It's been about 2 months since I last blogged, but I figured with everything we did (or didn't do lol) yesterday, today would be a good day to blog about our wedding!
We have a little over a year until the US wedding, and Soo and I have already got some money saved up. For now, we are just trying to take it one step at a time. Why? Because this isn't just a normal wedding, we want to try and celebrate both of our cultures, plus, eventually, have a wedding in Korea as well.
So here is what we've come up with as our "list of stuff": Besides the normal stuff you need for a wedding (you know, the dress, the food, the invitations, save the dates, etc), we have to save for our hanboks (traditional Korean attire), a wedding here in Korea (sometime in the future), the money for the cruise, the money for upgrades to the wedding package, my plane ticket to the US for wedding dress shopping (and hopefully a ticket for him so we can buy our wedding bands), and, finally, our plane tickets to and from the US for the actual wedding.
I know I am probably missing something, but I can't remember right now.
Luckily for us, we are having a cruise wedding!!! And actually, a Carnival Cruise wedding is not that expensive. Probably because Carnival is considered the cheapest cruise line ^^;;;
But I've sailed with them 3 times and each time has been pretty great. Of course, I've looked over our budget once or twice, including everything from travel cost to getting my hair done and it looks like we'll be hovering at right over $10,000... And let me tell you, this number gives me a heart attack every time I look at it to be honest. I know most weddings cost around that these days but... holy moly that's a lot of money!!!
So what have we been doing? We've been looking into ways to cut it down. First, we won't have to deal with the whole marriage license in the US thing since we are going to get that taken care of here. It is much cheaper and MUCH less of a hassle. Also, we are trying to decide if we're going to do the 1 hour reception instead of 1 1/2 hour. It's about $200 cheaper, plus the cost of food per person is cheaper (by $8/person) and the DJ (which isn't included in the original price) is about $50 cheaper too. However...... we still have until May to decide which we will go with ^^;;; So we're flip flopping at this point.
You see, the way Carnival does their weddings is they have these packages you can choose from. The ones we are looking for both include:
We have a little over a year until the US wedding, and Soo and I have already got some money saved up. For now, we are just trying to take it one step at a time. Why? Because this isn't just a normal wedding, we want to try and celebrate both of our cultures, plus, eventually, have a wedding in Korea as well.
So here is what we've come up with as our "list of stuff": Besides the normal stuff you need for a wedding (you know, the dress, the food, the invitations, save the dates, etc), we have to save for our hanboks (traditional Korean attire), a wedding here in Korea (sometime in the future), the money for the cruise, the money for upgrades to the wedding package, my plane ticket to the US for wedding dress shopping (and hopefully a ticket for him so we can buy our wedding bands), and, finally, our plane tickets to and from the US for the actual wedding.
I know I am probably missing something, but I can't remember right now.
Luckily for us, we are having a cruise wedding!!! And actually, a Carnival Cruise wedding is not that expensive. Probably because Carnival is considered the cheapest cruise line ^^;;;
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| Me + Soo in 490 days |
But I've sailed with them 3 times and each time has been pretty great. Of course, I've looked over our budget once or twice, including everything from travel cost to getting my hair done and it looks like we'll be hovering at right over $10,000... And let me tell you, this number gives me a heart attack every time I look at it to be honest. I know most weddings cost around that these days but... holy moly that's a lot of money!!!
So what have we been doing? We've been looking into ways to cut it down. First, we won't have to deal with the whole marriage license in the US thing since we are going to get that taken care of here. It is much cheaper and MUCH less of a hassle. Also, we are trying to decide if we're going to do the 1 hour reception instead of 1 1/2 hour. It's about $200 cheaper, plus the cost of food per person is cheaper (by $8/person) and the DJ (which isn't included in the original price) is about $50 cheaper too. However...... we still have until May to decide which we will go with ^^;;; So we're flip flopping at this point.
