Planning a wedding during COVID-19 is an entirely new experience. As we have all been experiencing new this or that, this was not what I wanted to deal with, to be honest. My excitement for my daughter’s wedding got lost amid the virus. I put everything on the shelf basically, until things looked brighter and people quit telling me that unless things improved, they couldn’t attend.
Don’t get me wrong, I knew the wedding was going through no matter, yet the excitement for planning was lost amid the extra precautions everything was requiring. Not knowing what the restrictions would be, if any, for the wedding date, just started to exhaust me. As a parent, your ideas for your son or daughter’s wedding does not include social distancing and limits on the number of people.
When the virus first hit and the military announced a 60-day travel ban, we started to be very concerned. My brother and family are overseas and we had this date picked specifically for them to be here; now it’s unknown, as they still have a military travel ban and need to self-quarantine for 2 weeks once they arrive in the U.S. As with many of the requirements in the US, who knows what the stipulations will be then, which isn’t looking positive right now. We are moving forward with plans the same as they were before this. Once the date gets closer, we will see if any adjustments need to be made. I don’t know how else to plan this.
So, what is next to do now that we are at the 30-day countdown at the writing of this? Flowers for the bride and bridal party. Again, the choice is up to my daughter and she has her colors in mind. With those ideas, we both made phone calls and web searches because in-store visits have not been possible. After all the searching and price quotes, she made the choice for artificial so she could have them in hand prior and know they looked like she wanted them to. Cost savings for silk vs. real are about 40-60% depending on your needs. She ordered them and they have already arrived and she is thrilled beyond belief with her choice! One more checkmark on the list, and more savings to the budget. Win-Win.
Now for invitations. We started by searching images on Pinterest and Shutterfly and checked with some local companies for costs. Since I have done some bits of design of invitations and ads, I went back to Shutterfly and styled an invitation, and then did something similar on Walgreens and Vistaprint. I liked the final design on Vistaprint, as did my daughter and her fiance, which is what matters. Before finalizing the order, I signed in through Rakuten for the cashback offer but also for coupon codes. We found a 25% discount for orders over $100 so with cashback and the discount, we saved almost $50 (which will be spent on postage instead) on the order. The order was for front and back, full-color design, insert card, and white return address envelopes. Note: choosing white envelopes will always save you money. The cost of ordering through Vistaprint was substantially less than anything local or online. Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to order locally, but unfortunately the budget decides for this.
To date, we have saved over $500 on the budget. Big win. A couple last minute things that had been forgotten about or overlooked were the cake topper and stand that needed to go with the rustic look we are going for. We knew where to get those so quickly placed the order and checked that off the list. Now, reviewing the list much more frequently as I’m worried what else has been overlooked. Feeling the pressure now. Things like I still need a dress and the hubs needs a shirt to match and the list goes on.
This is my third wedding on a budget post. Read the first post about selecting a venue here. My second post is about the dress and cupcakes; read that here.
