Hows' the budget?

morenachica110

I saw this on the October board (cuz I'm a creeper like that) and was wondering how the Sept Knotties are doing.

My dad's paying for most of it. I told him it'd between x and y amount and we're right in the middle so I'm pretty happy. We did pick up a lot of stuff ourselves, but it's nothing so bad we can't handle so I'd say we're just a little over.

You?

jezpez717

Yeah I was thinking like 20,000 when we started ...that is now just the reception/food..... Ahhh at least my parents and his parents are helping a lot

morenachica110

I really had sticker shock when I first started really looking. My advice for new brides would be to get rough estimates of all the major things before booking anything because we started running out of money and had to really work the past couple of months to stay in budget.

calindi

Comfortably under budget.  We're even adding a few things that we didn't think we'd be able to afford.  I chalk this up to very strict budgeting - we took the total budget and divided it up into segments and followed those very strictly.  We ended up under on a lot of big line-items, so we're about 15% under budget right now.  That could go up or down depending on the percentage of people who decline.

celticmyss

We have about 5 to 10 of the budget left after planned expenses. I am pretty sure that a good chunk of that will go to things I haven't thought of yet. Anything left over will go towards things we were going to pay directly like the morning after brunch and the after party.

smartlypretty

We're actually doing really, really, really well right now. We got very lucky with a large gift from FI's parents (enough to pay for flowers, photog, DJ, officiant, musicians, and RD), his aunt and uncle paid for our HM, my grandmother paid for my dress and accessories, and my parents are covering the reception and limo. I guess we've been super, super blessed at these relatives just stepping out of the woodwork and being so generous. All we really have/had to cover is the small odds and ends, attendant/parents gifts, our rings, invitations, and my hair/makeup artist (I'm going to pay for the whole bridal party). I think it maybe cost us about $3,000 all together for the above. 

jjswin

Ugg just had a budget meeting with myself, lol. Damn accountant in me. The wedding is somewhere around 38K. I'm happy to report with some small help from our parents we are paying for everything Cash! Feels good after all the planning and saving that we won't be in debt at the end. As for the honeymoon (15K) my FMIL paid for that so I am super happy.

Katiesue04

No overbudgeting for us...paid everything in cash no loans nothing...oh yeah and we had a two year engagement...no need to hurry and I didn't want to be in debt!  We added a few more things at the end like chair covers and a limo for my bachelorette party and a photobooth...we had everything paid for by the end of Februrary   Bring on the wedding!

volleygurl0306

We are right on track for our budget with likely going under once we get in RSVPs (we budgeted for 140 yes's out of 158 invited guests.  Considering no one lives closer than an hour from where we are getting married, I think we were very aggressive with 140).  However, due to job issues with FI, we are behind on saving for the wedding.  I think my parents will be stepping in (FI's parents were helping some from teh beginning) to cover whatever we can't knowing we've been hard on our luck. 

CowgirlK39

I honestly didn't set a budget because I had no idea what things costed in the first place. I made a list of what i would skimp on and what we would splurge on. I would say compared to other weddings, we are WAY below the norm because we utilized a lot of friends as vendors, who gave us either much lower prices or free. However, I did find that some things just didn't pan out how I planned them. I put down "dress" for skimp, and ended up splurging a bit (and my dress is still relatively cheap compared to some) just because it was The Dress!!!!!

Now that I am going to be getting a better job, I have a feeling I may do just a bit more splurging because it will be possible!

Smooch711

My parents have had a wedding fund of 15K for me (their only child) waiting. I'm very lucky. ILs gave us 3K which paid for our photog. And we even had extra left over, which is in my FI's savings as of now. I initially thought we'd need absolutely every penny of that 15K, but we should have money left over. And we're thinking that will be put towards new furniture. Or the HM.

AshnRobo

We are way over. Way way way over. We started out with a 5K budget and when my family backed out and his family never offered we knocked it down to 3K. Then we had to postpone our original wedding. That lost us a lot of money. Now we are just under 10K, and don't have the cake or rentals. Plus a lot of the detail items.

I'm kinda freaking out. I think I need a second job.

mamameech

We are way over the original budget but right on track with our adjusted budget. We had set a number when we first started planning before we really understood the costs involved. Once we got quotes and figured out our priorities we set our final budget. We've added things and taken things; all keeping within our final budget. It's a big budget but we are sticking to it

Kello4221

We went over budget on the first thing we booked, our reception venue and have been slowly playing catch up ever since.  I don't think we'll come in at the original budget but we will be close.  We also were able to save a more quickly that we originally thought, so even though it will be over budget we will have the cash to cover it.

MrsBassPlaya

We're right on track.  There have been a few things more expensive, but every time we book something a little more expensive than we anticipated, I work extra hard to find another area that we can cut money.  We spent a little more on a DJ that I really liked, so we got a less expensive cake, etc.  It's been working well for us.

ejheart

I am with some of the PP's in that I thought of an "ideal" budget before I realized how much everything truly costs. I ended up adding a little to that and thought, "hey, if we can stay somewhere around this, I'll be happy." I really didn't want our wedding to cost as much as a car or a hefty down payment on a house (since we don't own one yet).

So far, so good! We are currently under budget but we do still have alcohol to consider, and lots of little things (invites, WP gifts, transportation - if any). 

Also, we are getting some help from my parents and anything that my FI and I have paid for 100% on our own, I haven't included on my budget total (shoes, jewelry, HM, etc.) soo I'm not sure if that's cheating or not but I figure if  my FI and/or I can swing it then it's only our business and our issue.