The budget.
I'm generally an open person when it comes to things like this, and budget weddings are definitely the trend right now, so I'm just going to put it out there. I wanted our wedding budget to be $5000.
It's currently about $10,000.
Yes, we are paying for this wedding ourselves. And with wedding averages in the mid $20,000's, we're not doing too badly. Our goal is to pay for the wedding without going into any debt, and right now I think we are doing pretty well on that. We have even come in under budget on some items, like our wedding rings (I got mine from a jewelry store that was going out of business)!
Here are some things we are doing to save money:
* No favors. Well, we are technically having matchbooks with our name and wedding date on them, but they came in at around $30 for 200. Most of the time, people don't even pick them up!
* No programs. Everybody looks at these once, then throws them away, and that's if they even look at them. Need a better argument? See here.
* I bought my dress at David's Bridal for $349, and Cory's tux is free because his groomsmen are renting there. I found a veil I liked at DB, but instead of buying it there, I got it for $30 cheaper on eBay.
* We price shopped for our location. Ours is $1200 but includes all table/linen/plate/glassware rentals. The first place we looked was three times as much and didn't include anything!
* Our wedding and reception are in the same place. Only one location fee, and no need to rent transportation.
* We're serving wine and beer instead of doing a full bar, but we have the option of buying a couple types of liquor to bring if we want. This is saving us around $800.
* I made our wedding invitations myself. Instead of paying 3 or 4 dollars per invitation, I probably spent around $1, and they have my own personal design!
There are lots of other ways to save money at weddings, and we did have a couple of splurges. But our cutbacks in other areas are allowing us, at this point anyway, to stay under our budget.
1 comment:
WOW! 10,000. Whew. I am shaking even thinking about that. But as long as your wedding is what you want then it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks. I am really proud of you and all of the work involved to do this. It makes anyone married appreciate a bit more the time, money and total planning involved to do these things.
This is why wedding planners are so expensive, look at all of the prep. they have to do.
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