A Venue, A Dress, and Shoes – Oh My!

I used to post on the Offbeat Bride Tribe, but I had some difficulties with them – well, actually they kicked me off for posting an update that said, “RIP Davy Jones.” While I was there, I got a bit addicted to their journal feature, so I thought I’d start a blog about my wedding to fill the void that OBB left. Even if no one reads it, it will at least make me happy.

So, I’ll start off with a little about me. I’m a law student who met the man of my dreams (of course, I had no idea he was the man of my dreams at the time, but that revelation came shortly after we started dating). He proposed to me on January 25, 2012, and we are getting married on September 22, 2012 outside of Hendersonville, NC. It may seem like a short engagement by some standards, but I’m glad it’s the length it is – it should give us plenty of time to get everything together, but it’s not so long that I get impatient. My mom and step-father agreed to give us $2,000 for the wedding, so that’s pretty much our budget. I’m in school and my fiance doesn’t make much, so we’re going to try to have an awesome wedding on a shoestring.

The Venue

One thing that has helped immensely is that my Aunt and Uncle have offered to let us use their farm as our venue for free. It’s truly beautiful there, so we’re really excited about it. Yes, that gorgeous horse farm in the picture is actually where we will be getting married. Plus, it’s free – did I mention that part?

Mountain Ranch aka Our Awesome Venue

My fiance and I went out to the farm last week while I was on spring break (we live four and a half hours away), which was the first time he’d seen it in person. It didn’t disappoint, though we’re going to have issues if it rains. There’s a small covered picnic area, but I don’t think it can hold as many guests as we will have there in the event of inclement weather. We were considering renting a tent just in case, but I was told that that’s incredibly expensive. We’ll see how everything works out. Hopefully, we won’t have to fall back onto any contingency plans.

The Dress

The other piece of the wedding puzzle we have sorted out is the dress. I originally fell in love with a Mori Lee mermaid-style dress that cost as much as we’re probably going to spend on catering, so that was out. I found a Chinese knock-off site that would make the dress for me for $259, but I was nervous about going that route. Although the particular site I was going to use, Dressilyme, seemed to have more positive reviews that the others (and they would make the dress in burgundy, which was what I really wanted), it was still going to be a gamble. Spending $259 (plus shipping and customs, which would easily bring it to over $300) on a dress that I couldn’t be sure was going to work or even be wearable when my entire wedding budget was $2,000 seemed like too much. When John and I went to Hendersonville to see the farm and visit my parents, we also went dress shopping. I found one at a consignment shop that I liked, but didn’t love. It was $199, but it would have required a good bit of alteration to fit properly. Then, on the way home, John suggested we stop by the place he was going to get his tux in Hillsborough, because they had prom dresses too. So we went to Formal Wear Outlet and found my dress. It’s silver and white, fun, and only cost $125! I ended up getting a size smaller than the one I’m wearing in the picture and the only alteration it needs is to have the neck strap shortened slightly. I’m pretty stoked to have that one out of the way with none of the worry that ordering from China would have brought.

Last, But Not Least – The Shoes

Jeffrey Campbell Spicy Union Jack Glitter Platform Boots

Yes, those are my wedding shoes. And I think they’re awesomely amazing. Perhaps I should elaborate a bit on our wedding theme. We’re going with a Doctor Who theme with a lot of other fantastic Brit-ness thrown in. My fiance wants to get a Union Jack vest, too. I’m also trying to find a Union Jack bolero to go with the shoes. Not that I’d need the theme to wear these babies – I’d wear them to the grocery store (and actually have). My mother, of course, hates them, but that’s par for the course. At least she’s happy about the dress.