releasing control

All I need right now is a really great graphic designer who will design a Save the Date announcement for us for a small price, give us the file and then allow us to print it somewhere for 19 cents a card so we can have cute but inexpensive cards. Why is this proving to be so difficult? I don't want to design our own Save the Date because I'm just not able to do it like I envision in my head. I am rarely a perfectionist but when it comes to designs and paper and fonts I just get this idea in my mind that I have to have...I could easily be a graphic designer if I had an ounce of artistic ability in my body...but I don't. I just have the eye for things that look good and those are the things I want!

I truly believe there are certain parts of our wedding we just have to give up for others to take over so that we can save our sanity and focus on the important things. While Save the Dates are a small item, I honestly think it would be best to give up control and allow someone else to make it. So I'm going to. Etsy, one of my favorite websites has tons of designers who will design something for $15-$40. I think that is very reasonable. Even the graphic designer friends I know would charge more than that. Whew.

I'm glad I got that out.

Truthfully being engaged is so much fun and there is a little part of me that would consider extending our wedding date just so we could stay engaged. I love looking at wedding planning blogs and websites and forums. I kind of want to work in the wedding industry. I always have, I loved catering weddings and seeing the details each bride picked. I think being a wedding planner's assistant is my dream job...maybe for the future when I need a break from social work.

On another note, we leave for Montana Friday morning to spend 8 days home for Christmas! I'm so excited. I haven't seen my parents since we got engaged so I am beyond excited for that. My mom scheduled some appointments for me to try on wedding dresses and my maid of honor and I have a standing date for pedicures and wedding discussion. I also completely love Christmas and cannot wait for Christmas Eve brunch, dinner with the family, opening presents, giving presents, lefse and meatballs, snow, skiing...I am so ready. I hope this week goes by quickly. I think it will because I have a ton to do to prepare for being gone and we have my Christmas party and Nathan's this week. I don't want Christmas to end!

This was taken on Nathan's camera phone so the quality is bad but it's our first tree! We still need a topper and tree skirt but I think we might purchase them after Christmas and on sale...shhhh.

Gosh you'd think our life completely revolves around budget-friendly decisions now!

engagement pictures

We had our engagement pictures taken last Friday. The weather was absolutely freezing and we really didn't want to be wearing jackets in our pictures...Needless to say there are some stiff, hands-clenched poses. But all in all I think they're cute. The person who did them specializes in artsy vintage looking pictures which we thought would be fun. I really love her style.

house+wedding

I can't remember if I already wrote this but we are almost positive, if everything works out correctly, we are going to buy a house by April 2010, before our wedding. This is super exciting because we have been wanting this forEVER and should be able to do it if we can find something in our price range (which we have found-we just need to agree that it means not living right in the heart of the city). The bad part is that we are trying to buy a house and plan a wedding at the same time. With little money. Our house down payment will hopefully come from the $8,000 tax credit (used as a loan for the down payment) but we will still need money for closing and probably at least a few new items (we plan to wait until AFTER the wedding to outfit the house more and we expect we will register for a lot of the stuff we might need).

I have heard hiring a wedding planner is the best way to stay within a budget. It sounds almost counterproductive: spending money on someone to tell you how to save money...But part of me is considering it. I also wish I could be in Montana more to try and find things like caterers. No one in Montana has a website so I have no idea if places like Lulu's Catering are legitimate or just some backyard BBQ place. It's hard! My parents are being super helpful but there are some things I just want to do and it takes 10 times the energy to try and do it long distance. Maybe I will go home in February or something to work on it more. I found a great place for food but they are already booked which tells me I can't wait much longer.