Weddingbee boards

@Ms.Ninja:  my finace is the same way..."we'll figure it out".."it'll all workout". drives me crazy. we've made so many deposits but exactly how are we coming up with all the money we owe them before the wedding?? looking to be about $12,000 in all right now...

I was really disappointed when I compared my budget to the wedding craziness but I have found ways to make my day exactly what I want for a reasonable price. Our budget is 10,000 which to me is an insane amount of money but once you start shaving off the cost of venues, photography, food, beverages, dresses, flowers yada yada yada the money goes fast. 

A few things we are doing to have our dream but not take out loans for a four hour event:

-food is nixed (we went with an afternoon wedding from 3-7 so everyone can eat afterwards and are thinking of doing an at home family only dinner afterwards)

-cake is buttercream (fondant adds up to $1 per piece at some bakerys and buttercream taste better anyways! we havent picked the cake but this is something we are planning to do to keep costs down)

-dress is going to be under 1k (if that means used, inexpensive dress, or sale racks its important to me to be beautiful but in budget)

-venue is double event worthy (ceremony and reception are on the same location which drastically decreased our costs and we found a great non profit venue that our money will go to a good cause instead of the wedding industry)

-decorations - we chose a venue with a lot of character so the decorations will pretty much just be on tables and some string lights with paper flowers overhead. having a great base to start with as opposed to a gym (like another venue my future hubby wanted) keeps the set up and the cost in check!

-flowers - we are using a ton of babys breath because it is so budget friendly and fits our vintage rustic romance theme, i have a large bridal party (7) so 5 of them are carrying babysbreath or babysbreath with a few accented florals and only me and the two MOHs will have a traditional bouquet.

alcohol is nixed - parents who are footing the bill refused anything but a cash bar but the venue charges for bartenders and security officers that makes it not worth it to us we are having a really good punch and potentially old timey glass coke bottles for the toasts!

reuse decorations - our theme uses mason jars for all the florals so the pew decorations will be moved to the table to help decrease cost and the amount we have to make (if we go DIY havent decided yet). We will use several jars per table so it will be mostly set up before the event but the ceremony jars will be used for the display tables for the cake, guest book table, picture set ups etc.

invitations - oh lord the drama this one caused with my mother but we will be doing DIY invites and save the dates because the prices can get really crazy for unique wedding stationary i will update more on this as i can.

cant think of much else right now but good luck ladies its possible! and I even considered doing the wedding for less and keeping some as a nest egg and found ways to make that a possible idea but changed my mind in the end.

i think one idea would be to create a system where you can add as you go.  you can decide what you can afford, and plan for that.  make those deposits, and plan accordingly.  but as you progress in planning, if your budget allows, and if your heart so desires, you can add things.  for example, draping and lighting make the inside of a venue look really really nice - even if it's at a more casual location, and that's something that you don't have to commit to months and months in advance.  you can do that with almost everything - most vendors don't mind if you add more later down the road.  we ended up having to add a couple hours onto our photography budget, increased the overall guest list, etc.  Some of what made me really nervous during the planning process was how far in advance I had to commit to certain things (venue, dress, dj, etc).  The other thing is that everyone has different priorties, and you shouldn't feel bad if you prefer to not have an over the top wedding.  Interestingly, when my fiance and I first started planning, I really didn't want to spend a lot of money.  But as we got further and further into picking things, I gradually became a little more comfortable with expanding our budget.  I'm not saying other people should do that, I'm just pointing out that for me, I did it when I was comfortable.  If you don't want to spend a lot of money, stick with that.  If later down the road you become more comfortable with the idea (or if your finances change) you can always make adjustments as you go

Yeah those price tags seroiusly hurt. Ouch I started off with a budget of $12,000 and that has steadily moved up to $18,000 - $20,000 in the end. I Don't even want to talk about it.

*Raises both arms and waves!*

I feel ya sista! I get so anxious when I think of all the money we are spending, specifically on the food and bar, everything else is totally manageable but the food and bar are so ridiculously expensive and my FI won't budge on limiting what's served at the bar to cut costs. The food is what it is but we can actually control the bar and he won't hear of it. If we pay as much for the alcohol as we do the food I am going to have a small meltdown. I am hoping and praying that I can change his mind.

Our budget has gone almost double what we thought it would. *sigh*

Good luck to you, and all of us!

Ugh tell me about it!  We're trying to do everything for $15k and if you know anything about the prices in northern NJ, it's laughable.  Everything here is supposed to be grand and overtop.  I'm trying to go with what the bridal magazines say about budget and keep it about 50% venue which I have yet to find anything wedding-like for $8000 for 100 guests unless I want to chance it in the dead of winter.

DIY can only do so much... if you can't even get a venue for half your budget, I could care less about what I can hot glue together!