Steve and Sherry's wedding in North Vancouver, British Columbia

The story of our wedding

We started planning our wedding in January 2018 and got married in July 2018. It was a short engagement because being a teacher, I wanted to get married in the summer when I'm not working, and I didn't want to wait for a year and half until the next summer. It was a lot of things to get together, but luckily I love planning, and we had a small guest list (around 50 people). WeddingWire and Pinterest were a big help for us to have been able to get everything together so quickly. I found my venue and decor company on WeddingWire and used the WeddingWire app to help keep organized and on task.

Our budget was $20,000 and we spent just over that at $22,000. My friends told me that was a very small budget, but I didn't feel I needed to give up much to get everything I wanted with this budget. Again, my guest list was small, so that was the key. Also, to keep down the cost, I shopped around and made sure I got the best value for the services. One thing I did give up was a videographer, but we made do with renting a professional video recorder for about $200. I don't regret the decision. We were able to capture all the important moments with it, and I really don't need a music video made about our wedding. I am also quite crafty, so I made all the bouquets, boutonnieres and some of the flower arrangements. Other things I made were the invitations (purchased from Michael's and printed at home) and favours (I bought boxes and made macarons).