantasy!

I will certainly update now that house-hunting is part of the wedding planning!  Wish us luck!