Becoming a Bride: Free Champagne

stk81312cor Originally posted on QueenLatifah.com

Hi I’m Steph! I work on The Queen Latifah Show and just got engaged to my boyfriend of two-and-a-half years, Kalem. And, at the behest of the editor of this lovely site, I have decided to blog about my experience planning the biggest party of my life on a real-life budget. Which (let’s be real) means it will not be Kimye style.

Plus, I hope to share advice from experienced wedding professionals, unlike myself. If you are one, hit me up!

Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself. I am insanely organized, I’ve had a wedding board since I started on Pinterest two years ago, and I do NOT believe in spending a house down-payment on my wedding. So I will be looking for many ways to make this sha-bang unique, but also inexpensive.

Now, let me share the first few things I’ve learned:

1. It’s OK to wait to tell everyone. Because as soon as you do, they will want to know every detail and when is the wedding? and how many people are you inviting? and can I bring my boyfriend? I wanted to tell everyone right away and then once I started in on the phone calls, I was a little overwhelmed. Just be vague about your plans because obviously you have no idea about your wedding – you just found out you’re having one!

2. Every girl you meet will ask to see your ring. Which is so much fun, but sucks if you need to get it resized, which you probably will. I’m without my ring right now, but at least it’s at the jeweler and not at the bottom of my kitchen drain.

3. Which brings me to my other point, you should probably get insurance for your ring. Especially if you’re like me, meaning you would lose your nose if it wasn’t attached. I hear if you have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, you can include it in your policy. There are also companies who will offer insurance on JUST your ring, if that’s what you decide. Just Google “Wedding Ring Insurance.” It’s on my to-do list…

4. Get a head count.
I had decided to not do any planning for a whole month and just “enjoy my engagement,” but it’s now only two weeks in and I’ve already toured two venues. How did this happen? Because I’m a crazy person. But I decided the first thing to do was count the number of guests I would invite if I could invite everyone. Then I tagged them by priority (in case I need to chop it down) and who is likely to travel or not. But once I did that, I started to see how big my venue will need to be. And I actually breathed a big sigh of relief because the list was smaller than I expected (it’s hard to know more than 200 people well).

5. Budgets are hard.
I started this thing with the idea that we were not going to spend more than $10,000 on everything. To those of you who are not married, that sounds like a lot. To you Mrs. out there, you probably just burst out laughing. It’s not impossible, but it is TIGHT. As soon as I started to research venues, I found I needed to loosen the change purse a little. But, I’m in Los Angeles. I would be more than happy to have a wedding in a field, but we don’t have many of those around here (but FYI, those weddings are not without their expenses, when you think about permits, generators, rentals, etc. Didn’t think about that, did you?).

6. Don’t pick a date.
Unless you have a specific date that you NEED to get married, it made the most sense to me to find my venue first and see what dates they have available. If the place is in high demand, I realized I might need to be a bit flexible.

7. You’re only a bride once!
I say this because the thing I’m looking forward to most about planning a wedding is going to silly bride events where you get free shiz and champagne and get to walk around with your besties. Sign up for everything! And register for every bridal blog. They have tons of giveaways and you could win something big – even a honeymoon!

 

Here are some of the resources I’m digging so far:

Brides Magazine …of course.
TheKnot.com <– if you sign up here, they have tools to build your budget, guest list, checklist, registry, and even a wedding website!
Broke Ass Bride’s Wedding Guide <– Yes, author Dana LaRue guest blogs for this site, but I did PAY for her book and I love it! Great realistic tips for planning on a budget.
Green Wedding Shoes <– Lots of beautiful real weddings for inspiration (with photos taken by photographers only Kelly Rowland can afford). Plus, DIYs, vendors, and giveaways.
100 Layer Cake <– inspiration, vendors, DIYs, and giveaways!
Style Me Pretty <– Pretty weddings, vendors, and DIYs
OffBeat Bride <– If you’re looking for something off the beaten path of weddings, this site is for you.
The Wedding Chicks <– Among real weddings, DIYs, and vendors, they also have FREE printables, like invites and signs!
Bloglovin.com <– This is a website and an app, and not just wedding related. It allows you to follow all of your favorite blogs in one place. Like an RSS feed or Google alerts but WAY better. Follow all of the above blogs with this cool tool!

If you have suggestions for me to include in my next update or want to share your tips for this series, tweet @QLShow with the hashtag #BecomingABride!



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