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Maybe I'm being thick, but why would someone go with a vendor if they didn't have the necessary money on hand? Many of my vendors don't take credit cards, so I don't even see how you could swing that.
We are paying for the entire wedding ourselves. Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable signing a contract with a vendor when I know we don't already have the money in the bank.
We are paying for parts ourselves and we chose vendors that we knew we had the cash for. I didn't even want to depend on our bonuses. So we only did things we could pay for. The rest of the photo deposit that was due today (a month out) was hard to take out of savings but that's why I work hard - to have things I want.
We started saving once we made the decision to get married--while shopping for rings and technically before we were engaged. I set the wedding date a year ahead solely for the reason that we needed to save up money.
I've actually encountered very few vendors that have required a big payment way ahead of the wedding. If anything, it's a $300-$500 deposit. My wedding isn't until September and I've only paid one vendor the full amount yet. I guess I'll have a bunch of checks to hand out on the wedding day.
When I booked a vendor, I put down the deposit that they required (check or credit card) and with each follow up appointment, I made payments, the final ones were made the week prior to the wedding. I thought we wouldn't come out of the wedding with a debt, but we did, about $3000, which isn't really a problem, we can pay that off quick.
Yep, everything is due at the latest on the day of the wedding. (Our band wants to be paid before the end of the evening, but most everybody else requires payment before the wedding actually starts.) Our deposits, for which we started writing checks 9 months ago, were generally $300 to $500 - the highest was the facility, which was $500 (and includes the catering). We are two weeks out, and have paid everything in full except the band and the facility/caterer, as we didn't want to have to worry about doing it on that day.
We're paying for our vow renewal ourselves, obviously. I'm just paying the deposits when I sign contracts for each vendor, which I'm staggering so that I can pay them out of pocket each month. The deposits range from $500-$1500, so I'm just signing them when I can. We've got two years to go, so once we decided on a date I started putting away money each month to pay for the actual balance of everything. I think that I'll probably have all the money I need for the parties, vendors, etc. I might put our cottage on my credit card, but hopefully I won't need to.
Sadly, all the money we are contributing to our wedding came from a settelment Mr S recieved from being hit head on in a car accident at 60 mph. We're looking at it as a great way to remind him of his second chance at life!
We do have some help from parents in bits and pieces here and there. But we are putting as much as posible towards it.
We're also paying our entire wedding ourselves. My fiance is very money savvy so he really doesnt want any debt. Each of us have a little savings prior to the engagement so at least that can cover a couple vendor deposits. From there, we're basically just saving from our paychecks.
None of our vendor requires full payment, though. They do require deposit before the event to hold the date, but never full payment.
We're also paying for it ourselves. At the time we get married we'll have been engaged for 2 1/2 years. We used that time to save up and get rid of existing debt and start a separate wedding fund. We've sacrificed alot--new cars, vacations, new clothes, etc--but it's worth it to have a debt free wedding.
We've been saving money since before we were engaged and we're trying to pay for everything with cash so we don't incur any wedding debts. It's been a long time since either of us has splurged on things for ourselves, we've both been sacrificing and working hard to put it all together. Our wedding more than makes up for 10 months of splurges - but I sure am looking forward to having it all be over and paid for!
We've been engaged for 24 months and every month, FI and I would put $1000 each into a joint CD. Everytime a CD expires, I'll take the whole lot plus the months' total $2000 and reinvest it in another CD. It's a little bit of a PITA but it has put us in a good place to pay for our wedding.
We plan to continue making the same contributions after the wedding so that it can go towards a new home, trips or go towards our future childrens' education.
We're pretty much doing this on our own, but C.'s dear sweet parents gave us a chunk of cash that we're using to put deposits on things... meanwhile we started a joint high interest savings account, made a budget and both contribute a decent amount of cash to monthly.
We've now prioritized what is going to be a splurge and what we're going conservative on, and if we can't pay for it, we don't get it. Sounds easy, right? It's not! But we're doing it anyway...
