A Year of Living Frugally-Remembering to Breathe

So I am still in the midst of engagement euphoria, still upbeat and happy and starting to make plans. Once in a while I get this semi-flipped out feeling of "Oh My God! I have a wedding to plan! How are we going to pay for this!?" That is when I have to remind myself to breathe. I have had to remind myself of that several times this week

I went to the library, and checked out every book they had on frugal wedding planning. We have already decided to go with a church wedding, and having the reception at the church hall, which is less expensive than going with a more elaborate venue. The downside, which is also the upside, financially, is that our church does not allow alcohol on the premises, so it will be a dry wedding. Which means that we won't have to pay for an open bar. That doesn't matter that much to me, but it might not be the big party atmosphere I had imagined having. I have no doubt it will still be really nice. My nephew Jim has generously offered to both videotape the wedding and also DJ for us, which REALLY helped with the wedding budget. Those were things I thought I would just have to scratch off, and I am happy that is no longer the case. My good friend Eric, who is a printer and graphic designer, offered to do our invitations. SCORE! That made my day. The fact that I've seen his work and it ROCKS, just makes it even better. And last, but not least, my wonderful sister offered to take care of the cake. YAY! I graciously took her up on that offer (after doing the Dance of Joy, of course!). Ok-so thanks to my friends and family and their over the top, generous offers of assistance, my day after the engagement panic attack has abated and I can see that somehow, we will pull off this wedding without going totally broke. I can breathe a little easier.

Today I made a list of every wedding related DIY project I could think of. I came up with 17 projects. I do not know if that is a low number or not. I suspect that as time goes by, I will add more things to that list. Our wedding date, barring any catastrophy, is May 5, 2012. A little less than 10 months away. So the count down begins. It is going to be a busy year!  So I tell myself again, just breathe...