With all the depression news and after becoming more aware of how much wedding stuff costs, budgeting became an important part of our lives. I was the main budgeter but after a few arguments on how much money we really have I decided to pass the burden to Russ. IT geek as he is, he found a software that keeps everything in order. I was happy to realise that all my previous hand-made budgeting was correct and I may have found a new career .

Anyway, the news are worrying. We are going to struggle to pay for the wedding. We already reduced the guest list to a minimum, trying to not alter our idea of the wedding we want. We are now reducing everything else but still I may not be able to get The One dress :-(  We will still have a fantastic wedding though, I’m sure! It’s all part of the fun  and budgeting is still one of my favorite activities (and now Russ’s as well) and nothing like a good challenge to keep things interesting.

Let’s hope things improve, keep your fingers crossed

Mark it in your calendars!

Finally, after the contract was perfect, signed and sent, we provisionally booked the date at the Derby registrar and we booked an appointment to give notice of our wedding at the Milton Keynes registrar.

The cheque for the venue was also sent and the wedding insurance was bought.

It’s all on the way now and if all goes according to the plan, we will get married on Sunday, 28th June 2009 at 3 pm

Still lot’s to do though, and the bugetting has been adapted. Oh dear wedding are expensive!

We will try to get both together a much as possible, however, the last thing I want is to be retrained by tradition. So what we will do is personalise tradition.

We will write about these things in separate posts dedicated to separate subjects so that it’s easier for people to find the information they need.

But just as an example, main table settings will be adapted, guests outfits will be of free choice (jeans and flip-flops if they want) and all the bridesmaids need is the dresses to be the same. Shoes, jewelry, hair, will be as they feel comfortable.

We just want people to have such a good time as we do

There is only one problem: Just close family from Russ’s side there are about 80 of them. Adding friends and my family there are close to 120 guest! Our budget is so small, especially considering that I might not even have a job at the time, that it is almost certain we won’t be able to have a proper sit down reception.

We already started asking for prices and our fears are confirmed. In order to have so many guest, the only possibility might be having a cerimony and a party with no food or maybe just a simple small buffet

We will go up to Derby in a couple of weeks and look at venues – we are shortlisting them already – and we hope we can keep the plan as it is and invite everyone.

Sophie and Russ’s mum are compiling a list of family – names, contacts and birthday, which is a big help!I already had Bridezilla moments but to be perfectly honest, so far I’m really having a good time ;-). I like organising

I started reading books and magazines about weddings to have an idea of what needs to be done. Oh dear! There is so much more than I thought! And this is just to arrange the venue and a date, not to mention paperwork. We have to think about food, cutlery, chairs, decoration, licenses, money, guests, times, dates, etc, etc, etc. And then there is the photographer, the dress, the rings, the cake, the invitations, … It never ends!

The major problem for me at the moment is the fact that I’m foreign and traditions are not the same. Some of them are mutually exclusive so I can’t have a bit of Portuguese tradition on my wedding. But the major part is the things I don’t really know and are not in the books because people are supposed to know them. We are supposed to give presents to the brides maids, and the best man? And the mother of the bride? Is it flowers? Does she have to have a special outfit? Who pays for it? What are the rules? And corsages? Help!!!!!!!!! Some places say one thing, the others say another and then I see ideas for things I didn’t even know were necessary!

I need to go and see an English wedding! The only one I’ve been to in England was Muslim so it doesn’t help.

Anybody getting married soon?

One of the conditions for me was that we would have to get married within a year or close to that. I don’t want to not have a goal and then postpone it for this and that and be engaged forever. June would be ideal to keep everything tidy. It’s my birthday and our anniversary. It would give us enough time to save some money for the wedding (not much). But any Summer month will be good.

What I forgot was that by June I have to have my PhD thesis written, submitted and accepted, a new job, and the wedding planned!

That will be fun!

The stress of the planning and of the PhD started already, but so far, I’m loving it

I just wish I had enough money to pay for someone else to do the cleaning.That would help!