I'm Poor, but I Wanna Get Married! Getting started

So, this part of my blog will be dedicated to what it will take to have a wedding on a fairly non-existent budget. What do I mean, non-existent budget? Well, I'm glad you asked. All the bridal magazines I have ever read have said that the first thing you need to do is set a budget.
Trust me, I would love to set a budget ... but #1: I have no idea where to begin. I don't know how much it costs to get a hall for a reception, or an average cost of a photographer. I don't know what cheap options there are out there. I certainly know the expensive ones - all I have to do is go on to WeTV and watch a couple of their bridal shows and watch for five minutes to know what a lot of money can do. Just so we're clear, I am not knocking the likes of 'My Fair Wedding' or 'Platinum Brides' - I LOVE those shows! In fact. I wish they would make another one: 'How the Real World Weds' Now that would be a show I could learn a LOT from. And #2: I have no clue what I can put into this wedding. My savings is in the double digits, my fiance and I come from mid-to-low-income families, and we both have low-to-mid-income jobs. But what we do have is LOVE.

That's right, this is not going to be all doom and gloom about how I can't afford the wedding I want. This is NOT what these entries are going to be about. This is about how we can have the wedding of our streamlined dreams without running to the courthouse for a quickie and on with the rest of our lives. The Courthouse is an option for most people, and if that is how you want to do it, I say, go ahead. But Ahren, my fiance, and I feel it is very important to have our family and friends there for us on that day. I desperately want my Dad to walk me down the aisle, and I want to look out and see the most important people in our lives witnessing Ahren and I bond our lives together. So, we keep that in mind as our No. 1. At the end of that day, I don't care if people go home talking about the decor or the food. I want them to think about how much Ahren and I love each other. That's the goal.

So, we're going to cut a lot of corners, do a lot of things ourselves, and shave off a lot of fat, so to speak.

Here's what we have so far in regards to the wedding:
* We're going for simple, practical, chic
* lots of DIY, and eco-friendly (no so sure about this last one, but we're going to try)
* Colors: green and purple
* very country, crafty, antique, homemade

With this in mind, I will say this: Ahren and I know a lot of talented individuals. If I ask, I might be able to get some of them to help out with the wedding. I'm incredibly grateful for this. My only problem is that I have a hard time asking people for favors. I don't want to take advantage of them. But this is something I NEED to get over. Small struggle, comparatively.

Enough for now. We'll tackle more later. Until then I just have to keep my head somewhere between the clouds and the ground.