Wedding Recap and Withdrawal

What were your unexpected costs?

I've been working a second job for the last year to make sure we had enough money to pay for everything we wanted for the wedding. At this point we have more than enough saved for everything we've budgeted for, and I'm thinking about quitting the second job so I can enjoy the last few months of our engagement. I'm nervous about last minute expensenses though. What kinds of things popped up that you all were not anticipating, budgetwise? TIA!
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Re: What were your unexpected costs?

  • The one thing I had totally tossed off the radar with my first DD's wedding was the gratuities.  Boy did I feel stupid and boy did that hurt!
  • Some last-minute expenses that really added up for me:

    -Our candy buffet favor
    -Gifts for the WP, including cards, wrapping paper, etc.
    -Salon costs (hair, makeup, nails, plus tips for everyone)
    -Along with the above--I had to pay for my MU and hair trials and tip for those as well
    -Pre-wedding parties attire (dresses for RD, showers, etc)
    -As PP said, don't forget any gratuities or remaining balances you may have to pay on the actual wedding day.


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  • Ditto some of the PPs...gratuity (though almost all of mine was covered in my initial contracts so be careful), salon costs, dresses that I wanted for showers etc.

    For me a big one was alterations. Even though I got very little done (my bustle, sew in boobie cups and the hem) it cost me $150.

    Bridesmaid gifts.

    Haircuts before the wedding (normally I cut my hair 2 times a year), tried to take better care of it this year and my hair trial cost me $70 and I did not expect that.
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
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    You might also want to keep in mind a few expenses that might pop up immediately following the wedding. Will you have any out of town guests staying a few days after the wedding? You might want to have a little spare cash for spur of the moment outings with them. Did you save funds in the budget for wedding photos, albums, or thank you cards? What about expenses involved in cleaning/preserving your dress? That can cost up to $200.00.
  • ElleB87ElleB87 member
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    The hotel we stayed at for our honeymoon double charged us. They claimed the payment for the room hadn't gone through on my credit card so I had to pay in cash...the staff were extremely rude and the room was a total dump. I wanted to just walk out but we were exhausted and didn't know where else to go so I just paid the wench the room rate in cash. If anyone ever goes to Dublin, Ireland stay far away from the Castle Hotel.
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  • erolliserollis member
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    We had a bad experience with our initial renal car on our Honeymoon. The car did not run well and pretty dinged up on the outside and dumpy on the inside. It was super expensive to rent. We drove it for 10 minutes, stopped and called them that we would be returning it, drove ten minutes back to return it. They charged us a full day for a cruddy car even though it was 1 am and the start of our honeymoon! We waited on a shuttle for a different company that ended up being much cheaper. Turns out we had the same car but it was newer, was in excellent condition, power windows/locks, and an upgraded package from the last company with all sorts of niceties in it. So that extra cash for the first rental car company came in handy. Plus they did not release the hold on our card until 3 days later. So two holds on our card made spending a little harder for the first part of our trip. The cash we had on hand was very helpful.

    Also we spent more money on wedding albums and photos then we thought we would. 
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  • meg65meg65 member
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    I also took a second job for pay for the wedding, and we saved to our budgeted amount a few months ago, but I didn't quit. Even though it kind of sucked working so much, I wanted to make SURE we had enough money to cover ANYTHING extra. 

    Now, with our wedding less than three weeks away, and a lot of people RSVPing no, it looks like we might have $4000 left in savings after the wedding AND honeymoon. This makes me very happy and feel like it was totally worth it to keep working :)
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  • Thanks all! I've budgeted for most of these items, and it looks like were around $3000 aheaed. I'm just really afraid to quit and have something caastrophic happen! I don't plan on being in debt for this wedding.
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  • You could always not quit altogether, but cut back on your hours so you still bring in a little extra, but also have extra time to enjoy your engagement.
  • Everybody already mentioned tips which is what I was thinking of. Some small things are stamps, tax on services, jewlery, WP and parent gifts. If everyone is getting ready together the day of have some sort of lunch or breakfast and snacks for people. Budgeting for an extra tank of gas or two since you'll probably be doing more running around as it gets closer. 

    Are you doing any pre-wedding pampering? Thats something I have been looking into recently. Things like getting your hair cut/colored, manicure and pedicure, body wraps, waxing, facial, tanning, etc. A lot of these I would be getting done the week of so am trying to figure out how much money I will need to save for that. 

    As somebody else mentioned maybe just cut your hours back. I feel you on the two jobs thing, I currently work about 70 hours a week between two jobs and its wearing me out!
  • Stamps for the response cards and weighed invites were $120.  Never have I spent that much and felt like I got so little!

    Postage was definitely underestimated for us.
  • The only unexpected costs we had come up were an extra fee for the caterers to put our tables and chairs up at the venue at the end of the night and do a to-go drink table, the parasol my DOC made for me, and I think that was it. Make sure you have tax and service charges/gratuities figured in if applicable.
  • Contact your vendors and ask them about what you should expect, then save about $200-$300 MORE.  Then quit...I had two jobs up to and after my wedding and it was a pain.  If you don't get vacation time or PTO with your original job then save more for the time off you will take for and after the wedding.  

    My hubby doesn't get time off so we saved our gift money for that.

    Good luck.
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  • Thanks so much for all your responses. I went over all your answerswith my Fiance and we decided that I would quit at the end of July (which wold mean we would have a very big chunk saved as a surplus). I can't wait to only be working one job! 
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  • my friends cell phone bill went haywire during the planning.  She used SO many minutes calling vendors and what not and didn't realize she was going over her plan. This was a few years back, but it was something she wasn't expectiong or planning for.
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  • Stamps for sure! And things like tape, glue, paper, boxes, gift wrap etc especially if you're DIY-ing. Gas for running errands and going to meetings and things like that. Officiant fees, tips etc! There's all kinds of small things that will get ya! 37 more days of madness to go for me!
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