Brides who are paying for everything

[cleokizzy]

I am sitting here at my desk thinking wedding like usual and I have to ask.... Is there anyone else who seriously is worried about how they are going to pay for everything???

technically, we''re getting some help but FI & I would still shoulder the bulk of the wedding expenses.

 

[princessplease]

::raises hand::

We''re getting some help too, but a LOT is on our own. My one way of trying to make expenses more bearable is to spread buying things over the course of the next 8 months. For example, when I get paid Friday, I''m buying the paper we need for programs/menu cards. The next paycheck, I will buy FI''s WB. Some vendors, such as the photog, were wonderful enough to do a monthly direct debit, which is great. I pay $187/month from when we signed till July, rather than paying $900 down, then $900 every 6 months till July. Although it''s obviously the same amount of money, it''s WAY easier on the wallet that way. I also save in a separate account some out of each paycheck so I''m building up the funds for the larger payments, such as the venue, flowers, etc.

 

[vc10um]

Date: 11/11/2009 11:34:48 AM
Author: princessplease
::raises hand::


We''re getting some help too, but a LOT is on our own. My one way of trying to make expenses more bearable is to spread buying things over the course of the next 8 months. For example, when I get paid Friday, I''m buying the paper we need for programs/menu cards. The next paycheck, I will buy FI''s WB. Some vendors, such as the photog, were wonderful enough to do a monthly direct debit, which is great. I pay $187/month from when we signed till July, rather than paying $900 down, then $900 every 6 months till July. Although it''s obviously the same amount of money, it''s WAY easier on the wallet that way. I also save in a separate account some out of each paycheck so I''m building up the funds for the larger payments, such as the venue, flowers, etc.

princessplease...that''s awesome that you found vendors who were willing to do that. I find it a lot easier to budget monthly payments than to make sure I''ve socked away the proper amount of monthly savings, so maybe this is something I''ll look into for when I start planning and choosing vendors! Thanks for the excellent idea!

 

[NakedFinger]

I'm paying for it ALL too, with NO help from parents unfortunately (I'm one of 6 kids, they cant pay for everyone's wedding!

)

Unfortunately we took ALLLL of our savings and used it toward the down payment on a house, a very expensive kitchen renovation, and two bathroom renovations, and not to mention a rather expensive engagement ring which he paid for outright and didn't finance (which in fairness, I did tell him the ring was more important than having extra money toward a extravagant wedding). So with that said, we dont have much as far as funds. We have discussed getting a home equity loan, since the renovations have increased the value of our house by $200k, and then just paying back the loan with whatever money in gifts we get.

That's one thought, the other is just to do a low key destination wedding with parents and siblings....the jury is still out on whether I think the big wedding is worth the money...

 

[emeraldlover1]

While, I loved, loved, loved our wedding, this is why a budget is so important. We were rediculous with sticking to our budget. We made it when we had virtually no idea how much money everything would cost. We sat down and said, this is what we have....how much can we afford as well as how much do we want to spend. Once we had that number, we split it up and then stuck to it. While we had a fairly large budget we did make sacrifices. For example...I really, really wanted bistro chairs but I just couldn''t find an area from the budget to take it from. Now, we even cut our budget down 20k because of the economic downturn and in the end I didn''t even really notice it.

So, to answer your question, we didn''t really think about it. We knew what was going out of the door and we accepted it as a one time expense. While we paid for our entire wedding out of our savings, I think there is a way to make it work as long as you budget appropriatley. What would stress me out is not knowing where the money was going or if we could afford it.

I''m not sure if that was the response you are looking for but hopefully it helps.

 

[princessplease]

Date: 11/11/2009 12:05:33 PM
Author: vc10um

Date: 11/11/2009 11:34:48 AM
Author: princessplease
::raises hand::


We're getting some help too, but a LOT is on our own. My one way of trying to make expenses more bearable is to spread buying things over the course of the next 8 months. For example, when I get paid Friday, I'm buying the paper we need for programs/menu cards. The next paycheck, I will buy FI's WB. Some vendors, such as the photog, were wonderful enough to do a monthly direct debit, which is great. I pay $187/month from when we signed till July, rather than paying $900 down, then $900 every 6 months till July. Although it's obviously the same amount of money, it's WAY easier on the wallet that way. I also save in a separate account some out of each paycheck so I'm building up the funds for the larger payments, such as the venue, flowers, etc.

princessplease...that's awesome that you found vendors who were willing to do that. I find it a lot easier to budget monthly payments than to make sure I've socked away the proper amount of monthly savings, so maybe this is something I'll look into for when I start planning and choosing vendors! Thanks for the excellent idea!

You're very welcome. It's SO much more psychologically comforting to me to do it that way, lol!!!!!!I was so thrilled when I found out they were willing to work with us in that way.

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Yes. His parents are paying for the rehearsal dinner ($600) and my parents paid for my dress ($1200). Every other thing is on us.

We put $2500/mth into a wedding savings account, starting last December. There was one month (Oct.) where we needed the money for some unexpected expenses. The plan was to NOT finance anything wedding related. Even with all that money, we''re going to be a bit short... But that''s our own fault. In the beginning it seemed like we hat *tons* saved, but now all payments are due... We''re talking $10,000 checks. It makes me ill!

I''m not sure what we''ll do when the wedding fund ''runs out''. I anticipate that about $1000-$2000 will be put on a credit card (eck) and paid with gift money or after we get our January paychecks.

This wedding has postponed our home purchasing, among other things. It will be a wonderful day and a great party, but I have some regrets.

We never wanted the wedding to be beyond or means, but it''s getting very, very, very close to that point.

 

[cindygenit]

Yes. Everything.

It is so overwhelming. And we just bought a house.

Fortunately we are not inviting that many people. Fi and I are both adamant that we will NOT use our current "emergency" fund/savings so we are putting away money each week, putting it into a special account just for our wedding. So when the time comes to pay off the balance for vendors etc, we will have enough money saved.

 

[megumic]

We''re definitely worried and shouldering most of the cost as well. Plus I''m in law school, so not only do we only have one income, we''re going into debt!!!

Our wedding is 10.10.10 so we have about a year. We''re starting by seeing what we spend by keeping a running spreadsheet of every cent we spend and on what. We''ve done that for about three weeks and next week, we''ll see how much we really spend every month. Then cut corners, and hopefully set a final slimmed down bare bones budget to live off of for the next year, while everything else goes to the wedding. We''re trying to make it as much of a game as possible - like who spent the least today doesn''t have to do dishes!