Bribing Yourself To Work Out (With free bottled water)

I was pretty lax about my wedding workout. I would go to the gym at our apartment complex every so often, but it was never on a regular basis. So I decided that my workout would be walking the park next to our apartment. It was easier to keep up with that, but it wasn't helping me shed the pounds I wanted to lose before we got married. So instead, I had to bribe myself. And maybe you're one of the people who think bribing yourself to work out isn't such a bad idea.

If you are, you're my people.

So bribe yourself to work out with free bottled water or other items to go in your wedding welcome bags. That's what I did.

Walgreens has a Balance Rewards program where you earn points for specific purchases. Plus, you  get 100 points every time you fill a prescription. 

It's not much. I mean, 100 points is only equal to $.10, but it adds up if you fill a lot of scripts (which I don't, but still).

But, part of the Balance Rewards program is moving. Moving your body -- not your address. And that's huge.

You get 20 points for every mile you walk (up to 1,000 points) or run and 20 points every day you track your weight. Since you're probably weighing yourself like mad to make sure you can still fit in my dress, you might as well get 20 points for doing it daily. That's 2 cents a day. I know, I know, not much but better than nothing. 

You also get 20 points per blood glucose test (with a maximum of two logs per day), 20 points per blood pressure test (with a maximum of one log per day), 20 points every time you log your sleep.

Of you have a Fitbit (or similar tracker) or an iPhone with the Health app, you can actually sync either to your account and you don't even  need to keep track yourself. One less thing to think about.

What I did was save up all our points and used them to buy bottled water for our hotel bags. My intention was to put one bottle in each welcome bag, but my mom said most people are coming as a couple, so it would be nice to put two in each bag. Which means we went from needing about 100 to about 200. And that was eight cases of 24 bottles. On sale, cases are $2.99, so we needed about $24 in Balance Rewards.

So I'm took matters into my own hands ... uh, feet.

And we actually did that. All our water was free.

The program is a little different now because you can only redeem 5,000 points per transaction. So, if you're planning on using a bunch of points, you'll need to break up your transactions. Keep that in mind.

I know myself. I know I needed to bribe myself to get to the gym, and the idea that my wedding dress might not fit wasn't enough of a bribe for me. But the fact that I could get points and see them add up and know that they would eventually be spent on items to help save on our wedding budget ... yup, that is the bribe that worked for me.

I actually still have my Fitbit synced and save the points, then treat us to things like toilet paper and laundry detergent. This is married life. Get ready.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Do you bribe yourself to workout or are you actually just awesome and go without trickery? 

Top Ten A Bride On A Budget Posts Of 2018

I'll be honest, the last three years feel like they've only been six months. I'm not sure how they passed so quickly, but they did. So here we are, at the end of 2018, putting together the Top Ten A Bride On A Budget posts of the year.

As I have in the past, I have two year end wrap up lists. The first is the top ten posts read in 2018 and the second is the top ten posts written in 2018.

It's so interesting for me to see what you guys want to read. It helps me to plan out what I write about in the upcoming year.

Top Ten Posts Read in 2018 on A Bride On A Budget

1. Wedding DIY: Preserving Your Flowers At Home
2. Bridal Shower Word Search (free printable)
3. Why You Should Always Go Wedding Shopping At The Dollar Store
4. What Exactly Is Pre-Cana? (And answers to all your other marriage prep questions)
5. DIY Bachelorette Party Drink Spinner 
6. DIY: Twine-Wrapped Wine Bottle Centerpieces Tutorial
7. Get Bridal Guide Magazine For Free
8. Black Friday Wedding Deals
9. How To Throw The Perfect Brunch Wedding
10.  Five Tips About Getting Your Wedding Hair Done

Top Ten Posts Written in 2018 on A Bride On A Budget

1. Bacon-Wrapped Crackers Topped With Brown Sugar
2. 5 Ways To Share Your Wedding Photos
3. The Ultimate Guide To Save The Date Cards
4. Wedding Diet Friendly Blackberry Yogurt Popsicles
5. Chocolate Cracker Bark
6. Banana Nut Muffins
7. DIY Beer Can Flowers
8. DIY Wedding Popcorn Bar
9. Homemade Nestle Crunch Bar Wedding Favors
10. Top 10 Obscure Wedding Songs (that aren't cliche and are actually perfect)

Curious about years past? You can check out the Top Ten Wedding Posts of 2015, 2016, and 2017.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Which of these posts from 2017 was your favorite?

Kate Spade, Wedding Planning, And You Matter

It's impossible for me to do this post justice and yet, I feel compelled to try. Because Kate Spade is so intertwined with my wedding ideas, and because Kate Spade committed suicide yesterday.

Social media was filled with celebrities and normal people posting memories of their first Kate Spade bag. From Chelsea Clinton to Viola Davis to women who posted on the Kate Spade New York Facebook page, everyone had a story about a Kate Spade bag.

I don't.

I don't own a Kate Spade bag. Kate Spade eventually sold to Coach, and I have a few Coach bags from the outlet, so that's as close as I've gotten to a Kate Spade bag.

I've gotten closer to suicide, to mental illness, to depression. Things that Kate Spade had in her final moments.

She had fame, money, success, a daughter.

She also had her demons.

Because no amount of love, no amount of designer handbags, no amount of adoration from fans or women who remember their first Kate Spade bag can fight your demons. Sometimes, you can't fight them.

When I think about Kate Spade, I think about gold chevron, not handbags. I think about delicate gold earrings that are perfect for wedding day and black-and-white striped monogrammed tumblers that are perfect for bridesmaid's gifts.

Wedding planning, sometimes it sucks. Sometimes it's stressful. And at some point you just want to throw in the towel and elope instead.

Because your childhood best friend will hold on to her RSVP just a little too long and it will drive you crazy. Your great-aunt will respond with a plus one that wasn't actually invited. Your venue will have "just one teeny tiny change" that will seem catastrophic.

But those are bad moments. They can cause bad days, but they don't cause a bad life.

If you're feeling overwhelmed -- be it with wedding planning or with life -- there are resources out there that can help you. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day by calling 1-800-273-8255.

