Hello Ladies!
As our big day draws near I am starting to fret about our budget as my FI and I are covering the cost for everything even the RD.
In the very beginning we set an estimated budget for the venue, invitations, music, transportation, etc. For me, I created three budgets that my FI and I could choose from that would work within our current lifestyle. These budgets were created based off of initial quotes we received from most important vendors such as ceremony/ reception venues, music, and transportation. It looks as though we will be exceeding our initial $15,000 budget which really worries me as we are so close to our wedding day.
We have placed deposits on the vendors we wanted and booked early to avoid not getting the ones we had our hearts set on. We have a guaranteed amount of 100 guests booked for our reception venue however we invited 150. If those 150 all show up we are totally screwed!
I am a DIY bride so that has helped out a lot and has saved us over $5,000. At this point, I don't want to risk losing the deposits of the vendors that we currently have and searching for new ones that we might not be able to find one that isn't booked up already. Our excitement continues to build as the big day draws near and I can't help the anxiety kicking in because we will be exceeding our budget.
So I guess my question is if anyone else has gone over their budget or is under and how are you dealing with it? Any advice would certainly be appreciated!
P.S. My FI and I have already agreed to not go into debt by financing our wedding so that is totally out of the question.
Re: Budget - Are you over or under?
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Invite only those you can comfortably afford. Period.
As for saving money. You mention DIY. Now I am a DIY girl myself, I love doing stuff for the holidays etc. HOWEVER, my wedding was not a time I wanted to worry about projects to complete. Not to mention my DIY projects usually do not save a bunch of money for me they just create something unique that I want. DIY does not equal cheap.
My advice is cut everything you can.
Favors? Not required and so many people leave them anyway. So ditch them.
Flowers on tables? A few single stems in simple dollar store vases and some votive candles and you are good to go.
There are just so many things that are not really needed and that nobody will notice on the day of. Think back, how many table set ups from weddings do you really remember. I know for me it is slim to none. The only one I do really remember was probably the most fancy wedding I ever went to. And knowing what I know now I would say they spent over 30k on flowers alone. So that being said, all the ones less than that have been forgotten. Since I cannot play in that ballpark why try? My flowers will also be forgotten so I can do something small, nice but do not need to be spending a lot.
For invites we are doing a simple panel card. I quoted it yesterday and for 120 invites and all the other stuff, evn. and RSVP cards, it was about 160 bucks. Not bad.
Really take a good look at everything you are doing and ask yourself if it is really required. If not, even if it is a cheap DIY, scrap it. Even if it only saves you a dollar that is one less item to cart around, one less thing to think about, one less then to stress about.
Good luck!
We are technically over what we originally thought and planned. We are planning a smaller wedding with a guest list of 100 so we originally thought we could do it for $15,000. Then we started looking at venues and vendors and realized it was going to be quite a bit more. Thankfully, both our parents have generously offered to pay so we could be more flexible with the budget. It's looking like we are going to fall somewhere between 25k-30k when all I said and done. We are in the process of looking for our first home so looking at the cost of the wedding is making me cringe!
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