With a little help from our friends ...

Another way that we are saving money on the wedding is a lot of friends are helping us out!

We have 2 friends that are amateur photographers. They are almost at the professional level, I have seen their work, it is amazing, they just need to build their portfolios and get some referrals. The contract hasn't been written out yet, so I don't have a final number for number of photos/price but I think the amount of $1000 has been kicked around - which would include the engagement photos, touch-ups, and album. I'm ok with this number.

I have another friend who has offered to make our cake. I've tasted cakes that she has made and they are delicious! I haven't seen a wedding cake that she has made (she made one for her sister's wedding, but I didn't go) but she is going to make a prototype for the wedding shower and I would have enough time to order a back up if I don't like what she does at that point. I sent her a picture of what I am looking for (teal frosting with a Celtic pattern) and she said no problem.

I REALLY want to have a band, but band or not, there are going to be times when other music will be required, and I friend has some good music equipment and an ipod, so free DJ. And a friend had already offered to be our MC (she is not shy and really funny). My MOH's mother plays the harp, so ceremony music is covered too!

I am so happy that I have wonderful friends that are willing to spend their time helping us meet our goal of having a great wedding for under 10K :)

TTFN, Morgaine

DIY

So, one of the ways I will be keeping the costs of the wedding down will be to DIY!

Aspects of the wedding that I am planning on DIYing: invitations, favours, flowers, centrepieces, ringpillow, guestbook, place settings and pretty much anything else we think of! I will have lots of help since my family and quite a few of my friends are quite crafty! My fiance works in computers and graphics so he is going to design the invitations and website and me and my friends/family will be responsible for the rest :)

I have purchased the two "DIY Bride" books and they have lots of great suggestions, so I'm really looking forward to getting some of this started. I have gotten a "prototype" for the centrepieces and I have done a test run for the favour soap (see pic below), but we can't do the actual projects for a while :(

I know that once we actually start planning and making things that time is going to fly by extremely fast, but right now it seems that time is moving sooooooooo slow! I REALLY want to get started!

Anyways, I will post about each project as I get to them. In the meantime, here is a picture of the guest favours.

TTFN, Morgaine