Let this be my advice to you: Even if you're not feeling suicidal, if you're just feeling like you need someone to reach out to and to listen to you without judgement, you can call the hotline. It's not just available for your in your final moments. If you feel alone, with nowhere else to turn, you can call and talk to someone.

And the help you might be calling for might be help for someone else. You may have a friend who is in a dark place and you don't know what to do. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available for you to call, to talk to someone about your loved one, and get ideas and strategies on things you can do to help your friend or family member who is in need.

You can help prevent suicide.

No. Scratch that.

You can help try to prevent suicide.

Ultimately, the decision lies within the person, like it did with Kate Space. She had a 13-year-old daughter who I hope knows there was nothing she could have done differently to change her mom's situation. She has famous relatives -- very funny famous relatives David Spade and Rachel Brosnahan -- but that's sometimes not enough.

And as I sit here, trying to figure out how to end this, I was scrolling through Facebook and saw an obituary for a former coworker who died from an apparent suicide yesterday. So this can hit the famous and the not, on the same day, at the same time.

Please, hug your friends, hug your fiance, hug your parents. Call a friend in need or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline if you're in need.

And if you're in need of someone to help you with wedding decisions because they are too much, email me. Or if you just need an unbiased friend, email me. I'm here for you, for anything you need. Never feel alone, insignificant, or that you don't matter.

You matter. If to no one else, you matter to me because you made it here to A Bride On A Budget, you made it to the end of this post, you made it to today.

Our Engagement Story

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Jewelers Mutual Insurance. All opinions are 100% mine.

We got home from dinner and I sent a text to a bunch of my friends with a photo of my brand new engagement ring and the words, "I said yes!" And of course, everyone texted back their excitement -- except for the people who were extra excited and tried to call. "I can't talk right now," I said when I answered. "I'm still texting some other people. I'll call you back after the texts."

That night, the night we got engaged, was actually the night that kicked off this blog. And yet somehow, I haven't told our engagement story. I told it to my friends who called and I told it countless times when we saw people face to face, but somehow, I never told our engagement story here. That's changing right now.


When Pete and I still lived in New York, we lived in separate towns. I would drive down to him on Fridays after work and stay until I went to work on Monday morning. Then, every other Wednesday was date night. We would trade between him driving up or me driving down, and we would spend time together.

We moved to North Carolina together, but still kept our Wednesday date night tradition. That's actually something we still have now. I use the date night guest book I made for a post as our date night bag.

Rewind back to September 2012.

We had been living in North Carolina for six months and our two year anniversary was coming up on a Tuesday. "Let's celebrate on date night," Pete had said.

Date night comes and I put on a cute dress and he puts on a nice outfit. Before we walk out the door, he hands me a yellow Post-It note with some sort of rhyme that ends with "come to the cloud." The cloud is what we call our new mattress. So as soon as we were up and getting ready to head out of the door, we turned back around lay down in bed. If you know me, you know I love lying in bed -- especially on the cloud -- so it was perfect.

He handed me a second yellow Post-it note which lead us to a local grocery store so I could get a snack. In the check out line, he handed me another note, which took us to a locally-owned frozen yogurt shop. We ate that, then he handed me another note, taking us to the local boardwalk. We had walked on a boardwalk on our first date, so this was really special. We stopped for a drink, then I got the final note. That one took us to a restaurant that I had been wanting to try since we moved to North Carolina.

We went in and had a great dinner. Then Pete asked if I wanted dessert. I was so full, and we had frozen yogurt not too long before, so I said no. And then he asked again and I realized that even if I didn't want dessert, I wanted dessert.

We order it and out it comes with a Momiji doll. Have you seen these? They're super cute wooden messenger dolls. They come with a piece of paper that inserts inside the base and allows you to write a secret message. On that paper, Pete asked me to marry him. As I was reading it, he had gotten up from his side of the table and went down on one knee.

It was really sweet and a day I will remember for as long as I live.


Not too long after that, I was reading a story about a couple that got engaged at a restaurant two towns over from here. The man got down on one knee, and, in the couple's excitement, somehow the ring got knocked through the boardwalk's floorboards and into the ocean. All the diners jumped into the water to help find the ring.

"I hope that ring was insured," I thought.

If you're recently engaged, you really want to look into getting your ring insured. Get a free jewelry insurance quote and see how much it will cost for your piece of mind. Some insurance quotes are based on the value of your ring, and some take into account the state where you live.

If you're not even sure if you need insurance, this Jewelry Insurance 101 is a good place to start. There's a great infographic to let you know what is covered with specialized jewelry insurance (loss, theft, etc.) versus homeowner's insurance and the jewelry store warranty. It will also tell you what you need before you're actually even able to get your ring insured.

That graphic also states that 1 in 4 married women lost jewelry when vacationing and gives you recommendations as to when you need to be careful with your ring (which are similar to the times I say when you should take off your engagement ring).

And, if you're just reading this and being cautious, you might not even have a ring yet. Or you might actually just be buying one for your girlfriend and you're looking for creative ideas on how to pop the question. Learn what brides-to-be want in an engagement ring, then apply those thoughts to your own girlfriend taking into account her taste, her lifestyle, and any images she may have sent your way.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Do you have your ring insured?

What It's Like When Your Bridal Shop Closes

I'm good at making decisions. I'm logical and levelheaded, and I'm great at finding the best deal. I'm bad at making quick decisions. I need to explore every option before finally committing. That's why it took me eight stores, two cities, one overnight stay, and 50 dresses before picking my wedding dress.

I had gone into one shop, let's call it Shop A, in a town about two hours away and tried on a bunch of duds. Nothing caught my eye. I told the consultant that I had liked a James Clifford dress at another shop, and they offered to sell me the sample at a discount, but I wasn't quite sure about it. So this consultant at Shop A told me she could order me the same James Clifford dress at 10% off if I ordered right then and there. That made the dress the same price as the sample dress I saw, so I still wasn't sure. I took the consultant's card and left.

