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Military Brides
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New Here :]

misskaylaxmisskaylax member
First Comment
in Military Brides
Hey ladies, my name's Kayla and I figured I'd introduce myself to the board. My boyfriend, or should I now say fiancée (he just proposed two nights ago!), is in the army and currently deployed in Iraq. We're planning to have a summer wedding during his month's leave after he gets back home and are hoping to have a small ceremony and reception with just close friends and family. I just wanted to meet you other girls and hopefully get any tips or advice on planning a military wedding in a short amount of time and on a limited budget  :]

Also, is anybody living at the Schofield Barracks in Hawaii? After our wedding I'll be moving on post with him and I'd love to meet anybody already there!
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Re: New Here :]

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    kara811kara811 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Congrats on your engagement and welcome!
    Planning Bio /Married Bio
    Photobucket BabyFruit Ticker
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    jackieandbillyjackieandbilly
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    edited December 2011
    Congrats and welcome! Ooh that's exciting to live in Hawaii:) what wedding plans do you have finalized so far?
    Nimi and Little Bite Photobucket
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    misskaylaxmisskaylax member
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    edited December 2011
    Thank you! And I know, I can't wait for Hawaii. I've barely ever left PA so it's going to be quite the experience :] As far as wedding plans go we haven't finalized much as of yet. We do know that we want a small ceremony and reception, like I said, and we know who we're hiring as our DJ (his best friend's sister and her husband are djs so they're going to do it for us if not for free than at least much cheaper than the other djs in the area). We've also tossed around the idea of having a cake and appetizers reception instead of a sit down dinner to cut costs. but we haven't completely decided on that. I'll be the first to admit that I have no clue where to start, haha. 
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    horsevaulterhorsevaulter
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Congrats! :) I would love to move to Hawaii!!
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    jackieandbillyjackieandbilly
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Oh, so is the wedding in Hawaii or PA? Just a random idea: since you'd be moving to Hawaii afterward if he's stationed there, you could do a little Hawaiian theme (my mom did that)- might fit beautifully for a small, intimate reception of Hawaii-inspired appetizers. You could have guests wear leis,decorate the cake with really bright flowers, and have your DJ friends play some island music.
    Don't mean to plan your wedding for you. Just an idea- if I could have a million weddings, Hawaii would be in like my top 5 haha!
    Nimi and Little Bite Photobucket
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    misskaylaxmisskaylax member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    The wedding is going to be here in PA because we both really want our families there and they're unable to travel all the way out to Hawaii, but the idea of making it Hawaiian themed is great! Thank you for the suggestion. I was already thinking of making it brightly colored in theme since it will be in the summer so that all ties in perfectly with what I've been considering.
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    shan87shan87
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Welcome & Congrats! I think the first order of business which is usually the hardest for us Military spouses is figuring out a date. It took my FI and I almost 3 months to final decide the actual date!
    Good Luck and if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask! :)
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    misskaylaxmisskaylax member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thank you! I know exactly what you mean though. With not knowing exactly when he'll be coming home and only having a general time frame, I have no clue how to even go about setting a date. And with only a few months to plan, that's probably the most worrisome thing of all! I'm afraid of setting a date and booking everything only to find out he won't be home in time.
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    shan87shan87
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_military-brides_new-here-4?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:13Discussion:95127ecb-53b1-4aae-a630-23a38078dc3dPost:41f99a83-54b6-4ae6-928d-f2b85cf7bf73">Re: New Here :]</a>:
    [QUOTE]Thank you! I know exactly what you mean though. With not knowing exactly when he'll be coming home and only having a general time frame, I have no clue how to even go about setting a date. And with only a few months to plan, that's probably the most worrisome thing of all! I'm afraid of setting a date and booking everything only to find out he won't be home in time.
    Posted by misskaylax[/QUOTE]

    I let all of my vendors know he was AD and that with the Military things always change. I wouldn't book a vendor unless I knew I could change the date with ease. (basically that they would just transfer my deposit to any other date they had open) Most have military causes and will allow you to move your date if his orders change. The only problem is getting all your vendors to have openings on the same date you have to change it too.  Since yours is going to be small you should been more flexible with locations and easier to find back ups.
    GL with planning!
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    misskaylaxmisskaylax member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I was hoping that perhaps we could have the ceremony outdoors, perhaps even at a relatives house provided they have a big enough back yard, that way it would be a little easier to manage if we need to change dates. I also know that I'm putting a specific piece on the invitation letting everyone invited know that because of his military obligations the date may be changed at any time and in that event I will notify them personally. I finally got to talk to him on the phone today (YAY!) and we figured a few other things out as far as what we want. We talked about possibly getting a close family member or friend ordained online to marry us, that way we could cut the cost of paying for an officiant and have the reassurance that they won't be otherwise booked if the dates change unexpectedly and last minute. And I was thinking about asking the senior students in one of the local college's photography programs about possibly doing the pictures for the day. Seen as they need to build their portfolios for the job market, I figured they might agree to do it for a lot cheaper, or even better yet, free. And then that way since they aren't already an established photography business they would most likely be available if the dates changed.
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    MeepWeddingMeepWedding
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Hi Kayla!

    Congrats on your engagement! And I'm super jealous of you moving to Hawaii... my old college roommate got Hickham AFB as her first base. It's apparently super fabulous and she is so bummed to be relocating to another base.

    Having any groomsmen in your wedding party (if you've thought about that yet) wear their service dress (as well as your FH wearing his, too, if that's what you want) will help save money! I thought about a tux-only wedding party so that all the GM match, but I really think that all the military dudes should be proud and get to wear it on the big day.

    Good luck:)
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    misskaylaxmisskaylax member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thank you! I've always wanted to visit Hawaii in general, so now this is like two dreams coming true! haha I get the man of my dreams and not only see the islands, but live on one. Needless to say, I'm ecstatic. We haven't gotten as far as discussing groomsmen yet but that's a good point. I've been going back and forth in my head about whether I wanted all tuxes so they'd match or if I wanted them to to either wear a tux or a suit if their civilian or their service dress if they're military. It's definitely something to talk over with him when we reach that point.
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