Bianca's

Oh fun! Our wedding is being used in promotional materials!

How To: Keep Your Wedding on Budget

One of the first things Greg and I did in the days following our engagement was to talk budget. We decided on a short six month engagement so our planning had to happen quickly.

We chose to pay for our own affair so we each determined what we could afford to contribute from our savings ($5000 from me and $15,000 from my generous then-fiance), added those two numbers together ($20,000 in total) and divided by two ($10,000). We took one half and spent it on our wedding day and took the other half and spent it on our honeymoon, which made for a modest wedding budget (compared to the present Canadian average of $23,330) and a larger honeymoon budget (compared to the present Canadian average of $5,287).

In deciding how to spend our budget on our wedding, we used the following percentages (I think these would be a great guideline for any wedding planning, no matter what the budget):

• Reception venue rental fee - 8%
• Food and service - 30%
• Beverages - 8%
• Cake and Cutting Fee - 2%
• DJ - 3%
• Decor - 3%
• Gown, Accessories, Hair and Make Up- 10%
• Groom's Attire - 5%
• Ceremony (including music, officiant, verger etc.) - 2%
• Flowers - 5%
• Photography - 5%
• Stationary (including invitations, menu and program) - 3%
• Wedding Rings - 8%
• Transportation and Lodging (including rental car and hotel room) - 4%
• Gifts for parents and attendants - 4%
  

We stayed on budget by sticking to these broad categories, eliminating line items entirely (like a DJ and tux rental -- our venue's bartender played from an iPod of our favourite tunes for free and Greg chose to wear a suit he'd recently purchased for another purpose) when we wanted to splurge on something special (like flowers and photography), keeping our guest list small (56 including ourselves and our bridal party) and undertaking many DIY decor projects. How did you save and spend for your special day? xo

Vintage

One of my dearest friends, Amy, was romantically proposed to this past New Years Eve (swoon!). There's mention of a vintage affair and I'm already bursting with excitement. Don't you love the idea of a wedding that recalls memories (real or imagined depending on your birth year) of yesteryear? I know I do.

Best wishes and happy planning, Amy and Rhett! xo

Image via Style Me Pretty.

P.S. Tonnes of vintage inspired weddings

Cake

Attention all you lovely brides: 100 Layer Cake's website is live. These ladies have so many wonderful ideas and events to share. I love their "wedding ebay". Fabric pomanders above for sale here.

Kate

ZOMG! A Kate Spade-inspired wedding? My head just exploded. This is so beautiful. And now I want even more for our house to look like a Kate Spade showroom. All images via Max Wagner via Martha Stewart.

Wedzu

The DIY wedding planner in me is delighted with the launch of Wedzu - a sort of Etsy for weddings. Isn't this honeymoon luggage tag genius?

Purple

Our wedding was a purple soiree. In fact, the Dean who officiated our ceremony stated there hadn't been as much purple in the Cathedral since the last Bishop was ordained. For all those lovely couples who also have plum, lilac or violet visions for their special day, the latest issue of Nonpariel offers heaps of inspiration and DIY projects.

Wedding Dress

Though I ultimately loved the dress I selected for our wedding, making that choice was certainly an education in what looks good and what certainly doesn't.

Lesson #1: V necks are not flattering despite always assuming I'd wear one.

Lesson #2: Taffeta is heavy and overwhelms.

Lesson #3: Champagne gold dresses can be surprisingly flattering on a pale woman with pink undertones.

Lesson #4: Far too many designers are adding the "hurricane" to the skirts of ball gowns.

Prior to making the ultimate purchase though, I did seriously consider...

this v-neck dress (ultimately I came to the same conclusion about the neckline as mentioned above)...

and this restrained mermaid (which was thisclose to being THE dress).

Album

Today, our wedding photo album arrived, and I couldn't be any more thrilled. I literally jumped up from my desk and almost hugged the FedEx delivery man when it appeared in my office this afternoon. If you're curious, you can view our photo album virtually.

Hair

I'm standing in a wedding this Saturday for my cousin Doug and my dear friend Lesley. In preparation for their day, and to complement my teal boat neck dress (it is so fab!), I'm thinking of an Audrey Hepburn worthy up-do. I'm also getting make up inspiration from this YouTube video! Image via The Fabulous Audrey Hepburn.

