Now … onto the fun stuff. In my first wedding planning post, I discussed where to begin with planning your own wedding, and I dove into talking about coming up with a realistic budget in addition to the tools that I’ve used to do so and a couple of cost-saving ideas that I’m planning on using in order to stay within our budget. As I mentioned, everything in regard to planning a wedding is expensive, so it’s extremely important to know how much you and your partner are willing to spend on the big day … even though it is the most boring (and depressing) part. If you’re boujie on a budget like me, you know what I mean when I say budget talk is the most depressing; the reality sets in that the kind of wedding you want could easily go for 40k, and if you’re even more like me, you’re a young adult that is already in debt from student loans with the desire to have a bomb ass honeymoon and buy a house within the next few years … so dropping that much on a wedding isn’t realistic. I almost began this series talking about the theme since I knew ours before talking about a budget, but as I’m typing this I’m realizing beginning with the budget makes the most sense considering different themes may require different budgets. For example, a rustic-type wedding in a barn will most likely be more affordable than a modern wedding on a rooftop lounge. I’m personally more of a modern wedding on a rooftop lounge kind of girl, and that’s not something I’m willing to compromise on which is why I’m all about finding ways to save our coins.

Your wedding theme doesn’t necessarily have to be based on a certain style like boho or what I mentioned prior, it could simply be your color scheme. Depending on what season you’ve set your date in, you could opt for a darker palette for the Fall and Winter months, or you could keep it light and bright in the Spring and Summer months. Neutral colors fit into every season, so if you aren’t too keen on choosing coordinating colors, make it easy on yourself and just stick to the grays, beiges, and creams. You’ll find that it’s easier to locate decor that follow a neutral palette, and most venues can be dressed up nicely in neutral decor as well. All in all, keeping it neutral is safe and easy, and if you decide to make it your theme, that will be one more thing you can cross off of the lengthy wedding planning checklist.

If you really want to go all out on your wedding day theme, you could base it off of a specific time period, a movie, or practically anything that you have an interest in. One day a few years back, I was watching that show “Four Weddings” on TLC, and one of the couples had a Spiderman themed wedding. If I’m not mistaken, the party favors were designed like Spiderman and half of their wedding cake was decorated like Spiderman while the other half was solid white. I recall another time where a bride’s wedding theme was Halloween. She actually wore a black dress and got married at a graveyard site. It was for sure the wildest theme I had ever seen, but it was a surprisingly nice turnout. That show along with “Say Yes to the Dress” are great to watch if you’re looking for an additional source of inspiration for your theme, so I would definitely recommend checking them out if you’re not sure of what direction you’re heading in.

“Glamorous with a Bit of Elegant and a Touch of Simple”

I’ve known for a very long time how I wanted my wedding day to look, I just could never put it into words. Then I came across this wedding style quiz on The Knot and it literally put into words what I saw in my head. Glamor, elegance, and a touch of simple. I was honestly amazed because I don’t think I could have said it any better. For our theme, I’m combining the modern wedding look with this amazing palette that I found on Pinterest. Since our date is in early March, I was a bit torn on whether to go with lighter colors for Spring or darker colors since it will technically be a Winter wedding. I just knew I wanted to incorporate mustard yellow somehow since it’s my favorite color, so I began looking up color palettes that included it. The one that I found is just about perfect, it just has too many shades of green so I would replace one of them with something neutral - maybe a light gray or taupe. This way I kind of have the best of both worlds with a mixed palette. I’m going for a very non-traditional wedding, so if you feel like I’m breaking the rules it’s because I’m absolutely trying to.

My vision has always been something along the lines of the second photo. I fell in love with the Chiavari chairs and the extravagant centerpieces, so much that I was willing to rent the chairs for our ceremony and reception even though our list of venues all include standard white chairs. At that point I had to have a one on one talk with myself about my entire goal here which is, you know, to save money wherever possible. I’ve already figured out a way to get the nice centerpieces, so the chairs will be a no go or unless we somehow find room in our budget. If not, I’ll be completely okay without them. The venue that Deion and I are going to look at next week is beautiful enough to where minimal decorations will actually go a long way. Since I’m going for a rooftop/loft or mansion type setting, all of the venues that I’ve inquired about are beautiful on their own. That’ll definitely save us some money on decorations, so in the upcoming weeks I’ll be talking all about venues and what kinds of things you should be looking for when on the hunt for the perfect one!