The next day, I went into Shop B. "Did you go to Shop A?" the consultant asked me. I told her I did, but I wasn't impressed. "It was on the news last night. Did you see?" I had not. She then started to tell me a story about how Shop A was taking money, claiming it was ordering dresses, then, when brides and bridesmaids came to pick up the dresses they paid for, they weren't available. So they were forced to pick out dresses off the rack -- which means they often didn't fit and bridesmaids were sent down the aisle with clips down their backs.

Thank goodness I didn't purchase from Shop A, I thought as I was trying on dresses in Shop B. I found one that I liked, which basically fit me perfectly, which was great since it was from a designer who only created one of each dress and despite the consultant actually calling him directly, he refused to sew me one that was a little bigger.

"So just lose five pounds," she told me. That's not exactly what you want to hear when you're trying on wedding dresses, but the whole wedding dress purchase process is a bit cray cray. I had about ten months before our wedding day, so I figured that was possible. "Then come back and get your alterations two weeks before your wedding," the consultant said. "Our tailor is here on Wednesdays." I was told they would be done that day since I was about two hours away.

My mom thought my dress needed a little bling, so we picked out a belt at the same time. The shop owner told me I could wait until alterations to get that sewn in, so that's what I did.

Fast forward nine months.

Our wedding was three or so weeks away, so I called Shop B. No answer. I tried an hour later. No answer. I tried the next day. Someone answered, so I asked about making an appointment for alterations on Wednesday, explaining what I was told when I bought my dress. "Our tailor won't be here Wednesday," I was told. No big deal, I thought, and asked what day the tailor would be there. "Well ... " pause "We're actually closed and the shop's number directs to my cell phone, so the tailor won't be available until we reopen." When will that be, I asked. "Oh, we're not sure. Maybe a year?"

Aye yai yai.

Thank goodness I had my dress and hadn't left it there for safe keeping, as I know brides were able to do.

So I did the only thing I could think of: I googled local seamstresses. I found one that looked amazing and went to her website. She was on maternity leave indefinitely.

I checked out the second on the list -- and she was actually in Australia. Second best in my large town in North Carolina was actually in Australia? Thanks, Google. Gotta fix those geo-tags.

So I tried option three. The phone rang and, to my surprise, someone answered. I told my tale of woe and the woman on the phone told me it was fine, they would take care of me, but I had to be at the shop at 1pm the next day. No later.

The shop was 20 minutes away but I left an hour before, just to make sure. Well, wouldn't you know, I have to cross a bridge to get there and the bridge had an unscheduled opening. I'm serious when I tell you that anything that could go wrong during our wedding planning went wrong. I called the shop frantically to explain the situation. "It's fine," the woman told me on the phone. "But the lady who will be doing your alterations, well, her husband just had a heart attack and she needs to get to the hospital, so just get here as soon as you can."

What!?

Short story long: I get to the shop, she pins my dress, alters it, and I pick it up a few days before our wedding.

I tell you this story now because Alfred Angelo is all over the news. The Florida-based bridal dress shop closed. Out of nowhere. Closed without warning, without telling brides who had paid deposits, without fulfilling orders.

Oh my heart breaks for the brides, the bridesmaids, the mothers of the bride and groom, the flower girls, the employees ... anyone affected by this situation. To not know if you'll be able to get your dress -- one you spent hours shopping for and hundreds of dollars paying for -- it's a wedding headache that you don't need.

Things will go wrong at your wedding. They always do. No wedding is perfect. Bridesmaids drop out, best men turn into ghosts, guests who RSVP yes just don't show up. These things always happen. But what doesn't always happen is a dress shop going out of business.

Oddly, it happened to me because like I said, our wedding was the Murphy's Law of weddings. Shop B, it actually ended up opening back up sometime between our first and second wedding anniversary. Not in time for me, but in time for other brides. And that may happen with Alfred Angelo. It may open again or it may not. I have no idea, to be honest. All I know is right now, there are a ton of brides and bridal parties who my heart aches for.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Are you affected by this? Chat with us in the comments below or in our Facebook post about this from over the weekend.

It's Okay To Cheat On Your Wedding Diet

I'm sipping on a chocolate milkshake as I write this. It should be noted, right off the bat, that when the cashier asked me if I wanted whipped cream and a cherry, I didn't even hesitate. "Yes, please," I said because if someone offers you whipped cream and a cherry when you're already drinking your daily allotted calories, you say yes and you don't feel bad. Not even for one second.

Not even if you're on a wedding diet.

Because, honestly, it's okay to cheat on your wedding diet.

Mark my words: You will cheat on your wedding diet and I will not let you feel guilty about it.

Wedding planning is stressful, and there are a lot of people (myself included) who stress eat. At least, I always call it stress eating. But maybe it's just eating because you're hungry, and being hungry is making you hangry. Or maybe it's eating French fries instead of eating the end of a pencil. Whatever you need to do, you do.

Maybe you won't cheat with a full on fast food meal, but you will (as my friend Michelle always says) feed the beast. And that's okay. What's not okay is when you make yourself feel guilty about it.

There are apps out there that help you track every single calorie. And when I was wedding planning, it was a big help. It also made me sort of neurotic. It would make me feel entirely guilty about wanting to indulge with a fun size candy bar. It made me count Goldfish crackers into serving sizes, and it made me feel accomplished if I could snack on half a serving instead of a full one.

It wasn't worth it.

I was stressing and wanting chocolate. And then feeling guilty for giving in and watching the saturated fat line creep closer to full.

So then I would go on walks at the park by our apartment because exercise was negative calories. But then my calves would hurt and I would want to drink tonic water, but that stuff was positive calories. And I'm allergic to diet anything, so that wasn't an option.

My life had three options: skip the chocolate and stress over the calories or eat the chocolate, feel bad, walk, drink tonic water, end up stressed over the calories in the chocolate that never got walked off or eat the chocolate, feel bad, walk, skip the tonic water, suffer through pain in my calves, then not sleep because of it and wake up stressed.

So I turned to option four: Eat a piece of candy and move on with my day.

That made life -- and wedding planning -- so much easier. Even after your wedding, follow this advice into your marriage.

