Timeline for saving money

risa1818

Hello ladies! I am new to the boards, so this is my first post.

I was hoping to get some feedback from other brides who are paying for their wedding themselves. We have been engaged since December, and have finally set a date of May 29 2011. We are beyond excited, but I am slightly nervous that we will have enough time to save all the money we need. Our wedding venue is not too expensive, and we are able to save money a few other places as well: cake ( our pastry chef friend is making for us) booze (we are able to bring our own in) etc. Just wanted to see if any brides are/were in the same situation as us and had any ideas on how they are saving money efficiently, etc.

Alot of the posts have been very helpful so far, so I am looking forward to hearing back! Thanks

AlwaysABridesmaid...

I did our budget with an estimate of cost in excel and then I did another tab with estimated savings. I added the dates of each paycheck and how much we could save from each and then did a total. I also had a column for how much we actually saved because sometimes we were able to save a little more.

Kbabe8806

Theres a shop in Tyngsboro running a $99 gown sale. They do new and once worn gowns  most of them were brand new with tags on them...Sew Special boutique

MeaghanandMichael

Excel is definitely your friend.
It seems you have booked the venue, but I would hold off on any more big ticket items until you have a definite budget down. Take a look at your income and your normal monthly bills. When you are looking into booking vendors, compare what you project to have saved to the timetable they are asking for payments in.

There are some wedding extras that you can cut out to save money. For example: limos, pro makeup, favors, large floral centerpieces, big honeymoon and big pre wedding events are not necessary by any means.

Congrats on your engagement and welcome to the boards!

jesibel14

Congrats on your engagement!

I agree with PPs that Excel will be your best friend.  I was/am in a similar boat and first it's important to figure out your overall realistic budget.  From there, breakdown how much you want to spend on specific areas of the wedding (dress, photographer, etc).  Then, break it down to bi-weekly contributions (or weekly) to see how much you have to put away to meet that budget amount.  I don't recommend breaking it down by monthly; bi-weekly or weekly keeps you in check.

I created two tabs in excel, one for all of the expenses listed (and I listed EVERYTHING, from gifts, flowers down to my manicure the day before) and the amount I budget towards that area.  I update it weekly based on what I purchase, what sales I see, etc.  Then I have another tab that keeps track of how much I am saving for our wedding fund.  That keeps me in check to make sure I'm on target. 

Being organized and doing your research is key.  I was shocked at how much $ I am saving by doing my research and reaching out to other girls on this board.

GL and Happy Planning!

jesibel14

PS if you are interested I could email you my excel template.  It's a bit over the top and information heavy (I'm a project manager for work, so of course it is!), but I have to admit it's pretty Kicka$$   It includes my guest list, formulas for all, etc.

email me at jessdonegan14 @ gmail dot com  if interested.

risa1818

Thanks for all the responses ladies!! I really appreciate it!

Jess- I will definitely shoot you an email to get that template..sounds really useful!

jkepros

Our biggest saver was how we wrote our contracts.  We revised each vendor contract multiple times and gave ourselves an out.  So for example, on our venue contract we wrote into the contract that if we had to cancel, we would be refunded money paid (minus nominal deposit), and that if THEY had to cancel, we would be refunded ALL money paid (including deposit).  We also wrote it up so that we could make major changes up to 60 days in advance if our budget changed (which it did, and we did)--we weren't locked in for the higher amount, and still get our venue with just a few changes.

One of FI's cousins is getting married a few weeks after us.  They paid a large deposit and then found another place they liked better--but because of the way the contract was written, they couldn't cancel without losing the deposit (I think it was half)--even though it was like a year in advance.  So if you have a hard date and are worried about not having enough money, make sure you can break your contracts if you need to! 

We did all of ours so that if we had to cancel the entire wedding, our lost deposits from all vendors combined would have added up to only about $2000 (not bad considering we started booking vendors more than a year in advance).