Today I donated the food budget for my wedding to relief efforts in Haiti.

boge0025

Getting married and planning the perfect wedding is something most women, including me, dream about for a very long time.  The perfect dress, decorations, catering, flowers, cakes, the list goes on and on.  It is my chance to be "queen for a day" and it feels great.  My fiancé and I have been planning our wedding for a few months now, meeting with vendors, setting our budget and having many long conversations about creating the perfect wedding.

 Running in tandem with our wedding planning conversations over the past few days has been the horror and human tragedy in Haiti.   I woke up Sunday morning and sat down with a cup of coffee and the newspaper and read  about people with no food or water, having limbs amputated in makeshift hospitals in a last chance effort to save their lives.  I suggested to my fiancé right then that we should donate part of our wedding budget to disaster relief in Haiti.  Anyone who has planned a wedding knows how tight the budget can get, but without a moment's pause he said "YES! I love you SO much!" 

We have decided to donate our food budget - 25% of our wedding funds - to aid victims of the Haiti earthquake.  Our friends and family can go without a fancy wedding dinner, especially if it means helping provide food, medical care and shelter for those desperately in need.

The tragedy in Haiti is so huge I hope that other brides- to-be will take this message to heart and find a way to donate to a relief organization.  Find something in your wedding budget that you don't need and just cut it out.  Assess what is most  important to you on your wedding day, harness your bride-power, and take action to do something that will make your wedding unbelievably meaningful!  Your wedding will be spectacular, and the money you donate will make a huge difference to someone in dire need.

Muffers

WOW! Thank you. Not only for the donation but for posting this and reminding us what is truly important in life. There is so much ugliness in the news everyday and plenty of misplaced priorities in our country, but it's things like this that renew my faith in humanity.  I am already donating to the relief effort, but hopefully this post will speak to some people who would otherwise not have donated. 
Congrats on your wedding and I applaud your generous spirit!
 

hkiesling

I'm curious that this is your first post.  Are you a MN bride or are you just posting this on all of the boards to raise awareness?  I'd love to hear more about your wedding plans, especially since you'll be making such drastic budget cuts.  I've found MN Knotties to be extremely resourceful and helpful in keeping budgets down.

threemarie24

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_today-donated-food-budget-wedding-relief-efforts-haiti?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:81Discussion:a8e63c73-9e13-45db-8266-143c27f33293Post:4cf97b64-77d3-4d78-be32-e695c6890674">Re: Today I donated the food budget for my wedding to relief efforts in Haiti.</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm curious that this is your first post.  Are you a MN bride or are you just posting this on all of the boards to raise awareness?  I'd love to hear more about your wedding plans, especially since you'll be making such drastic budget cuts.  I've found MN Knotties to be extremely resourceful and helpful in keeping budgets down.
Posted by hkiesling[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>I got the same feeling when I first read it as well. </div>

LittleSweetie

Clearly just trying to get publicity - they are on KARE 11 right now.

Please feel free to introduce yourself beyond your generosity.  You seem nice, from what I can tell on TV, but we tend to bond most with those who tell us about themselves, not just about what they've done for Haiti.  We'd love to get to know you more and learn about your wedding.

Bimbi284

I agree with PPs, tell us about your wedding! Who knows, if we like ya, we might even cook for you! LOL

Also, I think I saw you on CNN while I was at the gym yesterday.

Steph0871

Yup. They're on CNN now. I'm sure they've made back at least what they donated in "royalties"... hopefully you're donating most of that money back to Haiti as well.  Or an even better idea might be to help out those families/children in need here in our own country.  There are plenty of people in Minnesota who are in desperate need of help.  Just a thought, before you send money to a foreign country.

LittleSweetie

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_today-donated-food-budget-wedding-relief-efforts-haiti?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:81Discussion:a8e63c73-9e13-45db-8266-143c27f33293Post:eee6b028-7c4a-4986-a8cc-eb7a362734cc">Re: Today I donated the food budget for my wedding to relief efforts in Haiti.</a>:
[QUOTE]Yup. They're on CNN now. I'm sure they've made back at least what they donated in "royalties"... hopefully you're donating most of that money back to Haiti as well.  Or an even better idea might be to help out those families/children in need here in our own country.  There are plenty of people in Minnesota who are in desperate need of help.  Just a thought, before you send money to a foreign country.
Posted by Steph0871[/QUOTE]

<div>I don't think they would get any "royalties" - news stations *usually* don't pay people to get their story.  Could be totally wrong, but I doubt they're getting anything but publicity and maybe some vendor matches/kickbacks (caterer who donates food and the would-be profit to Haiti as well, who knows).</div>