134 Days...

Hello Everyone!

Let me introduce myself. I am Chelsea Norquay. I'm 19 years old, and engaged to be married to my best friend and love of my life, Dustin Wales. We met each other last May after being "introduced" through our parents and stalking each other through facebook. After we started talking we instantly clicked, and were overnight best buddies. We didn't start dating until the beginning of December, but since then things have been like a dream. Dustin and I have known since day one that we were going to get married, and are very excited to be in this stage of our life.


Dustin proposed to me on April 9th, 2012 at Wrigley Field. We were attending our first cubs game together with our parents. After a group pose in front of the historic Wrigley Field sign, Dustin suggested we have our picture taken together. After posing, something the opposite direction caught my eye, I swung back around to look at Dustin, and he was on one knee ♥ Our parents caught the moments on video...but I'll leave that for another post!

Isn't it incredible?!

We have set our wedding date for September 1st, 2012. I have 134 crazy days left to be the crazy do-it-yourselfer I am and pull together our wedding. Oh yeah...did I mention my challenge budget?

My mom raised me to be extremely frugal. Haggling is my second language, and bargaining doesn't phase me. I'm challenging myself to keeping my expenses under $1,500, and using this blog to keep myself accountable! You may ask, with the average cost of weddings in the US at $28,000, how do I expect to stay under $1,500?

1. While the idea of having a sit down dinner at your reception is a nice thought, it is not for me. Wedding food is a huge expense of traditional weddings. I'm planning on having an afternoon dessert reception. My family has many fantastic bakers!

2. I thrifted my wedding dress many, many, many years ago at a garage sale for a dime. It is a dress from the 1950's. It fits me as though it was custom made for me! I may have dreamed of a cathedral length train and veil as a little girl, but the tea-length hem suits me very well as an adult.

I have many more ideas how I plan to save so much money on my wedding. Come back to check them out!