Am I retarded for giving my post that title? Shut up, I thought it was funny.

So we are down to our last few days of summer before school starts. It’s like a dark cloud is hovering in the distance, just waiting to come and downpour on our perfect homework-free picnic. But we’ve been doing stuff to make sure we make the most of our remaining time (does that sound like we’re dying?)

Most importantly (drumroll please) I turned 21 on the 15th! Hooray! But that was not the most exciting part (sidenote: turning 21 is not a big deal for a Mormon girl. Horizontal driver’s license…thrilling). The most exciting part was our trip to Disneyland to celebrate! Ah, what a great day. The lines were not too long, it was not swelteringly hot, and I got wished happy birthday by about 60 Disney employees thanks to the Disneyland birthday button I sported the whole day. Yesssssss. I think Dallin is running for some kind of “ultimate husband” position. And he’s doing great (the trip was his idea)

What else? There have been a couple wedding receptions of really good friends (love weddings, love friends… good times); I’ve seen “Mamma Mia!” twice and can be found making a fool of myself dancing/singing to the soundtrack of said film in my car; I’m looking for a new job; I just got an awesome over-the-door pantry organizer, which I’m so excited about you’d think it was singlehandedly solving all life’s problems; and my Grandma is starting cooking classes for her daughter/daughters-in-law/granddaughters, the first of which was last night, and it was fantastic!

So that might be all that’s going on with me at the moment. As for Dallin, he’s working, being a sport as I drag him to stranger-infested receptions or ditch him for a while to hang with in-from-out-of-town girlfriends, and dreading school even more than I am. He’s a fantastic husband who takes excellent care of his wife! We’re living the good life, indeed.

-katie

Bummer that I don’t have ANY pics to include with this post…Oh well. Use your imaginations

Hello!

I was just looking through my old blog posts (memories!), came across the one I wrote about finding a modest wedding dress, and thought “Hey, that was fun. I should do that again sometime.” Well, my friends, sometime has come.

I thought I’d focus a little more this time on how to find the right wedding dress for the right price. Every aspect of a wedding, from the pictures to the food to the flowers, is going to be pretty darn costly. It can be a hard thing to do on a budget.

But budget you must! Seriously, that’s the only way you’re going to have everything just the way you want it, for the right price. And it’s the first step when you’re considering how much you want to pay for your wedding dress: budget and prioritize. If your dress is the most important thing in the world to you and your perfect day, make sure you can allot the cash to get it. If you’d rather focus on stunning flowers or a top of the line reception location, cut back a little on the dress. Figure out what’s most important to you, and put as much of your budget as you can towards it.

Once you’ve decided how much you want to spend on your wedding dress, check out your options. If you’re working on a tight budget, don’t be afraid to think used! Relatives, close friends, etc would probably be very willing to let you borrow or buy a dress from them. If you just want something pretty to wear, and don’t really care for the nostalgic thing, it’s really a great option.

If you really want your own thing, though, you can still get a good deal. David’s Bridal, especially, has really good sales very often. If you’re not too picky, you can definitely find something that will look great and fit your budget! Keep in mind that you’ll probably need it fitted, and you’ll probably have to have sleeves added on to it. But even that will most likely be cheaper than holding out for a pricey gown.

If you’ve got a little more to spend, I recommend Latter Day Bride or Beautifully Modest. Especially if you’re shopping for a modest gown outside of Utah, buying online is a good option. And it isn’t as scary as you might think, especially if you order early (which gives you plenty of time to get it shipped, and time to take care of problems if there’s anything wrong with it). These sites have dresses from several price ranges, and their styles range from simple to extravagant. Take the time and look! Even if you find something you love that is out of your price range, you still might at least get a better idea of what style you’re looking for, and then you can hunt down a cheaper gown in that style.

Just don’t give up! It gets overwhelming sometimes, thinking about how much everything costs (even if your parents are picking up the tab, wink wink), but that doesn’t mean you have to settle. Know what you want, and do what you can to get it. Take the time to look around. There’s plenty out there!

Well I thought that the idea to list out these “ideas for a fun date” was such a good one that I’d make an entire site dedicated to it.

Being a web designer, it really isn’t hard for me to throw a web site together, and ideasforafundate.com was availalbe so I snatched it up. After a quick wordpress install, the date ideas are now posted there for all to see.

I don’t plan really on maintaining the site. It’s kinda an experiment to see if people will use it. Google shows that 250 people every day search for “ideas for a fun date” so we’ll see if I can help any of those people. If it goes anywhere, I’ll let you know.

But for now, check it out if you’re looking for a fun date idea. You can sort them by using the tag cloud to dates that are cheap, short, day time, night time, romantic, better suited for groups and any other classification you can think of. Bookmark it, too (or add it to your RSS reader) because as Katie and I think of new things, I’m sure they’ll get posted there.

Dallin