If you were to talk to 100 brides-to-be, my guess is that 90 of them would tell you that determining and sticking to a budget is the hardest part of planning a wedding. I’m definitely part of that 90 percent, but I have to admit: It’s one thing I never really expected to be an issue. I’m an only child, and although my parents aren’t wealthy, I’ve always lived a comfortable lifestyle. My father is a retired schoolteacher, and my mother works for a government contractor. She serves as the main breadwinner for the family and, more important, as the gatekeeper to all family funds. My mother and I are incredibly close, so when Andrew proposed, I simply thought money would be no object when it came to our dream wedding.

In hindsight, I should’ve realized that wasn’t likely to be the case. My mother has always been a bit indulgent with me, but only to an extent that she could justify with her values. She hates to be ostentatious and is one of the few people I know who truly doesn’t care what people think of her. So spending thousands of dollars on a fancy wedding simply to impress our friends and family wasn’t something she wanted to consider.

Always a bridesmaid on Project Runway.

A worthy batch of program pointers. [via Ritzy Bee]

Beyoncé (finally) dishes (at least a little) about her big day.

Thank the lovely ladies in your life and fight breast cancer at the same time. [via The Bridal Bar]

To submit a bridal event, email lshallcross@washingtonian.com.

I had been looking forward to Saturday all week. My fiancé, Andrew, and I planned to spend the morning browsing home stores and setting up our wedding registry.

My studio apartment in Dupont Circle was filled with hand-me-downs and bargains, and Andrew had always shared mismatched furniture and kitchenware with roommates. We were excited finally to start living like adults.

Although we had dated for five years before getting engaged, we’d never shopped for something we’d use together. Our plan was to check out Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and Crate & Barrel in Clarendon, then start zapping with the scanner. We were overwhelmed as soon as we saw the first wall of cookware. There were dozens of pots and pans—stainless steel, copper, Calphalon, cast iron—in countless combinations of colors and sizes.

Every time we turned a corner, we had more questions: Did it make sense to register for a coffee table when we didn’t know what our apartment would look like? We liked plain white ceramic plates, but would we get sick of them? Did we really need 12 place settings of silverware?

In theory, registering sounded like a blast, almost like a shopping spree. I thought we’d spend a few hours picking out things we liked, and that would be it. I didn’t realize we were embarking on a six-month process.

Pick your spot for an A-list honeymoon.

The wedding and honeymoon are done. Now what? [via Always a Blogsmaid]

Want your bridesmaids in Vera Wang? They'll love you more if you tell them they can get them 40 percent off. [via Bridalwave]

More ways to help your bridesmaids save. [via Weddingbee]

To submit a bridal event, email lshallcross@washingtonian.com.

Judging by some comments from my post last week, I think I need to make sure everyone understands that, yes, of course I’m excited to marry Ron Burgundy and celebrate our love with all of our family and friends. I just thought that people would rather read about dresses, flowers, and registering more than they’d want to read about how in love Ron and I are.

I surely hope people can see that I exaggerate somewhat for story value (it’s a blog, after all!), and I’m just trying to put a bit of humor into my writing. Because this is a wedding blog, I figured it’d be more fun to write about all the stuff you have to do to plan a wedding. I think it’d be pretty hard to talk about planning a wedding without mentioning any of the material things that go along with it! But let’s skip all that this week and talk about how much I love Ron Burgundy.

A DIY deal—25 percent off at Michael's. [via Weddingbee]

Are Fido and Spot invited to your big day? [via Bridalwave]

Changing your name? Jump through a few less hoops. [via DC Nearlyweds]

One couple recycled enough bottles to pay for their honeymoon flight. Now that's what we call a green honeymoon.

To submit a bridal event, email lshallcross@washingtonian.com.

Geraldine Idrizi, 34, met Brent Hayhurst, 31, in 2005 through a friend Geraldine played tennis with. But it wasn’t until they both went on a group skiing weekend in 2006 that they spent time together alone.

Out of the group of 28 people on the ski trip to Wisp Resort, Geraldine, a lawyer for Freddie Mac, and Brent, an analyst for Verizon, were the only two interested in hitting the slopes. So they put on their boots, grabbed their skis, and got to know each other. When the weekend was finished and they tallied the totals everyone had spent, Brent owed Geraldine for some food and ski purchases.

“I suggested he just take me to dinner and we would call it even,” Geraldine says. And thus the plan for their first date at Capital Grille was hatched. “I ended up spending four times the amount I originally owed,” Brent says. “But it was worth every penny.”