"You'll Make it Back" Syndrome

A few weeks ago a Daily Mail (the paper that brought you such headlines as “Is There No One Left in Britain That Can Make a Sandwich?” and "Women Become Good Cooks at the Age of 55") article was making the rounds on the Internet.

It was all about a bride who sent wedding guest no-shows a bill to cover the cost of their dinners. You can read the riveting piece of journalism here.

Caught up? Okay, good. 

To me, it sounds like that bride has You'll Make it Back syndrome. What's that? When engaged couples fork over huge amounts of money in hopes they'll "make it back" in gifts from friends and family. Sometimes, that doesn't happen, and the bride and groom start their new lives together with mounting debt. Romantic, isn't it? 

To avoid You'll Make It Back syndrome, I suggest you start with a budget YOU CAN AFFORD, so you don't wind up doing things like sending a cheque to your wedding GUEST no show.

Speaking of guests and gifts, did you know according to wedding etiquette, your guests have one year to send you a gift. Yup! Keep that in mind next time you have a summer full of weddings. 

We almost have our venue locked. I’m getting pretty excited about it. Hoping I can share the good news in this next post (or the one after that).

Using People (That Want to Help You)

As soon as an engagement ring is slipped on your finger, the offers to help plan the wedding start pouring in. For me, the more help the better. I like delegating.

Sometimes those friends or family members run kick-ass businesses, or are very talented hobbyists, and will offer their services either for free or a reduced rate. LET THOSE PEOPLE HELP YOU!

For one, you’ll feel completely comfortable telling your friend exactly how you feel about hydrangeas, and two, it’ll shave a few bills off your budget. Here’s who has offered to help us and what that means for our bottom line.

Cake. Cake. Cake.

My future mother-in-law and all around amazing person, Susy, offered to make our wedding cupcakes. In fact, she’s even going to take a cake decorating class for the occasion. How is that for dedication?!?!  The best part is, each cupcake will be made with TLC. Oh, and butter. Lots and lots of butter.

Flowers

Obviously we haven’t thought this far ahead (lol we don’t have a venue…. brb crying about that) but! Once we have that locked down Peter’s sister-in-law, Linda, is going to help us with our flowers. Linda helps her Mom run a florist company in the Ottawa Valley called Sylvia's Plant Place. Linda is a talented artist herself – check out her work on Etsy. 

Photos

A day of photographer is still TBD (I have some ideas) but for our engagement photos, my sister’s boyfriend, Brad, is going to lend a hand. Luckily Peter and I are handy with Photoshop and we will edit the pictures ourselves.  

Invitations

We’ve received a lot of great advice about saving money on invites, but I think Peter and I are going to go completely paperless. Yup, it’ll be an email invite. Peter is an amazing designer, and will create the invite we will mail out. As for the saved the date, that’ll be a video. 

If anyone else out there wants to offer their services, WE WILL GLADLY ACCEPT! Especially if you happen to run an event space in the GTA.