Hey Budget Brides!

A lot of people I know are getting married soon and have asked me how we managed to pull off our wedding (we paid for it ourselves with no outside help). Our initial budget was $18,000.00 but, in reality, we spent just under $27,000.00.

Sounds like a lot, right? Here’s what we got for our money :

• Ceremony and reception at a 4 Diamond resort.

• Day Of services from a wonderful Wedding Planner
• PEONIES IN DECEMBER + flowers for 19 tables, 6 bridesmaids, 6 groomsmen, 10 family member boutonnieres, 1 groom boutonniere, a toss bouquet, flower petals for the aisle runner, petals and roses for the wedding cake, guest check in table flowers, ceremony altar flowers, sweetheart table flowers. We also got two bouquets to give to our mothers.
• an AWESOME MC and Dj
• the best photographer
• most amazing videographers
• hosted wine and beer during cocktail hour
• passed h’or doeuvres during cocktail hour
• lion dance with two lions
• 3 bottles of champagne + 18 year old Macallan + flask of Henney during our “getting ready” hours
• toasting champagne for us
• hotel rooms for our parents and ourselves
• Dinner for 170 adults, 6 kids and 10 vendors
• hosted rehearsal dinner for our families, our 12 member wedding party + their spouses, our wedding coordinator + her assistant, our officiant. This included wine and beer.
• menu cards
• wedding programs
• blinged out place cards
• gift cards for guests winning games
• alterations for wedding dress and Chinese Qi Pao
• wedding shoes
• wedding veil
• groom’s tuxedo and tuxedo for the TWO ring bearers
• dresses for our TWO flower girls
• gifts for our parents (jewelry and manly accessories)
• guest book and pens
• photo booth for 4 hours
• awesome cake topper
• awesome wedding cake
• jewelry for my 7 bridesmaids (1 of them couldn’t make it to the wedding but I still made one for her)
• flowers for my hair
• hair and makeup for my mom
• my mom’s Western evening wear for the reception and her Chinese Qi Pao for the ceremony

These shoes are amazing. I love my shoes!!
FYI, girls, Nina shoes are pretty comfy.

Whew. I’m sure there’s more but I can’t remember them.

Don’t worry if this seems overwhelming. It is (I won’t lie), but it’s totally doable. I know because I did it. I will show you how I did it in every post.

Now, keep in mind that what works for me might not work for you. The point of me sharing how I planned my wedding is to show you that it CAN be done on a small budget because where there’s a will, there’s a way. I was very determined. Maybe some of these ideas will work for you.

So. First things first. Enjoy your engagement! Don’t worry about planning yet. Just enjoy being engaged. I did this by staring obsessively at Bonzai Bling all day every day except when driving. Even then, it was kind of hard because it would catch the light and BAMM!!! Momentarily stunned. It was awesome.

I think his recipe is for more advanced health nuts. I’m more of a beginner.

Therefore, I’ve modified it a bit. I put two cups of kale, 1 cup pineapple, 1/2 orange, 1/2 cup strawberries, 1 tsp maca powder and a tbsp of coconut oil and almond milk.

This is what it looks like. It’s pretty good this way and I drink it every morning.

I have no idea how Naked Juice gets theirs to that silly consistency where my smoothies require some chewing on my part but whatever. It’s tasty enough now to me.

Bottoms up!

I love green smoothies. I blame it all on Naked Juice. I’ve tried a lot of their flavors but my all time favorite is their Green Machine.

image source – naked juice dot co dot uk
I love this stuff. Yum yum, gimme some!

Thanks to the extra pounds I packed on during our awesome honeymoon, I’ve been grimly determined to ditch them. I’ve started working my way up to running miles. I’ve started to do some yoga again. I bought a jumprope and I’m not afraid to use it.

While this is all great, I know the biggest change has to come from my diet. From previous posts, you know I’m trying out smoothies and coconut oils. I love those. But I worried about possibly taking in too much sugars in the form of all the fruits. That’s when I saw Bob Harber on the Nate show.

I’ve been meaning to find a way to introduce more green, leafy veggies into my diet and Bob’s recipe for his Green Drink. I figured since my favorite Naked Juice drink is green so this must be tasty too! Nate tried a sip and proclaimed it delicious.

I wasn’t totally convinced but I remained hopeful. I faithfully made the drink like the recipe posted (I even bought dulse flakes and Maca powder) and was super excited to try it. I was a little disturbed by how….flaky my drink looked compared to the smoothly blended green wonder on the show.

Whatever. I shook it off and took my first big gulp.

My initial thoughts :

• This is nothing like Naked Juice.

• Nate lied to his audience when he said this wasn’t bad.
• Why do all the things that are good for you taste so bad?!
• I wonder how Naked Juice makes their Green Machine so tasty?
• I can’t believe I have to drink two giant glasses of this.

I have to be honest. It wasn’t tasty but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. After a few mouthfuls, the taste got better. My tastebuds either got used to it or all died off. I’m not sure which.

Since then, I’ve decided to add some more pineapple and swapped out the banana for an orange. This makes the taste more bearable for me. I think the quality of the blender makes a big big deal. Our blender isn’t the top of the line model out there. I think if we had a better one, the ingredients would’ve been better processed and smoother.

The kale and spinach were still in small pieces that I could chew along with the dulse flakes.

Would I drink this again? Definitely yes. I need to detox from all the junk I’ve been eating and it’s always good to eat fresh produce.

Do I enjoy it? ….not exactly….

It’s about that time again when I review a product I’m trying out.

More details later.

For now….take a look at the SOAP!!

Pretty neat, huh?

I put in one banana, one mango, a fistful of chopped pineapples, a handful of strawberries, milk and A GIANT TABLESPOON OF COCONUT OIL.

This is so tasty.  If you don’t like coconuts, never fear.  It’s not a very pronounced, in-your-face taste.  It’s very subtle and mellow.  The overall effect is a light, tropical flavor.

I love our new blender.