Wedding budget disappointment

Congratulations on having no student debt!

Personally, I think it's great that you're thinking about this. It's very easy to get swept into everything wedding and spend like crazy. You mention he's your soulmate...and that being the case, your wedding day is already going to be amazing - everything else is just extra.

It’s easy for the budget to spiral out of control. I’m facing this now and I find myself saying it’s only $1000 but it all adds up!


I think you should try to stick to your new budget as much as possible. Perhaps there are other things you can cut out. Signs are cute in photos but as a guest I never remember them. I’m doing digital RSVPs for the majority of guest to save a few dollars. If you’re having an open bar that’s another big place you can cut back by just doing beer and wine instead. If you’re using a florist ask her how she can stretch your budget. I’m having the aisle lined with silk roses petals and having the flower girls toss silk petals to save.

Girl I feel like on a spiritual level! My fiancé and I decided we wanted to spend more money on our “after wedding vacation” (he doesn’t want to call it a honeymoon since we’ll be taking our 2 small children) than the actual wedding. So our original budget was $2000 for what was supposed to be ~50 people. Well… guest list ended up being over 100 (long story of trouble with his mother inviting people without telling anyone) so We just upped the budget to $3000. We still have to get food and his tux.


Personally I got everything I wanted but I looked at the cheaper versions and found ones similar to my dreams. Other things, I splurged on because I knew they could never be replaced. We sat down and made a list of things from most important to least important to determine what we wanted to splurge on and what we could skimp away on.

I just a lot of corners and said screw a lot of other things lol. No videographer or a DJ. I ordered a very basic white two tier cake and never said it was for a wedding lol so we’re not getting charged a cake cutting fee and all that mess. Same thing with our reception dinner. We opted for a “pick up” order instead of fully catering it. So we’re doing buffet style serve yourself BBQ. Doing those things alone saved us soooo much money. We also dropped the bar idea and made it BYOB. Neither of us drink enough to feel the need to pay for that much alcohol.
I DIYed a few of the wedding signs and The rest I bought second hand. Our venue was free since it’s a public chapel. I bought our dinnerware off Amazon: plates, utensils, cups, champagne glasses, tablecloths, runners etc. I couldn’t have rented the stuff for as cheaply as I bought it. It’s all plastic wear but it’s actually a really thick plastic and a lot better looking than what we thought we were getting. I also opted to go with fake flowers and I got 4 bouquets for $120 and 6 boutonnieres for like $16. I know some girls don’t like faux flowers but I’ve seen wooden flowers be used and they’re gorgeous as well and still a lot cheaper than real ones. Favors was one of the first things I dropped because I’ve never seen anyone actually take them home.
It’s really how you prioritize things and what options you have available to you to use. Sometimes you have to remind yourself that you have a strict budget that you HAVE to stick to.

I totally get it. This is a second wedding for us both so we only wanted to spend about $10k... I'm projecting it to cost us over $19k. Thankfully we have the cash for everything, but I still didn't wanna go so high. 🤷🏽‍♀️ oh well, YOLO.

I’m spending $50K on my wedding (budget started at $40-45) and I’m probably going to be $5K over our new budget because it all adds up sooo quickly – it is ridiculous. I feel like the moment you say “wedding” it is almost like there is a 20% increase on costs.

Honestly wedding planning in a nutshell is just a continuous cycle of haemorrhaging money.

View Quoted Comment Yes, it has definitely all been adding up lol. Thanks for the tips. For my signs, I’m buying templates online on Etsy and printing them at my school for free and then putting them in frames. I don’t have a florist, I got my bouquet, the bridesmaids bouquets and the boutonnières at Hobby Lobby during their 50% off wedding sale so they’re all artificial but Florals aren’t that important to me. I think I’ll be lining the aisle with silk petals as well, I love that look. Are you having a runner too or only the petals?

Hi! You could diy the favors. I purchased little blush pink favor boxes for about $20 for 100 and I’m filling it with candy and calling it a day lol for signs and programs u could find those at a good price on Etsy . I’ll show u a pic of a sample favor I made .

I totally get the sticker shock. From my experience, the main costs that add up are the venue, catering/bar, photographer, and flowers. Trying to diy everything can help, but it won't make as much of a dent as downsizing the guest list, not having an open bar, or limiting the florals. Best of luck to you!

If it helps in any way, I’m going over budget too. Little things just add up. We are getting married in a banquet hall at a community center building to save money on venue. Even with that things just add up over the past few months. Part of it is because half of the guest haven’t RSVP yet and it will be deciding factor on whether we would stay under budget (catering is the biggest expense for us right now).

I understand where your coming from, I had a budget of 15k and we are now looking at a 30k wedding but we wanted to go big on the food

If it helps in any way, I’m going over budget too.