Best Wedding March Ever ( from the Sound of Music)

Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music (1965)

I am the biggest Sound of Music junkie there is out there. I watch it religiously at least once a twice a year and still cry, laugh and cheer each time I see it. It's the kind of feel-good movie that brightens your and gives you a more cheerful outlook on life (yes I'm such a Pollyanna). 

I came across this clip on YouTube and I just had to share it. In the scene Maria is marching to the alter in a breathtaking ivory wedding dress. The "How do you solve a problem like Maria" chorus makes my heart sing - oh joy oh joy.  

If you haven't watched the Sound of Music you haven't lived.  

Sharing the good news (on Facebook)

 

Babies and Facebook relationship status changes really bring out the best in people.   

I just announced my engagement. Well, actually all I did was change my Facebook relationship status from in a relationship to engaged. I was a little taken back by the response especially since this is kind of old news for me. I’m pretty sure I mentioned this to people before, I could be wrong. I guess changing my relationship status on Facebook solidifies things lol. 

Anyho, back to wedding talk. I love, love, love weddingwire.com. I can’t say enough about their wedding planning tools. It’s a completely free service and a must for any DIY wedding Diva. The interactive tools include: wedding checklists, budget templates and calculators, a guest list tracker, seating chart plans and much, much more! 

The best part for a scatterbrain like me is the checklist. It has a default set of 118 items, you can check-off your tasks as you complete them and you can also add your own items. Being organized is priority #1 so finding a site that has all the wedding planning tools in one place is just wonderful. 

I’ve been doing a lot of the very necessary but boring part of the wedding planning. Tomorrow, I'll switch it up and go shoe (window) shopping. I always build an outfit from the shoes up –  so why not do the same with my wedding outfit.  I’m thinking shinny and fabulous...just like me. 

Happy Hanukkah!

Carrie Bradshaw's Something Blue Satin Pump, Manolo Blahnik's  - hey a girl can dream!

Wedding Planning 101: Get Organized

I’m learning that one thing a Do-It –Yourself Wedding Diva has to be is highly organized.  Personally, I’m all over the place: going to the library picking up all kinds of books, scouring the internet for ideas, tearing pages out of wedding magazines (Martha Stewart Weddings – love, love, love).

I called a good friend of mine and told her how overwhelmed I’m getting with the whole wedding planning process.  In her typical no nonsense way she said to me – “you’re forgetting one thing.” I started to rattle off about my wedding check lists, DIY projects and the budget, she stopped mid sentence and yelled BREATHE!

I’m moving too fast. I’m trying to do too many things at once and my biggest issue is I’m disorganized. Sooo I got myself a big ol’ binder to store all my wedding related material and I’ve opened a bank account to keep track of all my wedding expenses. I’ve also signed up for a free wedding planning service at weddingwire.com

Breath.

Breaking the Wedding Budget down!

Anyone who thinks planning a DIY wedding is easy is a 100% wrong. The amount of research and preparation involved is outstanding (thank God for the internet). Kudos to wedding planners – planning a wedding is no easy feat.

When I first started this journey the number one thing on my list was finding my dream dress. I assumed once I had the dress everything else would magically fall into place. I quickly realized that though the dress is an integral component of the wedding there are a million and one other details that need to be tackled before I can run around doing the fun stuff –dress and shoe shopping.

If I were using a wedding planner the first question they would have is – what’s your budget? Last night, after much deliberation, negotiation, screaming and kicking, BB and I checked a very important thing off our wedding list – setting a wedding budget.

I’m reading a book called Weddings: How to Create Your Dream Wedding without Breaking the Bank by Denise Vivaldo. She suggests that a wedding budget breakdown should look something like this:

Wedding reception: 50 %

Photography: 10%

Music: 10%

Stationary: 4%

Wedding Flowers: 10%

Wedding Attire: 10%

Additional Expenses: 6%

Now that we have a wedding budget in mind, we can start looking at what’s possible in terms of wedding venues, guest list and of course…the dress.  

Thinking Wedding budget: Can I afford it?

Financial super guru Suze Orman one of my favorite people. I was lucky enough to have a chance to hear her speak at Oprah’s Live Your Best Life Weekend in New York this past May – it was quite an eye opener. I love the Can I Afford it segment of her MNBC show. Every time I’m about to make a frivolous purchase I hear Suze’s voice yelling YOU - ARE -DENIED!!!

I have been financially irresponsible for most of my adult life. I didn’t understand money and how to manage credit; I’ve subsequently ended up with a considerable amount of consumer debt. I’ve paid for my financially stupidity dearly – the shame of failing credit checks, dodging creditors and watching bills pile up.

The irony of my situation is my fiancé is an accountant and is very disciplined when it comes to money (and everything else really). My foolish spending habits have jeopardized our relationship on numerous occasions. At one point he gave me an ultimatum: “get your financial life in order or else...”  To cut a long story short, I’m in recovery now, I’ve acknowledged that I have a problem with money and I’m taking all the steps necessary to be financially responsible and get myself out of debt.

You are probably wondering what this has to you with planning my wedding – everything. The old me would have maxed out credit cards to pay for my dream wedding, talk about champagne on a beer budget. As a first step in this journey I went to speak to my financial adviser, I had two questions for him:

(a) Can a person in my financial situation afford a  wedding?
(b) How much can I afford? Or rather how much should I spend?

Troy, my wonderful personal banker gave me the quick and dirty – yes, I can afford a wedding, but… it’s in my best interest to keep it simple (translation: cheap). So Boo Boo (the fiancé) and I will be crunching numbers, trying to figure out what the magic number will be.

Wedding Planning Tips : Steps to Planning a Wedding

The first few steps to planning a wedding are to establish a budget, find a location and set the date. Start interviewing vendors for photography, catering and music with advice from a professional event coordinator in this free video on wedding planning.

Courtney Arnold is the owner of Stellar Events and is a professional planner with eight years in the industry. Contact: www.stellareventsnc.com 

Filmmaker: Rendered Communications

The dress will get worn...