Should we have a wedding?

Question

My fiance & I have been together for almost 7 years. We've been engaged since Sept. We've planned this whole wedding for May 2009, we've put down $2000 on our vendors. For the wedding we will still owe $6000. We also wanted to go on a really nice honeymoon, which is going to cost an additional $6000. I lost my job 3 months ago and now we are just getting by paying our bills. I'm worried we will not have enough money for our wedding. We've thought about doing something more low key at a family member's house, but to caterer it and the tent and table rentals, it's still somewhat expensive. I just really wanted to have a small nice wedding/reception where I can wear a wedding dress and have close friends and family there and a photographer, but I can't seem to find anywhere or be coming up with any ideas. We really want to get married by May, but we really can't afford what we originally planned. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Have you considered a destination wedding?  You could go the place you wanted to go for your honeymoon and get married there.

Answer 2

Hi and congratulations!

You most certainly CAN still have a very nice wedding on a budget.  First of all....will you be able to get any of your $2K back from your vendors?  I hope so.

In any case, I am totally with you on what you want.  Years ago when I was married, my (now) husband had troubles with his mom.  He said "let's just go away and get married."  But I kept thinking....."but the dress!  the dress!"

So...here are my thoughts and suggestions:

~ Why not do as you have suggested.  Have a wedding and reception in a family members house/backyard?  

Really, it should not be that much to rent a tent for 30 people.  Call a local rental place.  I live in Michigan and I rented a 20x40 tent for my son's rehearsal dinner in our backyard, which fit 5 large tables plus a table for food with lots of room to walk around, and I paid $160.  

For tables and chairs.  Perhaps you can borrow them from a church or a local VFW hall or something similar.  You will only need about 5 or 6 tables and then some chairs.  Again, even if you have to rent them, it shouldn't be too much.

For your dress.  Do you have this purchased already?  If not, look at the ones on the David's Bridal website.  Some of the more simple ones are only $150.  Go and get your shoes at a lower end place like Payless.  

For food:  Check with a restaurant that you like.  Many restaurants also do catering.  For 30 people, it should not be that much....depending on what kind of food you want.

OR....if you want something cheaper, do it yourself!!  Have family and friends help you out.  For my son's rehearsal dinner, I spent a total of $450 for the food and that was for 50 people including beer, wine, and sodas.  I purchased party trays from a local grocery store for appetizers (spinach dip with rye bread; taco dip and chips).  Then for the "main course" we simply had large trays of meats/cheeses and rolls.  Then, I made up a number of salads (about 6 varieties) and we had chips, pickles/olives.  I also made up a variety of brownies and bars for dessert!  It was very easy and low-key and everyone liked it!  You could do something similar to the above, and it would even be cheaper since you only will have about 30 guests.

For your groom:  typically you can rent a tux for around $150.

Photographer:  See if you can get a photographer for only a few hours.  OR, if you live where there is a university or college and they have a photography program there, then check with a student photographer.

If you want something outdoors, but not at a family members home, then look into a park or garden.  Many bed and breakfast inns even host weddings and can provide a small reception.  Here is a link to the B&B's in PA that offer this service:

http://www.bbonline.com/weddings.html#Pe...

Good luck and I hope this helps you to think about different alternatives.  I think you can have an absolutely beautiful wedding on a budget if you look around and see what is available to you!

Answer 3

Find out if you can scale down on your vendors: if you put $$ down on a venue ask if there is a smaller room available you could apply the money to or if they have other properties in the area you could switch to and they still keep your money for that. If you put money down on food find out if you can scale back on it and apply what you have already paid. Etc. Then at  least you do not lose your deposit and you still have some things going for you.

Scout the Internet for a dress you will love! Hopefully it will not cost too much. Then if you are getting by on what your fiance is making you go ahead and take any work you can -- sometimes cleaning offices is really not bad money and not gross like other types of cleaning or wait tables at a fancy venue -- it is not a career it is to bring in an influx of money NOW for your wedding. In ten months you should easily be able to come up with another $12000 if you put most of it toward the wedding and keep living frugally on your fiance`s income. After that you can quit or take a leave for your honeymoon and start fresh with the work search after you get back!

Answer 4

START SAVING AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!!! You should go out and find a nice dress and him a nice tux...I think you should keep it at a family members house, get some friends and family to help cater the wedding. Get a friend or someone to DJ, borrow chairs and tables from people, put table clothes over the miss match furniture! Get a cheap but suitable photographer and im sure some of them have backdrops you and ur soon to be hubby will love :)

Remember what really matters is the love between you too!

Answer 5

Sure, if you are getting married, it's your wedding - whatever the style. If you need to scale down, fine, do that. But since money is tight you would be pretty smart to delay that very expensive honeymoon til the two of you are on a better financial footing.

Answer 6

One thing you could do is to go on and plan your honeymoon and  budget for that first since you said that the honeymoon is really important to you. Then, you can figure out how much money you could comfortably spend after that. That way, you could know exactly how much money you can spend on the actual wedding and reception without sacrificing the honeymoon that you really want. That could kind of determine how big of a wedding and reception you would have.

Answer 7

I would focus on your honeymoon too since that is important to you.  Just have a simple outdoor ceremony and casual reception.  You can normally get married at a park for cheap and have your family stand around you while you get married or find a park that already has some benches where people can sit.  JCPenney actually has nice affordable wedding dresses for around $100.

You can find an affordable photographer if you look around.  My husband and I are photographers and we charge much less than other companies.