You see, the way Carnival does their weddings is they have these packages you can choose from. The ones we are looking for both include:
- Personal Wedding Planner who helps with planning everything on board the ship (doesn't include flowers or aisle runner, those come through a different company).
- Priority VIP check-in and boarding for wedding couple and guests (which means we get to check in early! Woooo~~) and a secluded waiting area at check-in.
- Private wedding ceremony location (inside, they don't do deck wedding on Carnival... probably for the better because knowing my luck the wind would be horrible or I'd be attacked by sea gulls or my MoH would decided jumping ship wasn't such a bad idea).
- Ceremony performed by a wedding officiant (OR I can provide one myself which... I really want to do because I have someone in mind I just have to figure out the details on that ^^)
- Assistance by a wedding coordinator to escort wedding couple to their stateroom upon clearance and oversee guests needs during their wedding ceremony.
- A beautiful setting- aisle runner, columns, and silk floral arrangements (all done through an outside company depending on the port, and all upgrade-able for an extra fee of course)
- Recorded ceremony music.
- Bouquet (8 ifovry roses hand-tied) and matching Boutonniere (also upgrade-able for an extra fee)
- Tiered wedding cake and keepsake cake topper (also what? Upgrade-able for a fee! Yay!)
- Cake cutting service and champagne toast with keepsake etched carnival champagne flutes for the wedding couple.
- Coffee/ Tea Service
- Photography service at the ceremony and reception (Photographs are extra ><)
- A bottle of sparkling wine and chocolate-dipped strawberries for the wedding couple's stateroom after the celebration.
Not bad, right? This is how they differ:
- $1795
- 1 hour Celebration Open Bar with hot and cold hors d'ouerves
- $$ per person for over 20 people
- $1975
- 1 hour 30 minutes Celebration Open Bar with hot and cold hors d'ouevres
- Ice Carving
- $$+$8 per person for over 20 people
That's it! But like I mentioned, the DJ is more expensive for 1.5 hours versus 1 hour and any add-on will up the price. And one of the downsides? You have to pay that amount I mentioned up front. So all $1795 or $1975 is due at the beginning. :'( And once you put it down, you can't change. Luckily, like I mentioned, we have until May, so we will make sure we come to a decision by them.
One of the things bringing our price up is actually the pictures. I've seen both good and bad pictures from Carnival Weddings. It seems to really depend on who your photographer is and, unfortunately, you don't get to pick or meet them at all until day of. And I'm terribly afraid that the pictures from the cruise are going to be horrible. So! I think we might get pictures taken while in Richmond Hill before the wedding. Of course, then we have to worry about Soo's suit and renting it for a week or two OR renting a suit just for those pictures and then another suit for the cruise, but that is a decision for a later time also. This way we can get amazing pictures in amazing places and a few from the actual wedding. More money, yes, but I think the results will be better <3
Last thing: I've had a few people ask me why we're not going with a bigger, more expensive cruise line for the wedding. There are 3 main reasons.
1. I want this to be affordable to as many people as possible. Most of my friends can afford a Carnival Cruise plus plane tickets to Florida. Not many could afford the more expensive cruise lines.
2. I actually really like Carnival. I know some people don't, but like I said, I've never had a horrible cruise.
3. Over the past 4 months I've spent about 3 hours on the phone with Carnival people and I have not had a bad experience yet ^^ They've not only been helpful, they've gone above and beyond. At one point, I had a lady looking at stuff only employees can see to tell me about cruises next summer since I was so worried about the wedding date. I've also had them put me in touch with the people who do the flowers & arrangements & such since I was curious about options and pricing for that.
So.... yes! I think that covers just about everything for today! I've already got another blog started about the other really big thing that we did yesterday, but I need to do a little more research and get some better pictures before I post it. And (hopefully) having another blog waiting to be finished will give me more incentive to update quicker lol. (Oh, and sorry for only 1 pretty picture this time... There will be more next time I promise!)
