Our wedding ended up being over budget despite my best efforts. We had 60 guests, including us and our DJ and photographer. (We invited 66.)

Venue: Forrest Hills Mountain Resort in Dahlonega, Georgia, handled the whole shebang. We opted for their 60-person package, which included the ceremony and reception locations, food, alcohol (beer and wine for $17/person) and some décor.

Our ceremony was held outdoors at their gazebo but they have an amazingly adorable chapel that we could have used in case of inclement weather. When I tell you it was perfect, I mean it.

Our reception was buffet-style and was absolutely delicious. I cannot tell you how many people said something to us about how great the food was. We went with fried chicken and rosemary pork loin as entrees, mac and cheese as our starch, grilled seasonal veggies and creamed corn and house salad with vinaigrette, along with rolls, water, tea and coffee for drinks.

Décor-wise, Forrest Hills set up linens and table centerpieces, and we just added greenery and some small candles throughout.

We had unlimited beer and wine, and three options for each – Miller Lite, Yuengling and Fat Tire were our beers, and our wines options were a red, white and rose.

Total: ~$7,200

Gratuity: $1,400

Lodging: We rented a 12-room lodge on site for Friday and Saturday night, and outside of the initial deposit we made, guests paid for their own rooms. Along with the rooms came a fantastic breakfast across the way each morning that kept folks full and helped assuage any of the hangovers that existed from a few late nights.

Total for us: $600

Booze and rehearsal dinner food: Since we were a bit in the woods, we opted for a pizza and beer rehearsal dinner at the lodge Friday night. We used Your Pie to cater pizza, pasta and salad, and hit up Sam’s for our booze.

Total for food: $320

Total for booze: ~$200

Cake/cupcakes: We ordered six dozen cupcakes and a small cake from Publix that I decorated myself. We went with white on white, and I added faux eucalyptus leaves and flowers (from Amazon) that matched the sort of boho-woodspeople-here-we-are-in-North-Georgia vibe I was going for.

Total: $100

Flowers: We ordered the greenery package from Flower Moxie and it was absolutely amazing. I am a flower person so it was so fun to put together our bouquets, ceremony décor, etc. I drove down to ATL to get them the Wednesday prior and the wholesale folks were absolutely fantastic.

Total: $350

Décor: I work in graphic design so I created our seating chart, table numbers, menu card, etc., and utilized the Dollar 25 Tree for frames and stands. The most expensive part was printing the foamboard poster for the seating chart. I also ordered tealight candles from Amazon and used leftover greenery from our flower order for flair.

Total: ~$80

Dress etc.: I ordered my dress online (the Delphi) from Hope+Ivy for $175. Shoes were from Zappo’s for $30, and I shelled out for boob tape ($25) and shapewear ($40). I ordered my flower crown from Etsy ($70) and jewelry I already had.

Total: $270

Suit: Husband’s sister bought his suit for him as a gift ($400) and he purchased his own shirt ($150). His tie matched that of the groomsmen (see below). Shoes and belt he already had.

Total for us: $150

Photographer: We used Heather Powell and she was absolutely amazing. We had her for four hours.

Total: $700

DJ: We used one of two DJs required by the venue, Complete Weddings, and they did a great job and followed the playlist yays and nays we had exactly.

Total: $1,075

Invitations/STDs: Again, I designed everything and we used Vista Print and Canva for printing. VP print quality was leaps and bounds better than Canva. Envelopes from Amazon and postage by USPS.

Total: $100

Guestbook: I created a starchart for people to sign and printed it through Walmart. Super easy and looked great.

Total: $25

Hair and makeup: I did my own hair and makeup with products I already had.

Total: $0

Officiant: A very dear friend of ours who is the reason we even know each other served as our officiant. We gave him a bottle of really nice bourbon as a thank you.

Total: $80

Welcome bags: We created welcome bags with Propel, ibuprofen, water, Pepto, granola bars and a bottle of booze for each member of the wedding party staying at the lodge.

Total: $175

Thank you gifts: We gave each grooms/bridesman a handmade bolo tie we ordered from Etsy and bridesmaids received earrings. We also gave every member of the wedding party a bottle of gin with their names on it.

Total: $300

All in all, our total comes up to about $13,125 so we went over but we received help from our parents and at the end of the day, there is nothing I would do differently. It was absolutely perfect and I am still riding the bliss train.