I dont know what to do???

jedaniel

ok i am getting married on September 25th and i just found out my dad might loose his job in September and i might loose mine in about August. So if it was up to me right now I would go and do a destination wedding. BUT we already have almost all of our venue paid (4K), our cakes ($1,700), favors($400), dj, bartenders, photog deposit (500) and maybe some other small stuff. My total wedding was planning on adding up to about 15k. But now i want to just eat my loses and do a destination wedding. Or should i continue to do my regular wedding but i feel VERY guilty. What should i do?

katieanne85

adding a destination wedding on top of the expenses you have paid already would that save you a whole lot? you have it close to half paid, thats a lot of money to waste, try to figure something out.
where else can you cut back? can you downgrade your phot package? switch meal menus to something less expensive? downscale your dress, rings, flowers, transportation, makeup, hair, hotel, etc? are there other things you can cut, DIY and get deals on?

kaynix21

If all that stuff is almost paid, and you won't get it back, I'd just stick with what you've got. Destination will probably make it worse.

But you should probably go ahead and price it out and see what's what. But I would think sticking with what you have going on a being careful about the rest of your purchases would be best.

Kristin&eric

Why would you want a destination wedding do you think it would be less expensive? Why not cut down the guest list. You havent sent out invites yet

AlexiaANDRobert

I would make out a list of what you've spent and what is owed and price out a DW.  DWs are not as inexpensive as you think.

Also, some places to cut back -

Did you send STDs? If not, cut the heck out of your guest list.  Possible ways - no kids, + 1s for serious relationships, marrieds, engaged, etc. only, no friends of friends or people you haven't seen or don't have their phone number.  Just because they comment on your facebook pics doesn't mean they get an invite.  This can DRASTICALLY reduce your cost.

If you're planning a full open bar, maybe change it to beer and wine instead of full liquor.

If your venue offers linens or chair covers that are standard, use those instead of upgrades.

If you haven't bought your shoes or your veil, check ebay.

You don't NEED programs, fans, favors, water bottles, chocolates, monogrammed napkins, monogrammed match boxes, etc.  There are a lot of things out there that are not necessary and just add to the cost.

If you haven't bought your wedding dress yet, check for off the rack dresses as they tend to be discounted.

Also, for personal finance savings, ease up on eating out, make coffee instead of buying it (this saved me and Robert about $35 a week), try to run errands in a full cycle so you're not wasting gas, etc.

See if you can supplement your income with a part time/weekend/babysitting job or anything like that.  I babysat like a mad woman up until the week before the wedding and made at least $200 per weekend.

These are all just tips, tricks and MY personal opinions on where you can cut back.  Robert and I paid for our own wedding and there were a lot of things we did to cut back and we didn't miss it in the end.

Good luck and I'm sorry to hear about the possible job losses.

AlexiaANDRobert

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_chit-chat_dont?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:14Discussion:0723d58a-eed4-4755-a831-5584349d62a4Post:79e0d96b-5e59-4b4f-ad56-0704c971e179">I dont know what to do???</a>:
[QUOTE]ok i am getting married on September 25th and i just found out my dad might loose his job in September and i might loose mine in about August. So if it was up to me right now I would go and do a destination wedding. BUT we already have almost all of our venue paid (4K), our cakes ($1,700), favors($400), dj, bartenders, photog deposit (500) and maybe some other small stuff. My total wedding was planning on adding up to about 15k. But now i want to just eat my loses and do a destination wedding. Or should i continue to do my regular wedding but i feel VERY guilty. What should i do?
Posted by jedaniel[/QUOTE]

Why are your cakes so expensive? How many people do they feed? Why do you have more than one?

Get rid of the favors.  $400 is A LOT of money for something that isn't needed. If you already bought them, try to sell them on Craigslist or ebay.

Again, these are just tips and suggestions.

LesPaul

If you have already paid that much, why change?  Agree completely w/ Alexia - lots of ways to cut corners (start with the favors and cake).  Asking people to attend a DW adds a great deal of travel costs on their backs, and won't save you anything either.  If you and your Dad are possibly going to lose your jobs, why make it worse?

andy71781

What else is left to pay for?  I agree - get rid of the unnecessary stuff.  Its just not worth it.  I'm not doing favors for my wedding. 

stillundecided4

It sounds like you've already paid a lot for the wedding you're planning. I would stick with it and like pp said just cut back on stuff not needed.

My dad was out of a job a lot when I was growing up but my parents made it and helped my brother and I get through college so I know it's possible to make cutbacks. I don't know how they did it, but Alexia had some great advice!

brandibooh

The good thing is that you have already paid for almost the entire venue which is a huge piece, so instead of losing thousands of dollars, just down grade and cut back on ANYTHING else you possibly can for the wedding.

stina93446

Since you already put money down, I'd scale back things that you can still control, like WHAT you serve, WHO you invite, WHERE you purchase the cake, etc.

jedaniel

Thanks ladies I appreciate it. The stuff i listed is stuff i have already signed contracts on and cant get money back. And yea i already bought those favors. Which I wish i wouldnt have i am an impulse buyer. I cant sell them on ebay they have our names and wedding date on them. The cakes are crazy expensive i know. My mom bought them because this place is supposed to be the best cake place in Austin. blah blah I didnt really care about the cakes my mom is a control freak. And we have 2 cakes because we have our wedding cake and a grooms cake. I heard its something we do here in the South(Texas) more than north. Thank you for the advice. I have been thinking about it all day and I am just going to stick with the original plan and cut back on catering and flowers. which should save me like 4k together. And then i will cut on some small stuff also. THANKS!

reddswifey

i agree with many of the pp. cut back where you can. although i didnt know that the grooms cake was more of a southern thing (i'm in pflugerville) and my cake lady was going to charge us almost 1400 for our cakes and she is located in dripping springs.

we ran into a similar problem with finances to where family was supposed to help but backed out when i started throwing numbers their way. i had a 4 tier cake to feed 200 ppl plus his specialty cake.

well we went through and cut our guest list down too 117 and took my cake from 3-4 tier and he is getting a basic cake which took it from almost 1400 to 885. dont lose all the money you've already spent just try to cut where you can...

GL and HTH