Friday, June 01, 2007

Just like Christmas

If there is one thing you can count on with me, it's that I'm sticking to a budget. Over the years I've honed this skill down to an art form. If I've set a limit for myself I'm sticking to it.

Except when it comes to buying Christmas gifts.

As the festive season starts I am very rigorous about setting limits for myself. I am very very good up until the week before the big day. At that point all restraint is pretty much thrown out the window and I buy things for people just because it looks like something they'd love. Usually I've exercised enough restraint leading up to the critical I'm-spending-like-a-mad-woman phase that I don't get into any trouble. Plus, Christmas comes so fast that the frenzy is pretty time restricted.

This wedding planning is becoming like the Christmas frenzy.

For the last 3 months I have been meticulous about our budget. Cutting things I may have wanted to reduce cost. I was bound and determined to only spend the allotted amount.

However, I'm in the home stretch and starting to feel signs that the self-imposed budget-keeping bonds are being loosed. Did we really need little picture clips for our centerpieces...probably not. Did I spend $30 on them yesterday...you bet I did. And now that we have the clips we'll need to get some really nice photos printed up to incorporate into our centerpieces...that will probably cost something. And did we really need to cleverly label our tables using the swirl pattern from the invitations to tie the paper all together? Labels that will cost additional from our printer....probably not. Am I going to do it?...yes.

The scary thing is that we've got 3 weeks left. That's a lot of time to do damage....

2 comments:

Courtney said...

Bah! You'll be fine. When you look back on this day you certainly will not think "Why oh Why did I buy those photo clips?" All you'll remember is how wonderful the whole day was and how happy you were. It's your WEDDING. Don't go crazy, but I think it's ok to live it up a bit. When you start getting diamond encrusted place settings, well, then we'll have to talk.

Jessica said...

I think just about every bride goes through the same thing- I know I did. 3 weeks is sort of a long time when you consider the likelihood of visiting craft stores almost every day (maybe I'm speaking from personal experience, maybe), but if you've made it this far without completely abandoning all restraint you will probably come through with a relatively small amount of pocketbook damage.