The Wedding Planner in Nepal!

bails · 1 November 2009 at 11:41AM

Yup, not quite what I had in mind either!

My OH and I are here doing voluntary work for 5 months, as part of a dream trip longed and saved up for during a serious illness. Unexpectedly, not long after we arrive, there's a big festival so we suddenly have 5 weeks off work! We head off to do the Everest Trek, a mountain I've dreamt of seeing my whole life, and at 5550m on Kala Patthar, watching the sun rise over Everest, my OH gets down on one knee, ring in hand, and proposes!! :eek::j:j:j It was the most amazing moment of my life so far :heartpuls

At first we thought we'd have to wait a few years to get married but as we'd like to start a family soon, we've decided to have the wedding next September hopefully.

So this is my diary of planning that wedding from halfway round the world! To add to the complications, we'll actually be travelling home overland for 3 months from January to April so won't be able to plan anything during that time either!

Whilst it's wonderful to be engaged to the man I love, and I'm over the moon with what's been dubbed 'the proposal of the decade' by my friends on here:D, I've realised it's quite a lonely place to be - no friends to crack open the bubbly with or mull over the million and one things a girl wants to chat about (and yes, it was a shock to discover I am a girl after all!

) As amazing as OH is, being the only sounding board for the preparations is wearing a little thin for him, bless him, so I'm hoping this thread can be the place where I put down all my ideas and moneysaving ways to make our day really special.

From an MS point of view, I'd have loved to save up for everything first but with our baby making looming, and of course not earning anything out here, we may need to pay some of it back a little later. (We're fortunate to both have skills that are relatively well-paid so the debt won't be around long.) That said, I am doing everything I can to make our day as frugal as possible and minimise that debt, whilst still having the day we'd like. So if you've got any great tips or just want to share the ride, I'd love to have you on board!

chelbel1981 · 1 November 2009 at 12:22PM

Congratulations

I am going to suggest that while you are on the other side of the world look for wedding dresses!
China etc make most of the dresses in U.K shops plus if you wanted to order one in from a U.K shop when you get back you'd need 6 months which you don't have

You will pick one up much cheaper

snapping_crocodile · 1 November 2009 at 12:23PM

Wow what a proposal, very romantic!!

Congratulations....i don't think my OH would have the capacity to propose romantically in any shape or form! Good luck with the planning :beer:

katiepoppycat · 1 November 2009 at 12:40PM

lo bails! no adviice about wedding planning at all - sorry! been to a couple over the last few years and been horrified at silly things money spent on - like expensive favours, and travel. one firend had a red and gold thing going on for her wedding, just after easter . . . . favours were a load of lindt bunnies picked upin the post easter sale!

slowlyfading · 1 November 2009 at 12:55PM

eee :j :j :j hello :hello:

joolesw1972 · 1 November 2009 at 2:18PM

Congratulations! What a challenge! Two things spring to mind 1-Involve family and friends at home in finding/sourcing things for you (we've found that people really like getting involved and being part of it!) 2-If you find things on your travels (such as your dress like chelbel suggests) and you can afford to buy them - post them back to family to store for you.

Good Luck x

savingfortravel · 1 November 2009 at 3:41PM

bails wrote: »

Yup, not quite what I had in mind either!

At first we thought we'd have to wait a few years to get married but as we'd like to start a family soon, we've decided to have the wedding next September hopefully.

From an MS point of view, I'd have loved to save up for everything first but with our baby making looming, and of course not earning anything out here, we may need to pay some of it back a little later. (We're fortunate to both have skills that are relatively well-paid so the debt won't be around long.) That said, I am doing everything I can to make our day as frugal as possible and minimise that debt, whilst still having the day we'd like. So if you've got any great tips or just want to share the ride, I'd love to have you on board!

Bails-I know weddings and babies are expensive but people manage-look at my parents who have never had any money and raised us. I would stay positive and not resign yourself that you'll be in debt..I know you and your family will do everything poss for you not to be.. YOU CAN DO IT ALL ON A BUDGET and with your creativity it will be original and beautiful and your baby will get everything he/she needs and more.. (2 wonderful, adventurous, caring parents who value what is important.. I could go on..). :T

SFT

bails · 1 November 2009 at 4:55PM

Aah SFT, you made me well up! Thankyou x Don't worry, I am still being positive and genuinely trying to do it debt-free but I can handle it better if I've at least prepared myself for the possibility of debt. We have several months when we get back when we're planning to save hard so fingers crossed...

Thankyou to everyone else, it's lovely to see you here! I had heard people mention dresses from China Chelbel but it never even entered my head to look for one while we're there :rolleyes: The only thing is OH will be there too!

Be a great way to save some serious cash though :T

bails · 1 November 2009 at 5:14PM

This is more for me than anyone else, just to get my head round where we are with things...

We're hoping to ask people for their help as their wedding present to us, as it will make the day so much more personal, we don't like lots of stuff and well, we don't have a big budget! So far we have OH's step uncle to do the ceremony, my lovely godmother for the flowers and a friend of OH's to play some music during the ceremony/meal. My mum would like to make the bridesmaid dresses and the cake.:T

We're hoping to have a marquee so we're getting quotes in for them at the mo - blimey, they're expensive! :eek: We even looked at buying a marquee ourselves but then we'd have to get everything else to go with it etc so not very practical. There's no availability in the one venue we'd consider as an alternative (not that we're fussy in that sense, it's just we'd really like to have our wedding outside).

Then there's where to put the marquee! There's a field behind my parents' house that we're almost certain we can use (they're just re-checking) as a back up plan but ideally we'd like it nearer home. If we are sure about this field then we'll go ahead and book a marquee and hope we can find somewhere nearer.

We're starting to get contact info together of everyone so we can send out save the date emails (postcards of the Himalayas where there's no email) and then we'll make our invites (from one of my travel photos) once we're home.

I've had a little peek at dresses but it's impossible to get a real idea without trying them on (better start googling wedding dress shops in China

).

Our colours are chosen and I've got swatches to use. We'd like to use some influence from here, if we can get the stuff home (postage here is completely prohibitive unfortunately and as we're coming overland we need to get OH's parents to take it for us).

Think that's everything for now....OH is away for 12 days and has banned me from stressing about the wedding til he gets back! Still,a girl can dream right?

nm123_2 · 1 November 2009 at 5:40PM

OH and I went on a year-long Round The World trip a few years ago and I would agree with the point about perhaps getting your wedding dress made abroad. However, in terms of buying stuff along the way, think carefully before you do - we've got bags and bags of bits and pieces we picked up from our trip - cushion covers, laterns, lamp shades, clothes, ornaments, etc that looked fun/funky/cool while we were away and then somehow just end up looking naff when we got home! It's nice to have these bits as souvenirs, but it can be easy to get carried away thinking that travelling stuff is cool, and you could spend a small fortune on it all, and then feel different about it when it's out of context back home.

bails · 1 November 2009 at 5:54PM

Thanks nm, it's a valid point! Don't worry we won't go overboard, we have quite specific things in mind which we would've bought back home anyway but are much cheaper here

The Wedding Planner in Nepal!

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