I have an update for all of you about my situation. I want to first apologize for being somewhat defensive in my earlier posts. I was going through a hard time and it was a really difficult decision to make. As some of you pointed out, sometimes hearing the truth can be a difficult thing and I wasn't ready to hear it at the time. However, I have finally taken your advice. My fiance and I are postponing our wedding indefinitely. I hope to reschedule once I find a full-time job and we are finally living under the same roof. The venue has charged us a $500 cancellation fee, but will put the rest of our payment toward the postponed wedding if we reschedule within a year of the originally planned wedding (July 13).
I am disappointed about pushing the wedding back, but I know that this is the smart decision. I had many talks with my fiance regarding saving money and the future. I sat down with him with a budget (that my dad did help me come up with, but he was not there for the talk). We found that in our current situation, we cannot afford to live together. We'd probably be a few hundred dollars short each month of paying all of our bills. I really had thought that maybe if we just cut back on going out and whatnot that we would be able to afford a place, but after having this talk, it seems like it really isn't a realistic option for us. I'm only working part-time, and his student loan debt ($400 a month!) makes it difficult. Even though he tried to tell me that he could save up enough money from his eBay business by July, it doesn't seem like a reliable plan for our future. The fact is, we don't know when I'll get a full-time job and it doesn't make sense to get married when we don't know what our living situation will be after the wedding. In the meantime, we are cutting back on going out to eat (I've started cooking for him; we're only going out to cheap places when we do go out) and we haven't been to the movies in weeks. I'm trying to get it in his head that we need to save, even though he can be clueless at times (he bought himself an $80 remote last week...what the heck??). Once we do finally live together, I'll be able to get better control on the finances and I'll finally be able to see if he is capable of being independent and doing his share around the house (without mom around doing everything for him!). I'm trying to take it one step at a time and not rush into anything. I'm sad about the wedding but I also feel a lot of relief. The constant worry and stress about what our lives would be like by July has ceased, and now I can take the time to figure things out.
Thank you all for your advice, even if it took me a little time to take it. I know you meant well.