The Budget Savvy Bride » HeatherG

Alternative Guest Book

HeatherG — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:23:38 +0000

In a past, not too long ago life, I used to scrapbook. For whatever reason, I lost interest and haven’t scrapped in a long time. During that time I created quite a few books. Where are they now? In a box in the closet somewhere, only to be taken out when I do a total reorganization/cleaning of the closet. Knowing these books ended up as dust collectors, I did not want that to happen to my guest book.

I searched for ideas for alternative guest book ideas that I could put on display instead of in the closet. One of my favorite book was the fingerprint version:

Source

The problem with doing something like this was I would have to have someone to design it for me meaning I would have to probably pay a price for it. Plus, there just did not seem to be much room for signing.

After my engagement pictures were ready to take a look at, I met my photographer at a local coffee house to pick my favorites. While sitting there, I mentioned to him that I wanted something different for the guest book and something that would match our rustic wedding theme and eventually our rustic-y decor theme at home.

Enter inspiration:

It was one of the walls at the coffee shop. I love the look of it and figured I could somehow replicate that look for my guest book. It would just take some planning. After about a day and a half of work, I now have something I am happy to hang on the wall

It was a pretty easy project and once it is time for people to sign, they can grab a pen and sign a shim.

Materials needed (for a 30″x22″ peice):

6-1x4x4 white wood pieces

4 packs of wooden shims

1/2 pint of Sunbleached Stain and 1/2 pint of Special Walnut Stain

Wood or Craft Glue

I lined up five 1x4s and cut them down to size. The sixth board was used as a brace on the back. I screwed/glued the brace to the back and let it dry.

I took the engagement pictures I was using and drew their lines on the wood so I knew not to place a shim in that area.

I started using wood glue to adhere the wood shims, but the wood glue would NOT cooperate. I eventually switched over to the trusty graft glue I have and it worked like a charm

After all of the shims were glued and cut to size (not easy if you do not have a power saw), I started staining my color on.

I started with the Special Walnut stain and applied it lightly and randomly. There was no rhyme or reason to how I applied it. I then applied the sunbleached color (which looks very gray at first). Then I just started using each color where I thought it was necessary.

I love how this looks! It has so much dimension and is very unique. I am going to have to find a pen that will sign the wood (not too difficult since I tested out different options on spare shims). Most likely, I will place this on an easel and let everyone sign a shim. I cannot wait to display this on my wall! The best part: I spent less than $30 to make this.

What will your guest book look like?

_________________ Thanks for reading Alternative Guest Book from: The Budget Savvy Bride

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Hotel Welcome Bags

HeatherG — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:58:35 +0000

The days are counting down. Holy smokes! I cannot believe we are THISCLOSE to the wedding.

I am not originally for Georgia and neither is Matt, so most of our families are scattered around the country. Sadly, we are not expecting a big out of town turnout, but for those who are able to make the trip, I decided to created small hotel welcome bags to greet them when they arrive in their hotel room.

At first I was going to skip doing this because I did not want to spend more of my ever expanding budget, but my mom talked me back into it and we are going to keep them simple. We are still working on what to fill our bags with, but here are a few ideas of how we are going to represent Georgia.

Small Coca Cola bottles. Obviously with Coke starting in Atlanta, Cokes all around

Source

A Georgia postcard. Here I will most likely write a small note thanking them for coming and a suggestion or two of places to eat near by.

Source

A bottle of locally brewed beer (for the legal aged ones of course). I have not officially decided which beer to go with, but I have one that is ahead of the others.

Source

A small bag of peanuts, to accompany the beer of course.

Source

A peach. We are the PEACH state after all. (Plus in season, these are so cheap at the Farmer’s Market)

Source

We are also considering adding a few coupons from some of the local restaurants that are near the hotel. It is still a work in progress and I am sure we will add a few substantial things, but I am excited to share this with family and friends.

Are you providing welcome bags for your guests?

Have you ever received a bag as a guest at a wedding? What was your favorite part?

_________________ Thanks for reading Hotel Welcome Bags from: The Budget Savvy Bride

DIY Cake Topper

HeatherG — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:41:23 +0000

I told you all my wedding was going to be DIY heavy! And rightfully so because I watched my little budget explode over the past week, so I have very little room to spare. Next on our planning agenda is to start looking for bakeries to make the cake. I went into wedding planning dead set on using our local grocery store, but my idea was quickly crushed when I talked to the bakery manager and learned how much a simple cake was going to cost. After I heard this price, I sort of put my cake planning on hold.

