Long story bits:
About a month ago my partner and I decided to get married.We’re getting married near the end of June/beginning of July, which doesn't give me much time to plan.

Our budget is so low, its insane. I am almost finished with my associates degree, and he will be finishing his master’s in May, so we have some bills to pay off. It’ll be our first time living without other people (I still live with my parents, he lives with three roommates.) Our money will be steady but low, because I’m going to be a full time nanny, and he will be getting a stipend from his PhD.  We want to put money towards our house, and being able to see his family (who live in another country...this will double as our honeymoon.) My parents would probably help out if we asked, but we want to pay for it ourselves.

Our budget is as low as we can get it, with a MAX of 500, preferably about $200. Here is what we have in our heads already:

Rings: Our engagement rings were beautiful, and handmade, so very inexpensive. We plan on doing the same thing for our wedding bands.

-Eloping, with a party. Out of fairness to his family (it’s physically impossible for them to come here for the wedding) and the fact that we are extremely private people. We don’t want people watching us say our vows.

-Clothing: He’s wearing dress clothes he already owns, I’m wearing a summer dress I bought on clearance for 10 bucks.  It was originally 100. : )

-Music: On our announcment/invitations, the RSVP will have three lines where we ask them to request songs. These will be downloaded on our Ipod, with our computer Itunes standing by (in case of emergency) and we’ll play songs over speakers from that.

-Venue: Public park! It costs about $50 to rent a large shelter near a lake. It has has a grill and electrical outlets.

-Food: I am insane about cooking...so I will be cooking a large part of the food myself. My partner wants to make some traditonal food from his country, and I am guessing that my grandmother, mom, and stepmom will want to help cook. If they don’t, I’ll still be able to do it. I’m thinking about cooking some on-site barbecue at the same time. Also, no alcohol because, well...I'm 20. *blush* I prefer this anyway, because there will be lots of kids, so I want it to be a family thing. Plus, alcohol is expensive.

-Cake: I also love baking. Tons of cupcakes.

-Additional entertainment: Between the different parts of my family, we have a Wii, an X-box, and a PS2. So, I am hoping to set up rock band 2, Wii Sports, and DDR, so many people can play games together. If this doesn’t end up working, I’m not going to stress about it in any way.

I need your help!!
I have no idea what do do for decorations! I want to try and make them myself, and have them so that I can used them again in our house. Any ideas?

As for the party when we visit with his family? Since we can't be there, his parents said they would plan everything. His sister and mother are ecstatic, so we were happy to let them. So yeah, I'm not even worrying about that.

I have wanted to make an altered book since I first heard about it when I was fourteen. I'm 20. I just feel horrible about ripping up books. When my fiance and I found a box of books that was being thrown out at the library, I told him I wanted to get one, but felt bad. His point was that if I didn't do something, these books were going to be thrown in the dumpster. I would be giving them an new life and purpose as art.

See why I love him?

Anyway, I took one home and finally did a few things. It's only a little...I added a ribbon for a page-marker, and sewed a pocket. Not much, but definitely a first step. I'm going to work my butt off on it, because I want to get it ready for our anniversary in March. I'm giving it to him, he being the one who got me started and all. I just wanted to share, because I'm feeling rather proud of myself.