Setting a budget was one of the first things we did. At first, it was a bit frustrating because we realized that we couldn't set a real budget without meeting with vendors and asking about their prices, but we couldn't meet with vendors without having a budget in mind. So we set out to make a preliminary budget, knowing that we would change it once we were a bit more into the planning. First, we determined our financial resources. After determining the total that we could spend, we used the budget figures in bridal magazines and on the internet to come up with a preliminary budget.

Of course, things changed as we went along -- once we booked a very expensive photographer, our budget figures went way up -- but we could still absorb the cost. We tried to cut in other areas, and continued to go through a process of cutting costs in one area if we'd spent more than budgeted in another. We were determined not to spend more than we could afford -- and we were quite vigilant about that.

There were definitely things we weren't willing to scrimp on -- the location, food, and photographer were the main ones. We really felt that the location and food would set the tone for the entire day, and those had to be just right -- it had to be at the Inn on Lake Waramaug, and we had to have an elegant, sit-down meal with several courses and a beautiful, delicious wedding cake. We felt the photographer was important because we would be creating a lovely and memorable day which we wanted to capture -- we knew that this would be one of the biggest events of our lives, and we wanted to be able to remember it through beautiful images which recorded the day as it happened and which revealed the unique aspects of us and our wedding through artfully captured photographs. Since these elements were especially important to us, we were willing to spend a lot on them, knowing that we'd spend considerably less on elements that didn't matter as much to us.

Of course, there were elements that were not as important to me. While I love flowers and wanted some very nice flowers, I wasn't willing to spend a lot on them, particularly since the ceremony would take place outside and there would be plenty of natural beauty. So we were very strict about how much the flowers cost. We simply decided not have have a few elements because we didn't care about them and they would have cost too much money -- we didn't hire a videographer or have a limo, for example. We asked Jim's dad to bring his video camera and equipment to tape the ceremony and, on the wedding day, we asked one of Jim's cousins to run the camera. We had the same musicians play both the ceremony and the reception... There were several things like this which helped to keep our costs lower than they could have been otherwise.