Crazy Holidays + Wedding planning.

I can't wait till Keith is out here for the holidays.... Just a little over a week to go. I'm almost 100% done with Christmas shopping... Just My "Brother" and "Best Friend" left to go... and something for the work party...

=)

So far the budget is still intact.... The blanket idea won't work for the bro... He just got one (lame!) but i got a few ideas from his new girlfriend so its back out to the stores I go.

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we have already had one HUGE family drama over everything... i'm praying one won't happen while Keith is here...

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I'm trying to budget and plan for a wedding and its STRESSING ME OUT... Since we have to have a lot of the decisions made before January is here since Keith will only be in California for so long before he's back in Utah...

Not knowing the tax brackets for next year is KILLING ME. I have no idea what my January paycheck will look like... and most of the money we have for the wedding is that extra money I have in the budget... but if the tax rates go up... i'm screwed cause that $200 we can set aside each month will shrink... and that's the honeymoon money... and my early spring visit to see him (Plus whatever Keith can come up with after he's done paying back his folks) and my tax refund will only go so far...

I'm also waiting on a proposal from a wedding planning company i've been working with... they do simple beach and park weddings. We've had a few email chats and we met up at the possible location to pitch ideas and run numbers.

Once we get all the stuff in there and the final price in writting we can then line item a few things out to insure that it fits in the budget. I think we'll need to cut it down around $500 to make it realistically work.

We are hoping to keep the wedding and reception to $5,500 MAX so we can use the $5,000 grand from my mom and the 1300 tax return i should be getting to cover everything. (Sans my dress-- I found it... its gorgeous!!! and I think I should have it paid for by the end of January with the holiday overtime, leftovers from the extra paycheck this month, and the $200 or so dollars i tucked away in Oct & Nov).

We have a layout for everything... and with all of our wants... and then we start cutting back to make sure its still affordable. We have at least set a cap to the number of guests,--- a possible guest list, and what we'd like to do... now its just figuring out if it will work for everything and what we are going to have to compromise on.

At least the location is free...