Aug 31 2007
Are you looking to make a sash for your (or your maid’s) gown? You’re in luck, you awesomely clever bride.
The lovely Altered Cloth has posted a step-by-step for making a sash that can also be modified to make a scarf. (Hello, BM gift!)
Tutorial here.
Aug 30 2007
In my latest internet travels for info about budgeting, I came across this very interesting article posted in the August 24 issue of The Wall Street Journals Online’s The Number Guy column.
We’ve all heard the $27,000+ price tag stat on “average” US weddings, right? Well, Carl Bialik is taking a closer look at that number and how it was determined. Turns out, “average” really isn’t average. The figures from these surveys are derived by adding up the budgets reported (by a limited pool of brides) and then dividing them up by the number of respondents. So, in Bialik’s example, a single $1,000,000 wedding would totally skew the results to make the “average” look higher.
According to the article, $15,000 is closer to the real average, or median, wedding budget.
For the three surveys, the median wedding cost is closer to $15,000. The median is the middle figure when you line up a set of numbers in order of size. It is a popular choice for social statistics because it is unperturbed by very small or very large numbers.
How does that make you feel about your budget now?
Aug 29 2007
New Orleans is an intensely personal and special place for me. It’s a big part of my personal journey. I’m thinking of NOLA a lot today, missing the city and its amazing melange of people and culture. Forever will it be a place I hold close in my heart.
There’s a lot of positive action going on in post-Katrina New Orleans as the resilient residents try to rebuild their lives and their beloved city. I want to give a shout out to support to some of the awesome NOLA peeps and orgs I know or I’ve had my eye on. If you can spare the cash, please support them by buying their wares, hiring their services, or simply by sending joy and light their way. It’s all good.
Non-Wedding
Wedding
Aug 28 2007
Oh my, oh my! Preston Bailey, High Priest of Wedding Goodness, has launched his very own blog. I am so excited about this, I can’t stand it.
A big thanks to Weddingbee for getting the word out. {hi, bees!}
Aug 27 2007
I am so grateful for all of the links coming in from other sites. You’re introducing me to funny, clever, and downright BRILLIANT collections of amazing wedding blogs and other sites. Thank you!
Some of the blogs linking in that I love (see this post for previous linky goodness):
That’s a whole lotta love.
Aug 26 2007
Ramit Sethi, personal finance smart cookie at I Will Teach You To Be Rich, has one one of the absolute best posts I’ve read about the reality of wedding finances on this site. Check out: The $28,000 Question: Why Are We All Hypocrites About Weddings?
The post is an interesting look about our collective attitudes about wedding spending. The gist is that we swear we’re being frugal and not getting carried away but, really, we’re not.
The spending for weddings increases year after year. Yet we insist that we will be different: Of course we won’t spend that much. Of course we’ll have a budget. Of course we’ll have a small simple wedding. Sure we will.
He has some spot-on insight and some sound advice for those who are wrestling with the budget beast. Do take a look at his savings plan for a little dose of reality and keep reading all the way through the comments. They’re as good as the article.
Aug 24 2007
The wonderful folks at Invites by You are offering DIY Bride readers 10% off their entire order. Check out their selection of beautiful pocketfolds, cardstock, and matching envelopes. They have over 50 colors of of cardstock, including metallics (super-hot for Fall 2007), allowing you to create invitation packets in hundreds of different color combinations. Discount code: DIYbride10%.
Aug 23 2007
Let’s talk about wedding debt. I had previously written about credit card debt back in January 2005, in the Avoid The Wedding Debt Trap article and offered some alternatives to paying for your wedding.
A recent article at Yahoo Finance, “What Credit Card Companies Don’t Want You To Know”, reminded me to talk about wedding debt again because it’s not openly discussed enough.
While you’re being fed the over-the-top, bash-of-a-lifetime dream there’s a dark underbelly to the industry. And that’s debt. Deep, soul-sucking, relationship-wrecking, stress-inducing debt.
While many couples are fortunate and get abundant financial gifts from relatives, many of us pay for at least part of our weddings. With the average wedding exceeding $27,000, and the average US household income at something like $45,000, it’s likely you’ll put some of that wedding expense on your plastic pal … and then pay for it for the next several years. Yes, years. A $5k loan at 14% interest will take 49 months to pay off with $500/month payments. Miss a payment and your interest rate balloons to, say, 27% (not uncommon at all) and the payoff will take 55 months.
As a cautionary tale, I want to share my own wedding debt story. My then-fiance (now-husband) and I went into debt to pay for our wedding – even with generous financial help from parents – and it turned into a struggle we never could’ve imagined.
We didn’t plan on long-term debt. In fact, we had a solid plan for getting debt-free ASAP after the wedding. I was working a cushy, Silicon Valley tech job at the height of the never-ending boom. He had a stable, long-term job (still does, even though the pay is low for our area). We’d both probably be getting raises soon. I had stock options that were about to mature. Heck, we might’ve been able to buy a house in a year (not an easy thing in Silicon Valley). No problem! What could possibly go wrong? … Ha.
