Wedding Plans

As you all know, I have been married in the past.... BLT however has not.  He was, for the majority of his childhood a single child.  A wedding is a very important and much anticipated event for his family.  His step siblings are very close to both of us, and they too are incredibly excited for the wedding... so we're going to do it up right - well as nicely as possible with a limited budget, two full time jobs, one psychotic Ex dragging me into court, five kids to support, and out of state family to keep in mind.

My first wedding was designed, and lorded over by my former Mother In-Law.  I made little to no choices. She just sort of took over, and not knowing any better I let her. Plus she paid for all of it, so I didn't really have a choice.  This time I want to have my own fairytail, maybe not the traditional wedding ceremony... but something that I've had my own hand in. That being said, BLT wants the whole thing...Attendants, music, invitations, flowers, and an open bar! To that end I'm checking out a few locations to see if we can afford to have our wedding there.  It seems that around here there are very expensive locations for huge weddings over 150 guests or more.  Or there are elegant, intimate locations for weddings with 25 guests or fewer.  Finding anything in between has been problematic... and expensive. Money (apparently four kids still need to eat... even though Mommy has explained that she wants those lovely invitations! LOL) is always an issue around here.

In what seems like Deja Vu I'm sure, Ethel will be my maid of honor. My two oldest daughters will stand up with me.  Since the oldest daughter was in on the surprise proposal it only seems fitting, BLT asked her what she thought of the idea and they were in cahoots together the whole time! I promised Ethel that there will be no ugly bridesmaid dresses... in fact, other than requesting a color range I'm leaving the dress choice up to her.  We did joke about an orange dress with a giant lime green bow though. YIKES!

We are thinking of getting married in April if possible.  That's enough time to plan, save up money, get through the holidays, let family plan accordingly for traveling here from California, Hawaii, and Missouri, and it lets me take my time doing as much as possible to keep costs down.  I'll do all the flowers, favors, invitations, and decor myself. 

Since it's off season I'll be able to negotiate a better deal for the caterer and officiant, etc (or so all the bridal magazines claim)  Wish me luck.  I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment....

My first job is to find a spot to host this shin dig.  Then I will need a dress (not a white wedding dress for obvious reasons.. i.e. I'm OLD) I'm hoping for this misty grey strapless number I've found online.

All of this wedding planning has a extra bonus, it's keeping me too busy to think about our next court appearance in my X's attempt to prove me unfit and get custody of my children.   But that, my friends, is a whole different post for a different day.