So a question came up today that we weren't 100% prepared for. We knew it might happen, but we hadn't made a plan for it: cash.
While we are true to our word in that we want to make this a cost-free wedding, that doesn't mean that no money is involved. For instance, if my aunt decided to buy the paper for our invites, I would still call that a donation of goods. The concept of this project is not that no one can spend money, but rather, that Brian and I can`t spend our own. (Most specifically, because we have so little...more generally, because the experiment is to see how far kindness and community giving can take us.)
It is generally the consensus that we`d be crazy to turn down cash, and we agree. But, in the spirit of the adventure, we plan to do the following, when receiving cash donations:
1. Thank that person as any other donor to the project, if they`re comfortable.
2. Pool the money for things that simply don`t get covered by donations. There`s bound to be some stuff.
3. If we do not use all the money for the wedding, we will redirect it to the honeymoon...another giant fish to fry!
4. If the person has something specific they`d like the money to go towards (ie. flowers, etc) we will try to honor that, allowing for the possibility of donations or other monetary gifts that overlap their request.
I figure this weekend, we will post about some of the donation offers that have started coming in, including the first of the cash donations. We can`t thank you all enough for the awesome start to this project.
Showing posts with label Ground rules. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ground rules. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Project: Priceless--The Ground Rules Established
Okay. So Brian and I, Jordan, the happily engaged couple, have come up with the ground rules for our crazy free wedding project.
The mission: to plan and put on a wedding for ourselves that is (ideally) free-of-charge.
The method: to invite family, friends, and community to provide the elements that will create the wedding. Ideally, everything from dress to wedding favours will be begged, borrowed, or donated. We are also allowed to utilize trade, whether we trade something we have for something you have, or if we can offer a good or service of our own to trade with yours.
Why contribute: Aside from the fact that we are an adorable couple who needs your support to have their special day? Aside from the fact that this is going to be a really cool experiment? Aside from the fact that you will, if you haven't already, fall in love with us? Okay, aside from that, we will:
-give you a shout-out on our blog (even if we do not use your good or service in the end)
-promote you via word-of-mouth (the best advertising out there)
-include a shout-out to you in the programs at the wedding.
While some of those bulleted incentives may not seem that important to the non-businesses out there (the regular folk, strangers, friends, and family) who contribute, WE want to give you the same kudos to you as to any business that contributes, because you're awesome, too.
To maintain sanity: we stipulate the following to maintain some sanity in this process...
1.Bri and J maintain veto rights. There is lots of room for creativity in this wedding, because Brian and I are not married (haha) to one specific look or feel. But it is our big day, and if we decide something isn't working for us that has been offered, we maintain the right to decline or go with a different offer. We still love you and we will still give you a shout-out.
2.We encourage multiple offers for one good or service. We're very shortly going to be offering a few basic ideas around what we'd like to have at the wedding. Other than a colour scheme, a commitment to being funky-not-stuffy, and a few other preferences, the planning is very open to interpretation. We think that it'd be amazing if we had, say, three or five wedding cake offers of donation, and we can see what different people come up with as ideas for the same wedding. As we choose each element, we will post on our blog what your ideas are. We will have final say in which one we choose, but the world will still get to see/hear your ideas and your work.
3. We may purchase elements for the wedding if the purchase is under $10. I'm a crafty person, and to think that I may manage to get through this whole process without buying some beads to decorate my shoes, or buying some mushroom birds to add to boutonnieres, is not realistic. The commitment is, though, to keep any purchase under $10.00. (There is one exception to this rule: if we are not receiving offers on a particular good or service, or if the offers are simply not right for our taste, we may end up purchasing that element. I really hope we can avoid this, though.)
4.We're keeping it simple, because we're stupid. Neither Brian nor I have ever been involved in the planning of a wedding. So we are going to try to keep it fairly clean and simple. We're going to come up with a list of the bare essentials that we'd like to see happen; anything extra is gravy. The reason you're all not getting this list right away is that I have to read a little further past page 8 in the wedding manual (where I began to hyperventilate from the enormity of the task at hand) to fully understand all the elements of a wedding. But we are, of course, open to offers for the project right away.
Alright, that is about it for ground rules. Next post will either just be some back history to give any strangers out there an idea of who we are...or we'll actually tackle the manual tonight and have a checklist to share. It depends on how my deep breathing techniques work against the rising sense of panic every time I open the cover.
The mission: to plan and put on a wedding for ourselves that is (ideally) free-of-charge.
The method: to invite family, friends, and community to provide the elements that will create the wedding. Ideally, everything from dress to wedding favours will be begged, borrowed, or donated. We are also allowed to utilize trade, whether we trade something we have for something you have, or if we can offer a good or service of our own to trade with yours.
Why contribute: Aside from the fact that we are an adorable couple who needs your support to have their special day? Aside from the fact that this is going to be a really cool experiment? Aside from the fact that you will, if you haven't already, fall in love with us? Okay, aside from that, we will:
-give you a shout-out on our blog (even if we do not use your good or service in the end)
-promote you via word-of-mouth (the best advertising out there)
-include a shout-out to you in the programs at the wedding.
While some of those bulleted incentives may not seem that important to the non-businesses out there (the regular folk, strangers, friends, and family) who contribute, WE want to give you the same kudos to you as to any business that contributes, because you're awesome, too.
To maintain sanity: we stipulate the following to maintain some sanity in this process...
1.Bri and J maintain veto rights. There is lots of room for creativity in this wedding, because Brian and I are not married (haha) to one specific look or feel. But it is our big day, and if we decide something isn't working for us that has been offered, we maintain the right to decline or go with a different offer. We still love you and we will still give you a shout-out.
2.We encourage multiple offers for one good or service. We're very shortly going to be offering a few basic ideas around what we'd like to have at the wedding. Other than a colour scheme, a commitment to being funky-not-stuffy, and a few other preferences, the planning is very open to interpretation. We think that it'd be amazing if we had, say, three or five wedding cake offers of donation, and we can see what different people come up with as ideas for the same wedding. As we choose each element, we will post on our blog what your ideas are. We will have final say in which one we choose, but the world will still get to see/hear your ideas and your work.
3. We may purchase elements for the wedding if the purchase is under $10. I'm a crafty person, and to think that I may manage to get through this whole process without buying some beads to decorate my shoes, or buying some mushroom birds to add to boutonnieres, is not realistic. The commitment is, though, to keep any purchase under $10.00. (There is one exception to this rule: if we are not receiving offers on a particular good or service, or if the offers are simply not right for our taste, we may end up purchasing that element. I really hope we can avoid this, though.)
4.We're keeping it simple, because we're stupid. Neither Brian nor I have ever been involved in the planning of a wedding. So we are going to try to keep it fairly clean and simple. We're going to come up with a list of the bare essentials that we'd like to see happen; anything extra is gravy. The reason you're all not getting this list right away is that I have to read a little further past page 8 in the wedding manual (where I began to hyperventilate from the enormity of the task at hand) to fully understand all the elements of a wedding. But we are, of course, open to offers for the project right away.
Alright, that is about it for ground rules. Next post will either just be some back history to give any strangers out there an idea of who we are...or we'll actually tackle the manual tonight and have a checklist to share. It depends on how my deep breathing techniques work against the rising sense of panic every time I open the cover.
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