Some days, you won't be perfect. Some days, your marriage won't be perfect. That doesn't matter. What matters is you do what you can and need to do, and you don't feel guilty about it. You feed the beast. Maybe it needs a chocolate shake; maybe it needs some time alone. Whatever your beast needs, you feed it, and you don't feel bad.

Then, when it's full, you come back and try again.

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow." - Mary Anne Radmacher

BRIDAL BABBLE: What do you do to feed the beast?

On a wedding diet?

Check out our Ten Tips To Help You Stay On Your Wedding Diet.

And our Sweating For The Wedding The Fun Way (30-day workout challenge).

Top Ten A Bride On A Budget Posts Of 2016

I'm happy to say 2016 is over.

Last year, I recapped our year and talked about how many special moments there were and how I was holding on to them all, even the mundane ones. And I told a story that I had completely forgot until I reread the post, about my grandma and I going to Waffle House and a man helping her up the curb by grabbing her booty.

And it's making me cry because this year, just six (incredibly long and agonizing) weeks ago, we lost my grandma. I'm so lucky to have had so many moments with her that will live in my heart forever, but my heart aches over the fact that I cannot make any more beautiful memories with her.

I spent the end of 2016 longing to go back to the beginning of 2016, wanting so badly to recapture and relive happier moments.

Your 2016, dear A Bride On A Budget reader, was spent longing for the beginning of 2016 too. I went through our posts to find the most read from 2016. None of them were from the second half of the year. And of our top ten posts this year, only two are from 2016 -- and those are both from January.

So I have two year end wrap up lists. The first is the top ten posts read in 2016 and the second is the top ten posts written in 2016.

Top Ten Posts Read in 2016 on A Bride On A Budget

1. Wedding DIY: Preserving Your Flowers At Home
2. Why You Should Always Go Wedding Shopping At The Dollar Store
3. DIY: Twine-Wrapped Wine Bottle Centerpieces Tutorial
4. Black Friday Wedding Deals
5. Who Gets Tipped At A Wedding? (And answers to all your other wedding tipping questions.)
6. DIY Wooden Letter Guest Book
7. Food Trucks At Weddings
8. Bridal Shower Word Search (free printable)
9. So you're engaged ... now what? (What to do before you say "I Do")
10. Famous Couples Bridal Shower Game (free printable)

Top Ten Posts Written in 2016 on A Bride On A Budget

1. Food Trucks At Weddings
2. Bridal Shower Word Search (free printable)
3. DIY "Let Love Bloom" Seed Bomb Wedding Favors
4. He Popped The Question Engagement Party Favors
5. Top 10 Ring Bearer Gift Ideas
6. DIY "She Got Her Rock" Rock Candy Favor
7. Bridal Shower Purse Game (free printable)
8. DIY Peppermint Chocolate Bark Favors
9. Mint Sugar Scrub Bridal Shower Favor
10. DIY I "Chews" You To Be My Bridesmaid Gum Packs

Curious about last year? You can check out the Top Ten Wedding Posts of 2015 too.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Which of these posts from 2016 was your favorite?

How Pokémon Go Is Good For Your Relationship

Pete and I went away last week and stopped in a new (to us) town on the drive back home. We had a nice dinner and walked around a bit before heading to the hotel to sleep. We woke up early the next day and decided to walk around the town to see it in daylight.

Yelp had given me a few historical buildings to look out, but once we saw those, we were kind of stumped.

"We should look for Pokémon," I suggested, half-jokingly. See, I had downloaded Pokémon Go on my mom's phone the week before and she told me to get it so we could walk around together. But, other than opening the app at home, I hadn't played. Pete and I weren't quite sure what to expect, but we decided to play.

It was the best. Seriously. We had such a fun time exploring the town, letting Pokémon lead us from one landmark to another. We want to make it a thing now, going to new towns and following Pokémon to spots to see. Playing made me realize how Pokémon Go is good for your relationship, so, of course, I had to write this post.

How Pokémon Go Is Good For Your Relationship

It gets you walking. 
So much of the fun of Pokémon Go was that we were able to explore a new city on foot. The downtown area was filled with Pokéstops, and we went from one to another -- wherever Pokémon said to go. Bell at a church? Sure. Veterans memorial? A nice way to pay our respect. Small park on the ocean? What a view!

The next thing we knew, Pete's Fitbit buzzed, letting him know we had already walked 8,000 steps -- and it wasn't even noon yet. If you're already sweating for the wedding, this is a fun way to do it. More fun that what we often do at night: walk around our community, pretty much in the same loop.

It gets you talking. 
Each Pokéstop shows a photo of a landmark and you basically have to walk to find it. So you open the app, click on the closest Pokéstop, and figure out where it is. You talk about if one of you knows the location and, if you don't, you read the map together and figure out where it is.

Even if the conversation is only about Pokémon, it still gives you an excuse to talk. Plus, you can talk about what you see on the way too.

It gets you learning. 
We were in a new city when we played the first time, so we were able to really learn the history behind it. Pokémon took us to different historical signs and museums. So, of course, we were there hoping to catch an Eevee, but it was cool to learn about the battles that were fought over the waterway in the town.

And it's fun to learn stuff together. Maybe it's a cooking class, maybe it's painting, or maybe it's Pokémon helping you learn history. Whatever it is, learning new stuff together is a great way to evolve as a couple.

It gets you burning. 
You're burning calories together, which is great. But it also means you'll probably get hungry at the same time. So you can take a break from Pokémon and grab a quick snack (or meal, depending on what time you're hunting). All of a sudden, you have an impromptu date -- and who doesn't love that.

Plus, it just gives you something to do together. I'll be honest. At first, I was like, "I don't get it." I would open the app when I was blogging and sometimes there would be a Pokémon on my laptop screen, and mostly there wouldn't be. So I got bored and that was that. But when Pete and I played in the real world, when we took turns catching Pokémon and got excited when the phone vibrated to let us know there was one around, we really, really liked it. So no matter what you think of it, get the app. You'll like it. And your relationship will too.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What other ways is Pokémon Go good for your relationship?

