does any one else have serious budget stress?

handheld · May 2012

Our budget is 10,000 for the whole thing, excluding honey moon. I dont feel like were doing anything extreme Im doing alot of DIY and we are not buying any flowers. However I still feel like its impossible to stick to our budget does anyone else have this problem?

091109brIANna033013 · May 2012

The budget for my fiance and I is between 10,000 to 15,000. The goal is 10k, but we are budgeting 15k since 10k is difficult to stick to in the Phoenix area. The flexibility of a 10,000 budget depends on the location of the wedding and the bride and groom's priorities. We have no fee for the venue, which is one of the reasons we chose our venue; but, we are spending about 5,000 on the food since feeding our guests great food is important. My parents are paying about 3,500 for the open bar since that was a priority for them and most of the guests although my fiance and I don't drink. Photography is 1,100, flowers are 540, cupcakes are about 500, my dress and acessories are 1,300, and I am DIYing the Save the Dates, decor, and centerpieces. We still need to book our DJ, order invitations, and get the bridesmaids dresses and accessories and all the men's outfits. We still have about 11 months until the wedding and we have been making deposits and buying things on clearance and on sale for 16 months already. This makes a budget easier since it is spread over so many months.

jennipea382 · May 2012

I know 100% how you're feeling. Our budget is around 10k also. Neither of us really make that much money (unfortunately I only work part time right now.. blah) so the idea of saving up all that money stresses me out so much! We've been trying to cut back our spending so we have more money to work with but it's not like we can just not pay bills or buy food, haha.

Here are some things I'm doing to help with the costs. Maybe something will give you an idea?
-Off season (which you're already doing, though I'm not sure if there are discounts where you live. Here it gets cold and snowy so who wants to have a wedding in that weather?).

-Cupcakes instead of cake. This won't always save money, but at our venue it does! Otherwise if you can bring in a cake, get a sheet cake from a grocery store to serve.

-No real flowers (I think you mentioned that). Fake flowers, candles for centerpieces, things like that.

-My dress was a "never worn" consignment so it was half off the original price. There isn't anything wrong with the dress at all, it's just a little big.

-Probably not wearing a lot of jewelry. I'll probably buy something cheap but nice looking for earrings and a necklace.

-Smaller wedding party. Though they're paying for their dresses/suits, I also have to buy them gifts. Less people, less gifts!

-Making my own veil. It's SUPER easy, especially if you or someone you know has any sewing experience. Veils at a bridal shop can cost like $200. You can make one for around $10.

-Simple centerpieces. I'm thinking of the typical floating candles in colored water. Sure, it's not exciting, but who honestly pays that close of attention to the centerpieces anyways? We'll probably get a variety of vases from garage sales or the dollar store.

-I did cut out favors, but my mom insisted. So I told her if she paid for them we would have them. So we are, but if we were paying, I wouldn't do them. Half the time they get thrown out or forgotten about anyways.

-Making our own invitations and programs. My sister is an awesome designer so I'll be getting her help desiging some nice but simple paper items. My mom gets a lot of coupons from a scrapbooking store she goes to a lot so a lot of the paper will end up being free.

-Using people we know! Our DJ is awesome and since he's a friend, he matched the price for the in house DJ. I know what I'm getting for a good price, can't go wrong! We also have to bring in our own bartender, so we asked a friend. He said he'd do it for free but obviously we will be paying him!

-Speaking of the bar, if you can bring in your own alcohol, do it! Saves so much money. Also look for places where you can return unopened bottles so you don't have to worry about buying too much.

-I've been scoping out honeymoon deals already. I'm totally set on an all inclusive, probably in Jamaica, so I've been looking at some sites to see if we can get a good deal. The websites that have been recommended to me are luxurylink.com, allinclusiveoutlet.com and cheapcarribean.com.

Hmmm I think that's it at the moment. Anything in particular you're worried about with the cost? For us, the one thing we aren't skimping on is food. Everyone will be well fed! The one thing that worries me is photography. We're both SO picky that the ones we end up liking are super expensive :-(

MrsOrtiz0326 · May 2012

M budget as well is 10000 and I'm not sure I'm gOing to stay at that. But just try to not go over board. Even if you have to go on eBay it's good to get a good item for a cheap price.

misscrafty84 · May 2012

I feel pretty ok, but I want everything very simple. Also we are getting married in a rural area so everything is cheaper(our caterer is only $9/plate, winery venue that seats 400 is only $800). I really like Jenni's ideas. I'm planning on super simple center pieces(mason jars in lace with candles), minimal flowers and they will hopefully just be wildflowers from our fields so free, I'm going to wear the jewelry my Grandma wore at her wedding(free, borrowed from my aunt), definitely making my own veil. Not getting fancy shoes, you cant see them with my dress anyways. I'm going to make purses for my bridesmaids. I saw on Pinterest to make flower balls with fake flowers and waffle balls so that'll probably be our church decoration.

horsegril1 · May 2012

wow yeah my fiance and i have a weeding budget of $3,500. we are having to make choices of whats important or not becaus we are the ones paying for it.we just recently decided to do a actual wedding so with short time to save i dont know how we are going to do it besides using people we know for food,decorationg and dj(havent decided). this is def. a stressful process man wish i had a maid of honor right now lol will have to pick that soon enough lol when is it ok to go dress shoping?

lumilumi · May 2012

haha this is funny because we keep raising our budget!! I am living in Phoenix too and will be having my wedding here in town. originally we had set our budget at 10k. started shopping around..I raised our budget to hopefully 15k or less. Now I think we will end up spending around 20k.

my friends always tell me...have a budget then double it...that will be your real budget. doubled my original 10k...yes we are looking at 20k!

BrittRN+ · May 2012

Ugh, yes. I hate budgets. We don't have a set number, mainly because we are paying for certain things and my parents are paying for a good chunk of it. I'm just trying to keep everything as low cost as possible I guess.

does any one else have serious budget stress?

Re: does any one else have serious budget stress?

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