the bottom line

The average wedding in Texas costs more than $26,000, according to one statistic I read.

That's like all of my student debt, plus almost all of our wedding budget. Unbelievable!

This would be an impractical amount for my family to spend for a wedding, so I've been scouring the web for stories from brides who have planned low-budget weddings. I've discovered a few things:

Most of them keep their guest lists short. Really short. Sometimes it's just family.

Most of them are best friends with a whole slew of people who have the precise skill sets they need in their vendors -- their aunt is a baker, their cousin is a photographer, or their grandparents happen to own a manor with several acres of beautifully-kept grounds.

A lot of them do short, afternoon weddings.

Most of them take a nontraditional approach. This could mean anything -- nonfloral decorations, casual attire, receptions in local parks, or even foregoing the white tiered wedding cake.

I had some good, nontraditional ideas, but my enthusiasm was not enough to convince my mother.

I pushed for a carnival-themed reception for months. Visions of cotton candy were dancing in my head, but my mom refused to accept hot dogs, funnel cake, popcorn, and soft pretzels as "wedding food."

(Side note: Who even likes "wedding food" anyway? Wouldn't something different be refreshing? I think so.)

So my parade, unfortunately, has been rained upon.

I'm also playing with the idea of a fiesta theme: paper decorations (tissue and crepe paper flowers everywhere, papeles picados, etc), fajitas, salsa, guacamole, margaritas. Ooh! Buñuelos.

Who doesn't love Tex-Mex? It beats cheese cubes and finger sandwiches any day of the week.