How Moving Day Is Just Like Wedding Day

If you follow A Bride On A Budget on social media (we're on Facebook, Twitter, and, as of two weeks ago, Instagram), you may have noticed I didn't post any photos of Easter bunnies or crosses to celebrate yesterday. Instead, I posted a picture of a moving truck. Because -- after much house hunting and then a decision to just build a brand new house -- Pete and I (and out cat, Totes McGotes) moved into our (first and) forever home.

So instead of spending Easter weekend coloring eggs and eating chocolate bunnies, we spent it loading boxes into a moving truck. We were very lucky to have friends and my parents help us ... but as I was stressing over questions about what should go where, it got me thinking about how moving day was just like wedding day.

How Moving Day Is Just Like Wedding Day

You Have To Coordinate A Lot Of "Vendors" Before The Big Day
When you're planning a wedding, you have to get in touch with a ton of vendors before your wedding day. You need to pick a venue, choose the flowers, book a DJ, get your dress, on and on, right? And, you do this all before the wedding day so everything is set to go at your wedding.

Moving is the same way. You need to pick a house, choose a mortgage company, book a rental truck, get your water and electric set up, on and on. And, you do all this before moving day so when you get into your home, you have lights and the ability to flush the toilet.

You Need Friends To Help
If you remember my post about what no one tells you about your wedding day, I told you that you need that one set of friends. At the end of the night, all your guests and bridesmaids and vendors leave and you and your groom are left to clean up the venue. And so, you need that set of friends who will help you pack left behind favors and pieces of cake and then take them home for you.

You need those friends on moving day too. And, funny as it may be, we had those same friends who helped us pack up our wedding help us pack and move to our new home. I kept telling Pete all day, "These are good friends. They're good people and we're really lucky to have them." But, realizing they are the same ones who stayed behind at our wedding (and aided in my super secret guitar gift for Pete and brought me socks to our wedding reception because I forgot to pack some), they really are good friends.

You Need To Delegate ...
On wedding morning, everyone asked me what they could do to help. I asked one bridesmaid to keep track of the rings, I asked my dad to hold onto the envelopes with tips in them, etc. I kept handing out tasks as people asked for them because, really, I needed help.

The same with moving day. I needed to tell people what boxes had to go down first, what furniture went in what room, etc.

... And Then You Need To Just Relinquish All Control
Finally, on our wedding day, I just gave up. I was getting stressed trying to figure out where everyone was and what everyone was doing. It got to a point where I didn't care. I had faith in my planning and the people I had delegated tasks to, so I just let the day go off as it should.

Same with moving day. Eventually, I just gave in. Instead of trying to tell everyone how to pack and what to put in certain boxes, I let everyone pack extra stuff in unlabled boxes (meaning we slept without proper pillows on our first night because they were in a box that I didn't pack). But it had to get done and, so, I just let it.

At The End Of The Day, It's Just You, Your Spouse, And Your New Life
When all is said and done on your wedding day, you're married. Everything that happened over the course of the day led you to being married, your souls fused together, and you and your spouse starting the rest of your lives together.

And that's how moving day was too. When everyone went home, Pete and I sat on the couch in pajamas, watching Dateline, eating microwaved popcorn. And it was perfect. There was no other way that I would have wanted to spend that moment and no one else I would have wanted to spend it with.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What part of moving day felt like wedding day to you?

Why You Should Think About Everyone Except Yourself On Your Wedding Day

Let me tell you a story about myself.

We were in Japan over the summer and meeting our group at a train station by where my grandma grew up. Pete and I arrived first, and while we were waiting, we went into a grocery store that I had been into a couple dozen times. I wanted to buy my favorite Japanese treats (Koala's March, Pocky sticks, and those chocolate mushroom-shaped cookies that have a name I don't know).

When we were in the snack aisle, I spotted almond crush Pocky, which I had never seen before. I bought a box and was so excited to sit at the train station waiting and trying them.

We got back to the station, though, and as soon as I pulled them from the bag, everyone else in our group started to arrive. So I did what I do. I shared. I opened the box and passed them around before even taking one for myself ... although silently hoping that there would be one left for me. If there wasn't, fine, no big deal. I would just buy another box for myself later.

This is me. This is how I am. I share, I think about other people, and I put their wants before mine because I just want people to be happy, genuinely happy, and that makes me happy.

So when I was planning our wedding, I wanted to make everyone happy. I wanted to give every person a moment to shine. I made wedding welcome bags for each of our out of town guests so they would really feel welcome. After our second dance (we did our first dance, then a second first dance), I had our band play my parents' wedding song so they could have a dance. Then, there was gifting Pete his dream guitar. And the final song of the night was "You Are My Sunshine," which is my grandma's favorite song (and one that is so special to my family).

It was so important for me to share this day and make everyone feel special. And I didn't tell anyone (well, besides the band since they had to have the song available to play). I wanted to surprise everyone with a really special moment.

I didn't do anything specifically special for me because, really, the whole wedding was for me. Pete would have gone to the court house, but I wanted a church wedding and white dress and chocolate cake so that's what we had.

When I got into the limo with my bridesmaids, my cousin Erica turned to me. "What do you want to listen to?"

And it was that exact second when I stopped. I was planning all these special moments for everyone and here was my cousin, asking me what I wanted to listen to because it was my special day. And instead of saying, "Whatever anyone else wants" or something diplomatic as I usual do, I picked Fall Out Boy. Because that's what I wanted to listen to on the way to the church. And we did and I danced in my seat and sang loudly and it was amazing.

That moment was for me. I didn't plan it or take it. It was just given to me unsuspectingly. That's exactly what I did for everyone else, and I know they felt as surprised and happy about it as I did in that moment.

So my advice to you is worry about everyone else. Plan for them. And, if you're lucky, someone will be worried about you.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What's one thing you're planning, for someone else, on your wedding day?

The Best Wedding Advice: Take A Moment For Yourself

Take a moment for yourself.

All through the wedding planning process, that's what everyone told me. I think people knew I didn't need help deciding on what color bridesmaids dresses to pick or what to use as wedding favors. I had all that under control.

