[sara~b]

I just opened a 'goal-track' savings account and set a goal of $5,000 by our wedding day figuring that will be the minimum it will cost. It works out that I need to save almost $300 a MONTH to make that goal! OMG! How am I supposed to pay for this wedding?! I have no idea how people can afford to do anything besides go to a JP! We were planning to just get married in the park which will be like $750 for tents, chairs, tables and a liquor permit. Then I'm guessing I can get a decent dress for less than $1k. But the photographer, cake, invites, programs, decorations, favors, seating markers, etc are going to add up QUICK! How in the world did you all afford your weddings?!

[♥Ashley♥]

We had a savings account that we used a little out of but we spend $12000 over a 5 month period and only used $3000 out of our savings so we spent about $1800 per month on wedding stuff over that 5 month period! It is VERY expensive to have a wedding now a days!!

[sara~b]

OMG! I can NOT afford that. I'm only making a little over $2000 a month from unemployment right now! God I miss overtime and outages right now! Plus we've got to get baby stuff and hopefully have a shower because I didn't get one with Gemma. And I want maternity/newborn pics! WAAAHHH! I'm going to be SO broke!

[midnight_starr]

Well my parents paid for my wedding They had just sold my grandfather's house and my dad actually used his share from that to pay for the wedding!

[bittersweet]

Our parents paid for the majority of ours. We contributed a couple thousand. I took out a loan for a car and some other things b/c I was able to get it for 1% interest ans I used a couple thousand of our loan for the wedding. Not that I'm suggesting you take out a loan for your wedding..I dont think anyone should, including me! But at the time it worked out well for us and I knew it would be paid off easily and quickly.

I agree that weddings are very expensive. If our parents didn't help us, we probably would have eloped.

[sara~b]

I guess I should email mommy and see if she is going to help pay for anything. Even if she'd just pay for the park rental or the cake or one thing it would be such a HUGE help! Or maybe she'll pay for my baby shower? HMMM....

[szczepanski]

DH and I had a very simple court house wedding & then a big dinner reception afterward. We paid for all the appetizers/dinners and I think total (including my dress, his ring, marriage license fees, etc) we spent about $1,300. Then we went to Lake Placid for a week!

[♥Ashley♥]

I wish i would have had help from the parents! But i dont really have a relationship with either of them...i dont speak with my dad at ALL period, and my relationship with my mom is just now starting to get better.

[Chelnae6]

Well although not married I did get to start planning for one.

WE were just going to do a destination wedding b/c its like a wedding/reception/honeymoon all in one. Honestly, I cared more about the honeymoon than the wedding since we wouldve already been married based upon the certificate. The reason we chose destination was b/c the reception by itself was like $6000 minimum including open bar for about 150 ppl.

The dress I wanted wouldve cost me like $200 from Davids Bridal.

Some money savers:
1) if you see a dress in the store that you like that expensive, go online and look for that same dress b/c you can find it for cheaper
2) If you have family members that can cook, you'll shave A LOT off the reception
3) You dont have to have super fancy invites (you can make them yourself). The programs too!
4) Go to Party City/Dollar Store for decoration also most places where you'll have your wedding or reception have decorations there too.
5) Dont forget a DJ (if you have anyone in your family that could do it, then by all means dont hesitate to ask. IPODs are great for saving money


All in all had we had a wedding in the states it wouldve cost us about $14000 for what I wanted to include honeymoon. Most destination places, if you're getting married there will give you a discount on rooms (including Vegas). A friend of mine had a $400 wedding and for their reception they just reserved a private section of a restaurant. I wanted to get married at the Riu Ochos Rios which is all inclusive and has great wedding packages for about $2000 to include the reception, massages, breakfast, ceremony, wedding certificate, etc.

I know you didnt ask about Destination Weddings but just wanted to let u know how I planned on affording all of this.

Parents here too. Sorry I'm of no help Sarah.

[..Christine..]

we had to pay for our own wedding....I only got 5,000 from my dad and that was after the wedding! We had just bought our own home so we refinanced to pay for our wedding.....not the smartest thing to do but we had no choice. DH has no parents- so we couldn't rely on them and my parents weren't helping.

[SandKmommy]

Because I think I'm the only one in this board that had a cheapy wedding

Or marriage licence was like $25
The wedding chapple/hitching post we got married at was $60-70
My friend bought my $200 cheapy dress
Dh's tux was only $70 and we got something like $20 back after we returned it
My flowers and my friends were only $6 for each dozen(I think it was) I just bought them at Albertson's on the way to the wedding
My shoes dh's mom bought.
My hair my mom did
My make up me and and my mom did
Our craptastic cake that made me cry, was bought from Safeway by my grandma.

[♥Ashley♥]

I wanted to add...Jasons mom paid $5000 toward the reception so the total cost of our wedding was around $17000...NOT CHEAP!

[LisanAndy]

We got married in garden outside of the court house by a judge so that was super cheap. Then our reception was paid for by my parents and it was pretty small.

