Member- anniebear
- 9 years ago
- Wedding: August 2010
How do you stay disciplined and remain faithful to your budget? How do you not get sucked into the mesmerizing sales engine that is the Wedding Industrial Complex??
In the beginning, my fiance and I drew up a small budget and decided that we would only have a handful of guests.
Well, the original guest list was torn into pieces and a new one was drafted which included a whole bunch of distant relatives and friends, upon the requests of my in-laws (even though my parents are the ones footing the bill.) I decided to yield, for the sake of peace and to avoid conflicts and hurt feelings. Thus, our original guest list number tripled.
The second original plan that flew out the window was the venue. I wanted something simple, very very simple and cost-effective. Well, as it turns out, there was no such thing that existed. Not if we wanted something decent looking. All the low-cost venues we viewed were dingy, bleak, tacky, cheesy, unclean, falling apart, etc. Either that, or our standards were just way too high. Anyway, we settled for a very nice venue – a French and Victorian influenced mansion with 27 foot ceilings, chandeliers, chiavari chairs and five star cuisine. That was the second item that raised the bill.
The third item is photography. I originally wanted to pay no more than $3500 for a photographer. Well, without any luck, all of the ones that I ended up liking was in the $4500 range. We finally found one that we absolutely loved and he quoted us $5000. This is way over budget, but how can I turn away?? He is just so damn good. Here is his site http://www.mangostudios.ca And photographs are investments, they are special moments that are captured, we will never get to have a re-shoot for this special day… right? Spending a little bit extra is not such an irrational idea. But…. still… 🙁
I don’t know how to get a hold of myself and start controlling our decisions. My parents are helping largely with the wedding cost. They originally offered $45,000 to us, but I scoffed at that number and said we will only be spending $14,000 as we don’t need fancy things. I refused to throw away money to the Wedding Industry.
Well, I have become a hypocrite!! Help!! The WIC has a strong hold on me and I can’t break free! I’m so immersed in all this wedding-goodness that I find I’m often forgetting how to stay focused and stick to the original plan.
How are the rest of you brides-to-be coping??? Thanks in advance for all your feedback 🙂
Luv,
Annie
