You can only "Save the Date" after you've set a date.

After months of procrastination, I finally took the plunge - I put money down and reserved the UMD Chapel for June 28, 2006 at 11:00 am.
After the DC Offbeat Brides meeting this winter, I started reading the book and had lots of ideas. Feathers in my bouquet, a string quartet playing Radiohead (Eric's brainchild), make my own dress, bubbles, ride fancy bikes from the chapel to the reception area et cetera. We had the date hand-picked, but my unemployment prevented me from putting money down for the date.
Here we are, months later and I've finally gotten around to it. Since then I've largely set aside any ideas or concerns about the whole thing. Now that the date is set in stone, it's flip-out time!
Eric has talked me down from frenzies about cost and time, and I'm trying to keep the anxiety at bay. At least until about this time next year.
Some good news - Eric is, as of this fall, also gainfully employed. Both sets of parents have offered to help us pay for a wedding which we hope to keep cheap, cheap, cheap with manual labor (this means you!) and creativity. We streamlined The Guest List to about 60 people, expecting it to bloat a little between now and then.
My parents are throwing us a reception in Arizona, which helps tremendously because it gives the option of involving a lot of people even though I have to be really picky with The List.
Eric and I are thinking about renting a hanger at the historical College Park airport for the reception. We haven't inquired yet, but it might be a cool option. The idea was inspired by Eric's high school graduation ceremony, which was at a Southbury, Conn. airport.
There is one aspect of the day which I'm glad to hand over to someone else - the food. Alli Sosna, Elizabeth's girlfriend and a real-life fancy chef, is doing the food (check out her blog on sustainable seafood and other food curiosities).That's all I know. I gave her the date today. I'll have a headcount later. She knows how I feel about potatoes. I'm confident that that's all I need to do about the food. What an incredible resource!
I feel strange about having the date set. It's not just something we're talking about doing anymore. The wheels are in motion.
Next step: Save the Date cards and find a reception location.