I did not stop the search for a cake topper though. Y’all, cake toppers can be really pricey! I, of course, started looking at the cake topper with my DIY goggles on. “Oh, I could SO make that for a fraction of the price.”

And that is what I did. I personalized a cake topper for a fraction of the price. I wont lie, I was worried it wouldn’t fit our theme or maybe look too homemade, but I think everyday I am loving it more. Lets get crafting, friends!

I found some cake topper inspiration and tutorials online that I sort of mixed together and made my own DIY cake topper.

Wooden Doll bodies – My craft store only had the smaller sized doll body. They may have had another size, but they were out.
Large beads – I used the larger sized beads with only one hole
3/16in dowel rods – You can use any type you want, I went cheap. And you will need to cut these down
7 inch circular plaque - They had multiple sizes and shapes
wooden hearts
Power Drill
Hand saw

My first step was to paint the bottom plaque. I used basic white acrylic paint and lined the edge with a thin blue ribbon. I honestly have no idea what my cake is going to look like, so I wanted to keep this part as simple looking as possible.

While the paint was drying on the base, I had to Marie Antoinnette my doll bodies (totally a verb!). The following images may frighten you or cause your lunch to sit funny.

Before: the innocent bodies

OH THE HORROR!

I used a simple hand saw to remove the smaller head which took a little elbow grease, but I wanted to go for a more proportional look with our bodies. Insert the large wooden beads. Those will now become our new heads (Dr. Frankenstein much?). Fear not friends, the little head will be used shortly. We must be resourceful with our crafting!

The next step is to drill a few shallow holes into the bottom of your bodies. This is quick and easy and will make attaching your legs so much easier!

Once drilled, I painted on the top half of my dress and M’s shirt and tie onto the bodies. I wanted the top of my body to match the top of my dress and also needed an excuse to bring in some glitter.

I then took the large beads and designed our faces and hairstyles with a pencil first. AFTER the fact I realized it would be been a little cleaner to draw my eyes on with a thin tipped Sharpie instead of paint. Live and learn. My hair was the hardest to match because it was either too orange, too yellow, or too red. She went through a few different dye jobs to get it close.

Remember our decapitated head? I painted that the same color as my hair and attached it to the back of the larger bead which created the look of a bun.

Once all of my paint dried, I took the dowels and first glued them into the girl. I took the boy’s dowels and painted them black because I was not planning on actually creating pants. Once the hot glue dried, put little black dots of paint on the bottom of each leg to mark where I was going to drill into the base. Remember, shallow holes. I first placed the girl into the base because I needed to build the skirt of her dress. I had some left over ruffled tulle from a previous project that I cut and glued to the bottom of the body for some extra poof. I cut a piece of white fabric I had laying in my pile and glued that over the tulle.

I had some scrap black fabric that I cut into a long strip and wrapped it around the boy to use as his jacket. Here is where I decided to nix the arms. I saw a few cake toppers using different types of arms, but I just wasnt thrilled with making arms.

I added more tulle to the back of the head for a veil and added our initials to one of the wooden hearts. Make sure everyone is glued in and you have yourself a homemade cake topper for $10.54 and about an hour of your day!

What do you think? I seriously contemplated NOT using this, but I think I need to use it.

What are you planning on using for your cake topper?
Have you chosen your cake?

_________________ Thanks for reading DIY Cake Topper from: The Budget Savvy Bride

Wedding Budget by The Numbers: Where Are They Now?

HeatherG — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:00:50 +0000

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We are officially into the double digits here in wedding planning world. This may sound strange to most of you in the same planning stages as we are, but I feel like things are starting to finally slow down a little bit. At the beginning there was this RUSH RUSH RUSH to get everything booked because work was going to take up so much of my time. Now that almost everyone is booked (still looking for cake, flowers, and a police officer), I can sort of sit back and semi relax with all of my projects. Do not get me wrong, we still have a lot of crafting left!

This past week I have been looking at the numbers of our wedding budget and wanted to share a “where are they now” post. I am going to be as real with you as I can and tell you my budget was thrown out the window.

Original budget: $7000 which would not include our rings, my dress, or our gifts to our bridal party

Hair/Makeup: FREE-I am so lucky my sister is in the beauty industry and does great work. Her salon has offered to do my hair for free and she will do my makeup. Everyone else will pay for their own hair if they want it done. I gave the option and they have all requested an appointment. The cost to them is $50

Cake: $450 budgeted-I have to stay strict with this budget. In looking at a few local bakeries, I may slide under (cross those fingers!)

