Group Wedding Gift

One of my closest high school girlfriends is getting married in just under two months!! 

I've budgeted and saved about 75% so far for the wedding (shower gift, gas, one dinner out, and wedding gift), so that aspect of the planning is over.  The past two weddings I've been to I gave the bride and groom money - and told them to use it and do something fun on the honeymoon (with photos).

My friend and her new hubby will be buying their first house a week before the wedding (crazy, I know!) and they've registered at Leons -- who knew?!? 

The way that the Leons 'registry' works is that guests put the money they contribute into an account setup for the bride and groom and after the wedding they choose the furniture they like and guests' money/gifts go towards paying down the balance.

I'm a big gifts person -- not meaning expensive, meaning instead giving personalized gifts that are unique to the recipient.  Weddings are tough, I admit.

Knowing that nearly half of the rooms in the new house will need furniture and the couple would be buying the furniture they need regardless of the amount of money guests contributed, I thought that decorating a "room" they'd have never thought of would be special.

So, below you'll find the mood board I created for the backyard!

There are 7 of us from high school who will be attending the wedding (with likely husbands, but not boyfriends -- it's a super small venue).  The total for everything in the photo comes to just over $830 including taxes.  Likely there will be 10 of us in total attending the wedding, meaning $83/person to be able to give them the gift of a completed 'room' in the house and an entertaining area they can enjoy the entire summer - she's a teacher!

Hopefully having one 'room' complete in the house makes the move a bit less stressful and gives them an area to spend time with family and friends who come over to congratulate them on this great next step!