Gothic Weddings

Today's Topic: Budget

How is today's economy effecting your wedding? Are you going all out to have the wedding of your dreams or did you cut back on certain aspects to save money? Did you have money saved away or given to you? Are you paying for it out of pocket? Do you have any budget friendly tips to share? Discuss!Have a sparkling day!

Re: Today's Topic: Budget

  • Again since our wedding it uber small we've been able to splurge on things that we'd never have been able to afford if it was a large function. Things like the custom sodas for example. The economy really hasn't had any kind of effect. I work in health care so there's been no cuts to my job directly and the mr. runs a liquor store...when are people not going to need/want liquor. I don't know if it's the wedding of my dreams since I have never really given a wedding much thought before but for us it's definatly what we want. Small enough so we can talk to everyone and take photos with our guests. Not to mention untraditional. Basically we just want to party and celebrate with those closest to us. We are paying for it about 90% ourselves. My folks have offered to help numerous times and I think I will take them up on it before it's all over. Probably to help cover the cost of food. So far the best budget tips I can offer is look around. You never know what you will find by simply putting it directly into Google. Since we're the only ones that know we're even having a wedding it's been hard to not have a MOH to share duties with or to help me look but my mom has been just awesome at searching things out and calling in her resources. I know most of our dates are drawing near but for last minute items Dollarama has been a blessing. No joke. For simple candles, trays, extra glasses. it's been awesome.
    Photobucket
  • Oops! I didn't even answer my own budget questions! I don't think the economy is really effecting our renewal too bad. At first we had a huge party planned - probably close to 120 people - and we cut the guest list down to 92. As the numbers dwindle, we realize we wanted something small to begin with, and only the really special people in our lives are invited. We are not going all out b/c that's not our style. We don't have a dj - but that's because J doesn't want one. He fired his friend from being our dj and since then he just wants a ipodesque reception. Which I'm totally fine with. My mom was gracious enough to give us some money to help with the catering, and bought a few items for the reception, but it's mainly been J & I scrimping and saving. We did get a small loan (and I do mean small) to help out as well. I wouldn't recommend it, but he has been out of work since Oct due to an injury & surgery so getting that loan was the only way we'd be able to pull everything off. We have been saving and planning for about 13 mos now. Our plans went from an elaborate fancy evening party at the beach to a late afternoon/evening casual bbq. And the latter fits us best. As far as budget friendly tips, my biggest thing is that you don't need everything the industry says you do. Think outside the box. J's bff does photography on the side and offered to shoot our ceremony & reception for super cheap - he is also a guest. We got our cupcakes through a woman who works out of her home instead of a bake shop. And most everything we buy, we get on sale.
  • I wasn't on yesterday, so here goes...The economy is the devil. We are paying for everything ourselves. FI has his own construction business, which until this year was his full time job. Nobody wanted to build or have work done last year, so we had to cut our honeymoon and just added a day in Vegas. We thought we were going to be ok, but my dad got layed(sp?) off last month, so I just reworked my photography contract to cut the parent albums and my engagement session so that we can help them attend the wedding. I can't say that it's the wedding of my dreams because I always dreamed of a big wedding with all of my family and friends. I can say that for the most part I'm happy with how it's going, but I really wish that more of my family could make it. Tips: I agree with pp. DIY anything you can, keep an eye out for coupons and sales, and just try to be creative.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • We are extremely fortunate that my FI's parents are going to pay for all of the food and drink at our reception. Oh, and his Mom decided that she wants a string quartet at our ceremony so she is paying for this too. Score! LOL! I said from the beginning that I would not take a cent from my family (this is my second wedding), but they want to give us some money to help. And they bought the stamps for our invites, which was awesome! The rest of it we are paying for. So far we have been paying everything out of pocket. I have been lucky enough to run across some great deals and have only been buying things after careful consideration. Of course, our biggest bills are on the horizon so I hope that we stay lucky! My only advice is to make sure that you research what you are going to buy and ask for a better deal, it never hurts to do as long as you do it nicely! Good luck!
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards