Those recipes sound great & easy, i'll keep them in mind next year. Especially that open face mushroom one.
I love turkey but can definitely get tired of it too. My honey makes an incredible sandwich that i can eat forever. it's the turkey leftovers on bread with mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, & Blue cheese salad dressing!! the blue cheese flavor makes it the most incredible taste combo, you really have to try. ... View related article.
Having friends or family take engagements photos is a great idea. We just had our room-mate take pictures of us in front of the fireplace all dressed up, & I just coincidentally wore a dress in the main wedding color ;)
It took lots of shots (about an hour total), fiddling & laughter but I'm just as happy with the unprofessional engagement picture as the professional wedding day photos. ... View related article.
Congratulations, a great find & only weeks to go. I'm sure they'll be beautiful & it's even better that they're already tied! ... View related article.
Well you can save a lot of money, if you both get jobs, move out of your parent's houses & live together saving up funds for 5 years before doing the wedding.
Since that probably won't happen. You should talk to your girlfriend about it being selfish for her to set so many limitations and boundaries when her parents have to foot the bill. Going to the courthouse & having a JP with just the parents & then a big reception for friends & family is a great alternative. I would be proud of saving my parents as much money as possible, especially if I was living off of them.
As you're both unemployed with little to no financial prospects ... you really should forgo the honeymoon. If you don't have the funds, skip it. My fiance & me were going to just stay home FROM WORK for a week & get a couples massage & unplug the phone at OUR apartment, but we ended up getting lots of checks at the wedding so planned something budgetable the day after spontaneously. My parents didn't have a honeymoon when they married because they were too poor, & they've been together 33 years.
Tell your girlfriend that the most important ceremony is the 25 year renewal ceremony & she can go all out then. Because then you'll have proven you have what it takes to last & that your love isn't just an irresponsible, adolescent, Britney Spears fantasy. ... View related article.
My wedding was a $5000 wedding too, planned in only 5 months, well in reality it turned into $7000 so modify as you want. You must limit the wedding size! Emphasize this to your fiancée & parents strongly every time you talk about it. I wasn't able to invite friends/coworkers until I knew some of the relatives couldn't make it. Prioritize what you're willing to spend on. Vendors will find ways to make their services work for you if you give them a budget.
Wedding invites, $80. We saved hundreds by doing the wedding invites ourselves. My sister works at Office Max & used Photoshop. We didn't do any fancy ribbons or bows but used a nice heavy gold shimmery paper. This included invites, response postcards, cards for the motel, envelopes, & Thank you cards for 50 people.
Professional photographer, $1600. I hired one & his wife for only 4 hours & bought the complete CD with full liberties to use as I want ($275 per hour, $375 CD). In my area, below $2000 is a deal.
Catering, $2000. My honey desperately wanted great food, he took care of the catering. Limited to 50 people, everyone raved. Plus the caterer worked at the location so all the food was prepared fresh on site & linens, tableware, water/coffee, & clean-up were included!
Flowers, $100. For flowers I went all Baby's Breath, even the bouquets. It was beautiful, delicate, & an elegant surprise. Only $100 for 10 bunches & we had too much!! Then around $100-$200 for additional décor.
Dress, $500 after tax, and it was on sale from $800. You can find nice & cheaper. I would have bought a used one or from Craigslist but my honey was passionately against it (possible bad luck). It cost $100 to alter & bustle. Make your own veil! I bought my shoes at the thrift store $5.00 & spray painted them silver. I would do white if given the chance again, but they were still very nice. I found my jewelry at Claire's in the mall $20.00 & used a $10.00 coupon. The last week I found opera length gloves for $16.00 but otherwise I never would have bought them as theyre normally $30+++. My honey wanted professional hair/make-up so he paid $300 for the professional, which included a prewedding consultation & she came to the location on the wedding day to do everything.
My bridesmaids found & bought their dress themselves. I specified color & limits (no cleavage) & they were $60 each from Dillard's. Shoes & hair was up to them individually.
DJ, $675. I found a DJ through recommendations. For ALL day & the ceremony.
Cake, $350. It had to be lactose-free or we would have got it much cheaper through Safeway or Costco. We didn't do all the extras like groom cake etc.
Officiant, $150. Which was cheapest we could find & at that price he doesn't come to the rehearsal dinner. =D but that was okay because we didn't do one anyways! You might know someone in your family who can do it for free.
Location, $1100. not great, but low-average for my area. Wedding & reception same place. We just drove ourselves away afterward & didn't need to hire a fancy limo or anything. Check out parks for better prices! ... View related article.
What type of "springy" stuff does she like? birds, eggs, flower buds? there's some cute bud vases http://www.hotref.com/vase-placecard-holder-wedding-favors-p-1755.html that are 98 cents right now that can multitask as decor, favors, & placecard holders. you can put in some fake flowers decorated with hot glue gun 'dew drops'. If she likes the rustic theme, wedding centerpieces in cleaned aluminum/tin cans are very pretty http://www.sanfranciscoweddingflowe ... nterpiece/wedding-marin-flowers.html & you can also make pretty luminaries out of the aluminum cans if you punch patterns in it with a nail. Gingham & lace look rural & accent pretty florals http://www.bloomeryweddings.com/blo ... ocationBetsysBarnPortersvillePA.aspx . Hydrangea are 'no fail' decorations, come in a range of colors, & you could probably get them from a neighbors yard. Also daisies, freesia & irises are very 'springy' looking & are summer bloomers. Spring / Eastery decorations are on sale at lots of websites right now, plus after Christmas stock up on white lights to accent the barn beams (or plan on borrowing from friends). ... View related article.
That's wonderful that your ring is so beautiful & practical. Many cubic zirconia's rings are prettier than regular diamonds anyways, & I'll take cheaper/prettier over expensive/less pretty anyday.
I'm not a fan of diamonds but love opals, so my fiance proposed with an opal ring that I adore more than anything else he could have got & I'm sure it was only a fraction of the price of a regular wedding set. Plus, our engagement rings are the same ones we'll use for the wedding ceremony, since I don't really understand the need for two rings.
I've been told it's not good for dogs in the long run because cat food is a different mix of nutrients & usually has some ingredients to help prevent/pass hair balls that can be unhealthy for dogs.
