Feeling Overwhelmed.

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Yes exactly, my biggest area is eating out. We both are cutting back on that drastically.

View Quoted Comment That’s a good place to start. I quit hair and nail appointments until the wedding. Also don’t go out as much. Practice a lot of self control to break bad spending habits. You can do it if you really put your mind to it!

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I don't do my nails anyway I always paint at home. But we literally spend hundreds on fast food. Also canceling subscriptions to things that we don't need. Not using credit cards. So many opportunities to save. We just have to stick with it.

This was a huge back and fourth for us. What we decided to do I plan to have it almost two years from last October, I already have a second job and he is currently looking. By, having it two years out it gives us a little breathing room. The intention is between both of our second jobs, the additional money will pay for the wedding so we do not have to put funds from our primary job towards it. Fingers crossed this works out at least remotely to the plan.

Just know you not the only one stressed about it all and you have a ton of people who would listen and understand.

Good Luck.

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Thank you, we got engaged last June and have gone on two vacations since then which really set us back. So we learned a big lesson. NO VACATIONS. That damn honeymoon will be my first one. Going to start my side hustle of donating plasma. Which will bring in an extra $400/month. We just need to actually stick with it and go twice a week.

I've also been applying for jobs. I hope everything goes smoothly for you as well.

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It really was the best choice for us. Remember even when decorating tables you don't have to go all crazy. Simple stately centerpieces really do make a good impression. We did single long stem roses in a vase. Elegant, simple, and cheap!

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Yes, simple and elegant! My mom interior designs so I trust that she'll find affordable beautiful ways to make the tables stand out. I also have to remember that not everything has to be purchased at once.

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Ugh, we have a vacation planned for next January, this was planned before we decided to have a wedding and we have friends going so I would just feel bad for backing out now. You can seriously make 400/month from donating plasma? I seriously need to look into this. Thanks for the tip Valeria.

Yes! Donating plasma can be a great side hustle. You just have to commit to going twice a week to make that amount. And that's between the two of us I should add.

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Right! I would just make a list of what you want or like a general idea of it. That's what really kept me on track even with a small event. It helps cut down on the overwhelming thing. Focus on what you need to get done that is important first then do other things as they come up. I planned my wedding pretty quickly but I did spread the purchases out over months at a time. Buying flowers one trip, shoes another, etc.

Are you able to do some DIY? I have used most of my tax returns the last 2 years for my wedding. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't be having a big wedding.
I would hate to say try a PT job and use that for nothing but the wedding. Do you have any family member that will gift u cash for the wedding instead of gifts? I am sorry I am not much help in this world I am just throwing ideas out there.

Oh hun I definitely feel you on this topic. We have about 3k to do it all and obviously no help from anyone. I wish! We had 10k last yr when we had our first wedding date picked out. We desided a house for our family was more important. So now we had plenty of time to think about it, and yes we both wanted BIG but we agreed on small and simple. Later on we can do a BIG vow renewal. Good luck hun!

View Quoted Comment Lol. A huge chunk of it was for photography/videography which was a extreme importance since we didn’t have any guests. So for our memories and to share we needed to make sure we got quality. Another chunk was my dress and our Airbnb. We got married outside which was free so I didn’t have to worry about venue availability. I’m gonna do a breakdown of costs one of these days.



But as for saving, we try to change our habits. I do my own nails now. I’ve always done my own hair. He cuts his own hair. We only eat out on weekends...sometimes not even on weekends. We don’t really shop for nonessential items. It makes it easier to accumulate funds and the more I see saved, the more I feel motivated to continue saving.

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You are very helpful actually. I just brought up using our tax returns for the wedding. It would help with the cost for photography and the venue for sure. I am looking for other jobs as well. And yes DIY will be used for decorating the space.

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We were thinking about a house as well but we don't know where we actually want to settle so are able to now move the focus to the wedding. I guess I just feel like we'll have a lifetime to do vow renewals but only one time will we get married. I told him I'd even sacrifice the honeymoon LMAO! I'm just in my feelings about everything.

I work in the finance industry and I would NEVER advise someone to have a wedding that they can't afford to pay for but the bride side of me has a "can't take it with you when you go" mentality. We're paying for most of the wedding ourselves and when I think of all of the things I could do with the $25k we're spending, I think of the fact that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. At the end of your life, you'll care about the memories and experiences you had... not the brand new car you bought because you opted out of a wedding

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That's a talk I'm going to have with him when I get home from work. We have to cut costs. We eat out almost every day. I can cut that down by cooking our meals. We need to do that. I do my own hair and nails so we don't have that expense. We could turn the heat down so our gas bill isn't so high LMAO. Yea, we are going to be two frugal mfers leading up to the wedding.

I'll be honest I'm not going to read all thirtysomething comments hahaha. Realistically a wedding is what you make it out to be. You can have a wedding with 10 people and it's a wedding. Now if you're looking to have a big, grandiose stay well then that's where you may run into issues. I am sure you could do food on a much smaller scale even if it's just a pizza buffet to feed your guests. I think you should really do some research because there people that can have weddings for $3,000. However that will mean cutting the guest list and it may mean forgoing some of the luxurious things that you wanted. I'm older so I think about money a little bit differently when it comes to weddings and I have seen big large weddings where people broke the bank and then I still saw lovely weddings like my friend last year who had her ceremony in a park and then had a reception at her Clubhouse where she catered from our local grocery stores having chicken tenders, veggie platters and fruit platters. Everyone had a good time and she was so happy on that day because really the main focus was that she was marrying the person that she loved.

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Right, we aren't big spenders by any means. We just spend lots of money on going out to eat. We are only planning on spending no more $5-6k. So just that amount on one event sounds overwhelming when we don't normally spend as much. I want to create a good time with family and friends so I agree. I want the memories to be good ones.

View Quoted Comment I was not able to save anything after wedding expenses. It consumed my budget for 14+ months. But at the wedding I got gift money that I used to finally pay off my car which I would have paid off sooner if it hadn’t been for the wedding. now I am able to save a lot without those two things to worry about.