What I did need, though, was to hear: Take a moment for yourself.

Which is a funny thing to say, really, especially to me. I work full time at home as a blogger. There's a lot of me time (okay, it's basically all spent with my cat, but still). I am one of the few people who doesn't wish the workweek away to get to the weekend. And I'm the girl who will leave my phone in my purse at all times because I want to spend time with the person I'm with. I guess the buzzword right now is to be "present," but really, I make it a point to do that.

And even if you do, you need to remember that on your wedding day.

That day is filled with so much happy chaos. You know every single person there, so there are so many people to talk to and dance with. You just found the one whom your soul loves, as the quote goes, and your hearts were joined together. You're just happy and in love and twirling and spinning and it's over so quickly.

So you need to be reminded to take a moment to breath, to take it all in, to tune out all the noise and just be present.

It's one thing to tell this to you and it's another to actually have done it. And I did really make sure to do this. So, my top three wedding moments that I took for myself and carry so deep in my heart:

1. Catching my dad cry.
Pete and I were sitting on the alter and I looked out into the church. I caught my dad crying. Not just a tear blurring up his eye but actual tears falling. And crying is so contagious for me (I cry when people make it through on American Idol and they're crying). So this, of course, set me off. I turned to Pete. "My dad is crying and it's making me cry," is all I remember getting out of my mouth before Pete started rubbing my hand. "It's okay," he said. "Just face me. No one can see you."

And in that moment, I have no idea what the priest was saying. I know he must have been talking, but I couldn't hear him. I just watched Pete's fingers run over my hand until my tears stopped. I honestly don't think anyone even knew I cried. I don't even know that Pete remembers this at all, but I do.

2. Sitting with my little brother at our table and giving him my shrimp.
I don't know how I ended up sitting at the sweetheart table. Those were our seats but it was just so hard to actually sit for a minute. Everyone wanted their chance to talk and dance, so I only sat at our table once. And somehow, I ended up with shrimp and grits. I don't know how it appeared. It was an action station in the lounge area was and I never made it into that room. Maybe someone set it at our table for me, I don't know.

But what I do know is my little brother came over to the sweetheart table and sat with me a minute. And I remember so badly wanting him to stay, partially because I don't see him often and I wanted to get a second to talk to him but mostly because if he was there, I could steal a minute to try to eat my first food in three days. And that food happened to be shrimp and grits. Except the shrimp and grits was on the menu because it's such a southern thing and I knew our guests would love it. I, however, don't eat shrimp. So I offered them to my brother -- and he ate them.

3. Hugging Pete after he played guitar.
I gave Pete his dream guitar at our wedding. (You can read all about it here.) I hugged him and explained that it was his ... and that's when he started to cry. So I walked him outside onto the patio outside our ballroom. And I hugged him and let him get emotional. I stole that moment for us. People were outside, but for that moment, it was just me and Pete. There was no one else in the world.

Until the lead singer of our wedding band came out and said it was time to cut the cake.

"Can you stall a little and just give us a minute?" I asked. Of course, he said yes. He went back inside and there, outside in the cool night, it was just us. No one else.

Of course I remember so much else, but it's all so fast: my grandma dancing in her wheel chair, watching my little brother put the garter belt on his girlfriend, walking down the aisle with my dad, Pete taking a picture in a port-a-potty, my parents slow dancing ... but these three times, they're when time froze.

So, I say to you, bride-to-be:  Take a moment for yourself. Sneak boff on your own if you can or, if you can't, just be present. Remind yourself that you don't get to do this day again, take a look around, and really let it sink in. Because those will be the moments you hold so dear. It won't be how the chicken tasted or what songs the band played. It will be the moments you take for yourself. Trust me.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Which moment from your wedding was your favorite?

Top Ten A Bride On A Budget Posts Of 2015

I can't believe today is the last day of 2015. That's so crazy, right? This year just really flew by. I think I say that every year, but this one really did.

See, this year, I was really trying to hold on to every moment. We're married without children, and I know this time in our life won't last forever. So I wanted to make sure that I really soaked it in, appreciate the fact that we can sleep late on the weekends and travel whenever we want (as long as we have a cat sitter, anyway).

This year, my parents retired and had a house built down the block from us. Every Sunday, I went to their house to see what construction had happened that week. It was incredible to watch. And a week or so after their house was done, Pete and I bought the lot two down from them. So for the last few weeks, I've been watching our house be built. I'm really enjoying it and really just appreciating the exciting moments and the mundane ones.

Like last week. I was watching my 94-year-old grandma and we went out to Waffle House. She said she could walk from the car to the restaurant, but she needed a little help stepping up the curb. This pair of older gentlemen were at the car next to us and jumped at the chance to help her ... and grab her booty. Seriously. When this one man helped her up, he did so by grabbing her tush. Payment for his good deed, I guess.

Realistically, did I have time to go out to dinner with my grandma every night (after shopping every day)? No, not really. I should have been working. Blogging forces me to sit in front of a computer for fourteen hours a day. And that's what I should have been doing last week as I grandma-sat. But instead, I went out to dinner every night. Because you know what? I can work anytime. I can work weekends and when the rest of the world sleeps. But what I can't do is hang out with my grandma at any time, especially just me and her.

So that was my 2015. Trying really consciously to just be present and enjoy the moments.

Your 2015, dear A Bride On A Budget reader, was spent reading old posts. Seriously. I went through our posts to find the most read from 2015. To my surprise, of the top 20 posts you read this year, only one was written in 2015. The rest were from the past.

So I have two year end wrap up lists. The first is the top ten posts read in 2015 and the second is the top ten posts written in 2015.