Catering: $3,110-This is for our max guest list and it looks like A LOT of my out of town family will not be able to make it

Alcohol: $800 budgeted-I am hoping to come under that with some savvy shopping

Ceremony Music: FREE-I am going to brave the elements and use an IPod. Suggestions?

DJ: $795-A friend recommended him to me and I made sure to be honest with him about my budget. His response: he took $100 off to fit in my budget

Dress: (Not included in budget): $900 for the dress (which we bought consignment), veil, and jewelry. My shoes were $25 and I think I have everything I need

Alterations: TBD-This scares me because my dress is about four sizes too big

Groom’s attire: TBD-To be honest, I haven’t allotted much to him because I am always seeing deals if you rent everyone’s tux, the groom gets his for free.

Rings: (Not included in budget) Mine was a set with the engagement ring and his was $160.

Favors: $87 budgeted-If I can find what I need for cheap or free (borrow), I will come in much lower.

Flowers/Decor: $600 budgeted-This includes the ceremony and reception, but I have a feeling we will be over. I have a few ideas to cut some of the costs (and DIY projects for you to see). My ceremony décor is going to be very simple (and free because I found some great pieces being sent to the trash)

Invitations: $170 budgeted-So far so good. I have only spent $70 on invitations, Save the dates, and escort cards (thanks to Groupon). The stamps are the bulk of this budget. More information to come

Officiant: $250.

Rentals: I HAD $215 budgeted to this because our reception location came with some tables and was set to come in much lower. After setting up the tables and seeing how awkward and crammed it looked, I had to rent everything. I am at $679! Lets take a minute to cry together.

Photographer: $1000. I had a friend planning on shooting the wedding for a very small fee, but sadly something else had to take her away so my budget sort of popped. Our new photographer is a friend of my sister’s and was so nice to help us out. We explained the predicament and he brought his price down from $2000 for me. I will have to pay for the cd, but I will count that as the gift to the groom and our parents.

Venue: Ceremony-$225 (which was gifted to us), Reception-$1000, Rehearsal-FREE at my parents, Police Officer-from the advice of a former officer friend, $100 budgeted

Where does that leave us now? I don’t want to even share…..Roughly $9,700. Enter tears.

There are still a few places I know I can cut by simply DIYing, but I think my dreams of having a wedding for $7000 are gone. The sad fact is, it COULD have been done for that. Staying positive. In three months, lets regroup and see if I was able to cut anything down to get a little closer to $7,000. Stay tuned for more DIY!

_________________ Thanks for reading Wedding Budget by The Numbers: Where Are They Now? from: The Budget Savvy Bride

Help! Fresh Flowers are busting my wedding budget!

HeatherG — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:00:37 +0000

Hi BSBers! Today I have to reach out to all of you for some help and guidance. The current wedding conundrum is picking my flowers. After every up and down thus far, this decision has been by far the hardest.

I started researching a few local florists and have been overly shocked at the price of flowers. Jaw dropping shocked. Just the bridal bouquet was $400 alone. Luckily for me, I DIYed my bouquet for $30! I love the look and feel of it. It was completely trial and error arranging the flowers until they had the look I was going for.

But the rest of the flowers….I am stuck! I am very intimidated by floral arrangements and the price. They can either look really professional and amazing or really cheap and since I have no idea what I am doing, I am afraid my arrangements will look cheap. Here are a few photos of inspiration I have been looking at:

Source via Pinterest

Yahoo Images via Pinterest

Source via Pinterest

I still need basically ALL of my flowers. I need bridesmaid bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, and I feel like there should be some sort of arrangement at the ceremony (outdoors). The problem I am having is my total budget for all of these things is about $400 but that includes my other reception decor.

I have been eyeing the flowers my local grocery stores have on display and if I choose to go down the DIY, real route, Whole Foods seems to have the biggest selection of flowers. Of course, if we DIY real flowers, that is another item to add to our to do list the night before (not against it, but when you are DIY heavy, that can turn into a lot). My main concern is really the bouquets. I can make the bouts and the centerpieces do not have to be anything elaborate (lets face it, I want people on the dance floor, not oogling over flowers and mason jars).

So I turn to all of you. What are you doing about your flowers? Are you making your own arrangements? Real or fake?

