#NerdsUnite: I'm 23 and in less than a year - I'm getting married (Two Venues For Under $200)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Jack. We met on the twitter not too long ago, and the dude has a lot going on. First up, like many of us - he works in social media, but in less than a year he's going to get married. Oh and did I mention that he's only 23? And his bride to be is only ... ::gasp:: 22? Holy crapsicles Batman, this is going to be good ... I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT JACK! </editorsnote> 

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JackMEB

Progress!  That’s right – Ashley and I have made a bit of progress towards the wedding.  But before we get to that, let’s backtrack to the bomb I dropped last week.

Our goal is to have a $5,000 wedding.  As mentioned last week, the average wedding runs over $24,000 these days, so we’re going to attempt to put on a show for nearly 20% of that.  Fortunately, we do have a few assets we’re planning on utilizing.

• Our roommate.  Our roomie Katrina happens to be a Hair Stylist, Floral Designer, and a Professional Bridal Consultant (find her work at Soulmates & Wedding Dates).  Just throwing ideas out the air has made it clear that Katrina will be our most important asset over the next seven months, from now until the “I do’s.”
• Connections.  Ash and I have managed to make some solid connections over the years, and we’ll be calling in favors galore.  Graduating from Christian school means we’ve got more than a few options to officiate, and my music background will allow me to call in a few favors for a live band.  (I do have a dream scenario for the music I’m trying to make happen… more on that next week).  But make no mistake – anything we can get for free or for cheap from a friend of a friend will be part of the wedding.
• DIY Attitude.  From some brief web searching and chats with Katrina, it’s clear a great deal of the decorations and arrangements can be done by hand, far ahead of time, for next to nothing.  Flowers can be bought and arranged by us, invitations can be printed elegantly for cents, and we can cater it in a non-traditional way that will provide more food for less money.  

With all that in mind, I can happily announce that we have made two tremendous strides towards the big day: we’ve got a wedding venue, and a reception venue!  And the total bill is under $200.

For the reception, we’ll be happily grubbing and grooving at an unlikely location: Uncle Dennis and Aunt Diana’s backyard!  Yep; it’s gonna be a backyard shindig.  They overheard talks about venues and threw out that they’d love to have us, and that they’ve hosted 150 person parties on several occasions.  With our goal of 100 attendees or less, their large Fullerton backyard will be perfect for the fun, casual atmosphere we’re going for.  And it doesn’t cost us anything.  Plenty of sources warn that backyard weddings can be more expensive from the massive rentals, but we’re confident this is the best option for us, as we’ve got some creative ideas on entertainment, catering, and other necessities.

Next is the venue: a beautiful local Fullerton park.  We scoped a few places online that were within the radius of the Uncle’s backyard and found a gorgeous location.  What’s more is that Ashley handled the pricing and got an absolutely absurd deal: we get the site for four hours, for $250, with a $100 refundable security deposit.  On a Saturday.  In Orange County.  How it happened, I don’t know, but the deposit was immediately placed.  

So that’s your weekly wedding update.  I do have a few other cool tidbits I wanted to share though.  As of today, I’ve accepted a staff position on AbsolutePunk.net, a very well-read music blog that pushed 6 million uniques last year.  I’m also officially the Director of Marketing for Impulse Artists, where I’ll be co-managing LA alt-rock band Culprit and Ohio pop/punk act My Mouth Is The Speaker, as well as taking on PR clients.  I’m still at the Social Method, and I still manage MindEqualsBlown.net, so the plate is officially at capacity.

Hopefully everyone is having a kick-ass 2012 so far.  Next week we’ll talk about what I’m realizing will be our biggest expense: photography.  Until then, kiddies!

#nerdsunite

click here to follow Jack on twitter

#NerdsUnite: I'm 23 and in less than a year - I'm getting married (Meet the Miss)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Jack. We met on the twitter not too long ago, and the dude has a lot going on. First up, like many of us - he works in social media, but in less than a year he's going to get married. Oh and did I mention that he's only 23? And his bride to be is only ... ::gasp:: 22? Holy crapsicles Batman, this is going to be good ... I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT JACK! </editorsnote> 

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JackMEB

Oh, the holidays: where family drama knows no bounds.  I hope everyone had the Merriest Christmas possible with the fam bams, because I know how that can go. 

Last week I gave bullet points on my life and my upcoming wedding.  Our ages were the gasp-inducer then (I’m 23, she’s 22), but I’ll drop the next bit of ridiculousness now: we want to do this shindig for $5,000 or less.  Sounds like a lot, but the average wedding runs around $24,000 these days.  We’ll get into that a bit more next week though, because I believe another introduction is in order.

Meet Ashley, my beautiful fiancée ...

A little background on her (I’ll try not to brag, but I’m proud): Like me, she graduated last spring from HIU, though she took home the Business Excellence award, given to the most accomplished student in the department (meanwhile, the dean who presented the award often mentioned my greatest accomplishment was landing her).  While earning her accounting degree from HIU and Cal State Fullerton, she played four years as a scholarship volleyball player, worked nearly full-time at a local tax/financial planning firm, and dealt with my shenanigans.  At 22, she just became an Enrolled Agent (EA), meaning she can prepare your taxes and is enrolled with the IRS to represent you.

Probably the most fun aspect of our relationship to the outside world is our height.  At 6’5”, I’m tall enough to get noticed on my own, but when I’ve got my arm on the shoulder of my 6’2” fiancée, we’re impossible to miss, especially amongst the skinny-jeaned scenester crowd we endure at all the shows I attend for MEB.  Couple that with my clumsiness (size 14’s, man.  Size 14’s) and her goofiness, and we’re a sight to be seen.

So yeah, that’s who I’m marrying, and I couldn’t be happier.  With my schedule and tax season rapidly approaching, we’re mentally preparing to see very little of each other from now until April 16, which means wedding planning (and interacting) will most likely be through Facebook chat during lunch.

Next week we’ll start talking numbers, and our strategy to keep costs under 5k (who’s ready for our fantastically fun backyard wedding?!?!).  Later, friends!

#nerdsunite

click here to follow Jack on twitter