We purposely set our wedding 2 years out to be able to pay for it all. My parents are paying for half and we are paying for the other half. We have a seperate wedding savings account.
We paid for it ourselves. But we've both been working for several years now, so it was all paid for out of our savings.
That's a good question that I wondered before I got engaged, and I'm still paying off college loans and other debt. Not only that, but I also wondered how in the world some couples pay for a wedding AND either buy a new home/condo and furnish the darn place.
Anyways, the months leading up to the engagement, I was putting half of every paycheck to savings just for wedding. And I use to be a compulsive shopper/credit card user, but now I budget like crazy. This was a huge lifestyle change for me; not eating out as much, less shopping, etc. And trust me, those little things really add up.
If I were you, just take it one thing at a time... I mean, it helps to have a lump sum of money saved up, but if you don't then just try to save with each paycheck. If you look at the cost of a wedding as a whole, it'll terrify you! But take it one thing at time and Use your credit card as a last resort b/c you don't want to start your new life together in debt. And, the best part about getting married is that you have a partner that hopefully is saving that can help lighten the burden.
Good luck to you!!!
we're having a farily affordable wedding (still expensive to me), his dad expected us to be spending about 2-3X, and was offerring to pay for half of it, but when he found out what we expect to spend, he offered to pay for the whole thing. My parents want to help out too. BUT we're NOT taking anything from either side of the family even tho the invites will have both of their names on it. If they want to give us money for a wedding gift we'll gladly take it, but we don't want to have a wedding that we can't afford oursevles... (hopefully the marcket won't get any worse, otherwise we're in trouble :P)
It's tough, but luckily FI and I are very frugal with our day to day spending, so it's helped us save.
I would recommend using CC for all your vendors for safety and to get points or money back! It adds up!
I second superstar's advice to use a credit card as proof and for rewards but ONLY if you intend to pay it off right away. I use my credit card like a debit card because I get points and pay it off every month.
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All our vendors are cash or check. We are taking from savings and budgeted only for what we could really afford.
we aren't even engaged (call us pre-engaged on the contingent that we get our bach. degrees :) ) yet and we're (emphasis on I, actually) making concious decisions in order to pay for it ourselves (plus maybe a little bit from his parents). i could move out and get my own apartment or condo, however, i'm living at home to put money that i will eventually be earning away for a wedding. he's holding off on a second "fun" car until after we're married (three years out or so). and we're huge savers by default, so the "expensive" wedding for him is somewhere around 5 or 6,000. his goal budget is about 2,000. i'm not kidding you. so anything "extra" i "want" i have to "pay for with my own money". this even includes a honeymoon. but the saving is worth it to not be in debt. i really loathe debt.
remember debit cards are like cash, if the vendors screws you over, you won't get your money back, if they don't perform their service, w/ a CC you have a chance of getting it back...
i've learned the hard way, always buy airline tixs, and things you pay in advance w/ a CC!
I am trying to keep our wedding to the nonexpensive side. We sought out a gorgeous reception hall after getting engaged and paid for it with our tax money. We split everything 50/50. My fiance and I, that is. We are paying for everything but the shower and rehearsal dinner so far by ourselves. We got our economic stimulus checks and most of those will pay the bar bill. The rest of it will help pay for my dress. Our caterer and hall are asking for the rest of the money by 2 weeks beforehand and we are having our big day in May next year, so that should work out fine. So, basically, taxes are paying for it all! We are getting cupcakes and donuts from our fave local bakery and keeping the guest list between 100-140 to keep expenses down. I am also allowing my wedding party to pick their own dresses as long as I can see them first. My brother-in-law is doing amateur photography and I am using ITunes/IPOD for a DJ. A DJ friend of ours is giving us all of his equipment for the night for like $100. Dig in and look for good deals, use your friends if they'll let you!
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For those of you who are paying for your own wedding, how are you paying for it? The reason I ask is that it seems that every vendor requires payment ON or BEFORE the event date, and I know most people don't have all of this money on hand ...
Just wondering!!