Now that everyone is reading Shaking, I've got $20K to spend.

Things have slowed down around here, now that Diane has spent the last of her $20,000 and Cathy and Rayne are heading into finals. Me, what is my excuse? Work and I needed my wish list to grow.

As long as we are exercising our imagination and spending fantasy money, I'm going to plan my fantasy wedding. Unless I find out it costs more than $20,000, then I'll be planning only PART of my fantasy wedding.

First off, location. I want to get married at Berger Park. It is one of two mansions in the park district you can rent out and this is in my neighborhood. On a Saturday (it would be a saturday night, starting with heavy appetizers, then havdalah, then the wedding, then dancing... and probably dinner somewhere in there.) it costs $250/hour with a five hour minimum. So the space will be $1250. Although if I want time to decorate before the party... I'll make it ten hours so I don't burst into tears when the first guest arrives and I'm in jogging pants. $2500.

Let's see... then there is food. Caterer's don't put much informtion online do they? Lots of photographs and lots of menus, but no pricing. Grrr. I'm going to guess $75/person. This is Chicago and it is my Fantasy. I'm also saying 100 guests. So $7500 on food.

Gulp. I've already spent $10,000 and I don't have a dress, flowers, or a photographer.

I've always been told, don't skimp on the photographer. I want to use the same one my boss did for some of the coolest shots around chicago. Jai Girard. But if my boss could afford her, chances are she'll take a big bit out of my budget. Is $3000 a good estimate? $3500?

So a dress. It won't be this $600 classic DENIM wedding dress, although the more I look at it, the more i kind of like it. Truth is, I kind of want a non-wedding wedding dress. Kind of like in In Her Shoes. In the movie version, she wears a fantastic knee length dress that her sister makes. I can only find a photo of the top of the dress, but you get an idea. I'm going to budget $2000 for a dress. I won't tell anyone it is a wedding dress and I won't have to pay as much.

Flowers look to be around $1000, so I'll go with that average. (Okay, I just found that the typical Chicago wedding costs $21,440.00, so really I'm not too far off to be planning with $20,000. Of course, this doesn't include a honeymoon...) Things I'm missing...
Guest gifts, wedding rings, music, dance lessons, fee for the rabbi, cost of the chuppa, tuxedos and other stuff.

Mainly I want Berger Park, a good photographer, a funky dress, and a fun party. Lots of dancing, great views of the lake, a chuppa quilted from my mom's wedding dress.

Oh and a great groom. I also want Simon Stein from In Her Shoes. He would, of course, be free.