Note from the Editor

Greetings from YourWeddingDollars.com — an Internet Wedding Magazine designed to help you create a stylish wedding within in your budget. Hi, I’m Cheryl (the one in the middle), and I thought it would be nice to share just a little bit about myself and why I started Your Wedding Dollars.

I’m 53 years old, a mom, a wife, a grandma, and an entrepreneur of sorts (which basically just means always busy). Both my kids, their spouses, and 3 of my grandchildren are in this picture — oh, and of course there’s my “groom” right behind me, where he always is — standing behind me in all that I do! I am a partner in three wedding related businesses with my daughter and her husband (the couple to the right) — we have a lovely wedding venue, a catering company, and a beach wedding service, all in beautiful Pacific Grove, California (Monterey County). I have a love for all things romantic and cry at all weddings — I don’t even have to know the bride and groom to find the whole experience entirely sentimental! There’s nothing more wonderful than new love and the beginning of a couple’s life and dreams together!

Being involved in these three wedding related industries, we see everyday how our couples struggle with putting the wedding of their dreams together within the budget they have to deal with. The ever increasing costs and the reality of an economy that is not at its best puts a lot of stress on a young couple first starting out (heck, it puts stress on all couples… young, old, 2nd marriages, ones who already own homes, and ones trying to save for one!). When it comes to finances, all of us… young, old or otherwise feel the pinch. And even if you took the finances out of it, the planning of a wedding is stressful all by itself. I think that’s because, in many cases, it’s not just about your vows (although that is of course the primary focus! ); but let’s face it, it’s also about putting on a momentous event that will encase our fairytale dreams, will create memories to last a lifetime, and will produce a wedding that we hope even our friends and family will look back on our nuptials with fond recollection of— AND to have to do all this within a budget — Oh my!

Hence, I thought (I think a lot)… Cheryl, you need to create a means of communication to give newly engaged couples ideas to ease the pain and to share economical suggestions and alternatives on how these couples can best spend their wedding dollars. So, YourWeddingDollars.com was born and we look forward to your feedback and will strive to continue to make this a very valuable tool during your wedding planning process. Please feel free to email me at cheryl@yourweddingdollars.com.

I wish you happy planning and beautiful wedding day memories with money left in your wallet!