_________________ Thanks for reading Help! Fresh Flowers are busting my wedding budget! from: The Budget Savvy Bride

DIY: Mossy Letters

HeatherG — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:30:48 +0000

One of the slight sacrifices I have to make to keep the budget happy is my wedding decor. The purse strings are pulled pretty tight because a lot of vendor changes have been made that have busted the bank a little and something had to give. I want to have a fabulously decorated wedding, so I am on a mission….DIY and shop for deals as much as possible. Easier said than done in some cases.

My first (of many) DIY projects for the reception was mossy letters. This project took no time at all and was less than an item on the dollar menu at McDonalds (with tax of course). In my search for rustic type decor, moss is everywhere. At some point I was struck by the cutest bride and groom initials covered in moss and wanted to have some of my very own. While I could have purchased the letters, DIYing this was the most cost effective answer…you’re welcome savings account!

Personal Photo

Lets make some letters!! (And remember, this project doesn’t have to be just for your wedding. Mine will be used post wedding as home decor)

Materials needed:

Moss ~ I used half a bag of Spanish Moss I found at my local craft store for $5.99 and had a 40% coupon
Foamboard ~ I had some leftover from work that was ready for the trash, but you can find foamboard at almost any store for a reasonable price
Glue ~ Spray adhesive works the best on this project in particular because spanish moss is so squigily.
An Xacto knife ~ Dont even try using scissors
Stencil ~ I freehanded it, but if you doubt yourself, create something on Word

I drew out my letters, H & M, at about 16 inches and started cutting with my knife. I promise you scissors will give you a headache trying to cut this. Once I completed the cutting, I sprayed my glue on small portions at a time and applied a handful of moss. I highly suggest working in small sections and letting the glue tack up for a few seconds for optimal stickage.

Personal Photo

Once all of my moss was attached, I shook off any loose pieces and trimed the sides.

Personal Photos

Personal Photo

Done. Easy, right?

Just for fun, here is a quick breakdown of the price:

Foamboard ~ Free
Half a bag of moss ~ $2.15 with discount
Glue ~ Free, already had

Total cost for the price: $2.15 or $1.07 per letter. Now go compare that to online shops and stores. Not a bad way to spend 30 minutes!!

_________________ Thanks for reading DIY: Mossy Letters from: The Budget Savvy Bride

Dressing Your Bridesmaids

HeatherG — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:00:52 +0000

Since we found my dress so quickly, I had a slight case of dress envy watching everyone try on wedding dresses. (Word of advice: If you find and purchase your wedding dress, STOP watching all wedding dress tv shows. So many people I know start having doubts on what they bought). I was so ready to go dress shopping again, so I made an appointment to start searching for the bridal party dresses.

Source: Grey Likes Weddings via Pinterest

Dressing your bridesmaids can be tough because of having to accommodate everyone’s size, shape or personal taste- and because these girls are likely your best friends you want them to be happy with your choice. Originally I wanted them to wear yellow dresses, but I know yellow can be a hard color for some people to wear, so I chose navy with yellow flowers/accessories. I am really happy with that decision. I was also going to be as easy as possible in letting everyone pick out their own dress. The only requirements were they needed to be the same designer, same fabric, and same color. The type of style and cut was up to the person.

After a little internet search, we headed to the bridal shop to try on different styles, cuts, etc. We all agreed Alfred Sung’s Duiponi Midnight Blue dresses were the dresses they would wear. Of the dresses I saw, AS had the biggest selection of cuts and the lower price point.

Ready to see what they have chosen?

Sister MOH is wearing the Alfred Sung D516. It is very sleek and form fitting, but the back is the best part. There is a large bow that clasps the straps together! When she tried this dress on, it gave me that warm, fuzzy feeling I think you are supposed to have when you try on your wedding dress.

Source: Perfect Bridal

Best MOH is wearing the AS D564. I personally think this dress is so flattering on her. If you will go ahead and let me borrow that when you are done, that would be great! Lets not leave out that is has pockets!

Source: Perfect Bridal

Best Bridesmaid is possibly wearing the AS Maternity M407. I haven’t actually been able to see it in person, but it looks so comfortable. I say possibly on this because she might not be in attendance since baby K is due right before the wedding.

Source: Perfect Bridal

Sister Bridesmaid is wearing AS D468. I saw this dress in person but not on, so it was hard to decide if I liked it. A friend sent a picture of her BM wearing the dress and it looks adorable!

Source: Victoria’s Bridal Couture (where we ordered 3 of 5 dresses)

Sister Bridesmaid is wearing AS JR500. She is still too young to wear most of the cuts that are offered (she is only 12), so she will be wearing this adorable junior bridesmaid dress.