[**jessie**]

The majority was paid for by my father, but we were very conscientious about cost. We had a very nice, but small (50 people) wedding. We paid for my dress and accessories, rented DH's tux, invitations, paid for the reception dinner, did the table favors, purchased the alcohol, and paid for our honeymoon (just a quick weekend trip to the beach).

We found many good ways to be frugal:
-off peak weddings are MUCH cheaper. We did an early May wedding, with a Sunday afternoon wedding/reception.
-having wedding and reception in the same place
-found my dress off of ebay. New, but in a generic brand. I loved it!
-amateur photographer that my mom knew
-made our own table favors. printed wrappers that went around the mini hershey bars (also off ebay)
-buffet style meal
-scattered rose petals around tables instead of expensive flower arrangements
-only had beer and sparking wine as the alcoholic beverages
-we asked our bridesmaids and groomsmen (2 of each), if they would purchase their own dresses and rent their own tuxes. They were willing to do so.
-in our invitations, we asked for no gifts so therefore we received money only gifts which was nice

[IamMom]

My parents paid for my wedding too (well it ended up being partly for a car - see explanation) My sister had a nice princess wedding a year before I got married so daddy gave me the exact amount he spent on her wedding...and boy did she have a shindig! I definintely am very appreciative of all of their help and what they've done for DH and I and now for our children!

But I will say I had no traditional wedding that's for sure. Never really wanted one and it was DH's second marriage...so anyway... We got married 8 days before he left for deployment which was like a last minute decision, mostly so I would be clued into as much as possible about his deployment thru the wives group on base.....that was at the JOP $60 cash We had wanted to do a destination wedding in Aruba (and use up all of dada's money) but then decided we could use some of the money for other things and have a nice "party" reception thing to celebrate after he got home from deployment. So we had a party (and renewed our vows) at the Officers club beach house right on the beach in VA Beach (it was free rental of the place since DH was military)...so we used about $4,000 on mostly booze for our open bar... heavy hor deoves (that is spelled wrong he he he)...a DJ and other little decorative things etc. etc. Our wedding present to ourselves was a BMW with some of the rest of the money!

Good luck Sara - I can't imagine how hard it would be to have to save up for a wedding in the midst of needing to buy things for a baby too.....HUGS

[*kyle*]

My parents kicked in $2,000 and his mom also contributed $2,000. We covered the rest, which was right around $3,000. In order to keep costs low, we got married on a Sunday (of Memorial Day weekend), which saved us a lot of money on banquet hall rental, limo, and DJ. I got A LOT of things from eBay, including my wedding dress for $300, and also my veil, flower girl dress, and other things. We also did most things ourselves, including save the dates, programs, favors and decorations. We ordered our invitations through an online printer with a discount coupon code. We had our cake done by a lady who bakes them in her home, rather than a bakery. We got many of our flowers from Sam's Club instead of a florist. Our photographer was running a special at a bridal show we took advantage of. We did not have a videographer (though if I could have changed something, it would have been to hire one). And, one of the biggest cost savers was to limit the alcohol to just beer and wine. Paying for liquor could have added another $1,000 or more.

[Resi]

Eloped at the JP and it was the best way for us to go. It allowed us to use what would have been wedding money to put a down payment on a house. It wasn't important for us to have a wedding. We just wanted to be married. The only thing I wish is that I had wedding photos all dressed up.

[~*Bethy*~]

My mom paid for everything that wasn't given to me as a wedding present - I think about 3-4 grand?

*free park rental LOL we stayed a whole 20 minutes that included pics AND the ceremony
*Free 2 course dinner given to me by a friend at church who used to cater
*she also managed the apartment complex where we used the rec center as our weekly church/wedding reception - FREE!!
*Flowers were done by my auntie, out of her rose garden, beautiful!!
*Cake was done by my mom, she has a cake decorating business
*Used my friend and uncle as photographers - I LOOOOVE my weddings pictures!!!
*Most of the decorations were given to us by a friend whos daughter hated all the stuff her mom bought for her wedding...so it was just lying around - SCORE!! really it wasnt bad stuff!!
*honeymoon was provided by grandparents condo on the beach and $$ for wedding presents

Stuff we actually bought:

*wedding dress was a plus sized prom gown, vs buying a $300 maternity wedding dress
*All of the men's tux's were discounted by mr formal - rent 5 and get the 6th free or some crap like that - I loved the tux's, all were in good shape and the colors were just perfect
*Mom and sister paid for the $99 bridemaids gowns *davids bridal does NOT have good customer service, so if you get the dress - RUN THE OTHER WAY - have someone else do tailoring/steaming to it!!
*Mom has a friend who has a karaoke service, really good quality, and she was able to get a discount for our reception - ANOTHER SCORE!!!

So basically it comes down to who you know with connections!! sayido.com forum's have saved my butt a few times, the girls there are super friendly!!

Anything else, just ask

~Beth

[Angelaosaurus-rex]

We got married at the JP, it cost us a total of $25.