Wedding Update!

I have updated my wedding blog!! I can't wait to get married...

Updates!

Man they've changed the layout of blogger since I have last been on. I've been MIA since school started..because I am extremely busy! I thought I would just quickly share a few updates:

-Went to the State Fair at the end of August with the fam. Ate way too much and GAINED weight!! But we all had a fun time...here are some pictures

-Josh and I went and looked at a house in Buxton, ND a few weeks ago. We really fell in love with it, but decided that it would be too much work. It was an older home and needed a lot of TLC, and we figured that for our first home, we didn't want such a big project. The realtor is still sending my homes everyday that are in our price range, but we are pretty sure we are going to at least wait until January until we start look seriously at homes. This way, we will have more time to save our down payment. I am getting really excited to look at homes, becuase I really want to get a pet....we can't have pets in our apartment now :(. I really want a little puppy!!

-Mom is coming up to visit me on Friday, and we have 2 appointments to talk with photographers that day. I am very excited!

-I finally finished my quilt...well mom gets credit for finishing it...the binding and I didn't really see eye to eye. Here are some pictures of the finished product:

-I should graduate early! Instead of next December, I should graduate next August! I'm pumped!

That's all for now!!

Inspiration Boards

I'm so excited to share me new inspiration wedding boards! Check them out on the "blog" section of our wedding website: www.freewebs.com/joshandkatieswedding

Budgetting

Josh and I have been talking more and more about buying a home. We both got terrific raises this year, which helps us to save a good chunk of change. So this past week we attended a homebuyer education class to learn a little bit more of what it takes to be able to afford a home. It was honestly a great class, and we will be able to use our certificates to gain some sort of credit towards the purchase of a home.

For me, this summer I have been working more and more on the American Dream homebuyer program in our office. So, essentially, I am helping first time homebuyers with federal assistance. Well ever since I started this, I have really learned a lot about what it takes to buy a home. I have also seen A LOT of people who are in worse situations than Josh and I and are already buying homes! It got me to thinking that we could probably do this!!!

Well after our class and individual meeting, I am sure that we can do it! Combined we have about $6,000 saved right now, but we are trying to save much more than that to buy down the principal amount of the loan, thus creating smaller monthly payments. In fact, it would be great to have a 20% down payment (although that could be stretching it a bit) so that we don't have to pay mortgage insurance premium. We actually did some budgetting and took a look at our cash flow. Right now, we take in roughly $4,050 a month together, and our monthly expenses are about $2,000. We have been saving quite a bit (at least 20% of each paycheck), but we could save even more (especially after summer when we are travelling home less often). If we save 20% of each check, by next year we will have $10,000 additional saved, but sometimes we save more than that! Both of us also have good credit scores (Josh has a 701 and I have a 692), so thinks are looking great for us!

We are looking at homes between $60,000 and $110,000 (which is actually in the lower end in GRand Forks), and Josh definately wants to look in the country, but we can't be too picky. However, we have time on our side!! We also need to put some of that aside for a wedding!! Ideally, Josh and I want to be ready with a great down payment by the time that I graduate.

New Wedding Website...

Check out my wedding website...I am hoping to keep this updated...it's a hope! I have some engagement pictures posted as well!!

http://www.freewebs.com/joshandkatieswedding/

Books, Books, Books

Since I have two years to plan my wedding, I have drowned myself in gobs of books! Last weekend, mom and I met up in Fargo to do a little shopping. We stopped at Barnes and Nobles to find a wedding planning book. What we found was completely overwhelming! Rows of books--whether it be planning books, etiquette books, or DIY books. Of course, we were drawn to the DIY books. I found a great planning book at Target, plus I made my own binder for magazine clippings, contracts, and such. The planning book has more worksheets and guidelines to help me follow. The books that I did pick up tended to be more budgetting and DIY books. So hopefully they will help.... I also gave mom a book to start cracking on! So we will be wedding divas once this thing is done. One thing we SHOULD be sure of at the end of this, is that we got the best cost for the quality of the wedding we are looking for, because I have so much time I am hunting down deals!! The one splurge that I want is photography. Pictures are sooo important to me (as a scrapbooker), and I really don't mind paying a little more for a photographer who captures special moments that tell a story. There is one photographer I am definately leaning towards up here in Grand Forks. I have talked with her and she travels, so I am really thinking about using her! This is the one item I am okay with spending a good chunk of change on, and I will personally pick up that tab!!

Mom is going to take engagement pictures this weekend. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I really don't want it to be awkward and posed pictures, so I am hoping that we can be relaxed and just have fun with it!! Hopefully I will be able to share some of those on here next week!

For now here's my pile of books:

Wedding Blog!!

WOW! It's almost been 2 months since I last posted!! By now, everyone who matters to me has heard that I am engaged to my boyfriend of 3 years! I've been trying to get pictures of my ring but they are all blurry or don't do it justice! Josh and I are getting our engagement pictures taken this weekend, so hopefully we will get a better shot. In order to cut costs, my mom will be taking our engagement pictures. To me, the pictures are the number one most important thing, because they will last forever, long after the wedding is over! So I am saving the little extra money we aren't spending on engagement pictures to splurge on an AWESOME photography for the wedding.

We don't have much planned, but we do know that the wedding will be the end of the summer of 2010. I will be done with my masters degree in December of 2009, and I wanted to make sure that I could enjoy the rest of the planning and the honeymoon period! I didn't want to get back from a honeymoon and jump right back into school. So our engagement will be long, but it will be worth the wait! We are hoping that with so much time we will be able to find the best deals everywhere!!

Right now, our biggest issue is the guest list!! We haven't even gotten finalized lists from the parents and we already have 300 people! It's tough to find places around here to accomodate that many people! So we will probably have to make a few cuts, but we want to avoid that as much as possible! I guess that's what happens when we both have pretty large families!

Any wedding advice??

I just made this book to help me organize my planning.