After early-2002, I was unemployed and underemployed for an extended amount of time, which put a burden not only on my household finances but with my marriage as well. There were no fat raises, no stock options, no house, no job. We never, ever thought such hard times could ever happen to us. And that’s precisely why they did. We didn’t plan for, prepare for, or know how to deal with financial adversity.
You know how stats say that most couples’ arguments over finances? They don’t lie. Being poor, in debt, and stressed is pure misery for both partners.
It took years for us to get out of the debt we incurred for our wedding day (and subsequent unemployment, to be fair) – something I would NOT do over if I had the chance to relive the moment. While our wedding day was beautiful and amazing and utterly awesome, it wasn’t worth the amount of pain, sacrifice, and fear we lived in while digging ourselves out of that financial hole. Today, 6 years after the wedding, we have zero credit card debt but it was a long road to get here and to be able to maintain that status.
Some of the lessons we’ve learned and want to share:
* You cannot control how the economy will affect your job or business or your ability to find a new source of employment.
* There is no such thing as job security. You can be fired, downsized, laid off, outsourced, replaced, or your job can simply disappear. It happens every single day. Plan accordingly.
* Living beyond your means – even by a little bit – is dangerous.
* Borrowing money from the ‘rents to buy food for the next week is humbling.
* Poverty sucks. A lot.
* The more you make, the more you spend. Save more and pay off debt faster instead.
* No amount of perceived wedding day goodness is worth sacrificing the well-being of the marriage/relationship.
* You can have an utterly awesome, beautiful, gorgeous wedding on a small budget. It’s not how much you spend that makes a wedding great. Repeat that every day.
* The wedding is a teeny, tiny part of the marriage. Put all of your stock in the long-term things like financial security, personal integrity, respect for each other, and healthy communication skills because those are the only things that will get you through the tough times. And start building those things now, before the wedding.
For a long time I carried a lot of shame around this part of my life. Even now, it’s a little hard to talk about, especially in an open forum such as this. Today I’m speaking up because I see a lot of you heading down that same path to misery and I’d love nothing more than to guide you away from that.
And I think wedding finances should be something that are openly discussed, without judgment or shame, to empower every couple to make the best decisions (for them) on where/how/why to spend their budget.
So, with that, I close this chapter of my story and, in turn, open up an ongoing discussion about finances and budgets here at DIY Bride.
Aug 21 2007
I received an invitation to an industry soirée in yesterday’s mail. This beautiful piece of stationery, an invitation to a $100-a-plate networking dinner, started with “Your Invited”. Oy.
Invitations not only serve to give your guests event details, they also give your guests their first impression of what your wedding will be like. If you send out poorly-written invites your guests will (likely) have low expectations of your event no matter if it’s a business event or a wedding. And with all the hard work and cash you’re putting into this event, you wouldn’t want that, would you?
To help you out, my dear DIYistas, I’ve compiled a list of wedding-related words that are commonly misspelled. Please remember to always check your spelling (and have someone else have a look) before you send your invites and other important correspondence.
Aisle, not isle (as in walking down the aisle)
Altar, not alter (if you’re talking about the sacred place of worship)
Alter, not altar (if you’re referring to modifying something) {doh!}
Attendant, not attendent
Bachelor, not batchelor
Boutonnière, not (insert creative spelling)
CDs, not CD’s (when referring to plural compact discs)
Chapel, not chappel or chapal
Correspondence, not correspondance
Dessert, not desert (if you’re referring to after-dinner sweets and not the Sahara)
Engagement, not engagment
Fiancé; for males
Fiancée for females
Guest book, not guestbook
Hors D’oeuvres, not whatever
Officiant, not officient
Place card, not placecard
Rehearsal, not rehersal
Ring bearer and ringbearer are correct
RSVP means répondez s’il vous plaît
Save-The-Dates are STDs, not STD’s
Stationery, not stationary (for invites and such)
Tiara, not tiera
Tulle, not toole or toole
Veil, not vail or vale
You’re invited, not your
I am so guilty of abusing some of the above like placecard and guestbook. Look! See, I’m hanging my head in spelling shame.
Anyway, I hope this helps you out!
Aug 17 2007
I have adored cake couturier Sylvia Weinstock’s work since I first became aware of her oh, almost 10 years ago. She’s a legend in the industry, best known for gorgeous, intricate, over-the-top celebrity wedding cakes. I understand, from a friend who was lucky enough to have been a guest at 2 Weinstock-ed weddings that the cakes are as delicious as they are beautiful.
My friend, Liene, whom I gush about quite often, had the opportunity to interview Sylvia for her “Over A Cup of Coffee” series. Click here for the link.
Alison Lee, craft podcasting diva, also has an audio interview with Slyvia that’s a really fun listen. It’s available on her site, Craftcast With Alison Lee.
Sylvia is truly an inspiration of mine and a wonderful source of creativity and originality in this business.
