Keeping track of wedding inspiration

I am so curious to get our wedding pictures! Its been a month since we got married, but considering the fact that we asked our guests to not post pictures on social media, we just have to be patient and wait for our photographer.

While we wait, this pinterest board contains a lot of ideas I liked, and quite a few I ended up using. Pinterest was a great way of keeping track of potential wedding plans, but be warned: there are many many more than you could ever incorporate on your big day, so it makes it harder to choose!

Follow Ragnhild's board Marry me on Pinterest.

Also, a board for wedding flowers and wedding hair.

Wedding registry

Who knew it would be so hard to pick a set of wine glasses? Or frying pans? There are more choices than I had ever thought, and while some are obvious (fancy china), others have proved more difficult.  It is no secret that I care a lot more than Mike about the look of these kitchen items, so unless he hates something, I can decide. Right now I am trying to decide between a few series from Hadeland Glassverk and Holmegaard. Some are more classic, while others are modern.

Here are some of my favorites:

Future water or juice glass

Perfection wine series

Minima caraffes

Sentimento wine series

Odysseé wine series

What do you think? Any tips on how to chose?

If you are curious to what else we want, you can check our wedding blog: mikeandragnhild.blogspot.com

How to make a wedding budget

Heels or flats? Professional or DIY pedicure? Maybe a spray tan? All the decision...

Recently, a newly engaged girl asked me for tips for their wedding. I had no idea what to say to that, and in my mind I was thinking: Tips for what? Dresses? Flowers? Style? Colors?

There are a thousand tips to give and take, but after a few days it came to me that setting a budget might be my best tip so far. I love lists and budgets and saving, so luckily this comes quite easy to me. I can get quite excited for every time I am under budget,

Wedding budgeting in 5 steps

1. Figure out how much you can and want to spend. 
A wedding might be one of the costliest things you do, so be wise! Discuss who will pay (the couple, parents, others) and how much you can save before the big day. Even if you have a lot of money, you might not want to spend it all on a party. Are you saving for a house for example? Or perhaps you want a dream honeymoon?

2. Do some research
What are the prices for things like flowers and catering?? There is a lot of research to be done to be able to make a realistic budget, and it depends a lot on the style of celebration you want and where you live. This step will require research, take a long time and can be very frustrating, but also fun. I was surprised at how much things cost, and have revised our budget more than once.

Also, decide on the size of your guest list. Your budget can really depend on this factor, but a small wedding can still be an expensive affair.

3. Think of all the costs, down to the details.
Here are the most common categories for a Norwegian wedding, with an American twist. I don´t have all of these things, and you probably won´t either. It might not be natural to include the expenses of f.ex rings and honeymoon in your wedding budget, but it can help you get an idea of the total costs.

A weekend in white and green

March is here, and it looks like an early spring this year. It also means that we will get married in less than four months! This weekend has been spent working on our wedding invitations. I have had the idea of what it would look like for a long time, but now it has all come together. I have wrestled with the printer for a few hours due to strange paper and envelope sizes, and finally got it my way. Now I just need to assemble all the pieces and get it shipped to our dear family and friends. 

Here is a little preview of one of the details. The rest will remain secret till the guests have received their invite in the mail. 

PS. Did you know that white carnations symbolize pure love and good luck, and is the 1st wedding anniversary flower? 

Our wedding website

We have a wedding website! Visit it here: mikeandragnhild.blogspot.com The page has a simple layout, and will have information about culture, the party and more. The page will be updated, but is more like a website than a blog. I will continue writing about the wedding here.

There are a ton of options for wedding websites, many through wedding pages, with features like RSVP, direct connections to registries etc. We chose blogger to keep costs down, and managed to not go over the budget of 0 kr for this post! Since I have had blogger for several years, I knew how to manage it well, and it helps to not have yet another account to manage. You can chose to pay a fee to get your very own domain, but we decided to spend that money on something else.

PS. I used this blog post with tips on how to make it look less like a blog.

More gratitude in 2014

I finished my year of living simply/stop shop (shop stop? stopshop?). In October I wrote an evaluation, and two months later I don´t have much to add to that. It hasn´t been that hard really. My closet is still full of clothes: while packing for my Christmas break I filled a large suitcase with things I thought I would need for the next week. Not only did I bring way too much, you could hardly notice a difference in the closet after packing. That was the moment I decided to continue this project.

Over Christmas, my sister decided to join the project, so I have someone to support, and confide in. The main area for improvement is my gift giving. It might have been easier for me to buy gifts for others this past year, without considering any of the limitations I put on myself. I will start off well this year though, with a knitted scarf for my sister in law´s birthday in a few weeks.

2014: A new year to read books from my shelves, wear all my dresses and be crafty.

New rules for 2014:

- I will by no new clothes, shoes, accessories, books, things, etc from 1st of January 2014 till 1st of July 2014 unless it is directly related to the wedding.
- I can buy yarn/fabric to knit and sew/redesign clothes, and buy used clothes/things. I will try to borrow or buy used/vintage for some of the wedding stuff as well.
- Items that are worn out or broken can be replaced if truly necessary (kitchen appliances, umbrella and other needed things).
- When giving gifts I will consider the rules above, but I will receive any gift given me. (Like the three pairs of rain boots I got for Christmas. Don´t worry, I only kept one.)

Sweet Sunnmøre

Going to Ålesund for a long weekend was wonderful. I got to see a lot of friends and family. Some visits were planned, and others I bumped into on the streets. That's the fun thing about living in a smaller town I guess.

My main reason for going was wedding  planning, and after visiting both the church and our reception venue it all feels a lot more real! I enjoy planning, and now I got to see my home town and area with a wedding in mind for the first time. It gave me several new ideas, and I hope Mike will catch all my visions...

The picture is taken right outside Skodje church were we will get married in 7,5 months. Gorgeous, isn't it? The whole area is completely breathtaking, and every time I go back to visit I can't stop staring out the windows, whether in cars or at people's houses. I'm completely smitten, and miss it already! 

The wedding planner

Yes, I think I can officially call myself a wedding planner by now. I am not sure how much I will share on the blog, but there might be some ideas here and there.

Our wedding will be in my home area Sunnmøre, which makes planning it a little more challenging than had it been here in Skien. But the church and reception venue has been booked, and my wonderfully talented friend Irene Lovund will take our pictures. (The one above is from a photo shoot we did a couple of years ago.) The rest of the planning should be a breeze now, or...?

For those who are curious, or perhaps planning your own wedding, some of my main inspiration sources so far have been:
- Pinterest (of course)
- Intimate weddings
- Etsy
- The Norwegian Wedding Blog
- Once Wed