Top Ten Posts Read in 2015 on A Bride On A Budget

1. DIY: Twine-Wrapped Wine Bottle Centerpieces Tutorial
2. Why You Should Always Go Wedding Shopping At The Dollar Store
3. DIY: Will You Be My Bridesmaid? Rings (& My Proposal)
4. Wedding DIY: Preserving Your Flowers At Home
5. Review: Sole Serum
6. Cow On A Shelf
7. 100 Wedding Favors (Your guests will actually take)
8. Five Things You Can Absolutely Skip At Your Wedding (And no one will notice or care)
9. My Invitation Saga (and how Nicole at Glossie.ca came to my rescue)
10. Disney Princess Engagement Rings

Top Ten Posts Written in 2015 on A Bride On A Budget

1. 100 Wedding Favors (Your guests will actually take)
2. White Wedding Inspiration Board
3. Who Gets Tipped At A Wedding? (And answers to all your other wedding tipping questions.)
4. Top Ten Bridesmaids Gift Ideas
5. Hot Chocolate Spoons Favor Idea
6. Famous Couples Bridal Shower Game (Free Printable)
7. How To Properly Prepare Pine Cones For Crafting
8. Homemade Fudge Wedding Favor
9. So you're engaged ... now what? (What to do before you say "I Do")
10. 15 Cool Snowflake Wedding Favors

BRIDAL BABBLE: Which of these posts from 2015 was your favorite?

Would You Send A Bill To Wedding No Shows?

There's a story that has gone viral recently about a woman who received a bill for a wedding she did not attend. The short version of the story is that her mother said she couldn't babysit last minute and the couple, who had already RSVP'd yes, was a no show for the wedding.

I've had three people send it to me and ask my opinion. Running a wedding blog doesn't make me the authority on wedding etiquette, but I'm a pretty decent and logical person, which is what you need to be in a situation like this.

Let's start out with a bit of reality. Your wedding is a ceremony to bind together you and your fiance. It's not a fund raiser. Your guests give you gifts to help you start a new life together. They are not obligated to give you money.

Where I grew up, it's customary for your guests to "pay for their plate." You sort of figure out how much the couple paid for your dinner, and you write them a check to cover that and stick it in a card. But just because that's customary doesn't mean it's required.

When we got married, almost all of our guests traveled from New York to North Carolina to celebrate with us. It was so important to me to make our wedding an "event" not just a five hour thing. I really wanted to thank our guests for traveling all the way here to celebrate our big day with us, so we invited every guest to our rehearsal dinner at a local park, catered with an amazing southern BBQ meal. I wanted to give our guests a taste of what we have down here (since North Carolina BBQ is so different than other BBQ). We picked a reception venue on the beach because we basically live at the beach now so I wanted our guests to experience that.

Our oceanfront venue was way more per head than I had originally wanted to pay. But that was my choice. I didn't expect our guests to give us a bigger gift because I decided I wanted to pay a premium for a beach venue and shrimp and grits.

Honestly, I didn't even expect gifts at all. Almost everyone had to travel; almost everyone had to pay to spend a few nights in a hotel; almost everyone was way more generous than Pete and I could have ever dreamed of.

Did we have wedding no shows? Yes. We had one couple (from New York) that texted Pete at 11pm the night before our wedding to say they weren't coming. We had another couple (one of our few local couples) just not show up at all. No call, no show. The type of thing that gets you written up at your job.

We didn't send those couples a bill for not coming. Yes, we had to pay for them, but we were always planning on paying for them. We were never expecting them to pay for themselves. We invited people based on what we could afford, not based on what we thought we would get in return.

If you invite someone and they don't show up when they said they would, you can get mad. You can rant and rave to your husband, your best friend, or your cat. But you absolutely can't send a bill to the couple that doesn't show, just like you can't send a bill to a couple that gives you a gift that's less than you expected. Instead, invite people expecting their presence to be their present and be very happy that they gave you their time. It's worth more than an extra zero on a check.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Do you think it's okay to send a bill to wedding no shows?

Heading to a wedding soon?
Check out our post on How To Be A Good Wedding Guest.

How Nicholas Sparks Almost Ruined Our Wedding (aka How you can try plan for everything for your wedding, but you can't plan for everything)

When I was planning our wedding, I planned for everything. I mean, I really went overboard planning out every single scenario.

What will our one vegetarian friend have for dinner? (I ordered her a special meal.) How will the guests know to check out the candy buffet? (I asked the singer of our wedding band to announce it.)

And then, three of so weeks before our wedding, we stopped for coffee on the way home from the beach. While we were waiting to pick it up, I turned to look at the billboard affixed with business cards and advertisements. And there, right in the middle, was a poster for the Wilmington Triathlon. On the day of our wedding. Right where our church was.

My heart skipped a beat. Then two.

I didn't plan for triathlon runners to sprint right through my wedding. I just imagined my guests trying to simultaneously park and dodge competitors. As my triathlon experience has taught me, they would be coming in droves, causing a delay to my guests. And I was trying to figure out how to bring that up to every guest. "So, you may want to arrive early as triathlon runners may cause you a delay."

I took a photo of the poster to send to my mom, and that's when I saw the timing of it. It ended 90 or so minutes before our ceremony started, at the exact time Pete and his groomsmen were getting picked up by the limo. If the limo so perfectly timed the three mile trip, it wouldn't come in contact with the triathlon cleanup. The start and finish of the run was far enough away from our church that parking would be clear for our guests. And no one would ever know.

As quickly as my stress came, it left. But I still continued planning for every scenario.

What if the weather looks grim? (I packed a sun doll). What if someone sneaks into a family photo? (I told the photographer ahead of time so she was ready to take two sets).

What I didn't plan for was Nicholas Sparks. Yes, that Nicholas Sparks. Author of all your favorite love stories, like The Notebook, White People Almost Kissing, and How I Almost Ruined Lisa & Pete's Wedding Rehearsal.

As much as we love our town, so does Nicholas Sparks. When we moved down here, he was filming Safe Haven (and Pete even got on set). And the day of our rehearsal dinner, he was filming The Longest Ride. On the day of our wedding rehearsal. Right where our church was (and Pete even got on set. Again.).

There's a parking lot next to our church, in front of the church's school, where our guests could park. But the day of our rehearsal at the church, the crew was using that parking lot for equipment and were filming in classrooms inside the school. A big "film crew only" sign was taped to the lot's entrance.

I parked across the street from the church, then walked in alone (everyone else had yet to arrive) and thought about what might happen if filming ran over into our wedding day. The parking lot would be unavailable to guests and the classroom where my bridesmaids and I were to wait before the ceremony might be used to film.