Source: Perfect Bridal

Before we even chose what dresses everyone would wear, we bought shoes. Best MoH found them online and they were perfect in every way. They were also on super clearance. Here is a shot of the shoes:

Personal Photo

Sadly, no one wears my size, so I will not be able to steal anyone’s shoes (I would have loved to order my own for the wedding, but I am limited to flats).

As for what the flower girls are wearing, we are putting that decision on hold. I never realized just how expensive FG dresses are, some as much as a BM dress. In my search for dresses, I did run into a few dresses I fell in love with on Pinkmarie. As long as this dress is still available when we are ready to order, here is what I would like all three flower girls to wear.

via Pinkmarie…$34.99

All bridesmaids dresses have been ordered and now we have to sit and wait. I am so anxious to see everyone in their picks! Did you let your girls choose their own dresses? How did it work out for you?

_________________ Thanks for reading Dressing Your Bridesmaids from: The Budget Savvy Bride

Finding THE ONE – Choosing your Wedding Dress

HeatherG — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 14:00:08 +0000

One of the most fun parts of wedding planning is choosing your wedding dress, so of course I’d been thinking about what I was looking for. Lace, rouching, a full skirt, cap sleeves….all things I wanted in my wedding dress. I wanted it to have a vintage feel but fall in the right places to cover up spots that are somewhat annoying. My absolute no’s for a wedding dress: extremely form fitting, strapless, lots and lots of poof.

Inspriation #1 Source: Style Me Pretty

I made my dress appointment a month after we were engaged. I have heard stories and seen people cry (on tv) about not finding their dress until 20 or 30 different dresses or places. Oy. I wanted to get started early so I didn’t have to worry about that stress. So with the advice of some great friends, I went to my appointment with a very open mind. I said I would try on anything, even if it wasn’t part of my vision. Mermaid, Ill try it. Strapless, Ok. Very traditional, lay it on me.

Inspriation #2 (my favorite) Source: Pinterest (Original source no longer available)

When we got to the bridal store, it wasn’t what I expected. Obviously, I have watched too many episodes of Say Yes to the Dress, so I had different expectations. After minutes of looking through the tightly hung racks, we picked out about 10-15 dresses to try on. I was given my own “room” to change into my dresses, but I shared a mirror with another bride.

After trying on a few dresses, you won’t believe what started happening……I started leaning towards a strapless dress! I guess I never really tried on a dress that flattered my upper body, so I shunned it away. Part of the reason is because I can be very self conscious of my upper body because of my boobage (yes- a word). I have always been conservative with my tops and a wedding dress would be no different. Plus, I REALLY do not like my shoulders!

While trying on all of these picks, another bride and her mother-in-law started getting chummy with the group. We were mirror mates after all. At some point the MIL must have thought we were the best of friends because every time I would try a strapless dress on and ask my side of the room if it was covering enough, she would chime in with things like “you need to flaunt what God gave you!” or “those girls need to come out more. Show your man what you’ve got!”

Utter embarrassment! And the shock factor kept getting worse (but funny) as the hour went on. It was time to go.

We left with three dresses we all loved (two strapless and one with straps) and decided to just swing by another shop and see what they had. I didn’t have many expectations for this place because it was a consignment shop and what is out is what they have and surely they wont have anything that compares to the other three. But being on a budget, I wanted to look into all of my dress store options.

After trying on a few dresses I would have never thought I would wear, I found THE dress. I didn’t have that feeling you see on tv, but I knew. I contemplated for a while and said yes!

I felt so pretty in that dress and while it was nothing like the vision I had in my head, it had elements I loved and added bonuses. Wouldn’t you LOVE to see the dress? You’ll have to wait until the wedding day recap!

I never thought I would find a dress so quickly, but I am glad I did. And this dress was brand new, the previous bride bought two and changed her mind on the one we purchased. Choosing your wedding dress doesn’t have to be stressful- learn from my experience!

Advice for Choosing your Wedding Dress

Go with an open mind. You never know what you will look stunning in
Keep your party small. I was grateful for the three people that were with me. Too many opinions may ruin your appointment
Bring a snack and water. Hangry (hungry + angry) brides are no fun.
Bring body spray or deodorant. Hah I know this is strange, but wedding dresses are heavy! You can really work up a sweat trying those suckers on.

How many dresses did you try on when you found THE ONE?

