Engagement Photos

Engagement Photos
Polaroids: $70
Photographer: Free (Maid of Honor)
Digital Camera: Borrowed

With the assistance of my co-Made of Honor and her boyfriends sister's camera, Brian and I were able to take out engagement photos on the cheap. We decided to take the photos in a digital and Polaroid format. Because our wedding will be in our backyard, we thought it would look nice to pin the Polaroids to our clothing line to go for a more country feel.

I had a hand-me-down Polaroid camera so all I needed was film. When I went online to see where I can purchase Polaroid film, I discovered that the company went out of business several years ago. There is one company, however, that still makes Polaroid film call The Impossible Project. I called several stores and found a small camera shop in downtown Portland that carried The Impossible Project film. A pack of 10 costed $28 so I only purchased three packs. The man at the store warned me that when the film ejects, it must be covered from light within 4 seconds otherwise the photo will become distorted.


When we took the photos yesterday, I was ecstatic. We used the small box the cartridge came in to put the photos in the moment they ejected from the camera. Unfortunately our efforts were wasted. All thirty of the photos were distorted in one way or another (and not in the intended polaroid way we were hoping for). The images were either too washed out or partially developed. The photos shown here are the only somewhat usable photos... out of 30. I tried to clean up one photo (left) but it did not do much. We are going to stick with the digital shots we had taken which we will be getting back later this week!

wedding Dresses P.2

Wedding Dress: $250

The two J. Crew dresses arrived last week and  the fabric was not as nice of quality as I was expecting. Their dresses are also made for more slender body types with little curves. I am going to stick with the Adrianna Papell dress as it was the least expensive, only needs to be shortened, and looks great!

Wedding Dresses

Adrianna Papell Rosette Gown

The first thing I did when I got engaged was go absolutely insane looking at wedding dresses. I looked at the local boutique sites that have dresses $1,000+ which was completely out of budget. There are sites like preownedweddingdresses.com if you love a specific designer and know your size. The Chinese sites that can also replicate any designer dress for less than $300, and the department stores that have everything in between. I discarded the boutique stores because of the high price and the need to alter any dress I order which costs $100+. I was a temped, but a bit skepticle, of the Chinese sites. I was worried they would not be good quality or would never arrive. My decision was to order several dresses from the department stores. If something does not work, then I can always return them.

J. Crew Arabelle Gown

J. Crew Arabelle Gown in Coral

The first dress I ordered was the Adrianna Papell Rosette Ball Gown from Nordstrom for $238. I am a bit more shapely (size 4, 34D) than this model so the dress has more of a princess shape on me. I absolutely love this dress (except for the bejeweled action on the front which I would replace with a silk sash). I also ordered the J. Crew Arabelle Gown for $575. This is a bit more expensive but I thought I might as well try it out. I also ordered the J. Crew Arabelle Long Dress in Coral  ($365) as the coral color is very similar to our peach wedding color. It is surprising the price difference is between the white gown and the coral gown, they are really capitalizing on this market!

Queen Victoria

Mary, Queen of Scots

I am not strict about wearing only white. The tradition is only 172 years young and is credited to Queen Victoria who wore the first publicized white dress when marrying Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. It was first criticized due to its conservativeness and unusual choice of color but then sprouted the growing trend. Prior to this wedding, Mary, Queen of Scots, wore a white wedding gown in 1559 when she married her first husband, Francis Dauphin of France. White was Mary's favorite color, although white was then the color of mourning for French Queens. It was not uncommon to wear your best Sunday dress or, if your family had the means, to wear rich colors and expensive fabrics.

Intro

When my brother, sister-in-law and I hatched out the wedding budget for the first time several months ago, we arrived at a number around $14K. I thought I was shocked... but nowhere near as much as my fiance! Yesterday, Brian and I sat down with my dad and step mom and received our allotted wedding budget, $8,000 - we were extremely pleased. Even though it is half the amount of our original number, I could not justify paying $14K for an afternoon party, an amount higher than the down payment we made on our house. I know weddings are supposed to be special, but the money for these things have gotten out of control. I began looking at the Bride on a Budget and Cheap Ass Bride sites only to find these "cheap" brides are working with double digit budgets or the site is riddled with ads for overcharging companies. I wanted to create a blog documenting how I will stay under $8K while still creating an elegant and warm wedding here in Portland, Oregon. With the help from my brother, a professional wedding planner and DJ, I have exactly one year to plan this wedding, the big day is July 6th, 2013.