Deciding to be happy: wedding plans

Ok, you just got engaged and decided that you want to get married on September 3, 2011. Great!

1. First  you need someone to perform the service and a place to have it.  Don’t have it outdoors. Why spend all that time worrying about the weather and the insects? If you have a place of worship, use it, and oftentimes they will have a room where you can have the reception too. Voila! You are all set. If you don’t have one, then you need to be more creative: people use restaurants, homes, even school buildings or VFW halls. Get those two items set. And go someplace where you can bring in food.

2. Clothing:  Ok – groom: buy a great black suit. You’re going to need one anyway, so go for it. Shirt, fancy bow tie, you’re done. Ask your attendants to buy black suits also – at least they’ll get to keep it and you won’t have all the fittings and junk to go through. Bride: get together with your girls and check out Chadwick’s online http://www.chadwicks.com/chadwicks/browse/subCategory.jsp?icCategory=cat40338&icSort=

and a few other “regular dress” makers. Order something that’s pretty and reasonable ($50 isn’t unheard of) that they can use again. They’ll be gorgeous, believe me, once they are carrying the flowers and all made up with their hair done.

Bride: you can do what you want to do. Stop in at David’s Bridal for their $99 gown sale http://www.davidsbridal.com/HomeView or check out the Thrift Store http://impactthrift.org/ or Craig’s List http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/search/clo?query=wedding&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk= for a less expensive one. Or why not just buy a nice white dress or suit and wear that instead? Don’t think “thousands” or even “hundreds.” Think instead: what will I look good in without spending a lot of cash for a one-day outfit?

Ah, but you only get married once, right? And it has to be perfect, right? How about trading that concept for 4 months of perfectly stress-free time with your fiancee/fiance instead, and go with “really great” instead of perfect?

4. Make your own invitations, or order them, whichever you choose, and get them out to people about a month before the wedding. One evening  you have everyone over and you all address envelopes – you’re done.

5. Ok – you’re really pretty much done now. What? Let’s talk about flowers and food and photographer next time.