Weddingbee boards

my post title is tongue-in-cheek of course... but seriously! I wish I had more financial help with the wedding. 

Initially we were planning a very small, very cheap wedding in a public park. But concerns about weather, out-of-town guests feeling like it was too casual to warrant the flight, and feeling like we deserved something more special has led us to bigger things. Problem is, we're both university students with no money, and my parents are only chipping in enough to cover the venue rental and 40 bottles of wine. 

I think that with payments spaced out over the next eight months we'll be ok, and we'll both be working by May. we also have two low-interest lines of credit from the bank that will help us carry the debt in a manageable way.

i still wanna win the lottery or get corporate sponsorhip, LOL!

why do weddings have to cost so much? why can't our guests pay for their own dinner and drinks? ha!

Thanks.

Thing that gets me is we are taking the budget route on so much already:

no flower centerpieces. (will buy bouts and have friends give us arrangements, and I'm going to make my own bouquet)

David's Bridal dress. $250. 'nuff said.

Ceremony and reception in same venue. No limos.

Family doing photos and video.

Got a 50% off gift certificate for an Officiant through my cousin.

Local honeymoon.

No diamond rings.

Cupcakes made by family and BMs.

Friend is DJ-ing the whole evening and playing our ceremony songs for $400.

And it will still all cost thousands of dollars!!! Just finished reading "Tying the Knot on a Shoestring" which was a good resource. But I'm at the point where I've read so much that it's like, "tell me some way to save $$ that I dont' already know!"

ah well, for me this is a once-in-a-lifetime event I guess, so enjoy the ride.

Just saved us over one thousand bucks by eliminating the dinner. Yep, it's going to be an evening shin-dig: ceremony at 7:30, reception from 8pm - midnight. Drinks, appys and desserts, Dj, dancing, and a gorgeous sunset (I hope!!).

What a relief! Now I understand why our grandparents did a mid-afternoon thing with a simple cake and punch reception in the parent's backyard.

My budget went from 10k to like 15k and its growing closer to the 18k.

@penguin: i just read a thing on pinterest that said "they say money doesn't buy happiness, but I'd rather be crying in a mansion"

we were going to go the app route, no dinner, but found out that doing a simple "pasta buffet" would cost about just as much, so thats what we are doing.  we are having like 2 or three kinds of noodles/sauces/"toppings" (meatballs/grilled chicken/veggies) and then salad and garlic bread

we are also not doing flower centerpieces.  in my area its customary to have a "cookie table" with tons of cookies of all different kinds.  But i want to do the candy buffet thing, so instead im going to have my cookies as centerpieces on the table, probably on a DIYed tiered stand.

@misswhiteflower:  i toyed with this idea.. seriously! but it just feels weird. Would have shrunk the size of our guest list though, if $75 per head was what they had to pay to come to my wedding! lol!

 @Lee_Ann: pasta buffet... sounds yummy! (I think I was Italian in a previous life- i LOVE pasta!) that's not an option at our venue, although I didn't ask. We're pretty stoked about an evening ceremony and reception with appys and drinks. Since it's mid-week, it will be easier for working folks anyway. the one thing we had to let go of that I had romanticized was our 'first look' being at the altar. We are now arranging family and wedding party portraits in the late afternoon. ah well. it's the 21st century.