Cotner - A priceless wedding: crafting a meaningful, memorable, and affordable celebration

First published in 2013 by Voyageur Press, an imprint of MBI Publishing Company, 400 First Avenue North, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

2013 Voyageur Press

Text 2013 Sara E. Cotner

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Digital edition: 978-1-6105-8670-2

Softcover edition: 978-0-7603-4142-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cotner, Sara.

A priceless wedding : crafting a meaningful, memorable, and

affordable celebration / by Sara Cotner.

p. cm.

Includes index.

Summary: Whether your budget is $2,000 or $20,000,

A Priceless Wedding has tips to keep fun, family, and friends

at the center of the celebration.Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-7603-4142-1

1. Weddings--Planning. I. Title.

HQ745.C673 2012

395.22--dc23

2012024891

Editors: Margret Aldrich, Melinda Keefe, and Grace Labatt

Photo Researcher: Bryan Stusse

Design Manager: Cindy Samargia Laun

Design: Sandra Salamony

Cover design: Ellen Huber

Photographs by Nell Aburto: pp.

Photos courtesy of the author: pp.

Photos courtesy of

Photo courtesy of Jessica LoCicero Photography: p.

Photo courtesy of Kimi Weart: p.

Altrendo images / Getty images: p.

Photo courtesy of Ruth Harper: p.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

It took a lot of hands to transform sixty-four avocados into enough guacamole to feed eighty guests at our wedding reception, just like it took a lot of input and support to transform ideas about how to plan a meaningful and memorable wedding without losing your savings or sanity into an entire book.

The list of people who deserve acknowledgement and gratitude makes me joyful:

To Matt Bradford, my partner in adventure and awesomeness, you are my perfect match. Whether we are running through sprinklers at a local elementary school, dressing up in Halloween costumes and delivering brownies to friends and local businesses, or hatching plans to celebrate our wedding with our friends and family, you inspire me to be a better person. I adore you. You are the chlorophyll to my leaf, and you are the reason this book exists. I am honored to have the opportunity to share our story.

To Henry Cotner-Bradford, my new baby boy, I appreciate your desire to take a nap every one and a half hours so I can write. When you are awake and I set the computer down, I enjoy the break provided by your laughter and your newfound ability to blow raspberries.

To Andy Dehnart, my longest-standing best friend (and the most desirable gay bachelor in the contiguous United States), I owe you big. You put enormous amounts of time and energy into analyzing the nuisances of the wedding industrial complex with me, and you didnt get frustrated when I started talking even more about weddings when my own was over. You simply pointed it out in your dry, ironic sort of way.

To Lynn Cotner-Rauh, my mother, who did not morph into Momzilla. Thank you for letting me forge my own wedding path, just as you let me forge my own life path.

To Chandler Klang Smith, the fairy godmother in my personal tale about how to go from a big dream to a published book, thank you for dusting off my proposal and working your agent magic.

To Melissa J. Bodeau, my writing partner extraordinaire, thank you for wrangling my words into something more presentable. I am indebted to you for your creative nonfiction prowess, meticulousness, reliability, openness, and passion.

To Ariel Meadow Stallings, the honest and courageous author of the book and blog Offbeat Bride, I bow down to you for being the pioneer of the movement to create weddings that truly reflect who we are, regardless of what others think.

To the many other bloggers who share their lives and inspire me to be more environmentally friendly, crafty, budget-minded, and connected to my community, and who convince me that I can achieve anything I put my mind to (with a little confidence and a lot of Internet tutorials), I do a dainty curtsey and a little twirl in your honor:

Katie at inoakpark.wordpress.com and abackyardwedding.blogspot.com

Sherry and John at younghouselove.com

Jordan at ohhappyday.com

Kristina at lovelymorning.com

Rubyellen at mycakies.blogspot.com

Andrea at www.superherodesigns.com/journal

Amy at progressivepioneer.com

Kelly Rae at kellyraeroberts.com

Meg at sewliberated.typepad.com

And then there are the kindred spirit readers of the 2000dollarwedding.com blog, who spent hours upon hours reading and revising drafts of this book. You added, deleted, replaced, and rearranged all sorts of things. Many of you were in the process of planning your own weddings, so I am immensely thankful (and indebted to you) for your willingness to carve out time for this project. You filled out survey after survey to share your ideas and your stories. Thank you for grounding me in the idea that it takes a villageto raise children, to pull off meaningful and memorable weddings, to write books. I owe you big hugs, cheek kisses, and a home-cooked meal.

And to all of you kindred spirits who read this book and uncover bits of inspiration: take it, make it your own, and please share your ideas with the rest of us!

We made up our own ceremony tradition to reflect our love of nature. We planted a live oak from my parents backyard while our officiant talked about what it takes to nurture and grow a marriage.

Matt and I got engaged because The Nutcracker was rescheduled and the University of Denver ice-skating rink was closed. As an alternative, I suggested, Why dont we go out for Mexican food and plan a wedding?