Second thoughts...

Thatgirl19

I have been planning a wedding that I never thought I could have... And I'm watching what I planned to be a $4,000 budget crawl up to nearly $10,000!! I'm debating scrapping the whole wedding and just going to the court house. I'm paying for it by myself. (fiancé is a full time electrical engineering student) and neither of our parents are keen on pitching in... This was supposed to be everything I dreamed of and I'm ready to scrap it all... Help... advice... anything.. PLEASE!!!

OliveOilsMom

The budgeting tool here on TK worked well for me.  Remove all of the non-essentials, then put in your 4K and see how the budgetor distributes the money.  Go by that. There are many ways to save. 

Someways to save would to be to have your wedding at a non-meal time.  Have a 2 PM ceremony and then go right into your reception.  You can serve appetizers and dessert.  This will help stretch your budget, you can still have a DJ, but people will probably leave around 5 to grab some dinner somewhere.  Or you can have an 8 PM ceremony and do the same set up. 

Remember that weddings don't have to be huge 5+ hour blow outs.  You can have a really lovely wedding, with just a courthouse wedding and taking those who attend out to lunch/dinner afterwards.  

Or you can take your 4k budget and put it towards a great vacation/honeymoon where you elope on your trip just the two of you.  There are many things you can do with your budget. 

natswild

First, please use X-Post when posting in more than one board...
That being said, you don't need favors, you can use an ipod instead of a DJ, look for a less expensive dress, cut back on the amount of decor, use in season flowers instead of more expensive...
can you tell what has caused the increase in budget?

misssunshine17

Have you sent save the dates? The easiest way to cut the budget is to cut guests. It can suck, but it means less food, invites, centerpieces, etc. The budget board is a great place to get info. 

There is definitely a balance between a large wedding and going to the courthouse. I urge you to look into options because I know I would regret going to the courthouse (no offence to anyone who did, just not what I would have wanted for myself). 

thisismynickname2

You don't mention if you're going into debt (I haven't seen the cross-post).  If you are, don't, and take previous posters' advice.  

If you're not going into debt.... Think about what else you could buy with $6k and where your priorities are. New car? Home down payment?  Are you trading off something you need versus sharing a happy day with your loved ones?

You could always do a courthouse wedding or something very small now and plan a vow-renewal for a 10, 15 or 20 year anniversary (not a PPD, never a PPD!).

Or.... delay your wedding, have a longer engagement and save.

Hard to give advice without more information about the situation but hope we're all helping! 

EverAfer

Re-examine your budget and figure out how you crept up to $10K.

You need a ceremony and a reception with food and drinks.
The wedding doesn't have to take place at a meal time, like PP said, you can do appetizers at an afternoon reception.  You can do an inexpensive venue.  You can have a dry wedding. You can have an inexpensive dress or a used one.  You can do it off-season and not a Saturday, alot of vendors/venues give discounts for that. You can cut out alot of stuff or DIY: dj, photog, decors/flowers/guest favors/save-the-dates/cake (I like dessert platters better) and etc.

Make a list of your must-haves and wish to have.  See if you can get the must-haves at your $4K budget and ask yourself each time your budget goes up, if it's worth it.  If it doesn't work, cut your guest list, (as long as you didn't already send them save-the-dates.)

Learn to negotiate, proprioritze and say no. Vendors make their business by selling you more, but you don't need everything they offer.  People-friends and families- will suggest "awesome" things that you can do, but if it's not in the budget, don't go for it. Basically, keep it simple.

But I highly recommend that you don't go over budget or in debt.  By the time the wedding comes, you should be ready to pay 100% of the costs of the wedding. All of your vendors will require it anyway, and you don't want alot of debt on your credit card.