Wedding Budget!

Now for something completely different...my wedding budget. As of today I know what pretty much everything will cost, so I can actually figure out how much all this is going to cost us.

I finally talked to the photographer, and she is going to come and shoot for 2-3 hours during the wedding, Shooting + editing +web-quality photos are $500. We can also order photo-quality prints on an individual basis, and mini photo albums with about 25 pages are $50 each. I was thinking of getting 2 mini photo albums, for us and B's parents.

Venue: $86
Food: $550+125 tip=$675
Rings: $475
Photographer: $500 + $100 (optional) for two mini photo albums
Thrift store Plates and Candle Holders: $35
Invitations: $27
wedding license: $90
Dress: $80
Necklace: $40
Hair thing: $15
fancy strapless bra: $50
Shoes: $85
Total: $2258. Already paid: $966

Cost unknown:
Having dress taken in (I estimate $50 at the very most)
clothes for B (Probably ~$150 since he isn't wearing a suit, and he's wearing shoes he already has)
Candles
Dog Tuxedo

Estimated total: $2500

I went waaaay over my initial budget of $1500. Yet still, I am throwing a wedding for us and 20 guests for $2500, I think that's pretty farking cheap. Compared with my first engagement and the wedding my parents were going to throw me for 100 guests for $25,000...that's 1/10th the budget for 1/5th the guests, meaning I am spending approximately half of what they would have spent per guest.

AND I get to have the wedding I actually want to have! When I was engaged the first time I was set on having my wedding outside, but my parents talked me out of it, along with pretty much everything else I wanted to do that wasn't standard for a jewish wedding. Music was also a big fight; I knew my parents would never go for the music I really wanted (classic rock), and tried to compromise by asking for classical music or a jewish jam band, but they insisted I go with some shitty jewish keyboard-based band because "how could it be a wedding without jewish dancing."

Now I get to have my outdoors wedding (and in the middle of the woods too!), I get to play all the music I like (we're not having a band, but I'm making a kickass ipod playlist of all our favorite songs), I get to dance with my husband right after we get married, I get to actually SPEAK and say vows while we are getting married, I get to give him a ring when he gives me one, and I get to limit my guests to only my closest and most awesome friends. And I don't have to wear some stupid big poofy white dress and look like a cupcake. My dress is sleeveless and blue! Plus all sorts of other awesomeness that my parents would have never let fly, like my friend painting a live-painting during our ceremony, possible bubble machine, possible wedding flags, mismatching thrift store plates and mismatching picnic tablecloths, Barkley is going to be our best dog...

I gotta say, I'm excited. I think it's going to be an awesome party to mark the beginning of the rest of our awesome life together.

2 and a half months to go!