_________________ Thanks for reading Finding THE ONE – Choosing your Wedding Dress from: The Budget Savvy Bride

DIY: Asking the Girls

HeatherG — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:30:33 +0000

Its time for the first wedding project of many (maybe too many!). I wanted a unique way to ask my best friends and family to stand next to me on one of the most important days of my life. I searched and searched for ideas, but nothing really stuck out to me that would still remain cost effective. I could have called them up and asked, but I wanted to do something special (and crafty). While at one of my favorite kitchen stores, I was browsing cookie cutters for the fall and football season when I discovered a wedding dress cookie cutter. The ideas started flowing.

I would really like to know what I look like to an outside person when ideas start brewing in my head.

With the cookie cutter in my hand ($0.99), I had some cookies to make!

Supply List:

-Cookie Cutter of your choice

-Medium sized mailing boxes (found mine at craft store)

-Card stock of your choice (for the cards and if you want to change the box color)

-Plastic treat bags (craft store)

-Ribbon

-Twine

First, I baked and decorated my cookies to the colors of the wedding. I found the recipe where else but at Martha Stewart. See Lucky Lemon Cookie Recipe here. I made a basic royal icing (simple: 1 egg white and 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar) which I colored as close to a navy blue as I could.

Not as Navy as I wanted, but they got the idea. Source: Personal Photo

While the cookies were doing their thing, I made my question cards and turned white boring boxes to navy blue using my tracing skills and blue card stock.

I formatted my question cards in Word and printed them on a more transparent piece of card stock.

Source: Personal Photo

After the cookies were done and the cards were ready, I packaged the cookies and sent them on their way. The furthest they had to travel was Milwaukee and Chicago. Everyone else was local

Source: Personal Photo

Then I waited. And waited.

I hated the wait! I wanted everyone’s answer THATVERYSECOND!

Honestly, I never knew this process would be so hard and stressful. I really wanted EVERYONE to be up there with me. In the end I chose my sister #1 (maid of honor), my best friend from college (maid of honor), my best friend from growing up, M’s sister, and my little sister #2.

Yes, I have two maids of honor. Yes, I know that is not traditional. This is the first of many things we are doing that is not traditional.

The total cost of this project was $30, or $6 for each box. This included:

Mailing envelope
Shipping costs
Box
Cookie Cutter
Materials for cards and box covering
Ribbon

How did you ask your bridesmaids to stand with you?

_________________ Thanks for reading DIY: Asking the Girls from: The Budget Savvy Bride

Our Yellow and Navy Wedding Inspiration

HeatherG — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:00:08 +0000

I am not those typical girls that had their wedding planned since the age of 10. I did not really start thinking about wedding ideas until I started dating Matt and I knew it was getting serious enough that marriage was definite. Then Pinterest came rolling in and helped create a wedding planning obsession. I must say, at this point in our planning process, Pinterest is overwhelming. There are just too many good ideas out there and can start to cloud your vision. Does anyone else feel that way sometimes about it?

Originally when I started thinking about all things wedding (yes, two years into dating, six years before being asked), I had dreams of being married in my favorite city, Charleston, South Carolina. What is not to love about Charleston? It is a city full of history, color, and charm. Every time I visit, a feeling of happiness spreads over me. That was where we were going to be married, it had to be!

The Battery, Source: Personal Photo

Rainbow Row, Source: Personal Photo

Sadly, Charleston was too much on the budget and harder for our out of town friends and family to join us in celebrating. When I say I almost cried after we nixed Charleston, I would not be lying. It was heartbreaking, but we have other financial goals we want to meet and this was the first of many sacrifices I had to make to reach that goal.

So now we are having our wedding in Atlanta (and trust me, I am so excited and happy I do not have to deal with the stress of a destination wedding now). I knew from the early days of “planning” I wanted my three favorite things to be incorporated into the wedding, burlap, yellow, and navy. Here are just a few pictures from my Pinterest wedding board that have inspired me so far:

Source: Pinterest via The Glass Slipper by Blush

Source Pinterest via Ampersand Photography

Aside from Charleston, I also had a vision of being married in a plantation. It wouldn’t be a southern wedding if weren’t at a plantation! But eventually I started falling in love with the rustic theme (burlap!) and decided I wanted a barn wedding. We are a pretty laid back couple and the fancy ballroom type wedding is just not for us.

Source Pinterest via Weddings by Lily

Source Pinterest via Style Me Pretty

What is your main inspiration for your wedding?

How many wedding pins do you have pinned? Yea, I am ALMOST at 500!

_________________ Thanks for reading Our Yellow and Navy Wedding Inspiration from: The Budget Savvy Bride