Still bleeding, wedding prep

For some reason I am still bleeding money. It is always difficult to stem the flow after the holidays. Then we have Victoria’s birthday and now we have the added expense of Maggie’s wedding – which is not going to happen for over six months, but needs to be spent on now anyway. We are not in bad shape financially, but I still feel like my finances are somewhat out of control and that is one are of my life where there is a constant struggle to find balance.


I thought things would improve when we finally got to Texas but supporting two homes, two plus families and putting gas in five vehicles has proved a challenge to my overall saving plan. I have begun to accept that God did not intend for me to be wealthy, but I had hoped for a tiny bit more financial prowess than I am now experiencing. Still, it’s all good. We are all warm, well fed and seem to be prospering in all other areas of life.

Yesterday was looking at dresses for Maggie and Mama. Today they will go and have Maggie actually try on some of the styles she likes. Grandma will join them in the fitting. I think this is the first time Grandma has been close enough to participate in the pre-pageantry. I have told all of my daughters that standing before the minister and saying “I do.” is getting married, all the other stuff is pageantry. It is the pageantry of the ceremony that costs. The actual act of getting legally married is relatively inexpensive.

Marriage is an okay idea to a young woman who is pleased with the man who has asked her to be his wife, but what women really love is the expensive part. There is an entire industry set up to cater to the romantic idea of dresses and decorations and dainty foods. A person can get a college degree in the practice of helping couples spend outrageous amounts of money for an all day blowout for a service that takes only minutes to perform and could cost next to nothing.

Maggie will do fine. She has a budget and she is quickly realizing that money only goes so far and it can only be spent once.

As she and Aaron work through the details it will be fun to see how the event unfolds.