And then I just laughed because I planned for every single scenario except if Nicholas Sparks decided to film a movie on my wedding day. At that point, there was nothing I could do but thank my lucky stars that I had really plotted out every other scenario.

Would a Friday wedding be a good idea? (No, stick to Saturday so people have to take one less day off work). Is street parking available if people can't use the lot? (Yes.)

And after I said a silent prayer of thanks (I was in a church after all) for picking a Saturday wedding, in walked Pete, a few minutes late. "Hi," he said to me. "Any idea why people are asking if I'm part of the film crew? Are we filming this?"

Clearly, he missed the big sign on the lot. But hey, he was marrying his best friend in 22 hours. He had more important things on his mind than a film crew. Me, well, I was still working out every potential scenario in my mind.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What potential wedding catastrophe could you never have anticipated?

Would You Wear White To A Wedding?

Someone wore white to our rehearsal dinner and a friend pulled me off to the side. "Did you see ... " she said and, before she could even finish, I said yes. Personally, I was in a very light cream hi-low dress because I couldn't find a white dress I liked. So was I upset? Not really until the next day when the same woman wore a partially white dress.

My friends and I still talk about it from time to time. It actually came up over the weekend with a friend. And today, Pete actually brought it up. Even he knows you shouldn't wear white to someone else's wedding.

But ... the more I thought about it, the more I wondered: Would you wear white to a wedding?

So my gut reaction is no. With the exception of a black and white wedding, only the bride should wear white. That's what I say.

Except ... well, let me tell you a story.

I was in charge of taking my cousin to her surprise bridal shower. I went up to New York for it and had packed one dress for the event: a cute, white lacy dress that I had just bought. My cousin's maid of honor got in touch with me about an hour before I was set to leave to let me know me know my cousin had bought a white dress for the shower. Her fiance knew it was bridal shower day so he was going to try to get her in the dress, but it was up to me to guarantee that she didn't leave the house in anything else.

I looked down at my dress and sighed. If I showed up to her house in a white dress, there was a chance that she wouldn't want to match and she'd change. And that would screw up everything. I had left behind a simple black dress when I moved (left it behind, mostly, because I didn't have intentions of ever wearing in again) and that's what I wore. My grandma assured me that I didn't have to change and that my new dress was pretty and perfect, but I changed anyway.

And I'm glad I did because, see, I didn't know that brides wore white to their bridal shower. I don't know where that started, but it sort of appeared out of nowhere and I was unaware.

But no white at a wedding unless you're the bride. That's a thing.

Except ... well, let me show you a picture.

That's me at my friend Nicole's wedding four years ago (this month). I wish I could say that's me on the right, but you guys know better. I'm the happy one in the black and white on the left; her cousin Lauren is in the red.

Yes. I'm in black and white. Pete's friend had actually given me that dress a week or so before the wedding and I was so happy to have somewhere to wear it because it was all sorts of beautiful. And I'm smiling and happy at the wedding (although completely exhausted because this is so close to the end of the night). And Nicole is there, smiling like a pretty princess even though my dress is half white. And, honestly, even though the person in the back of this photo is also wearing white.

You know what? I didn't realize until this weekend -- when it once again came up that someone wore white to my wedding -- that this is what I wore to Nicole's wedding. I've had a photo from her wedding on our fridge for over three years and I still didn't realize I wore white.

So, the truth? You're not supposed to wear white to a wedding that isn't yours (unless it's at the bride's request), but sometimes, you just absolutely don't realize it.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you wear white to a wedding?

When DIY Turns Into D-I-Why Did I Do This (And why you can't Pinterest your whole wedding)

I was scrolling through Facebook the other day and one of my friends shared a photo of a very cute "balloon wrapped around a bottle" project. The next day, another friend sent me the same link. Two sightings in two days meant I was going to try it.

You wrap a balloon around a bottle and tie a ribbon up top. I even figured I would fill the bottle with baby's breath. And, as luck would have it, I had two small Krispy Kreme Iced Coffee bottles in the drying rack just waiting for a project.

Off I went to Walmart for baby's breath and balloons. I walked to the flower aisle ... no baby's breath. That should have been my first sign that I was in trouble. But, no worries, I thought. I'll just brainstorm and come up with something else. I went to the balloon aisle, grabbed a pretty pastel pack, and noticed swirl lollipops out of the corner of my eye. Perfect, I thought. I'll turn it into a lollipop holder for a candy bar.

I went to the candy aisle and couldn't find a single package of plain lollipops. Sign two? Should have been. I finally found a bag of caramel apple pops and decided to go with that.

I got home, set up everything on my porch (including my camera and its dying battery), and got ready to craft.

Nothing went as planned. I tried to wrap the balloon around the bottle, and it took me holding the bottle between my legs to get it to wrap. As I pulled it up, it snapped. It was too small for my small bottle.

I tried to salvage the project and decided to go with the balloon inside the bottle, wrapped around the top. But the balloon turned inside out somewhere along the way so it wouldn't stay inside.

So I decided to put the balloon inside first, then wrap the outside around the lid. If I couldn't cover the entire bottle, I would at least cover the twist. When I finally did get the balloon inside, it just looked like a basic project.

And I laughed.

I tried to salvage the project by finishing it and sticking lollipops in the hole the balloon created.

But there was no way that I, in my right mind, could encourage any bride to make this project for her wedding. And then I let out a sigh of relief because if I was planning my wedding, had my heart set on these, and this was the outcome, it would ruin me. I would just be so upset and struggling to make it work. Thank goodness this was just a blog post gone wrong.

But the truth is, sometimes, it just doesn't work. Sometimes a project you see on Pinterest ends up being nothing but a big fat fail. Your DIY turns into D-I-Why Did I Do This and making it work might take more time, energy, and materials than you have at your disposal. And that's okay. Just because you have an engagement ring, you don't automatically turn into Martha Stewart. It's not a magical piece of metal that awakens the crafty gene in you.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What DIY projects turned into DIY disasters for you?