Thrifty in White

Guest Postin' | Local Fashion Designers Who Will Rock Your Budget

If we're going to spend a good chunk of hard-earned money on something, we want to know it's going to someone deserving, right? Enter the masses of talented and local Chicago-based fashion designers, each one to-the-brim with handmade style and determined to make our city--and the world, really--gorgeous on a modest budget.

 

 
Audey by Chicago-based designer Jess Audey, photo source.

 

And now enter stories about wearing an ill-fitting and visually horrific outfit to a trunk show showcasing one of the aforementioned designers, and how my mom almost ripped my arm out of the socket when she first saw a local designer's frocks at a bridal show last year. (My pain was dulled by my similar adoration for the dresses, thanks for asking.)

That's right, kidlets...I've been guest posting about local fashion over at the Sweetchic Events blog! Check out new installments every Wednesday and don't feel guilty about lovin' on every single picture you see. They're handmade and local. And they all have POCKETS. Only the best of the best, baby.

 

Stay thrifty,
Hollie

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Non-Wedding Related, But It Needs To Be Addressed

A letter to Chicago weather, from Hollie.

 

   
PHOTOS: The hideous storm and the aftermath. Care to swim home?

  

Dearest Darling Chicago,

Before I moved to you from a rural college town in southern Illinois, I thought of how great it would be to live in the big ol' city. The glorious skyline! The free days at museums! The creepy people lurking around the streets! Not being able to find a parking spot, but it's OK because it's fun to walk around the neighborhoods! The shopping I can't afford but partake in too often anyway!

Chicago, I really thought I was meant to live here.

Until this June. Also known as our wedding month next year.

Barely a workday passes where I don't think of how to crouch under my desk to avoid shards of glass from the high-speed wind knocking out the windows. I have to fix my wet-dog-like hair in the work bathroom daily because it never fails that I walk in the moment it starts pouring. One day I went out to my car to discover the parking spot I chose had turned into a lake in the eight hours I spent in my cubicle.

But today was the last straw, Chicago weather. We are so fighting.

Not only did I have to drive home on flooded streets, but my car (Goldie Sue) stalled out in what resembled a LAKE. After sitting in my car for an hour thinking there is a great possibility I could pee my pants and start gnawing on the steering wheel I was so hungry, an angel appeared (Mr. Thrifty) and we abandoned my car. Forever.

OK, maybe not forever. For maybe an hour. 

But seriously Chicago weather, what gives? It's officially summer, I'm tired of being stuck in the house watching King of Queens reruns with restless pets running around constantly. Is it too much to ask that we get nice weather for even one night?

And it goes without saying that this better not be an indication of what's to come June 2011. It's not like we have an outdoor ceremony planned or anything. Just kidding. We do.

Guess we better have a solid backup plan, huh?

 
Love always (even when I'm annoyed at the weather),
Hollie

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ENTER THE TIE-FOR-MY-GUY GIVEAWAY RIGHT THIS SECOND!

OMG, We're Actually Meeting a Vendor

Tonight is kind of a big deal for Mr. Thrifty and me: We're going to meet a vendor!

Well technically we met with our venue and photographer before we booked them...but let's get serious. We knew we would book them before we even met them. After hearing great things about them from people we trusted, we basically had our deposit checks written the second we found out they were available for our June 2011 date.

And OK, I also kind of broke my cardinal rule of wedding planning: Don't set your heart on anything when there's still plenty of time to look for other options.

Luckily, those vendors weren't budget-busters and were totally in line with our $10,000 budget. We've grown as a budgeted couple, and promise to not make that mistake again. Or, promise to not make that mistake again within reason.

Tonight, however, could be another story. We're meeting with a Chicago-based DJ. Who actually spins. And who would be traveling 250 miles to our country wedding. And who would be providing music for both the ceremony and reception. Seems like it will add up quickly, eh?

 

PHOTO: Click on the picture to be taken away to the land of amazing mixes
that you will fall in love with. Trust me. Why else would I be daydreaming
about them DJing our wedding? It promises to give oodles of wedding playlist inspiration.

   

We have a love-hate relationship with our budget, and when it comes to vendors, we try to prepare ourselves for disappointment. Too expensive? Let's negotiate. Not willing to negotiate? Later, sucker.

But for us, the music is important. The night we met, we bonded over Mr. Thrifty's stellar iTunes playlist, and through our whole relationship, we exchanged mixed CDs like crazy with sweet, sappy love songs that really spoke to our long-distance relationship. Call it cheesy, whatever. Our lives together have a soundtrack, and we like it that way (even if a lot of the tracks were those super-lovey country songs that I secretly hate).

So maybe you see why this DJ decision is so important. That being said, we're willing to spend a little more in this area to make sure we get exactly what we want. It means putting on our toughest faces and negotiating, saving green in other areas, serving pizza at our reception (kidding)...everything that other budget brides-and-grooms-to-be have to deal with on a regular basis.

We just have to make it work and not go broke in the process. Easy enough, right? Maybe?

  

Have you had to negotiate with vendors to get them down to the right price? Or did you have to walk away from a too-expensive contract only to stumble upon a better (and cheaper!) option?

Keep on saving,
Hollie

 
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