New House!

I am so excited to announce that we are now the proud owners of our new home!

The process was a little tedious, since the home was a foreclosure and the seller was the federal government!.As you can imagine, they are not too keen on negotiating, and are comparatively pretty slow in getting things finalized. Since Matt owned our previous home before we met, this was my first home purchase. There were certainly some stressful moments, so I am so glad that everything is finalized so that we can start the next chapter together!

One of our favorite weekend activities has been house hunting - every time we drive by a new neighborhood we stop to check out the model home and then sneak into all of the homes that are under construction. We also frequent open houses, and we had looked at several with our realtor. When we passed this one, we saw it was vacant, so we immediately jumped out of the car and started peeking into the windows. It looked perfect, so we scheduled a showing for the next day. When we walked in, we both agreed that it was the one!

We have been so anxious for the past month waiting for our move-in day, so we were over the moon to spend our first night in our new home. I was most excited to take a bath in the new bathtub, since a big tub was on my must-have list!

Since the home was a foreclosure, the fridge and washer/dryer had been removed. Luckily, the hubs is always willing to take a trip to Lowe's, and we found an INCREDIBLE deal on a special order return fridge (75% off!). Combined with the 4th of July Sale on Washers and Dryers, we were able to get everything we needed for less than half of our expected budget. Our old fridge was the basic apartment-style model, so this stainless french door is such a huge upgrade! Lowe's delivered this and our washer dryer and did a great job, I highly recommend them for appliance purchases.

Does buying a house with stairs count as a workout plan? I think so!

❤, Brandy

Looked and Booked: Photo Booth on a Budget

I love the idea of a photo booth at the wedding, and every time we go to a wedding that has one, my future hubby has a blast and insists that we need to have one at our reception.

The trouble: they can be pretty pricey. I made calls to the booths that were displayed at a wedding expo, and they ran around $900 for what we wanted.

We considered rigging up some sort of DIY backdrop, but really wanted a classic go-in-and-close-the-curtain-while-you-make-silly-faces kind of thing.

Enter Groupon. About a year ago, I saw a Groupon offering a three-hour photo booth for $295 (!), including double-prints, a classic photo booth, unlimited sessions, a CD, and a staff member. Turns out the coupon would expire before our wedding date, but a quick e-mail to the owner, and he was willing to match the price for us.

I'm so excited to see all the fun photos!

Original Quote: $900
Booked Price: $295
Savings: $605 (67% off)

Inspiration Board

Here is a cute inspiration board for the wedding, created on minted.com! I loved choosing pictures that I've been collecting and seeing them all together, and you can insert invitations to see how they fit your theme!

untitled 1 board by Brandy. See more wedding invitations

Looked and Booked: Wedding Planning on a Budget

So, I'm planning this wedding. At last count, it is 249 days away.

I'm also a person who loves weddings, and I've probably been to about 20 of them in the past few years (2011 held the record, eight in one year). I'm also a Pinterest addict, and find myself designing my dream wedding when I'm in line at the bank or having trouble falling asleep. 

So, what does this mean? Well, I have a lot of specific ideas and visions about elements I want to incorporate. The problem? My future husband (Matt) and I are shelling out the cash ourselves, and we are on a serious budget.

I was raised to be a pretty serious bargain shopper. While the bulk of my closet is from Anthropologie, though I can count the items I've purchased at full-price on one had (OK, three fingers, and I got a price adjustment on one of those)! Matt and I are also hoping to save money for a house, travel, and establishing ourselves as a family.

So, instead of feeling defeated every time a beautiful item from my fantasy Pinterest life is out of our budget, I'm considering it a fun challenge to seek out a budget-friendly replacement, all without sacrificing the things I refuse to compromise on (I will have great pictures. I will have an open bar. I will not ask my guests to come to a Monday afternoon reception.)

I've always loved the concept of "Lust" vs. "Must" when it comes to designer fashion items in magazines. So, I'm creating "Looked" then "Booked" to document where I'm splurging and where I'm cutting my costs!

Today, my Save the Date cards. I wanted something with a fun, vintage vibe to complement our County Fair themed engagement photos.

LOOKED: I immediately fell in love with (several) designs on Minted. I love the soft color palates, the vintage look, and the quirky designs. The price: between $1.25 and $2.00 each.

BOOKED: Next, I set out to see what I could find that I loved even more, and hopefully at a substantial savings! I spent several hours perusing Etsy, and fell head over heels for a design by Lucille and Buster's. The shop owner was super helpful and tweaked one of her designs to be EXACTLY what I wanted. Grand total: $19.50. The files are sized to upload straight to my choice of printer, and will include stationary paper and envelopes for about 33 cents each. Savings: $102.

I think they turned out really great, and I love them even more than the ones I couldn't afford. Savings: $102.