Consulting

In honour of my newly launched DIY wedding consulting business, Horizontal Stripes + Sequins, here's the inspiration board from our 22 May 2010 nuptials. Images used in my inspiration board via Real Simple, Renorx, The Knot, Samyii, The Knot, Style Me Pretty and Design Sponge.

20x200

I've written about this fantastic site before and my love continues! To thank our beautiful friends for their support as our wedding party this past May, we selected a print for each friend that we felt matched their personalities - it was a hard task and I hope we succeeded. Our selections are above.

For friends reading, I'm keen to propose a little game: any guesses on which pictures above match which attendant?

My current favourite? Try Letting Go.

Globe

How exciting: today the Globe and Mail's Life section online is profiling four of our wedding photos! Photography by Sally LeDrew.

Elements

While wedding photos will be profiled here in the coming days (we promise), it seems fitting now (post-event and all - so we're not spoiling the surprise for our lovely guests) to share some snaps of the various creative elements we wove into our day.

You can learn all about our sources of inspiration here.

Hello

We've been gone far too long - heaps of apologies for the radio silence! But we're married (for 16 days now). And it's swish. And lovely. And I highly recommend honeymoons. We'll be sharing all the details of our special day here, so please do stay tuned.

I've returned from our honeymoon reinvigorated for some new projects that germinated over many delicious dinners (think Bouchon in Yountville and Swell in San Francisco and Bin 941 in Vancouver). While my musings and plans are decidedly in the incubation phase at this point, I'm feeling inspired by weddings and design boards and DIY businesses and creative industries. I'll be sure to share more as my thoughts focus.

Greg and I are also feeling inspired by the likes of Cook St. Helena. I'm feeling the urge to make my home, and my neighbourhood more specifically, exactly the sort of haunt I want to happen upon, instead of just waiting for someone else to nurture such.

Perfume

While I've selected Escada Marine Groove as my wedding day scent (yay!), I'm now also loving Lise Watier Desirable from the summer 2010 Neon Lights line.

Inspiration

I admit it; I have taken inspiration from absolutely EVERYONE in planning our wedding. We decide to forgo a wedding planner (including even a day-of-coordinator) and instead have planned every inch of our day ourselves (well, with the help of many generous family members and friends, that is) by borrowing from the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings and a short list of wedding style blogs. Our day will be a celebration of our love accented by the culmination of everything beautiful I've seen on the web since our engagement.

This fake wedding left me with tonnes of ideas!

Kara Underwood and Michael Gordon got me to thinking about a 'paper concept'.

Cory and Chris threw my 'paper concept' into over drive.

Mike and Michonne's wedding offered me the perfect project to combine something special from both sides of our family.

And finally, Grace Bonney and Aaron Coles's Savannah day truly converted me to a DIY bride (watch for our similar favours decorated with buttons from the Busy Beaver Button Co).

Grey

This Parisian photo (swoon!) makes me *almost* excited that we're bound to have a wedding day dressed in grey sky (to match the gents' grey suits). The grey looks awfully romantic and is the perfect accompaniment to her fluff of a dress. Image via Style Me Pretty (as usual).

Sequins

Finally, after searching high and low, last Monday, while on a work holiday, I found the perfect rehearsal dinner dress. Though visions of a short while dress danced in my head previously, I settled on a soft taupe dress covered in grey and pink sequins from Blank UK. It makes me feel like a bride... which was the challenge, as many dresses felt completely dinner party appropriate for every other occasion, but not a wedding. While I'm unable to find a photo of my exact dress online, the above snippet (the dress with the arrow pointing to it) from Elle via Blank's blog bears a striking resemblance. I'm quite pleased with the find (from August and Lotta Stockholm on Water). Now all that's left to decide is whether to wear blue heels or brown flats to complete the look.

Also related to the rehearsal and its accompanying party, we've booked my cousin (a fantastic chef!) to cater the dinner!

Dress

I love this mullet-styled wedding dress. Image via Style Me Pretty.